2026年10月30日 星期五

Move the Centre without Collapsing the Axis

Move the Centre without Collapsing the Axis

The principle is to move your whole body while preserving an upright, adaptable central axis（中軸中正）. Moving forward（前進）does not necessarily require leaning forward（前傾）: the body can advance through coordinated movement of the legs, hips, and feet while the trunk remains comfortably aligned.

However, uprightness（中正）is not the same as rigid verticality（僵直）, and a slight inclination is not automatically a mistake.

1. Moving the axis versus bending the axis

Imagine carrying a pole upright: you can move it forward, backward, or sideways without tipping it. In Tai Chi, this is a useful image for whole-body translation（整體平移）.

The body is more complex than a pole. The ankles, knees, and hips continually adjust to maintain balance. The aim is to preserve the relationship between the head, rib cage, and pelvis（頭、胸廓、骨盆）, while allowing the limbs to move freely.

MovementWhat happens
Whole-body advance（整體前進）The pelvis and trunk travel forward together, supported by the legs.
Forward leaning（身體前傾）The trunk inclines forward; this can be coordinated or excessive.
Bending at the waist（折腰）The upper body folds forward relative to the pelvis, potentially disrupting its connection to the lower body.
Reaching with the shoulders（探肩）The shoulders and hands advance farther than the supporting body can comfortably follow.

The important distinction is between moving your centre toward the action and reaching beyond your support.

2. Why do people bend forward when pushing?

Often, they are trying to make the hands travel farther without sufficiently moving the pelvis or adjusting the feet. The shoulders advance, the hips remain behind, and the torso inclines or folds.

Another possibility is that they deliberately use body weight（體重）to assist the push. This can produce effective force; leaning is not inherently mechanically wrong. But it can also increase dependence on the partner’s resistance（依賴對方支撐）.

A useful question is:

If the partner suddenly yields, can I remain balanced and change direction?（對方突然退讓，我能否保持平衡並轉換？）

If the practitioner falls forward or must take an uncontrolled recovery step, the push has exceeded their available support.

3. How can you push while remaining upright?

For a forward An（前按）, think of this coordination:

  • The feet interact with the ground（腳與地面作用）.
  • The legs move and support the pelvis（腿帶動並支撐骨盆）.
  • The trunk travels with the pelvis（軀幹隨骨盆前移）.
  • The arms transmit the action while retaining comfortable structure（手臂傳力、保持舒展）.

The hands may adjust relative to the body; they do not have to be frozen in place. But they should remain coordinated with the body’s movement（身手協調）.

“Bring the body forward to support the hands”（身進以支持手）, rather than merely extending the hands farther, is a useful teaching cue.

4. What is the classical basis?

The Insights into the Practice of the Thirteen Postures（《十三勢行功心解》）states:

「立身須中正安舒，支撐八面。」
Maintain a centred, upright, comfortable posture, with support in all directions.


The word comfortable（安舒） matters: the posture should allow adjustment, rather than being held stiffly. www.ct-taichi.org.tw

The Tai Chi Treatise（《太極拳論》）also pairs balanced standing with wheel-like mobility: 「立如平準，活似車輪」. My interpretation is that alignment should preserve your ability to respond in different directions—not merely help you withstand or deliver one forward push. www.ftcca.org.tw

For teaching, I would phrase it:

“Move the centre without collapsing the axis; stay upright without becoming stiff.”（移動重心，不折中軸；保持中正，不落僵直。）

A slight whole-body inclination can still be coordinated. The more significant faults are collapsing at the waist（折腰）, overreaching（過伸）, and losing the ability to change（失去轉換能力）.

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Lifting or Withdrawing the Three Gates”（三關領起）（三關後撤）

Lifting or Withdrawing the Three Gates”（三關領起）（三關後撤）

Lifting the three gates”（三關領起）or “withdrawing the three gates”（三關後撤）at Baihui（百會）or Huiyin（會陰）

What you describe can plausibly involve changes in alignment（身體排列）, muscle coordination（肌肉協調）, and the direction of force（力線）. But “the partner cannot press me down” and “I cannot squat or rise” are conditional effects—not universal consequences of placing attention at Baihui（百會）or Huiyin（會陰）.

The important question is whether the posture provides adaptable support（靈活支撐） or simply becomes fixed（僵定）.

