Video Link
A
student some time ago asked me via email: "How does the second
generation of Wu's family change the posture from the original upright
posture of Yang's Tai Chi to a straight lean?" Perhaps one answer is to
ask why ask this question before you practice instead of practicing and
finding the answer for yourself? I
was thinking about what you said on "lean" in the forward posture. As
we know very well, there is indeed much commentary as you say along with
youtube video. I decided to look up exact definitions of
English "lean". Then I said why not look up what Chinese translation of
"lean is" and so...I find it ironic that other Tai Chi has so much
commentary from allegedly reading the Tai Chi Classics and
interpretation of Chang San Feng's edict to not "lean". Yet the
simplified Chinese translation is 靠 or kào which in English is
translated as "Lean" using a striking force with shoulder or body. The
irony is "lean" is one of the 8 postures that Tai Chi is noted for. Also, the very same postures that they tout as needing to be done in the "perpendicular".
Hi
Jim: "We just have to continually plug at it. To change the
preconceived thinking of such a large portion of the tai chi
practitioner is a herculean effort!"
It's interesting that I once compared the “sit back” of postures to the action of a “Slinky”. I reiterated this to students and they thought it a mere humorous analogy. It is important to remember there are no static postures in Classical Tai Chi. What the skeptics fail to reckon is the pelvis will both lengthen and contract continuously with correct sit back. There are numerous videos that demonstrate the movement of a Slinky and it is a perfect analog for continuous extension/contraction.
Of great help in using the core is relaxing the waist. The nitty gritty of Classical Tai Chi lies in the control how, when and where the core turns and the body shifts.
In the Tai Chi Classics: "The source of command for all movements lies in the waist". This really implies waist relaxation but the question is how? For this we must learn to allow to droop and vertically sink the rear of the body, namely the buttocks. The picture of the derriere not protruding. To droop the buttocks is to allow the buttocks to sink vertically so that they do not protrude.
As you sit back, lengthen the tailbone toward the floor, which helps "open the back" and release tension in the lumbar region. This creates a neutral pelvis position—neither overly tucked nor arched.
Most of the students I have taught in Classical Tai Chi come to the discipline holding the hips in a position where the buttocks are in an anterior tilt. What is an "anterior" tilt? When I ask them to stand with their back to a wall, they readily see that the small of the back is usually an accentuated curve, an anterior tilt. It is, of course, unintentional that the hips are positioned in this manner. With this, the waist is very tight and difficult to turn freely.
It was finally with my own personal study of Classical Tai Chi that I found how essential it was for the hips to be tilted forward, which is called "tucking" the pelvis or a "posterior" tilt. In the world of Tai Chi "stances", or "frames" (the size of things), Classical Tai Chi is incredibly compact but is the poster child for the cliché that good things come in small packages. The tailbone is stretched down in a process in which the spine is stretched both downward and upward if the rules about "stretching the head" are followed correctly. When I have my students stand with their backs to a wall, they readily see and perhaps for the first time, that the small of the back can be straightened. Taking one hand and sliding behind, the student said they could not move the fingers between the back and the wall. The video link shows Master Stephen Hwa doing exactly what I describe.
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