Silk Reeling and "The Upper Body Turning Movement"

Master Stephen Hwa speaking of the quarter body movement, half body movement and upper body turning at a workshop 2011, Buffalo, NY.  The video is here:  "Upper Body Turning"

In speaking of Silk Reeling another movement is the “turning” movement.  You keep the pelvis fixed and you turn. The buttock is fully engaged actually.  The buttock function will keep the pelvis from not turning.  So when you are turning up there the buttock is holding the pelvis.

As usual, with this one, I find more people have problems when you teach this. The problem is getting the shoulder away from the turning movement. If the shoulder has even a little bit of initiation in the movement you lost it. Don’t use the shoulder.  Everything is in here (core, lower abdomen).  The shoulder is just a slave following the movement.

Anybody have any questions on this turning movement.

“Do you practice with a tuck”?

Yes, because the buttock is involved.  You feel the buttock is energized and holding the pelvis.

“Master Hwa, at the end of the turning movement, is there a sense of a denser contraction that is happening”?

Well, a lot of places you feel the contraction. When you turn in this direction, without moving the pelvis, your buttock is supporting you.

“When you change direction, does the new direction take over?”

I guess, initially it is relaxed back to the neutral position.  

You can do it either way.

You could relax to the neutral position or you could energize back to the neutral position.

You probably want to energize back to the neutral position.  Because when you have an application you may have to energize any segment of the turn.  So you want to energize back to the neutral position.

I think you want to energize so you are intentionally turning back, rather than just relaxing back.

Try to get the shoulder away from any of the movement.

I notice on this side, you get a little bit of drop of the shoulder.

Good, very good.  Do you find how much energy is involved in making this movement, compared to  turning at the pelvis…because it is moving at the abdominal area.  So this is another silk reeling exercise.  Boy the beginner just eat it up.

“Well it is something they can do”

They can feel, and they feel somewhere they never have sensation before.

"Six Harmonies" start with the core in Classical Tai Chi

The Youtube Video link. On behalf of Edward Hunter regarding his comment on Youtube:

"In Wu Tai Chi the movement starts with the hand. Elbow 

follows hand. Shoulder follows elbow. Hip follows shoulder. 

Foot follows hip. That is the way of natural movement. Chen 

is wrong. Yang is wrong. Wu Tai Chi teached with hands 

following the feet is also wrong."

Sifu JR said, Hi E.H. You hit a bell with a rather large stone, so my response is appropriately significant, thank you:

Thank you for the comment. I see that you are a student/teacher in a "branch" of the Wu Tai Chi style; I am as well. I was also a student in another "branch" for many years. That branch "turned the hip" as opposed to "turning the waist"; they "started the movement with the hand" as opposed to "mobilizing the extremities from the waist." One "branch" within the Wu Style raises their arms very high above their heads; Classical Wu Tai Chi does not do this. I will not argue the point from the perspective that one is right while the other is wrong; I would have my work cut out for me in doing so.

However, you imply that if something is natural, e.g., "natural movement," then it is somehow good, thus suggesting that what is unnatural, e.g., "unnatural movement," is terrible. This characterization of "natural" presents many problems. I am sure that even if we agree some things are natural and some are not, what follows from this? Nothing. In other words, I do not see facts presented to support that what is "natural" movement is good (right) and what is, by implication, "unnatural" is bad (wrong).

Do you state that "movement starting with the hand" is valid to the extent that all other schools are wrong? You say some schools, even within the same style (Wu in this case), will start the "six harmonies" ( 1)hand follows 2) foot, 3) elbow follows 4) knee, 5) shoulder follows 6) hip by using the hand first. In this case, I see you are from the "Wu" school. I also see that you do not mention the use of the core, the "hands" connection to the core, the feet, the elbows, etc.

Stating about the "six harmonies" being "wrong" as presented herein Classical Wu Style is not sound. Simply stating the premise that "movement" is "wrong" because it is not "natural" does not make or present facts to make it "wrong."

There are, however, certain observable things that one can take note of: Here, in Classical Wu Tai Chi, the movement does not start with the hand; it begins with the waist. In using the hand to begin first, one uses an extremity of the body. Whether in Classical Tai Chi or any Tai Chi, it is initially reducing or draining off some of the power of the movement, as the action is not connected to the core.

Tennis players, baseball players, golfers, etc., use an external action first with the arms/hands, then it is connected to the core, presumably for power, once the arc of the swing reaches the proximity of the core. However, using the hands/arms first does not mobilize the core of the body before the fact effectively, for it is the core itself that should be used to mobilize the hands, arms, and legs. After all, we are talking about Tai Chi for health and martial purposes and not baseball.

Hand and arm movements in and of themselves are abstract; when not connected to the core of the body, they lack strength and cannot move in a relaxed manner. Excessive hand and arm movements in Tai Chi make hand and arm movements merely extraneous.

By using the hand first and thus allowing the arms to move independently of the core, you compromise the movement and diffuse the neuromuscular signals for the body's core even to respond.