I am interpreting your description as meaning that the practitioner becomes difficult to press or pull, but also finds their own movement restricted. Without seeing the demonstration, the explanations below remain hypotheses.

1. What are the “three gates”（三關）?

In the traditional usage relevant here, they are:

GateApproximate body region
Upper gate（玉枕關）Back of the head
Middle gate（夾脊關）Mid-back, along the spine
Lower gate（尾閭關）Sacral and coccygeal region

Gu Liuxin’s discussion of the three gates describes a gently lifted crown（百會虛領）together with downward settling（鬆沉）. These are complementary qualities, rather than mutually exclusive upward and downward states. However, your teacher’s particular meaning of “lifting the three gates”（三關領起）or “withdrawing the three gates”（三關後撤）needs to be distinguished from this broader traditional terminology. 太极网

2. Why might lifting toward Baihui（意在百會）make downward pressure harder—but also make squatting difficult?

A plausible explanation has two parts.

First, alignment can improve load-bearing（排列改善承重）. If the downward force passes close to the supporting joints and remains within the base of support（支撐面）, it produces less tendency to bend or topple the body. The legs and trunk can then support the load more effectively.

The partner may feel that their pressure “goes into the ground”（力傳入地）. Mechanically, the body transmits the load to the floor, and the floor supplies a corresponding ground reaction force（地面反作用力）. The force has not disappeared.

Second, the practitioner may preserve that alignment by bracing（固定支撐）. If the instruction to “lift” causes the hips and knees to remain extended, or opposing muscles to contract together（共同收縮）, beginning a squat becomes harder. Squatting requires the ankles, knees, and hips to change their angles while balance is maintained.

Thus, being hard to compress and being unable to squat may come from the same temporarily fixed coordination pattern. This does not establish that attention at Baihui itself prevents squatting.

A well-coordinated practitioner should be able to retain a gently suspended crown（頂頭懸）while bending the hips and knees. Uprightness（中正）does not require straight, locked legs.

3. Why might withdrawing and sinking toward Huiyin（後撤、意沉會陰）make standing up difficult?

If withdrawing the body shifts the pelvis backward, the practitioner may find it difficult to bring the body’s centre of mass（重心）into a position from which the legs can lift it.

This is especially clear in rising from a chair: the body normally develops forward and upward movement, with coordinated changes in the trunk and lower limbs. Research shows that the initial relationship between the hips and feet, and the coordination of these segments, affect the movement. This supports a mechanical explanation, but it does not directly test your teacher’s Huiyin exercise. PMC

If the person insists on keeping the pelvis back and maintaining an unchanging downward intention, they may inhibit the transition needed to rise.

“Sinking”（沉）should therefore be distinguished from “remaining stuck below”（滯於下）. The ability to settle is useful; losing the ability to change is a limitation.

4. Why might the partner become unable to pluck the elbow（採肘）?

Several different mechanisms could produce that impression:

  • Whole-body connection（周身貫串）: The elbow is supported by the trunk and legs, so the partner is no longer moving an isolated arm.
  • A changed pulling angle（牽引角度改變）: A small change in the shoulder, torso, or elbow position may reduce the partner’s leverage.
  • Following and neutralizing（隨勢走化）: The elbow and body move with the pull, preventing the partner from establishing a useful fixed point.
  • Bracing（僵持）: The practitioner resists successfully in that particular direction but becomes less able to move elsewhere.

These can feel similar in a brief demonstration. The distinction is whether the practitioner can still turn, step, rise, and sink when the partner changes direction.

Without knowing where the partner holds the elbow and which way they apply Cai（採）, it would be too strong to attribute the result specifically to Huiyin or the three gates.

5. What do the Tai Chi classics actually support?

The classics support coordinated uprightness, settling, and changeability. They do not, in the passages I checked, establish the exact rule “attention at Baihui prevents squatting; attention at Huiyin prevents rising.”

