Wuji (無極) Positions & Zhan Zhuang (站桩) Applications for Classical Wu Style Taijiquan

The Wuji Form and application of Zhan Zhuang will now be presented. 

Authored by J.B. Milne and Stephen Hwa, Ph.D.

Authored and edited with audio and video presentation by J.E. Roach

Breathing will be done naturally. 

Here is the audio of this written explanation:

Wuji explanation 

Here is the written explanation of Wuji

Zhan Zhuang for Taijiquan Practice. The Wuji Positions allows the practitioner to relax the mind, while, adjusting, aligning, and balancing the body to produce correct postures. Zhan Zhuang Training, on the other hand, strengthens the tendons and ligaments, aids in balancing, teaches the muscles to relax, and identifies weaknesses not noticed while practicing the Form. This is important in helping to identify the proper placement of the heel and weighting of the empty foot. 

The Square Form of Classical Taijiquan, brush knee movement (on both right and left sides) is being used to illustrate how Wuji and  Zhan Zhuang can be applied at those stopping points for each position. Applying these training methods in addition to form practice will help the student in developing strength and proper form. Wuji is defined as nothingness, the beginning before intention and movement. Wuji is discussed in many Taijiquan Books written by both practitioners and masters alike. These writers mainly address Wuji in the Preparation Posture and/or the Closing Posture of the Taiji Form. As such, most readers are left to believe Wuji is only accomplished at the beginning and ending of the Taiji Form. However, this is not so. Wuji is practiced during every posture, that is, every posture begins with Wuji, moves into Taiji, and returns to Wuji.

Zhan Zhuang (standing like a stake, standing like a tree) Training is a way to relax both the nervous and muscular systems simultaneously. This is accomplished by combining exertion and relaxation simultaneously. Breathing is done by inhaling and exhaling gently through the nose while keeping the mouth closed and relaxed. The chest, stomach, and hips are in a relaxed state. Zhan Zhuang helps with the identification of the energy flow in the different positions and trains to keep the localized nerve activity dormant (Forum 6); as well as, strengthening the yin side of the posture for strong rooting and building power (Forum 7). There is no set time limit in Zhan Zhuang Training; however, the seasoned practitioner has been known to hold the positions in excess of twenty minutes. Some have claimed to be able to hold the positions for hours. It is important to remember, that as the tension builds in different parts of the body, to tell yourself to relax. (RELAX, RELAX, RELAX) Start with short time frames and increase the holding time slowly.

Here is the movie:

Wuji movie  "Right side"

Wuji movie "Left side " 

Here is the audio mp3 of the instructions:

Wuji audio instructions "Right side"

Wuji audio instruction   "Left side"

Here are the written instructions for "right side" Wuji:

(Instructions for "left side" Wuji are to be found in "Wuji instruction left side" above)

1) Beginning of Brush Knee Push Step

The right foot is flat on the ground supporting the body weight completely with the right knee bent slightly.

The left leg is straight without any pressure on the knee or left heel, left toes are extended as high as they will go, giving a slight stretch to the back of the leg.

The tailbone is tucked in and the head is stretched up by the neck muscles.

The shoulders are relaxed and the elbows are pointing down.

The palms are facing each other at shoulder width, with the right fingers pointing to the front and the left fingers pointing up.

Notice that a straight line could be drawn between the crown of the head, passing through the ear and knee to the right foot.

2) Transition one

In transition one, the only change to the beginning position is the left arm is held across the body with the palm facing down.

3) Transition two

In transition two, the only change to transition one is the left toes are touching the ground. All the weight is still maintained on the right foot.

4) End of Brush Knee Push Step

In the end posture of Brush Knee Push Step, both feet are flat on the ground with the left leg supporting the body.

The right leg is straight with a stretch between the Achilles Heel and the back of the neck.

The right palm has rotated to face front, thumb in line with the nose, and the left palm has moved across the left thigh.

Notice that a straight line could be drawn between the crown of the head, passing through the ear and knee to the left foot, as well as, between the right ear, right shoulder, and right knee to the right foot.

"....Classical Wu Style Tai Chi with other martial arts..."

Master Hwa's Florida "Roots"
"Mastering others is strength": There is no end to the use of strength and there will always be others who are stronger, others who can learn to counter your strength, others to compare yourself to, in light of what is said in the Blog, why engage in such comparisons, there is only one of you however, "Mastering yourself is true power". 

