people who are rooting experts

[ninepalace]

this came up in the ben lo thread but i think it's worthy of it's own thread.

have you ever met anyone w/ a very strong root who did not do a lot of standing? i haven't yet. but if you have, please tell me how.

[middleway]

umm ... only person i can think of is Mikhail Ryabko. He showed some interesting rooting skill and i dont think they do alot of standing practice. But it was like he just absorbed the force into himself and it didnt go anywhere ... not really like he was rooting down...

Cheers
Chris

[Dmitri]

A few people; my teacher is the closest one.

Standing is not the only way to get there -- just a way.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

standing post, is part of a method to achieve stronger rooting skills.

solo rooting is not the same as when interacting with others. NOt in execution, not in feel, only really in theory.

you cannot know your rooting ability until you test after working with a method.

having said all that, I don't know anyone who knows how to root who has not done both solo and partner practices in their method.

some people may just have a natural ability to sink as well, but with more methodical development, even those folks can improve.

[somatai]

akuzawa......i do not believe that he does zz

[ninepalace]

A few people; my teacher is the closest one.

Standing is not the only way to get there -- just a way.

can you tell some other ways besides push hands and mud stepping?

[Dmitri]

Depends on the art you practice. In taiji one of the main things is the form (and of course PH and other two-person work.)

The bottom-line rule for development of "root" (in the IMA sense, at least as I understand it) is "mind moves the body", i.e. one of the key things that make IMA "internal", in my book.

Basic rooting (while standing) can be taught rather quickly (about 15 minutes), but the "real" rooting (the one that doesn't depend on your physical structure as much and that you can maintain without problems while moving and under pressure) takes time.

FWIW

[DeusTrismegistus]

A few people; my teacher is the closest one.

Standing is not the only way to get there -- just a way.

can you tell some other ways besides push hands and mud stepping?

I haven't done a whole lot of standing, I can root pretty well. I think forms and practicing simple stepping patterns and simply shifting weight back and forth goes a long way to developing root.

[Muad'dib]

akuzawa......i do not believe that he does zz

Not anymore, but I am pretty sure Rob told me in the past he did, but more or less abandoned it. I don't think he mentioned how long it was done.

[lars]

I have a friend who has never done any martial art. He is the bottom in double and partner acrobatics, and he is very good at rooting...

[qiphlow]

I have a friend who has never done any martial art. He is the bottom in double and partner acrobatics, and he is very good at rooting...

good point!

[ninepalace]

i should add that the best root i've tested was henry wang's. standing like you would, say, in line at the grocery store he was impossible to budge by pulling on his arm as hard as i possibly could. he was totally relaxed, not resisting my pull at all.

he also has done a lot of standing. though both he and my CMC teacher do not stand anymore. just doing the form maintains the root that they built.

[Bao]

Some interesting points here from Dmitri and Lars.

I believe that rooting is ultimately dynamic. In my world, what is essential you develop through. In TJ you try to push each other around and in SC you try to lift each other around. What you learn in partner exercises you translate into form and standing practice. It is not the other way around. The rooting which is dynamic is much more important than static. It may seem like a contradiction, but skill in dynamic rooting will lead you into a deeper and more relaxed rooting, even in a static position. For many years, I did not do any static rooting exercises, the only zhan zhuang was wuji zhuang, which is just standing meditation, period. My teacher, who has the best rooting skill I ever encountered practiced for about 30 years without knowing any other zhan zhuang except wuji stance. What I think is interesting, is that bagua and xingyi gave me a much better footwork, but it was actually sun style taijiquan which really developed my rooting to a new level. Sun style never stays in a stationary stance, it keeps the legs moving just as flowing as the arm movements. It's footwork is actually more dynamic than any bagua or xingyi I've studied.

What Lars writes about made me think about what the famous actor and teacher Stanislavskij (1863-1938) wrote about a woman he met who was an archeologist. She constructed statues from different parts they found. To be able to construct the statues, she must understand the balance of the human body, static as dynamic. The result of her knowledge was that she could easily break the balance of any any person. How strong or big she or he was didn't matter, it was an easy task for her. Stanislavskij do not mention taiji, but of course, that was what I thought about when I read his book. This is something slightly opposite to the topic here, but I think it is still similar. Balance is not a specific art - it is a knowledge which can be learned and understood in many different ways. Ultimately it is about self-knowledge and about body awareness.

[Sprint]

Forgive my ignorance but what is "rooting"?

[DeusTrismegistus]

Forgive my ignorance but what is "rooting"?

Do your friends ever comment on how difficult it is to move you if they push you while playing around? If so you are "rooting". It simply means to be very balanced and it gives you the quality of being very difficult to, like a tree.