Enough Pain to Quit

 

                                                     

Square Form

an instruction video

 

Welcome!

 

Subject: 

 Why the Square Form Practice is the Ultimate Shield Against Knee Pain (Chondromalacia Patellae, which is what I suffered and was diagnosed with after doing “other tai chi” for only 1 1/2 years, in, ahem, 19_ _.)

Hi everyone,

Ever wonder why Classical Tai Chi Square Form is so meticulous, distinct, and block-like? It isn't just an educational blueprint—it is a highly scientific shield for your joints, specifically designed to prevent chondromalacia of the patella (runner's knee).

Chondromalacia of the patella, as a Sports Medicine M.D. told me, is caused by the kneecap tracking out of alignment, grinding against the cartilage, softening it, and creating pain. Pain enough to want to quit all Tai Chi. This usually happens due to two errors: knee buckling (inward twisting) and over-extension.

Quite honestly, Master Stephen Hwa is the only teacher out of 5 over the “other tai chi” first 25 years to now in the second 23 to give empathy and explicit attention to how, why, and what my stance is doing. Sadly informative, but he visited me and visited the “other”.  In a conversation, he confirmed what I had painfully learned. No one corrected beginners when it was obvious their derrières were sticking out all over the place. A setup for knee injury!

Here is exactly how the Square Form fixes this:

No Simultaneous Twisting and Loading:

In the Square Form, we never turn the hips while transitioning weight across a bent knee. Weight shifts and rotations are strictly separated. The knee stays safely locked in its "hinge" plane.

Flawless Tracking:

Because every step has a clear beginning, middle, and end, we can consciously verify that the kneecap's center is pointing precisely toward the toes. This balanced tracking stops cartilage wear dead in its tracks.

Offloading Joint Pressure to the Core:

By cultivating internal discipline and using quarter-body mechanics, we learn to move from our core and hips rather than relying on our knees as brakes or levers.

Let's keep paying close attention to the stillness, that “pause” between  transitions this week. It is exactly where your knees are being protected and rebuilt!

Happy training,

Jim

Better with Fingers

INDEX FINGER TOUCHES WALL AS YOU WALK

Is Classical Tai Chi walking the best example of a starting point for neuromuscular re-education?

Classical Tai Chi walking is an excellent foundational example for neuromuscular re-education. It directly trains the central nervous system to abandon habitual, momentum-driven movements in favor of deliberate, hip-driven weight shifts that connect the limbs to the core abdominal and back muscles.

Core Neuromuscular Principles in Classical Tai Chi

• Core-Driven Movement: Instead of using the leg muscles to push the body forward—which can cause tension and spinal misalignment—the technique uses the abdominal and lower back muscles to pull the body forward as the legs step gently.
• Weight Independence: It teaches the central nervous system to keep the body weight settled on the back leg until the front foot is flat on the ground. Only then is the weight smoothly transferred.
• Proprioception and Balance: By moving extremely slowly, you train your brain to continuously monitor your body's position in space. This improves single-leg stability and spatial awareness.
• Muscle tension and Joint Health: This pulling mechanism stops muscles and joints from jamming together. It promotes myofascial decompression, making it highly effective for relieving nerve pain (such as sciatica) caused by poor daily walking habits.

Is it the Best Starting Point?

It is one of the most effective examples, but whether it is the "best" depends on your baseline mobility.

• The Pros: The style emphasizes the torso's internal principles rather than the limbs alone. This ensures that the entire kinetic chain—from the feet up to the spine—is engaged.
• The Caveats: Yes, the training relies on internal discipline, but some beginners and those recovering from injury may find it challenging.

Practitioner Perspectives

Practitioners note that this method involves delaying weight transfer until the foot is fully grounded and using the core to pull the body forward. This approach has been shown to relieve chronic issues such as sciatica by opening tissue, much like a bowstring is drawn.

Anyone recovering from injury may find classical tai chi walking challenging. For these individuals, a simpler, slightly higher-stance approach with a finger on a wall for support is recommended.

The finger is not a crutch.

Using a wall for support is an excellent way to modify Classical Tai Chi walking, especially when recovering from an injury or building foundational stability. Rather than a crutch, a single fingertip serves as a proprioceptive anchor—sending subtle feedback to your brain that helps your nervous system feel secure and maintain balance.

How to Practice with Wall Support

• Keep it High: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, keeping your knees slightly bent but higher (more upright) than in a classical low stance.
• Rule: Place only the pad of one finger against the wall. Do not lean your weight into the arm or press heavily.
• Prioritize Mechanics: With your stability anchor in place, you can safely focus on slow, deliberate weight transfers (shifting from empty to full feet).
• Heel-to-Toe: Step forward gently, placing the heel down first before rolling the foot flat.

Additional ways to use the index finger on the wall for walking 

In Classical Tai Chi, the index finger serves as a critical feedback tool to connect the upper and lower body. When walking along a wall, use the index finger to check alignment, transmit internal power to the extremities, and cultivate a continuous internal pathway.

