In the introductory video I mentioned that the imagination plays a big part in the tai chi chuan form. Today a relatively new student, but with experience in a different martial art, asked if we tense up muscles during the form, other of course than the leg muscles supporting our weight.
I had never considered that. My first thought was to the yang moments in each movement, when we “energize” or “wake up”. No, we do not tense our muscles, but as we imagine strikes and blocks, with practice we come to feel an increase in power being delivered to the hand.
Is that purely imagined, or truly feeling a subtle activation of motor nerves sufficient to trigger feedback from the proprioceptive system?
Fall asleep, wake up
One way Master Chen likes to convey the yin-yang of the form is to play act handing someone something — keys, money, whatever — then hesitating because of doubt that the item really is theirs. The head tilts in thought, the proffering hand withdraws a bit, the fingers close around the item. Then he decides he was right the first time, and his whole being commits to the delivery of the item. The head rises, the eyebrows raise, the hand and fingers extend. We all recognize that difference, and can feel it just by play acting.
Take your mind off, then focus.
Have a doubt, then become certain.
Fall asleep, wake up.
The Real Punch
Before looking at punches and blocks in the form, let us look at a real fighting punch.
The entire body is relaxed but ready. This is one thing we can cultivate in the form: staying completely relaxed while at the same time thoroughly alert and in control of our body alignment, so a sudden explosion will direct all its power to a point we observe, such as a chin.
When that target appears, we suddenly contract all the muscles trained on that attack. But these are in the legs and core, and just enough in the triceps and shoulder to bring the arm to an extended position perfectly aligned with the core and base so that the power from the base will drive the hand forward.
Where’s the punch? Master Chen always said, the arm just takes the impact. The impact is of the hand backed by the straight arm backed by the core powered by the core and legs.
If we are arm wrestling the arm muscles do a lot of work. In a punch, the arm muscles just get the arm into an extended shape that can take the impact because it is straight, or connected in arc to the core.
The arm muscles themselves do not contribute power to the strike. Now the form.
The Form Punch
In the form, when it comes to punches and other strikes or blocks, I like to hold a strike until an imagined moment when I would see my target and explode with fa jing. I love the mighty river metaphor, so I hope the sudden, imagined explosion is only imagined, but I fear sometimes a small acceleration sneaks out.
Anyway, when the yi (the self, the awareness) says “go”, the punch is released. Slowly. Just as a real punch does not tense the arm to punch, the imagined punch has a relaxed arm sailing out driven by the back driven by the waist and legs. A few muscles straighten the arm, but that is no more work than overcoming the inertia of the upper arm and forearm. I imagine the hand is a missile free of its launcher, with my skeleton unfolding like an umbrella to the final shape, with a smooth arc of skeleton connecting hand to foot.
Only when the hand strikes does everything come into alignment. Ironically, there is nothing now for the arm to do but hold its alignment. The punch is pure power conveyed from foot to hand, with the striking power only in the contracting core and legs. In the form we move slowly, imagining the fa jing while concentrating furiously on the shape and alignment of our skeleton, so there is little power. But everything else is in place.
The only thing missing from the form punch is the striking intent provided by the yi.
Learning Feedback
Learning requires feedback. How can we feel a solid punch delivered at form speed?
Just listen. The proprioceptive system, especially I guess the skin mechanoreceptors, lets us feel the directness, alignment, and simplicity of a punch. Our goal is to feel one experience, a single arc of the hand from unthrown to thrown.
One trick, and how Master Chen taught me to punch, is to stand in the “thrown” position, with my hand on the heavy bag or just an imagined chin, and then unthrow the punch by collapsing in one folding motion back into a fighter’s crouch. Hmm. Interesting. Why could I learn from unthrowing what I could not learn from throwing?
Learning the Punch
I struggled to learn to punch. But starting from a thrown punch and running it backwards worked. Not sure why, but it might be that we know very well how to shut down. Just let go. Starting from a thrown punch, with legs now extended a bit, torso turned a bit, arm extended fully to the target, we just let go and settle back into a starting position.
And now we can feel the path of a good punch, because a punch simply reverses the collapse.
Pro tip: Master Chen’s specific trick was to have me assume a thrown position, then put one hand on the glove and, with his other hand, just lightly press down on the elbow.
No arms. Just take the impact.
This started with a question. Do we tense the arm muscles?
No, the upper body should relax. We will conserve physical and psychic energy. The power of the strike will come from the legs and core. The arms just absorb the impact.