"How can such a soft, slow moving Tai Chi Form be preparation for martial arts?". I guess some people missed this chapter in Master Hwa's book, for he says this and then explains.  At about 4:30 of the video we hear even a long time student repeat the same refrain:  "How does Tai Chi fare against Brazilian JiuJitsu?". You can hear the  refrain echoed in a thousand Youtube Videos and in those same videos you will sometimes hear the fighting  capability of the individual asking the question. Speaking only for myself, I have never been bothered by this question AND for myself there are far more important questions I ask of Master Hwa.  I flew to Florida over the weekend of May 11 (the Jet Blue tickets were my birthday present from my wife Barbara) and spent a great, long weekend visiting with my teacher Master Stephen Hwa and Eva.

After I wrote thank you emails, I sent a hand written card of thanks to Master Hwa and Eva for their wonderful generosity and hospitality.  While I was there, he would come to the apartment at least 2 times a day and spend hours at a time with me on my form, one might say I lived with him.  We also ate all our meals together, we took walks together, the training went on nonstop. I asked question after question about my form and he never wavered in giving answers about my form.   I had hour after hour to both question and do my form for him.  Not once in all of that time did I think of saying: "How does Tai Chi fare against (insert your  martial art)?" 

Perhaps it is because I finally realize in my heart, there is no end to it and more importantly, I cannot put an end to it...for it truly is endless.  How do people miss hearing him say: "There are no winning strategies, applications, etc. (insert your martial art), there are only winning executions of those strategies, applications, etc."? Listen to  4:30 of the video in response to: "How does Tai Chi fare against Brazilian JiuJitsu"?   Here is the link to the Youtube video from a workshop in 2011: "...Classical Wu Style Tai Chi with other martial arts..."


Master Hwa: "You know this is all individual. You know, we practice the form and we can reach a certain stage and this is called Mastery. You know you can learn and do the form so that every move is internal, that you don't have to think (about what comes next) . You know at that stage, you are mastering the form, BUT with martial art application, there will be no mastery.  With martial art applications there is endless improvement.  So it's harder to compare one to the other.  "

"You know when the first Tai Chi master  went to Beijing most Tai Chi was in the countryside, and people don't know that much. So he went to Beijing, liked to challenge people and beat up everybody. So he went to one master there and wanted to challenge him, "Oh, I know you are better than me now" the master said.  The challenger said "Please let's just do some". He just wanted to try it out on other martial artists.  Sincerely, not to just build the name, so he begged the guy. "Let's do something"

"So in that sense, at that time, he beat up everybody, there is no other martial art that can beat him, Certainly at that time, consider your knowledge, that is another thing, people do not know about Tai Chi. So people may not have developed a way to counteract it."

"Now if you know Tai Chi like in the fight between Wu Gong Yi and the other guy. Now both sides know each others art very well.  Now, I'm sure they both develop a strategy to counteract the other guy's strength. Now the other guy, if you watch the video (click here for LINK). Now I know (pointing to Jim) you watch it many times, you find (the other guy an "external" White Crane martial art) he changed the way, in other words, he doesn't use momentum, body momentum at all. He knows the Tai Chi is really good to counteract momentum, body momentum. Body momentum, that is what Tai Chi is really good at.  And he just chopped away, just using his arms, so there is no body momentum...remember that? There was just a flurry of arms without any body momentum. Certainly in that way, he cannot develop all the power and so forth. At least he tried to avoid being thrown by the Tai Chi. In that case Wu Gong Yi is not using Tai Chi, you cannot blame him, because the guy is not using body momentum. 

So at that time (and even today on Youtube) people are saying how come Wu is not using Tai Chi?  So he is not using Tai Chi and so everytime, he has to block.  So he is using this (side of the hand)  and hitting him (on the arms) and after awhile.  So after awhile, the guys arms got tired because the muscle got hit.  So he, himself, goes in and hit his nose (he walked into Wu's blocks and his nose started bleeding profusely).  You cannot blame him for not using Tai Chi because the other guy does not use body momentum (he moves, I move, if he does not move, I do not move).  So the guy did this with his arms and Wu did this to block him, block his chops. One of his hands he cannot raise or something."