Additional ways to utilize your index finger on the wall include:

• Serratus Anterior Activation: Serratus anterior activation targets the "boxer's muscle" to stabilize the scapula, improve overhead mobility, and prevent shoulder impingement. Press your index finger lightly into the wall while keeping your shoulder relaxed. Focus on separating your shoulder blades and rib cage, creating an opening in the back to establish a structural connection between your arm and your core.
• Testing Structural Integrity: Instead of pushing off the wall for momentum, press the index finger to verify that your force travels all the way down into your legs. If your elbow or shoulder is tense, the connection breaks. Use your finger to ensure your weight is properly sunk and guided by the waist.
• Finger-Wall Pivoting: With the index finger touching the wall, practice turning your waist. The finger provides a stationary focal point, forcing your internal energy to rotate naturally through the fascia and connective tissue, rather than muscling the turn.
• Sensing the Jing (Internal Energy): Lightly trace a line (horizontal or vertical) with the index finger to coordinate your step. This movement trains you to move the entire body as a single unit—with the movement originating from your core and expressed through your fingers, without independent arm movement.

Conforming to Classics

Sweep the Leg 

Questions arose in Classical Tai Chi regarding the statement:  "Everymovement 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 as 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 wrote the following response to the question, 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 dramatici. 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.

If Annoyed you are Forcing it

 

How to do Internal Video

The process of learning and development in  Classical Tai Chi is one of being wrong a lot, with corrections you don't immediately understand. Being annoyed is natural, but it also hinders progress.

That is a spot-on assessment of Stephen Hwa’s approach. In his "Classical Tai Chi" (which emphasizes the internal movements of the Small Circle), the learning curve is notoriously steep because it demands a total rewire of how you move your body.

Here is why that "being wrong" phase is so persistent—and how to handle the frustration:

1. The "Internal" vs. "External" Conflict

Most people start by moving their limbs. In Hwa’s lineage (from Young Wabu), the movement must start from the core (the "Dan Tian" and lower back) and radiate out to the limbs. When you get a correction like "don't move your arm," it feels nonsensical because your arm clearly just moved. What the instructor really means is "don't move your arm using your shoulder muscles; move it because your torso rotated."Understanding that distinction takes time for the nervous system to process.

2. The Micro-Correction Trap

Because Classical Tai Chi focuses on "internal squareness" and precise frame alignment, a correction might be about a half-inch shift in your hip or a slight tuck of the tailbone. When you’re told you’re "wrong" for the tenth time on the same move, it’s because you're likely using compensatory movements—muscles jumping in to help. After all, the core isn't strong or coordinated enough yet. [1]

3. Why Annoyance Hinders You

• Physical Tension: Frustration triggers the "fight or flight" response, which tightens the very muscles (shoulders, neck, thighs) that you are trying to relax (Song). You cannot feel internal mechanics through a wall of tense muscle.
• Mental Narrowing: When annoyed, we tend to focus on the result (getting the move right) rather than the process (feeling the connection).

A Better Mindset

Instead of viewing corrections as "being wrong," see them as "data points for your nervous system."

• Accept the Lag: There is always a delay between hearing a correction and your brain actually being able to "find" the muscle required to fix it.
• The "Slow is Fast" Rule: Stephen Hwa often emphasizes slow, deliberate practice. If you find yourself getting annoyed, it’s usually a sign you are trying to "force" the Tai Chi. Back off the intensity, breathe, and let the correction sit in the back of your mind rather than trying to conquer it instantly.

It’s essentially a process of unlearning old habits, which is always more frustrating than learning new ones. 

Yes it’s DIFFICULT

Difficult but here’s a Square & Round Form Intro. 

You are absolutely right. Learning Tai Chi sequences as an adult can feel like learning a complex dance in slow motion while also trying to solve a puzzle with your feet. Unlike "gym" workouts, Tai Chi relies on proprioception—your brain’s ability to know where your limbs are in space without looking at them. 

Here is why it is uniquely challenging and some science-backed strategies to make the memory "stick."

At first, the most difficult aspect of learning Classical Tai Chi is learning to remain still while moving, or more broadly, the mental and physical challenge of developing internal discipline

(moving from the core) rather than relying on external force. 

This difficulty arises because it requires breaking long-held habits of using shoulder and arm muscles and instead engaging deep abdominal and back muscles to drive movement. 

Key Difficulties for Beginners in This System:

• Remaining Still (Stillness in Motion):As noted in Master Hwa's training method, the square form trains the yin/yang principle where movement in one part of the body requires stillness in others. Teaching a student to stay "still" is often harder than instructing them to move.
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• Shifting to Internal Power: Beginners mistakenly try to use external, muscular power (legs and arms) like in other martial arts, which Hwa notes makes them weaker and slower.
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• Understanding the "Square Form":
• Beginners must first master the slow,, precise movements of the "square form" as a blueprint, which acts as a foundational training method to teach internal discipline before progressing to the "round form".
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• Mental Focus: It requires immense mental effort to re-engage a long-neglected nervous system in the torso (core). 
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The ultimate goal, which is difficult to master, is to integrate the limbs with the core so that internal energy circulates continuously throughout the body during form playing.