Patience =Ting Jin 聽勁

With their fingers lightly touching the inside of his arm, Tom and Al are sensing both the presence on the outside forearm and lack of tension on the inside forearm in Master Hwas arm as it is pushed. Clench your own fist as tight as possible and notice the tension in your arm. Make both of your fists tight. Now push down your tight arm with your other tight  hand. Difficult right?   The student in red shirt is not aware that he is tight.  In fact, he is so tight in the arm, he does not notice his posture is leaning the wrong way.  Now make a loose fist like Master Hwa and repeat the push with the other loose hand. Easy right? Do you see how easy it is to sense the movement when excessive force is not in the picture?

In both cases the arms had Ting Jin. On a percentage scale Master Hwa had more “sensitivity” to touch however, much as your own loose fist did.  Yes, one can literally force someone's arm down with excessive tension but with sensitivity that force can be redirected. Ting Jin literally translates to “listening energy,” but this “listening” occurs through tactile and kinesthetic awareness during physical contact. As described in the principles of Classical Tai Chi, it is the ability to sense an opponent’s force, direction, balance, and even intent before movement becomes visible. This is achieved through relaxed, connected body structure and mental focus—conditions that allow minute changes in pressure to be detected and interpreted.Now let’s talk about how to develop “Ting Jin”but it takes patience. Oh and by the way, Master Hwa was using internal discipline from the core not “ordinary force” in the arm to fend off the students push.

My first Tai Chi teacher in 1976 was a Clinical Psychologist who frequently told me he was looking for another line of work. In my opinion, his comments on beginners were pretty indicative of impatience. "I'm not going to teach that guy Jim, but you can", "Well, you did a good job teaching him, at least now he's walking like a human being", etc. 

On the other hand, he was very knowledgeable about Tai Chi and quite articulate in teaching it; he just had no patience for teaching.  When I first started with him, he wore a T Shirt that said "Patience?", "Patience, my ass, I want to kill something".  It was a graphic of 2 buzzards talking to one another in a tree while they gazed on some grazing animals.  Out of 7 students that started, I ended up being the only one left in his class. There was a lot of impatience back then, but I think there is even more today, as I see the revolving door firsthand.

Regarding joining, un-joining, aka revolving door:cc

The quote, "The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones," is attributed to Confucius. 

Mountain = Large Tasks, 

Small Stones = Manageable Tasks. 

Patience + Continuous Effort = Achievement; Still feeling paralyzed? Focus on the first “small stone”, e.g., Turn Your waist as the first internal discipline (9-minute video, done by Master Hwa in the previous post 

https://classicaltaichi.blogspot.com/2025/10/part-2-videos-teach-internal-discipline.html

A small start builds momentum for learning, and some success makes “Mountain” (overall goal) seem attainable. 

Caveat: Do not keep your eye on the Mountain, keep your eye on the Small Stone. One might well say students with an eye on external signs of success rarely have the patience to succeed. 

Being the first stone, it will still teach the practitioner patience. In that 9-minute video, it not only teaches patience by teaching “LISTENING”, but the practice itself teaches patience by requiring individuals to listen to their bodies, let go of tension, and move with intention rather than force. “Listening" in the context of Tai Chi firstly applies to your movements, and you learn it for yourself before : 

** Ting Jin (聽勁)**, which translates to "listening energy" or "listening force". This refers to the practice of developing heightened sensitivity to sense an opponent's energy and intentions through physical contact, a skill refined in (Pushing Hands) exercises.  It's about being present and accepting the process, even when mistakes occur or progress feels slow. 

I believe Master Hwa is right in thinking that his desire to shorten the learning curve might be viewed with a disapproving eye by old masters.  After all, they believed in diligent practice and self-discovery. Master Hwa is well aware of this concern and relates it to Mencius story about a farmer who was impatient watching his seedlings grow so slowly that he went to the field and pulled the seedlings up to help their growth.

My understanding of the story is that the pulling up to see the results resulted in the plants dying. Intuitively I think that Mencius wanted to illustrate that successful cultivation of personal virtue was a long term process.  It is a satirical thought indeed that anyone can be impatient for success yet act to destroy the very conditions upon which success depends, or hastens growth yet hopes for success. 