Classical passageMeaning relevant to your question
「虛領頂勁，氣沉丹田」 — Tai Chi Treatise（《太極拳論》）The crown is lightly suspended while the lower body settles. Both qualities coexist. The text says dantian（丹田）, which should not automatically be replaced with Huiyin（會陰）.
「立如平準，活似車輪」 — Tai Chi TreatiseStability should coexist with the freedom to turn and respond.
「立身須中正安舒，支撐八面」 — Insights into the Practice of the Thirteen Postures（《十三勢行功心解》）Uprightness includes ease and support in multiple directions, rather than resistance to only one predetermined force.
「意氣須換得靈，乃有圓活之趣」 — the same textIntention and internal coordination must change readily; remaining fixed in “up” or “down” misses this quality.

These passages provide a traditional framework for interpreting the exercise, rather than experimental proof of its proposed mechanism. ftcca.org.tw

Yang Chengfu’s Ten Essentials（《太極拳十要》）also explicitly cautions against using force to hold up the head: 「不可用力，用力則項強」—do not force it, because doing so makes the neck stiff. This supports understanding “lifting”（領）as a light organizing cue, rather than forceful upward bracing. ct-taichi.org.tw

My interpretation is that the exercise may demonstrate how intention changes bodily organization（意念改變身體組織方式）. Its greater teaching value would be learning to move between those organizations without becoming trapped in either.

For your push-hands teaching, I would express the principle this way:

Let the crown rise lightly while the body settles; maintain support without losing the freedom to change.（頂領身沉，支撐而不失變化。）

That is my teaching formulation, not a quotation from a classic. If a posture makes you difficult to move but also prevents you from moving yourself, it demonstrates stability under a constraint—not yet the full adaptability（圓活）that Tai Chi seeks.

Gu Liuxin 是顧留馨（1908–1990），中國近現代的太極拳研究者、武術家，曾向陳發科學習陳式太極拳。

他的重要著作包括《太極拳術》，並與唐豪合著《太極拳研究》，對太極拳的歷史、拳理及技術整理頗有影響。

我上一則提到的〈通三關備五弓〉，網頁署名為顧留馨。這屬於近現代拳理論述，應與《太極拳論》《十三勢行功心解》等傳統拳論分開看待。

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2026年10月29日 星期四

武式郝家太極拳交流講習會2611 24-27

 武式郝家太極拳交流講習會

龎嘉生  

           「內固精神，外示安逸；氣勢騰挪，開合有致，緊湊精巧。」

繼上次活動帶領大家領略武式太極拳身法與氣勢的「空鬆圓活」，並梳理其歷史發展源流後，本次交流講習會將進一步深入武式太極拳的核心功法，探討如何運用「意氣變換」來支配外形運動——此即武式太極拳將力轉化為「勁」的關鍵法門。本次交流活動誠摯歡迎對太極拳文化、功法細節感興趣的同好與前輩一同蒞臨交流切磋！有興趣者請向聯絡人報名。

【課程與活動安排】

系列 A｜武式太極拳 49 式：招式身法與氣勢訓練

系列 B｜武式太極拳講學行功要點與解析

  • 時間：2026 年 11 月 26 日（四）（09:00–15:00）27 日（五）（09:00–12:00）
  • 地點：皇冠小劇場，台北市松山區敦化北路120巷50號地下室
  • 費用: 免費。

報名聯絡人：蔡孟宏 Line ID: 0920583841           電話：0920583841

講學核心內容：

一、 武式太極拳行功要點*

  1. 意氣運化：武式對氣勢的獨到理解與實際運用
  2. 無中生有：氣勢的內修與習鍊法門
  3. 折疊之術：氣勢與勁道的折疊變換
  4. 轉換之法：虛實與動靜間的順暢運轉
  5. 三虛包一實：核心身法與力學結構探討

二、 武式太極拳行功走架簡述

  1. 母勢剖析：「懶扎衣」之起、承、開、合
  2. 套路精解：49 式傳統套路拆解與應用

*註：相關理論可參閱郝少如先生所著《武式太極拳》。

【主講人簡介】
龎嘉生幼年隨父母自台灣移民美國，於美取得物理學碩士學位，畢業後自行創業，退休後則全心投入太極拳的推廣與研習。在經營事業之餘，始終未曾停下對武術與東方哲學的探索熱情。
    五十餘年來，龎老師持續探索並融會東西方文化，曾廣泛研習柔道、唐手道、西洋劍、螳螂拳及意拳等武術；期間尋訪各地名師，先後拜入楊式、葉式及武式等太極拳名家門下。近二十餘年來，更專心跟隨劉積順大師，深入研修武式太極拳之核心精髓。
    現定居於美國加州，致力於太極拳教學推廣，期盼透過自身經驗，持續推動東西方武術與文化溝通的橋樑。

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2026年10月27日 星期二

No Rooting, No Relaxation

No Rooting, No Relaxation

When we feel insufficiently supported or off balance, we often tense up to stop ourselves from falling. That makes relaxation harder.

