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View Full Version : Does Tai Chi rely too much on "Foreward" energy?



SokeHargraves
02-01-2001, 01:58 AM
I have noticed when pushing with Tai Chi friends, that alot of them rely too much on "Foreward" energy, and it is fairly easy to pull them foreward at times if I just give them some resistance and get them pushing back. I think this is from the foreward leaning stance that is assumed in push-hands, has anyone else noticed this? Or am I just overly sensitive to this sort of thing being from a Wing Chun background which stresses the majority of the bodies weight being on the back leg?

-neal

"The men of the East are decked in steel,
They march with a trumpet's din.
They glitter with silks and golden scales,
And high kings boast they their kin.
We of the West wear the hides of wolves,
But our hearts are steel within."
-Robert E. Howard

Sam Wiley
02-01-2001, 03:55 AM
They should not be leaning, Neal. If they are leaning, then it makes it easier for them to be toppled. Yang Cheng-fu was famous for toppling students who leaned and telling them, "stop hanging your dead meat on me. I am no meathook."

Keep your spine as vertical as possible. This will allow you to yield easier and quicker, neutralize easier and quicker, and attack easier and quicker.

In the Chi Sau I have seen from Wing Chun, the practicioners did not lean there, either. So, considering that Chi Sau is the method you are more familiar with so far, your body has already learned why not to lean and how to yield, neutralize, and generate power without leaning forward.

In fact, in Wang Tsung-yueh's treatise on Taiji, it says not to lean forward specifically.

*********
"To enter is to be born, to retreat is to die."
-An Old Taijiquan Saying

HuangKaiVun
02-01-2001, 11:03 PM
Tai Chi's secrets are not found in its pushing hands; they are contained in the fighting sets.

Look at your fighting set, Mr. Cameron. You'll notice that forward motion is only a small part of what the set teaches.

And if you look at your WC sets, you'll notice that WC does not always put its weight on the back leg.

illusionfist
02-05-2001, 12:27 PM
If the person is leaning then that means they have no central equilibrium. If they do not have this, then that means their root is non existent. When i used to lean too much my sifu would always say, "You need to stand more, then you can appreciate moving..." If he was in a bad mood he would make you stand in the leaning posture and then say, "Stand here for a few minutes and tell me if that feels natural."

Peace :D