Contract Abdomen for Internal Energy

 

SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF YIN AND YANG IN TAI CHI 

A video link

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐰𝐚 “𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝” 𝐦𝐞 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐞 “𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞” 𝐛𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝. 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 “𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐄” 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝.

𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐚𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐢 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 “𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭”

𝐓𝐨 ( LEARN TO ) 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬:

 . 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝟐𝟓% 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐦 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐏𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐨, 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐦'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ( DO THAT TO SIT, AKA STRETCH DOWN TAILBONE, AKA SACRUM, COCCYX )

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐦.

Synonym for Tailbone

A synonym for tailbone is the coccyx.

• Coccyx: The small bone at the end of the spinal column, also known as the tailbone.

Other synonyms include:

• Tailbone: Directly synonymous with coccyx.
• Coccygeal bone: Another term for the tailbone.
• Small of the back: Refers to the lower part of the back where the tailbone is located.
• Lower back: Describes the area of the back below the ribs, which includes the tailbone.
• Lumbar spine: The lower part of the spine is adjacent to the tailbone.
• Sacral region: The area of the spine that connects to the tailbone.
• Lumbar region: Another term for the lower back, including the area of the tailbone.
• Lower spine: Refers to the lower part of the spine, which includes the tailbone.

Low back: Describes the lower part of the back, which includes the tailbone.

Square Form is Good "Labor"?

Classical Tai Chi Walk 

https://youtu.be/Sf8Xd68wmmE?si=YJPA7J_6xx2F8O5m

 

Classical Tai Chi Square Form

 https://youtu.be/9_9hGbClAP8?si=4yYCdWqq-BVZr5b1

 

 Dear Master Hwa, 

This letter is a 2025 update regarding your request for a dialogue on the subject where you wrote: "I have been experimenting with different scopes of teaching, which is extracting certain parts of our art that are suitable for certain segments of the population, such as the elderly."

From visiting and participating in your class in Florida, I picked up on a few "parts of the art" that can be helpful for the elderly population. It cannot be denied that one of the "parts" has to be how we can use the "Classical Tai Chi Walk."

I cannot help but think what I experienced participating in the "walking exercises"  with the huge class. I saw a variety of "gaits," some of which I believed were abnormal, but since I was participating, I could not zero in on specifics. I have to say, however, what a treasure it is to have a normal gait and not be afflicted by an abnormal gait that may even be there because of some disease. 

One of the things I like to do with our class at the University is use a long corridor (which we have access to) and watch students come and go as they walk normally up and down the hall. This method seems to give me a better handle on bridging the gap and introducing walking later.

I can't help but think that an instructor of classical tai chi can benefit from some preliminary observations of what their class is capable of or not capable of in an everyday environment instead of taking a "one size fits all" approach. As a side note, some major Universities publish documentation that dozens of abnormal gaits are associated with various disease states. 

As you say:

"Our concern is that different categories of potential students could benefit from learning our tai chi. However, different categories of incoming students have different objectives of learning as well as different capabilities of learning. One learning path can not fit all."

I must also say that writing this made me think of how good the Square Form Walk is for everyone. People walk the same way for years, for good or bad; in older people, the years become a multiplication of those movements. You have such an excellent point about the foibles of bad, mistake-ridden Form practice for years. 

Finally, “robot tai chi” is sometimes used mockingly when people see a Square Form. Imagine if the word 'Robot' was replaced by the word "Labor" because that almost happened by the person who coined "Robot". I discovered something and it is from the Facebook Group “Slavic Languages”.  Hence, the Square Form might well have been referred to as "Labor Tai Chi"? :

As a word, robot is a relative newcomer to the English language. It was the brainchild of a brilliant Czech playwright, novelist and journalist named Karel Čapek (1880-1938) who introduced it in his 1920 hit play, R.U.R., or Rossum’s Universal Robots.

  In an article in the Czech journal Lidové noviny in 1933, Karel Čapek explained that he had originally wanted to call the creatures "laboři" (meaning 'workers' from Latin labor), but he did not like the word and sought advice from his brother Josef, who suggested "roboti".

 

 

Isles of knowledge in Seas of ignorance

 

       Wu Chien Chuan and Young Wabu

Barbara writes:

While watching a 1995 International Wu Style Federation Convention video, I heard a speaker refer to "lao jia" and "xin jia." From the translation, it appeared these referred to the long form taught by Wu Chien Chuan and his son, Wu Gong Yi. The speaker said he had studied with both and set out to describe the differences, which seemed to be mainly differences in depth of stance-he kept using Drop Stance (Downward Posture, Snake Creeps Down) with a deep drop as an illustration of "lao jia,” As a student of a student (Young Wabu)of Wu Chien Chuan, Master Hwa seems to be in about as good a position as the speaker (whose name I didn't catch) to comment on this.