I would express it as:

Unclear support → difficulty maintaining balance → compensatory tension → reduced freedom to move.
支撐不明 → 中心難穩 → 代償緊張 → 難以鬆活。

But “no rooting means no relaxation” is too absolute. Rooting and relaxation develop together; one does not have to be perfect before the other becomes possible.

1. Why insufficient rooting can produce tension

In practical terms, rooting（生根）means being able to use ground support while remaining adaptable. It does not mean pressing the feet down harder or fixing the body in place.

Imagine reaching forward beyond a comfortable distance. You may instinctively grip your toes, stiffen your legs, tighten your back, or lift your shoulders. Those actions help prevent a fall, but they also restrict movement.

In push hands, something similar can happen: if incoming pressure makes your stance feel unreliable, your arms may stiffen to prevent the pressure from reaching the rest of your body. The arms are then doing extra work to protect your balance.

2. Why “losing centre” makes relaxation difficult

Here, distinguish two meanings:

MeaningWhat it involves
Physical balance 平衡Managing your body’s weight and momentum relative to your supporting feet.
Organizational centre 中定Keeping the head, torso, pelvis, and limbs coordinated so that movement does not become disconnected.

A person can remain standing yet lose coordination—for example, by reaching with the shoulders while the pelvis stays behind. Extra tension may hold that position together.

However, the centre is allowed to move. Turning, walking, and shifting weight all require it to move. The problem is losing the ability to manage that movement, not moving away from one fixed point.

3. Why simply saying “relax more” may not work

If tension is helping someone stay upright, asking them to release it without changing their support may make them feel less secure. They may immediately tense again.

A more useful teaching sequence is:

  1. Find comfortable support 找到支撐: adjust the feet, stance, or distance from the partner.
  2. Recover coordination 恢復中定: bring the torso and pelvis into a relationship that does not require excessive bracing.
  3. Release unnecessary effort 放鬆多餘用力: soften the shoulders, arms, and hands while retaining balance.
  4. Test adaptability 檢驗鬆活: can you still turn, shift, or step without first becoming rigid?

4. Relaxation also improves rooting

The relationship works both ways. Excessively stiff legs and hips can prevent small balance adjustments. Releasing that stiffness can make support feel clearer and movement more manageable.

So the relationship is a loop:

Better support helps you release tension; appropriate relaxation helps you adjust and maintain support.
支撐得當，容易鬆；鬆得恰當，更能穩。

For Tai Chi teaching, I would refine your statement to:

When support is unclear and the centre is poorly coordinated, the body often uses unnecessary tension to maintain balance. Establish adaptable support, and relaxation becomes easier.
支撐不明、中定不整，身體往往以緊張維持平衡；支撐穩而能變，才容易鬆而不散。

The practical test is whether releasing tension leaves you more balanced and responsive. If releasing one area makes another area struggle, first improve the organization of the whole body.

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Standing Like Bamboo

Standing Like Bamboo 

Standing in Tai Chi “like bamboo” means being rooted below, upright through the centre, and flexible above—stable without becoming stiff. It is a teaching image, not a posture you must copy literally.

Bamboo imageTai Chi meaningWhat to practise
Roots 根Ground support supports the whole body.Feel the soles resting on the ground; avoid gripping with the toes.
Upright stalk 中正Maintain an upright, adaptable body.Let the head rise gently while the shoulders settle. Avoid stiffening the chest or lower back.
Flexible stem 柔韌Yield without losing support.Allow small adjustments through the ankles, knees, hips, and torso rather than locking them.
Connected sections 節節貫串Different parts move together.Let a change in the hand involve the elbow, shoulder, torso, and base instead of moving the arm alone.
Bending and returning 隨化、回中Adapt to a force and recover your balance.Yield only as far as you can remain coordinated; return without forcing yourself upright.