Delivering AND receiving force can help OR harm your health

Master Hwa tells me that he receives a lot of discussion after people see his DVD’s and the Youtube videos.  During a recent workshop he talked a bit about this and the question which seems to be central to the discussion:  “Can I incorporate internal discipline into MY form”?  I have “incorporated” some great deal of what he said on that subject in this blog and it is almost verbatim.

“Can I incorporate internal discipline into MY form”? Now there is a question that shows practitioners want to get into the real “nitty-gritty” of the movements and not just have ethereal discussions or talk of whether MMA can beat Tai Chi, etc.   He also talked about this with me when we shot the DVD called “ Tao of Martial Applications”.  

The conclusion is one really cannot “incorporate”, like some have asked this , even those who do Wu Style.  At the time of the initial discussion on the DVD, we really did not pinpoint why you cannot do this. Why can’t one incorporate internal discipline into other people’s forms?  

He tells me that  when he  wrote the book  “Uncovering the Treasure” and  he had to rethink this discussion,  he  found that you really have to have the correct body structure to incorporate the internal discipline into other people’s forms. The reason why people cannot do this is that they have the wrong body structure.

There is also a misunderstanding of not only what is wrong with their structure but also what is  the most important component of the  body structure. This most important component  is the forward lean and it is really central to the discussion.  It is so important to your health that  one has  to constantly insure the body structure is correct. Outside practitioners do it  with the body perpendicular and the spine is compressed too  much.  The correct way is to lean and stretch out the body. 

He wants all of us students to experiment with  variations from this leaning posture.  One variation is certainly bending your back and making yourself perpendicular. Now you do not have the stretch.  Another variation is to turn your rear foot, like most practitioners do, 90 degrees to the side.  You do not have the stretch here either.  Another variation is to raise your rear heel.

As I do these experiments (very carefully) myself I am reminded of my many early days of studying “Yang” Style, “Taoist” Style.  In those studies, I recall vividly and somewhat painfully how my knee pains were a result of turning that rear foot 90 degrees to the side. It seems now as it did then that this conclusion was not a result of “rocket science”.  Yet, there seemed to be no teachers who would agree with me.  Perhaps it did not bother those teachers who had started Tai Chi when they were 6 years old.   One wonders how long they can continue down that path however.  Like the great dancers who started (turning out the feet) when they were young and speak now in their middle age of aches and pains in the joints.  I have met a few who tell me they are grateful for this  body structure where one does not turn out the back foot.

Sorry, I digress but  the second point besides the stretch is that the body weight has to really be on the front foot during the forward lean.   If you shift back a little bit, you lose some of the stretch.  So with all of these slight body posture variations, you will not achieve the result.

  

Also, we usually start going to this posture from a sitback posture.  If we do not lead into the leaning posture correctly, we do not achieve the stretch.  To lead correctly, the front foot pulls with the abdomen pushing in to itself, the “internal discipline” of the movement.  Once you reach the endpoint, you naturally have that stretch.  A variation of this is to do it incorrectly by pushing from the back foot and you will not reach the “endpoint” correctly.   The corollary is when you have the stretch, you feel like your body is connected as well as stretched from the top of the neck to the heel.   You feel that you have no break in the stretch, when you stand perpendicular, you have a break in the small of the back.

Now when you are stretched like this and there is a force coming at you that force will go down to the ground without absorbing in the middle of the body.   If you are perpendicular, the force will absorb in the middle of the body and likely hurt your back. Also, if you hit someone from leaning and stretched, the rebound force will go through your body and into the ground, not so if you stand perpendicular.  So the stretch becomes/is the indicator that your body is the right posture for both delivering and receiving the force.

This is really more important for the health viewpoint, this forward stretch.  If you give more work through stretching thusly, lower back problems will gradually improve.   If you tuck your chin in , you also stretch your cervical vertebrae.  It is good for cervical spine problems to stretch in this manner.

 So this is almost a central theme that you will be able to have your energy transfer from the neck down to the heel.  The energy can flow through the middle of the body without stopping at the spine. This will just transmit all the force to the ground.  Do you see how this lean is such a very important component of the body structure?

Your Tai Chi "Roots"

The Blog article "Your Tai Chi Roots" is found at classicaltaichi.blogspot.com and (along with many articles) is located at the upper left corner of the page  Other sites of interest include www.classicaltaichiofbuffalo.com and my teacher's great site at www.classicaltaichi.com.