Here is one discovery that I have made:  The desire for success is a self imposed obstacle to success. As a Westerner, I think I have self imposed things standing in my way that make living Tai Chi very difficult.  I know that I am not immune to the many feelings wherein one needs success and needs it in a hurry - in things other than Tai Chi as well.  So the question of what Tai Chi can mean to me particularly in light of these self imposed roadblocks is ever more important. 

 Although Master Hwa feels the need to shorten the learning curve, I don't think he should ever regret it.  I hope I am not being too bold when I say that Tai Chi has had a difficult time in the West. For one thing the ground that he planted Tai Chi "seedlings" in is as I say,  in the West.  One might also say that it is needed very much in the West, but the ground is not the most fertile considering the obstacles, albeit self-imposed . If anything I think his efforts to shorten the curve were necessitated by forces that may well be difficult to control as I state above.  

I have encountered no other Tai Chi learning  as he teaches where students are taught to zero in on the correct sensation of a movement.  I have found that this is truly the best tool for achieving self-improvement.  One learns to sense the gradual discoveries of their own body which have been "under ground" for perhaps their entire life - how can this be called "pulling up"?  The health implications of this are incredible for the sensing of gradual discoveries is a direct pointer to how well the nervous system becomes both healthy and well "tuned".  One doesn't have to look for results, one can feel them.

As one practitioner noted, "There is no point in pulling on a tree or a flower as they will not grow faster. It is better to give them the right conditions for development and to observe them grow peacefully".  This is a mirror of Mencius. The obvious question here is : If you cannot have sensitivity to your own movement, how then to an opponents?

https://greatnewspodcast.com/36-quotes-on-taking-action/

Small v Large Circle Tai Chi

SMALL V LARGE VIDEO 

Classical Tai Chi is Small Circle/Frame Tai Chi. I once asked my teacher: “Master Hwa, my own students have asked me why their Yang Style or Wu Style, Large Circle/Frame Tai Chi, could not integrate 'internal discipline' into their 'Large Circle' Tai Chi? He was very succinct and said, “No, it cannot because of the mechanics.”

I will explain the mechanics:

Classical Tai Chi emphasizes "Internal Discipline”, where movements originate from the internal core—the abdomen and back—rather than from the limbs, which distinguishes it from external/large circle styles of Tai Chi. 

This distinction is analogous to a tree swaying in the wind: In Classical Tai Chi, the movement comes from the trunk (core), causing the branches (limbs) to move as a result, whereas in external styles, the branches move independently, without a deep connection to the trunk.

In external styles, actions like pushing forward in “Brush Knee & Push” are initiated by the arm and shoulder, making the shoulder the junction of the segmented or yin-yang—essentially, an external movement. 

In contrast, Classical Tai Chi uses the abdomen and back to move the entire upper body, placing the yin-yang junction within the torso, which defines an internal movement. 

Similarly, when one takes any step in external Tai Chi, the reliance is always on the legs, and the hips provide a junction. When one takes a step in a (external) large circle, it is in a Large Frame. It is a large frame, which means a large step size. Internal Discipline will not work with large steps and arm movements. 

Classical Tai Chi delivers the mechanics that only the core of the body can offer. Taking any step is a mechanical asset controlled by the Torso. Internal discipline of the Torso (Core) provides energy to lift the pelvis. Movement of the pelvis is driven by the core lifting the pelvis, which then lifts the leg, keeping the upper body still and maintaining the junction in the lower torso. One could not take a larger step using those “mechanics” of the body.

This internal approach requires segmented movement—moving one part of the body while keeping another still—much like a pianist who moves one finger while maintaining the others relaxed, illustrating the importance of segmented motion. Ask yourself this question: How can you keep something still in the body when taking a large step that naturally moves the whole body? 

In fact, in speaking of the large circle, the Tai Chi Classics state that "when one part of the body moves, every part moves, and when one part is still, every part is still." My teacher told me “…the classics are considered holy writ yet they have some grievous errors…”.  The “…when one part moves, every part moves…” is one of those errors. 