Why does this help? A rigid body has fewer ways to adjust when pressure arrives. A collapsed body cannot maintain useful support. The bamboo image encourages a middle quality: enough muscular activity to stand and respond, with unnecessary tension released.

This connects to your previous question about relaxation: when the legs and torso provide comfortable support, the shoulders and arms may no longer need to brace so much. Conversely, releasing the shoulders should not make the chest or waist collapse.

Try this in a comfortable, high stance:

  1. Keep the knees softly unlocked.
  2. Feel your weight settle through the feet.
  3. Imagine the crown rising gently—虛領頂勁.
  4. Let the shoulders and elbows settle—沉肩墜肘.
  5. Allow a tiny, comfortable sway, then return to centre without stiffening.

“Rooted” does not mean fixed in place, and “flexible” does not mean limp. Unlike bamboo, you can also turn or step to preserve balance. The aim is 鬆而不懈，中正而不僵—relaxed without collapsing, upright without rigidity.

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Relaxing One Part Affect the Rest

 Relaxing One Part  Affect the Rest 

Relaxing one part can affect the rest because the body works as a connected system. Muscles, joints, connective tissues, balance, and nervous-system activity all influence one another. But the effect depends on how you relax: releasing unnecessary tension is different from losing support.

In Tai Chi, 鬆 means letting go of unnecessary effort while maintaining connection and support.

ConnectionHow relaxation can spreadTai Chi example
Mechanical connection 力學連結Muscles and connective tissues transmit tension across neighbouring regions. Reducing tension can change how other regions move and carry load.Releasing an unnecessarily tight shoulder may allow the shoulder blade, elbow, and hand to move more freely.
Coordinated muscle activity 肌肉協調The nervous system activates muscles in groups. Excessive gripping, for example, often comes with extra tension elsewhere in the arm.Softening the fingers may help reduce forearm and shoulder effort—provided you retain the required contact.
Balance and support 平衡與支撐When one region changes its stiffness, other regions adjust to keep you balanced.Releasing the hips while maintaining foot support may reduce the need to brace the lower back. If you collapse instead, the back may tighten more.
Protective responses 保護反應Feeling unstable or threatened can produce widespread bracing. Feeling supported can make unnecessary bracing easier to release.In push hands, comfortable contact and a manageable pace may help both partners stop resisting excessively.

For your practice of 鬆、通、空, consider this sequence:

The hand softens → the elbow becomes easier to move → the shoulder stops holding unnecessarily → the torso can participate more freely.

This is a possible sequence, not an automatic rule. Sometimes the reverse works better: improve your stance and torso support first, and the arm becomes easier to relax.

You can explore it with a simple exercise:

  1. Stand comfortably and hold one arm forward, with the elbow slightly bent.
  2. Gently tighten your fingers. Notice whether the forearm, shoulder, neck, or breathing changes.
  3. Release the fingers without dropping the arm. Notice which areas soften and which remain tense.
  4. Now let the elbow feel heavy while keeping the hand supported. Observe whether the shoulder can release further.

In push hands, successful relaxation should leave you more able to feel and adapt（聽勁、隨化）, while maintaining contact and balance. It does not require every muscle to become equally soft or inactive.

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2026年9月29日 星期二

Teacher Yen's Training

 Teacher Yen's Training

Move the Centre without Collapsing the Axis

Lifting or Withdrawing the Three Gates”（三關領起）（三關後撤）

 顏師：丹田要位於兩腿中間之前進後退

Remain Aligned beneath the Centre of the Torso When Retreating

Teacher Yan 無極樁

Four points Push Hands Practice Drill

Push Hands Drills: 內捋外捋 Training

元極舞之十五慧海福緣


Master Yan’s Method of Receiving and Issuing Force

Five-Stance Boxing — 五步拳

Using Muscles, Not Stretching Them

Yan's 37 Form Ward off and Sit Back

FB



外肩宽 (Outer Shoulder Width) and 内肩宽 (Inner Shoulder Width)

Four points Push Hands Practice Drill

蜻蜓點水


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Using Muscles, Not Stretching Them

 Using Muscles, Not Stretching Them

Never use or stretch the muscles” should not be taken literally. Moving and supporting your arms, legs and trunk requires muscle activity. The practical question is how much effort you use and how well it is coordinated.