In   (search at Amazon.com) the book   "Uncovering the Treasure" by Master Stephen Hwa, he makes reference to a peculiar phenomenon that occurs when one demonstrates Tai Chi Form to students. "...their attention will always be attracted to the upper body movements first and neglect footwork."  As a teacher I make it a point to address this issue and I take measures to pinpoint their concentration back to footwork.  In both the figurative and literal sense, Master Hwa refers to footwork as "...the foundation of movements."

 I get much inspiration from my annual trips to the wondrous Adirondack Mountains and forests of NY State. In hiking the many trails of the Adirondack Forest each Summer my attention is honed to a laser sharp point.   I speak of the many twists, turns and never ending obstacles that one comes across in any walk.  As just one example of maintaining concentration,  one is forced to  watch for the obvious and not so obvious  "roots" in the ground but one has to also keep the upper body relaxed.  The upper body has to be kept relaxed with hands and arms able to fend off rebounding branches, and if you are walking a dog there are additional concerns.

In the "Tai Chi Walk" exercise (see this link to video) students get a first lesson and a truly visceral understanding  on how to delineate between what is moving and what is still in the body.   Please go to www.youtube.com/parea10 to see this video as well as many others.  This is none other than the delineation between Yin and Yang for a student's first experience.  As Master Hwa states: "This is the first lesson on how to keep clear a differential between the energized and the relaxed parts of the body working side by side".  The problem in both the Tai Chi studio as well as on the Adirondack hikes however, is that most people  find difficulty in keeping the upper body relaxed.

In traversing over those many Adirondack obstacles I find many appropriate "lessons":  Proper body posture, proper foot position, proper body weight distribution as well as learning a very unique walking dynamic.  In other words, "roots" are excellent teachers and always give good lessons.  I sometimes take this methodology into the Tai Chi studio, having students step over objects placed on the floor but doing so only using Tai Chi Walk. Thus bringing our "roots" for training into the studio as well.

The important characteristics of the "Tai Chi Walk" exercise are trained:

• Use core power for the movements of the legs and this encompasses lifting and stretching the legs.
• How to keep one's center of gravity under control.  One does not revert to "controlled falling" which is the mainstay of the everyday, common walking movement.
• One learns to pull the body forward or backward and not push with either leg.
• This last characteristic involves using the "contractive" power of the core.  Specificially one contracts the lower abdominal muscles and pulls with the lead foot to move the body.  
• This characteristic is sometimes described as a sensation of feeling the entire body "sucked" forward or backward with no accompanying and overt sensation of muscle strain in the legs.

What is "normal" in our everyday life is not the norm in the internal movement of Classical Tai Chi.  It would be difficult if not hazardous to walk through the Adirondack woods in the manner that one walks around a city environment. Rushing here, rushing there, speaking on a cell phone, not watching where one is going, smoking, drinking while moving,  etc.  I illustrate the problems associated with "controlled falling" (everyday walking) as a teaching methodology for the "Tai Chi Walk".  The problems as I see them are:

• Normal walking pushes with both front and back feet to provide for movement but it also "...engages both feet stuck to the ground until the body completes its move".  
• This is commonly referred to as a form of "double-weighting" and besides being an entirely "external", not an optimum body position and it does not qualify as a "Tai Chi" movement.
• One's center of gravity is not under control.  The "controlled falling" of everyday walking can often spiral out of control with the individual losing their balance and sometimes falling.
• The loss of balance in such situations, for instance,  can partially be attributed to the uncontrollable momentum force that occurs in a body that walks very fast.  One often sees this at street corners when people "lurch" off the curb in their zeal to get places in a hurry but do not concentrate on what they are doing at the time.
• One certainly does not want to add to the incoming force of an opponent that is coming at you by pushing your own body back with the front foot do you?  In Classical Tai Chi, this push is sublimated by the Tai Chi Walk training and one "pulls" in order to adhere or stick to an oncoming opponent.  This allows you to neutralize the oncoming force and not be bowled over as the front heel (not pushing) acts to also absorb some force.
• Certainly "pushing" with either front or back feet is "natural" for us ever since our parents encouraged us to stand up and walk.  In Tai Chi paralance however, the "push" is further developed in what is referred to as Large Frame Form.
• Everyday walking with the "push" motion is always the culprit when one slips on ice and falls.  The scenario is always where one lands the weight on the front heel with the back foot pushing off on the toe.  This is the template for disaster.  Using the "pull" eliminates these kinds of mishaps.