Using the hand first, you place the junction for the delineation of yin and yang (what is moving/ what is not moving) somewhere in the area of the elbows or shoulder.

Using the hand first creates a disconnect right where the shoulder meets the core.

Using the hand first you are short-circuiting and disrupting the flow of "qi," placing the disruption somewhere in the hand/elbow/shoulder…there is no circuit completion of qi flow through the core to the arm…It only begins in the core when the hand leads the arm, which engages and stretches the shoulder, which is connected to the core. In other words, it stops and then begins at the shoulder. Qi is also going where yi goes. After a move from the core, however, the qi should flow to the arms and hands, the majority of internal energy should continue to circulate in the torso until needed.

Using the hands first in Tai Chi almost sounds like the same way typists, and piano players use their hands. As we said, this disrupts the flow of qi between the body and fingers. Using the core first ensures that the localized nerve activity of the hands/arms remains dormant and lets the qi from the body take over. This is a good reason to learn the square form of Tai Chi so that a practitioner can get used to movements with steady arms and hands without localized nerve impulses.

Wu Chien Chuan himself told Yeung Wabu: "Every movement in Tai Chi Form has to have two complementary parts of the body, a moving (yang) part 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 the torso, it is an external move. This is the key to a methodology that enables Tai Chi practitioners to mobilize the body's core for Tai Chi movements to generate internal energy and internal energy circulation. I have done Tai Chi from both sides of the coin, hand first, waist first, and the latter is the most powerful. Try doing this yourself using the waist first and keeping the hand still, and you will see the difference in generation of power.s

The problem with overdoing it in Tai Chi

For beginning and advanced students, the task is to place and keep attention on the body's core.  I repeat the word several times to indicate the mental discipline necessary to do the job.  Attention, attention, attention, etc. Whether newbies or oldies, a student will still face the same task. Nevertheless, I have seen many give up, likely because of frustration with the process.  It is very daunting to keep attention on the body, and it is as though attention itself has a mind of its own, not to be pinned to any one thing. This "attention," however, is not of the "go for the burn" mind on cruise control variety.

Here is some of what Master Stephen Hwa has to say:  "For the beginner, the difficulty lies in the mental discipline in which all attention has to be concentrated on the core region."

This is primarily the case from my experience and what I hear and see from my students.  There are a few other problems I would like to mention:

A student states they are experiencing soreness in the abdominal area from practicing.  From what I can gather, this is from doing the silk reeling exercises.  I advise you not to go after repetitions as it is a contest to see how many you can do. The object is to simply feel the stretch and energy flow, key words, "simply feel", not to engage in trying to strengthen the core like a sit up or crunch.  The difference in the latter is one of building muscle for muscle sake, in the former it is to tune the nervous system so that it can move the extremeties from the core.

What happens when you do too many repetitions, an overload of silk reeling, for instance, is that you get a sore abdomen and a sore back.  Since muscles do not exist in a vacuum and operate under the laws of science, you can overload your nervous system. This is called spiking the nervous system. We get high spikes and then drop back to lows. We are getting a sharp rise and an equally sharp decline of the nerve signals. It is a logical question, then, as to what the setpoint might be with such continuous highs and lows. Is the setpoint geared for continuous relaxation, or is it geared for continuing stress?  Additionally,  as we said,  in classical tai chi, we look to maintain attention to the core.  If we lose our attention, whether by inattention or stress to the nervous system, completing the Tai Chi form brings us to attention once again.  Ideally, it is as though it is wired into the subconscious to facilitate this process.

When we practice Classical Tai Chi, we "tune-up" the nervous system.  The highs and the low signals are smoothed out so that the signals remain even and evenly flowing.  After all, the movements are even and evenly flowing, very rhythmical. The mind begins to relax more and more during form practice or silk reeling since the subconscious mind takes over the task of remembering what to do.  So, ease back on the number of repetitions and instead learn to enjoy the sensations of stretch, warmth, and tingling at the areas that move during silk reeling. This is developing a feel for what we are doing, but we are also engaging the nervous system, just as we would engage any muscles. Over the years of doing Tai Chi, my nervous system has responded to the practice best.  My muscles and metabolism have reacted, but the nervous system has learned and strengthened the most readily.

As I stated before, Classical Tai Chi is not a go for the "burn" as fast as you can system.  As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite, for the nervous system thrives when training is done at a low level of intensity.  Look at what happens with the Square Form, for instance, with its deliberate pauses between movements. This contrasts with our almost built-in desire for power and more power by sweating, exerting, and straining. The nervous system also thrives on variety and not overload.  Since we offer a variety of silk reeling exercises, the curriculum is ideal for providing such variety. In other words, there is plenty for you to use to tune up, say, doing 20 repetitions of 5 different silk reelings instead of 100.  Advanced students can learn to use the individual postures of the form as silk reeling, thus increasing the variety once again.  In "Uncovering the Treasure" by Stephen Hwa, Amazon, you can read more about tuning up the nervous system.  Enjoy your "tune-up".