A Bumblebee cannot light or leave it...

 

 A Bumblebee cannot light or leave it

A video

Some folks, and some Tai Chi aficionados, say the precision of the Classical Tai Chi Square Form is more Robotic than their own Tai Chi. Actually, "more is better" because the differentiation of localized impulses (recognize your random and/or uncontrolled movement) in the body while doing Square Form is easiest to make when the stimulus (that square form provides) is smallest. 

In my take on the Tai Chi Classics, if I hoist a 50 lb. barbell over my head, I won't feel any "differentiation" if a bumblebee lands on the barbell. If I am holding a piece of ribbon, I would feel the "difference" if the bee landed on the ribbon. The same thing happens when I hear, see, smell, etc.  If someone with a blaring stereo in their car pulls up next to me, I can notice a change in the music's stimulation only when they lower the volume; the change is really significant. This is a physiological law, and it also applies when the stimulus is minimal to start; only then can we detect small changes.

As precise and robotic as they appear, the movements of the square form are actually small in their own right, articulating at the joints as they do.  This stimulates the student's senses with their "smallness" and increases sensitivity to movement, which can translate into better movement in the Round Form.  In other words, Classical Tai Chi Square Form is not stimulating the whole body as much as ”run of the mill” Tai Chi is wont to. The Square Form thereby “puts a lid” on localized impulses that result from unbridled, and, for beginners, most often random, movement, manifesting as changes in their movements. 

With square form, one can observe the effect the movement had on the sides of the body, neck, shoulders, pelvis, and more. One also has the opportunity to make corrections and improve overall body structure.  Observing those changes will lead to decreased muscle tension in the body; this is called the delineation of Yin and Yang, which moves and what does not move at any given time.  

The effect on the brain is a reorganization of the motor cortex and tuning of the nervous system. If you take a moment to analyze the body at the start and after the square form, you can feel that certain portions feel weightless; one has achieved relaxation.  Again, differentiation, or "delineation," works best with a small stimulus. Now we begin to see that the saying "... when one part moves... the whole body moves..." in the Classics is merely an observation of incorrect, unhinged movement, NOT an instruction on how one should move.  After all, an infant will move an arm, and the whole body will move. Human beings naturally get additional neural synapses as they mature. One reaches for the coffee creamer and hopefully, their entire body does not lurch out of the chair.