Large Circle styles often employ the coinciding movement of several body parts. People move, even swing their arms in large arcs, while they push with their legs. This will hinder the flow of internal energy at the joints. 

In Classical Tai Chi, minimizing external motion allows internal energy to circulate unimpeded through the torso, enhancing both health and martial effectiveness.

Part 2 Videos teach Internal Discipline

“THE” Entire Video

This is a nine “9” minute video with transcription below of a small part of the entire video above. 

A Nine minute video 

Take a look at video and transcript for this,Master Hwa says :

“Let's first examine the Belt Buckle Position. Notice that when I make a turn, pay attention to the position of the belt buckle here. When I make a turn to the left, my belt buckle position turns to the right. If I'm going right, the belt buckle position shifted to the left. So the twist is right over in this position. So, again, I'm using the abdominal and back muscles to create this twist movement in the core.

As you can see, the situation is much more complex than what the video reveals. Secondly, the core muscle, especially in the abdominal area, comprises a complex arrangement of muscles that work together to control movement in various directions. There is no way a teacher could tell you how to use a specific set, and you will not be able to segment your muscles into different pairs and control them. 

Therefore, the teacher cannot teach you, and you will not be able to control it; thus, there's no way for you to learn by starting from the internal muscle area. The only way to learn internal discipline is from the outside in. So, let me explain what 'outside in' means.

You learn external movements, know them correctly and precisely, and have the body posture or skeletal structure in place, so you practice them that way day in and day out. 

Gradually, your non-responsive and dull core part of the muscle starts to respond to the external movements. Gradually, it will fall into the right track with the external movements. Eventually, the internal movements and external movements become unified into one. Because a teacher can teach you the external movements correctly, and you can try to do them correctly. Although this often takes a long time because people have bad habits, they cannot perform the movements correctly. Due to their previous poor habits or posture, they struggle to maintain correct body posture. 

So, that's usually quite time-consuming for many people to correct their earlier habits so they can performexternal movements with the proper body posture, but at least it is teachable. You could learn from it becauseit's all these external things you can understand, and that is precisely how all the masters teach internal discipline.

That is how master Wu Chien Chuan taught my teacher, Young Wabu. Young Wabu taught me in that way, using the square form and the round form. Now, let's take a quick look at the square form. Historically, the square form was taught only to the inner circle of students who were groomed to be the heir to the master's martial art dynasty. These students were typically the master's family members and a select few outsiders who served as apprentices to the master. 

There are several reasons that the square form was not taught to the general student body. Indeed, one of the time constraints is the availability of both the teacher and the student, as learning the square form is very time-consuming; it is also a severe test of the student's perseverance and aptitude.

Square Form Criticism: Many taiji practitioners criticize this form of square form as too precise, mechanical, and robotic. Yes, it is, and we need that for many reasons, but especially for training internal discipline. You require that because your training initially reveals your core body as unresponsive to your demands. It is dull, it's not very sensitive. Consider how you train a dog. Your training method must be precise and repeatable for you. If you have a wishy-washy training routine, you are never training the dog to the checks, so you have to be exact here. Instructions must be accurate and repeatable. 

Let's take a look at an example of how we train walking in Taiji. Taking a step involves using internal power to move forward, which in turn enables us to take another step. Walking: Example-you bend your knee, lift the foot forward, and put down the heel without the body moving forward, while the body still stays back. 

Now, drop the toe by tilting the pelvis. Otherwise, if you don't tilt your pelvis, your body will shift forward when you drop your toe. So drop the toe, and the body stays back. Now you use the core muscle while pulling on the front foot. When the front foot bends, you bring the body forward. Now, you can see this movement; it's the internal core muscles in action. Most students have the bad habit of their bodies shifting forward when they put their foot down. If your body has already moved forward, you don't need to use the internal core. 

The other one is pushing with the leg instead of pulling and using the core. Instead of pulling on the front foot, students push with the back leg slightly. Even a slight push, and you are not utilizing the core muscle. You are using the leg muscles to push the body, and that's an external movement. You have to use the internal core, and you cannot push. These are the bad habits that may already exist when students come to learn, and it is tough to correct. So, in the small circle square form, we use the external movements to induce the internal movement to train the internal movement.”