I encourage you to adopt the Tai Chi Walk as the overwhelming favorite to replace "Everyday (controlled falling) Walking".  Keep the "characteristics" of Tai Chi Walk in mind but you do not have to walk as though you are actually doing a Tai Chi lesson...this would be a bit sillified.  The object is to generate internal movement, that is powered by internal energy but controlled by internal discipline.  I find that I now do this on my everyday long walks with my family and our dogs.  One of the keys to doing this is "keeping the weight back" in order to control things. The Tai Chi Walk is truly both the literal and figurative path where one takes the "first step of a thousand mile journey".

The "Tai Chi Classics" have some glaring mistakes

Video excerpted from "Tao of Martial Applications DVD series Volume III"

Recently a question arose in the Yahoo Email Group of Classical Tai Chi regarding the statement:  "Every movement in Tai Chi Form has to have 2 complementary sides of the body, a moving part Yang and a stationary part Yin. When the yin-yang junction is located in the torso of the body, it is an internal move.  When it is outside of the torso, it is an external move." This statement has we have said before was the most important statement made by Wu Chien Chuan to his student Young Wabu. You can find this statement on p. 2 of the book "Uncovering the Treasure" by Stephen Hwa Ph.D. and it is available at Amazon.

The statement was challenged by someone who asked: "Can someone please explain to me how this conforms to the classics of "when moving, there is no place that does not move". "When still, there is no place that is not still".  He continued by saying "The statement about 2 complementary sides, moving Yang and stationary Yin sounds like a broken posture as how a force can pass through the body, if it is not working together as a unit, moving as one".

Master Stephen Hwa has written the following response on October 6, 2011 to the question and challenge, the video above provides an illustration  of his major points about holding the body still while executing a movement that sweeps the leg of the opponent. The video very graphically shows how the movement only works if the nonmoving side of the body is held very still.  Further information about the "Sweeping Movement" is contained in the topic  "The Concept of Yin (nonmoving) and Yang (moving)" on pp. 50 - 51, "Uncovering the Treasure" by Stephen Hwa, Ph.D.

Tai Chi Classics

These Classics started became known in the 1930-40s when book about Tai Chi started to be published in China. These writings reported in those books are a collection of short works attributed to different authors from Chang San-Feng to anonymous authors. Even though their authorship cannot be verified, they are considered to be the holy writ on Tai Chi. They do contain some insights and principles of Tai Chi; but also some glaring mistakes.

How is that possible that both good and bad could be contained in one work. My suspicion is that there is more than one person involved in the writing as we see now. One of my ancestors in the fifteen century wrote a collection of short poems. We have the original hand written manuscript which we published three years ago. During research, we discovered that these poems have been published six times over the years. Many of the published poems are identical to the manuscript; but some have been altered – the later version has more alteration than the earlier version. Apparently, these publishers exercised their poetic license trying to add what they thought a better wording. This kind of alteration is very common in old writings in China and also in the west, such as the bible. The church has devoted inordinate effort to select an acceptable version of the bible.

Two major mistakes in the Classics are: "when one part moves everything moves" and "The jin should be generated from the legs". The later was discussed in Forum 11.

During our last work shop in Buffalo, I warned everyone that you would be challenged by "when one part moves everything moves" when you talk about Classical Tai Chi in public Tai Chi gathering. So you better be prepared. First of all, any martial art move depends upon rooting, there will be a nonmoving part of the body attached to the ground to provide the rooting. Only external martial art which uses push off to generate momentum to attack can qualify "everything moves". In addition, some of these rooted moves, the requirement of nonmoving is very dramatic. During one of the Jou Tsung Hwa Birthday Celebration Gathering ( David Brown was there), I demonstrate this point by asking audience to do a leg sweeping move by standing on one foot and sweep the other leg and move their body with it just slightly. I heard many "ouch" sound from the audience. Then they do the same move while keeping the side of the body above the standing foot still. There was no pain in the knee and delivered a much more powerful sweep.

I think you all need to keep this demonstration in your pocket. Because, you will need it in the future.

Stephen Hwa, Ph.D.