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.
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