Zhao's Tai Chi Standing

Zhao's Tai Chi Standing

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🌱 View 1: “撐開小腿，腳趾抓地，湧泉貼地，膝撐胯開，湧泉對命門”

(Expand the calves, spread the big and second toe, Yongquan touches the ground, knees support and open the kua, Yongquan connects to Mingmen)

This is a highly structured stance emphasizing internal tension and alignment to create a spring-like readiness.

✔️ What's happening here:

• “撐開小腿”: Calves are gently pushing outward — not collapsing inward.

• “腳拇指食指與前腳掌落地”: Toe rooting helps create a tripod grounding (big toe, second toe, ball of foot).

• “湧泉貼地”: The Yongquan point (KI-1, Kidney Meridian) must be consciously connected to the floor.

• “膝撐胯開”: Knees not collapsing inward — they open out gently to maintain kua (hip joint) openness.

• “湧泉貼命門”: An internal line of force (意念線) is drawn from the soles (Yongquan) to the Mingmen (DU-4), creating a vertical integration.

🧠 This posture is found in many Chen style and Yang family nei gong (內功) systems, where they train a "suspending upward, sinking downward" quality (虛靈頂勁，沉肩墜肘，鬆腰沉胯，氣沉丹田).

🔍 Classical references:

• 《十三勢行功心解》:「立如平準，活似車輪」，「沉肩墜肘，氣沉丹田」

• 《太極拳論》:「其根在腳，發於腿，主宰於腰，形於手指，由腳而腿而腰，總須完整一氣」

So this first method tries to internally align the skeleton and connective tissue to enable springiness, root, and connected power. It’s not "natural", but trained and consciously structured.

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🍃 View 2: “Let the legs stand naturally, slightly slanted upward”

This is a relaxed, more natural stance, sometimes advocated for beginners or in certain Wu style and Qigong-based practices.

✔️ What's happening here:

• Legs aren’t forced to rotate outward or open at the knees.

• The alignment follows how your bones naturally hang, so you avoid forced tension.

• You allow the knees to bend slightly, legs to hang like a suspension bridge.

This approach favors relaxation (鬆) and natural dropping of weight (垂墜感) over structural shaping.

🔍 Classical support:

• 「先求開展，再求緊湊，繼之而至堅實而有力」(early Yang family notes)

• 「用意不用力」(Use intention, not force) — from multiple classics

So this view might be seen as a starting point, or as a soft internal rebalancing, especially suitable for healing, health, or elderly practice.

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🔑 Which is “correct”?

Both are correct — but they serve different stages or training goals.

Approach	Goal	When it's appropriate
Structured (撐開小腿，湧泉對命門)	Internal connection, issuing jin, martial power	Intermediate to advanced internal training
Natural stance	Relaxation, releasing tension, health recovery	Early stage training or restorative practice

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🧠 Advanced Perspective:

Eventually, even the structured stance becomes “natural” — but it’s a trained natural, where your body no longer needs to be told to root through Yongquan or to open the kua; it just does so by habit.

This is captured in classics such as:

• 「無過不及，隨屈就伸」(Nothing excessive or deficient, follow and adapt)

• 「由着熟而漸悟懂勁，由懂勁而階及神明」(From familiarity you reach understanding of jin, then spiritual clarity)

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✅ Summary:

• If your goal is internal martial structure and “周身一家” (whole body as one), then the 撐開小腿、湧泉貼地、膝撐胯開 method is essential.

• If your focus is health, flow, and relaxation, starting from a natural standing with relaxed legs is fine — but eventually you’ll still need to cultivate structural connection.

or even quote from their internal documents.