Relaxation from the Ground upward
Progressive relaxation from the ground upward（由下而上逐節放鬆）:
feet（腳） → ankles（踝） → lower legs/shins（小腿） → knees（膝） → thighs（大腿） → hips/kua（胯） → waist（腰） → torso（軀幹） → shoulders and arms（肩臂）
Here, 小腿 (xiǎotuǐ) means the entire lower leg, not only the shin bone.
Why begin from the feet?
The feet establish the root（根）
Your body receives information from the ground through the feet. If the toes grip or the ankles stiffen, the legs cannot adjust naturally, and the upper body often compensates by tightening.
When the soles spread gently and the ankles remain responsive, your weight can settle through the bubbling-well area（湧泉） and distribute more evenly.
Relaxation must have somewhere to go
In Taijiquan, song（鬆） does not mean collapsing. It means releasing unnecessary tension while maintaining structure.
Starting from the feet creates a continuous supporting pathway:
ground → feet → ankles → knees → kua → spine
Then the upper body can “sit” on the legs instead of being held up by the shoulders and lower back. This is related to:
rooting（扎根）
sinking qi to the dantian（氣沉丹田）
force rising from the feet（力從地起）
connecting the upper and lower body（上下相隨）
It improves proprioception（本體感覺）
The feet and ankles constantly sense pressure, balance and changes in direction. Relaxing them progressively makes it easier to notice exactly where unnecessary tension begins.
If someone simply hears “relax the whole body,” they may imagine that they have relaxed while the toes, calves, kua or shoulders remain tense. The step-by-step method is therefore a form of body scanning（身體掃描）.
Why not relax the whole body simultaneously?
Ultimately, you should. Advanced song（鬆） is whole-body and nearly instantaneous. But beginners usually cannot distinguish:
relaxation from collapse（鬆與懈）
softness from loss of structure（柔與散）
sinking from squatting（沉與蹲）
releasing the ankles from letting the arches collapse
Progressive relaxation is a training method, not the final goal. It teaches the nervous system to release each section without losing alignment.
A useful way to understand the stages is:
Sequential awareness（逐節覺察）: feel and release one area at a time.
Connected release（節節貫串）: each release influences the next joint.
Whole-body song（整體鬆）: the entire body adjusts together.
Song within movement（動中求鬆）: relaxation remains while stepping, turning or receiving force.
One important refinement
Do not actively push relaxation upward with muscular effort. Instead, establish the feet and allow tension to dissolve progressively upward. At the same time, imagine:
the crown gently rising（虛領頂勁）
the tailbone settling centrally（尾閭中正）
the feet receiving the weight
the joints remaining open and responsive
Thus there are two complementary directions:
The structure is suspended from above; the weight settles downward; the connection grows upward from the ground.
In partner practice, the ideal result is that an incoming force can travel through the relaxed joints into the ground, while your returning peng energy（掤勁） rises through the same connected pathway. If any section—especially the ankle, knee or kua—locks, that section becomes a break in the chain.
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