In Tai Chi, teachers may be addressing different problems:

Teaching instructionWhat it may help you learnWhat can go wrong if taken too far
“Use the muscles to extend.”Actively support the posture and reach with controlExcessive tightening, locked joints or isolated pushing
“Use qi or intention to extend.”Let intention guide the movement, with less unnecessary tensionBecoming limp, or imagining that no muscular work is needed

“Using muscles” and “stretching muscles” are also different. A muscle can contract to produce movement while another lengthens to allow it. An extended posture does not necessarily require a strong stretching sensation.

For example, when extending your arm forward:

  1. Let your intention lead toward the direction of the reach.
  2. Allow the shoulder blade and arm to move together, with support from your trunk.
  3. Use enough muscular effort to support the arm, while keeping the neck and shoulder comfortable.
  4. Keep a little freedom in the elbow; stop before you have to lock it or strain.

You should feel supported length and available movement, rather than either rigid tension or complete relaxation.

I would interpret “extend through qi” as a traditional practice cue for coordinated, attentive movement, not as evidence that qi physically replaces muscle action. A teacher might use that cue to help a student who is already trying too hard.

For your practice, the useful combination is: clear intention, sufficient muscle activity, and minimal unnecessary tension. Ask the master: “When you say not to use muscles, do you mean not to tense them excessively?” That distinction often resolves the apparent disagreement.

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Bagua Walking

Bagua Walking 

“Bagua walking” usually means Baguazhang circle walking—八卦掌走圈 or 轉掌. You walk around a centre while coordinating your steps, waist, trunk and arms. It trains balance and the ability to turn and change direction while remaining connected.

Different schools teach different footwork. The mud-wading step（趟泥步）is one method; some use more natural stepping. There is no single footfall that is correct for every lineage. 八卦掌 - TAIPING INSTITUTE

For learning the basic coordination, start with this simplified version, before attempting formal palm changes:

PartWhat to do
CircleChoose a broad circle on level, nonslip ground. A wider circle requires less abrupt turning.
PostureKeep your head comfortably upright, shoulders relaxed and knees softly bent. Start with a high stance.
StepsTake short, quiet steps. Lift each foot enough to clear the ground; don’t deliberately drag it.
Weight transferPlace the advancing foot gently, then progressively transfer support onto it. Avoid falling onto the front foot.
TurningLet your feet and hips create the turn. Keep each knee generally following its foot’s direction; don’t twist over a firmly planted foot.
Trunk and armsInitially keep your arms comfortable. Add a slight inward orientation of the torso without forcing a deep twist.
Direction changesStop comfortably and turn with several small steps. Learn formal 扣步、擺步—inward and outward steps—from a teacher.

In traditional practice, inward body orientation and the palm posture are coordinated with the walking, rather than performed independently by the arms. Dragon Phoenix

What should you feel? A smooth succession of support: one leg receives your weight while the other becomes free to step. Your torso remains supported as your direction changes. As with your two-cup exercise, observe the changing support instead of forcing a particular “energy pathway.”

For your knee, I would avoid starting with low stances, tight circles or forceful inward steps. If walking the circle produces pain, catching or giving way, stop rather than trying to correct it by sinking lower.

A useful check is: can you pause at any point without stumbling, bracing your shoulders or twisting your knee? A teacher should then refine the stepping and palm position for the particular style you are learning.

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Pour Water from Cup to Cup

Pour Water from  Cup to Cup

Both same-side and diagonal connections can be valid ways to explore coordination—but the correct one for this particular exercise depends on what your master intends to teach. You do not need to force yourself to feel a predetermined connection.

When you pour water from the right cup into the left, the right hand’s load decreases while the left hand’s load increases. Your trunk and legs coordinate to support that changing load. Which foot carries more pressure depends on your stance, the cups’ positions, and any shift of your body. There is no mechanical rule that the left hand must connect exclusively to either leg. This follows from whole-body balance of forces and turning effects. OpenStax

Connection you exploreWhat to observe
Same side: left hand–left legCan you receive the increasing load without collapsing the left waist or raising the shoulder?
Diagonal: left hand–right legCan you maintain coordination across the trunk without twisting or bracing?
Whole bodyCan the support adjust smoothly while your breathing, shoulders and balance remain comfortable?

