the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Structure without softness means the bigger, stronger guy with better frame dominates
Softness without structure means the bigger, stronger guy with better frame dominates

WSJ used to refer to the 63rd trigram, Jiji, hard and soft inter-penetrated. You absolutely need both.

In the way in which I was taught, this corresponds to the hard work initially of jibengong building the right shenfa/ frame. This, done properly also develops softness, folding of the joints, rotation etc. but it is not stressed at this stage. Once you start to develop the softness a bit more deliberately you find that this sort of training has already been working it into your basic movement patterns. It also means that you are used to both expressing and receiving force so that the softness isn't "empty" (in the bad sense of the word )

Walk the Torque wrote:When I began learning Yang style tai ji our teacher made us learn large circle pushing hands with an accent on frame and solid structure. We would practice with resisting power to test our structure, balance and rooting; so we would take on a lot of pressure from our partners. We would also transpose this quality to applications, practicing hard blocks and quite aggressive wrestling. Our teacher said it was better to learn the yang techniques first so that we had something to base our softness on.

I used to get a lot of critisism from other styles for practicing this methodology; with comments about being too hard and what not, but I think it helped immesurably in learning the basics of tai ji.

I'm just wondering how many Tai ji guys here had a similar start up to their training.

When I started to push, I was taught to stay as soft as possible without collapsing. Light but song. We didn't always do it, of course, but that was the goal. Gradually, we began to incorporate more power and now it is a balance of softness and force. In my view, one of the most important early lessons of pushing is Ting Jin. This only develops from being very light. Later comes following, sticking, neutralizing, discharing, and so on but all of that is of little value without the listening. Consequently, I always teach to be very light in the beginning. I think it's easier to learn to listen, then add the other skills, rather than the other way around. Not necessarily "correct" but my preference, based on the principles as I understand them.