As I understood it, the difference between "Lao” and "Xin" is mainly a difference in how much external exercise you want to supplement the internal or whether you're looking for a practical fighting form or a showier one.

Pictures of Wu Chien Chuan doing Tai Chi suggest that he did drop his stance with a fairly deep drop, at least for the camera, but did he do it that way even in his last years? Would he have done it that way in free sparring?

Master Hwa's response:

I listened to that "speaker" and could not believe he said that. Just because he was taught "large frame" by Wu Chien Chuan when he was a teenager, he thought that was all Wu knew! If he felt that when he was a teenager, it's excusable. But now, in his old age, with all the published discussion about Wu's prowess at Compact Form, he still thinks that way. He is truly clueless. Unfortunately, this kind of person saw a master play one style and immediately assumed that it was that master's style or that family's style who had muddied the water about the history of tai chi. Prime examples are:

Yang Ban-Hou had other teachers besides his father, Yang Lu-Chan, so his style is different from his father's. "Large frame" or "large circle" is the hallmark of the Yang style, ignoring that several Yangs are known for their zeal for compact forms, such as Yang Shao-Hou, brother of Yang Cheng-Fu. 

This reminds me of a Chinese saying, "sitting in the bottom of a well trying to figure out how big the sky is." You are right. What they did for the camera was not representative of the style. During that era, printed pictures in the book had inferior quality (I have several such books), and it wasn't easy to see any details. If a pose was in the compact form, it probably showed very little of what was going on. Master Wu's pictures are all in huge frame style. As told by one of Wu Chien Chuan's students had an interesting story in which he asked Wu why one of his tai chi photos had the wrong posture. Wu said that the photographer had told him to do it this way. The story shows that these masters did not care about their photographs.

My teacher, Young Wabu, described how Master Wu could stick to the opponent during sparring, keeping the opponent constantly out of balance. This is the epitome of tai chi martial arts. It is formless, an abstract of all the training he had gone through—leg power from a "large circle," internal power from a "small circle," movements from form practice, sense and touch developed during push hand and sparring exercise, etc.

"

Why we explain “Internal”

 Here’s Why Explaining What We Do In Classical Tai Chi is So Important 

The Introduction of the book points to a complete sourcebook on finding the route to Internal Energy and how to achieve it. 

Uncovering The Treasure: Classical Tai Chi's Path to Internal Energy & Health

by Stephen Hwa

 

“There are so many books, classes, and styles of tai chi today. There is talk of internal energy in many of them, yet the definition is vague, and the route to achieving it is left unexplained.”

Master Stephen Hwa: “Jim, they cannot explain because they don’t do Internal”!

Master Hwa and I share our decades of doing and teaching Tai Chi. I have more than my share of teachers—a better word is rule enforcers—who don’t like to explain how to achieve Internal and why and likely will not/can not. 

Why Not?

I have my educated Tai Chi from Master Hwa because they “…do not do internal…”! 

My experience with several unsuccessful questions about “Internal” over 40 years leaves me wondering why people are “…vague…” I am left to think it is because they are egotists. It seems to reason that when people refuse to explain by being vague, they show they are more concerned about themselves and wanting to appear dominant rather than furthering the other person’s understanding. 

 

 It's called Proprioception, which is EVERY part of your body's ability to sense movement, action, and location. It's present in every muscle movement you have. For classical tai chi, it means "every muscle movement". Yet, there is Yin and Yang to delineate in muscle movement.  It includes the core and the delineation of what moves and what does not move. The Tai Chi Classics and scores of teachers neglect this and opt for "Metaphorical Tai Chi". The vagueness of the term "internal energy" in the Tai Chi Classics and "run of the mill" Tai Chi teaching reflects how it is conveyed through metaphors, philosophical principles, and "...push with your leg, turn your hip... at best. It is metaphorically qualified, rather than precise technical explanations, as a specific, quantifiable form of energy. A detailed scientific explanation of the underlying mechanics is indeed what we have with Classical Tai Chi.

Here is a polite way to ask when faced with "vagueness": “Could you explain to me why those definitions were put in the first place? They don’t make sense to me and if I understood it would be much easier for me to  follow the route and achieve “Internal”.