These are observation cues, not proof that force travels along one isolated pathway. Feeling a connection to the opposite leg does not necessarily mean that leg bears more weight.

For the yin–yang aspect, one possible interpretation is the continuous relationship between emptying and filling, releasing and receiving. Neither hand becomes inactive: even the emptying hand still supports and controls its cup.

Try pouring slowly with a small amount of water, first observing naturally. Then explore each connection gently. The useful question is: “What changes throughout my body as one cup empties and the other fills?”

If your master specifically calls this “crossing energy,” ask whether the intended instruction is “receiving hand connected to the opposite supporting leg.” That would identify the exercise’s purpose more clearly.

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2026年9月22日 星期二

Wayne 加州許永強老師

 Wayne 加州許永強老師

Standing Like Bamboo

Relaxing One Part Affect the Rest

Bagua Walking

Pour Water from Cup to Cup

Standing Meditation with Eyes Closed

Central equilibrium and Leaning

Stretch, Elongate, and Expand

Rotate from the Qua and Rotate the Qua

心靜Silence

Silence helps Release Tension

TALK SUMMARY: SONG, IST TRAINING & TAI CHI

Wayne's Demos


Wayne's Tai chi Terms

Pole Training in Push Hands

大鵬飛翔十字樁功

ArmBridge Tai Chi Exercises

Roc Flying Cross-Shaped Stake Exercise

Wayne's list of 6 and 10 regular partner drills

The Figure 8 落胯 (luò kuà) training

 The Push Hands Roly-Poly Practice

Arm Bridge Training

Tumbler Technique

Rooting Training

Root Training 2

Root Training 3

Listening and Responding with Rooted Force

落胯training 

How to Manage the Spine When Forced to Lean Back

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Standing Meditation with Eyes Closed

Standing Meditation with Eyes Closed

For standing meditation（站樁）, I suggest keeping your eyes gently open or half-open（垂簾）, with a soft gaze ahead and slightly downward.

Closing your eyes may help you turn attention inward（內觀）, but it also removes visual information used for balance. Closed eyes do not necessarily mean deeper relaxation or better practice.

Given your knee’s previous giving-way episodes, practise near a stable support and keep your eyes open. If you become unsteady or dizzy, sit down.

Keep the head naturally upright, shoulders relaxed, and breathing unforced:

「目光柔和，神意內斂；鬆而不懈，靜而清醒。」
Soften the gaze, gather attention inward; stay relaxed, supported, and alert.

Even if your mind feels completely empty（心無雜念）, open and closed eyes still give your body different information. Mental quiet does not remove that difference.

  • Eyes softly open（鬆視）： You receive visual information while remaining quiet inside. You see without staring or following every detail—見而不逐.

  • Eyes closed（閉目）： Visual distractions decrease, so bodily sensations may become more noticeable. However, you lose visual reference points for balance, and may sway more or become sleepy.

In standing meditation, 空 does not mean losing awareness. It means releasing unnecessary thought and tension while remaining clearly aware—空而有覺，鬆而不懈.

You can practise the same inner quiet with either, but softly open eyes help you bring that quiet into movement and contact with others: 內靜外明—quiet within, aware without.


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Central equilibrium and Leaning

 Central equilibrium and Leaning

Central equilibrium（中定）can include a bow stance（弓步）with a slight forward inclination. The important distinction is between leaning as an aligned whole and collapsing at the waist（折腰）.

  • Aligned inclination（整體前傾）： Your head, trunk, and pelvis remain coordinated; your back stays naturally lengthened. You can receive pressure, turn, or withdraw without first having to recover your balance.

  • Collapsing forward（折腰、前栽）： Your chest drops, your hips remain behind, or your weight falls forward so that you depend on the partner’s support.

中定 is dynamic balance and control, not simply a vertical appearance. However, 中正 also concerns posture, and different Tai Chi lineages have different requirements: some permit a slight incline in certain bow stances; others teach a more upright trunk.

A useful check is: If your partner gently removes contact, can you remain balanced and change direction comfortably? That is one indication of maintaining your own centre.

「身可微傾，中不可失；弓步有根，進退自如。」
The body may incline slightly while retaining its centre; a rooted bow stance allows free advance and retreat.

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