What is kua?
May 4, 2006
Kua is the link between your hips and your thighs. That’s my basic understanding of it. But a good test of a relaxed kua is when you can’t find your kua! The tension between thigh and hip disappears. I’ve actually felt this in a teacher. But I can’t reproduce it myself. Only very rarely that i can reproduce it in a high stance (you don’t need a low stance for a song kua) and the rest of the legs hurt like hell! The good thing about that is you can feel the whole of the feet “grabbing” the ground (全脚抓地). Rooted, if only for a few seconds. I’m in the process of extending the time I can do this, and hopefully, I’ll be able to do it in other wider and lower stances as well. I’m still in the high stance.
Tai ji is a pain in the knee!
May 4, 2006
Knee pains are really common in Tai Chi. I remembered my first time (!) when I had a knee pain from doing tai ji training. It was quite frustrating especially when I asked the teacher and all the teacher said was… “yes, there must be something wrong with your stance”. The teacher might have good intentions by wanting me to find out on my own, but I wasn’t buying it. After that remark, I stopped going to his class completely…(click here for more)
It was not until 2 years later did I find the real reason for the pain in the knee. I must be really unlucky or did not have much fate in meeting teachers. I wonder if this is one of those things you hear about that “when the student is ready the teacher will appear”! I guess I wasn’t ready for a long time.
Anyway, just to hope that you don’t fall into this trap as well, I hope I can share a bit of my thoughts here on knee pain.
A popular correction for knee pain is that “your knee should point in the direction of your toes”. I’ve tried this for ages, and everytime I find my knee not pointing in that direction, I literally move the knee into that direction. This works for a while, but it’s difficult to see where the knee is in some postures (unless you have a mirror or an experienced person who can spot these things!). By the time your head moved round to see where your knee is, you would have moved your knee, thus invalidating your observation. Remember Schrodinger’s cat from your physics days? (I can’t claim I could, but visually, this theory is easy to remember just because there’s a cat involved.) So, what do you do in such a situation?
The answer to this is a seemingly unrelated aspect, SONG KUA! A lot of body pains can be related to this “song kua” but we’ll focus on the knee in this article. It’s not the knee which is pointing the wrong direction, it’s the kua that’s not relaxed enough resulting in a wrongly pointed knee! (This was such an epiphany for me at that time!) By relaxing your kua, your knee is automatically allowed to move wherever feels natural, and the natural position is the same direction as the toes! Correcting the knee itself is actually the wrong approach to solving the knee problem. Relaxing the kua is. But correcting the knee is easier to understand and teach. Because, how would you explain what the kua is? Maybe this post might help.
Another common thing I do during training is to “bounce” up and down to test whether I’m in the correct position, and whether the kua is relaxed enough. This, as I’ve just found today, is very bad for the knee! The knee is already under a lot of pressure, and you’re still adding more stress to it! When in the form, just move on, and don’t try dance half-way doing the form.
Let me know if these techniques help.
How to train longer?
May 2, 2006
I’ve been trying to train a bit longer now that I have more time in my hands. It’s not going as planned. With all the good intentions of training longer every time i stepped out the door, always end up coming back earlier than intended. Today, i tried training the very basics of standing with “song kua”. I didn’t even try a very low stance. It’s as high as you can get but to make sure the kua is really open. Apparently, as I found out today, it’s when you place your finger at your kua, you can’t actually feel any tension!…(click here for more)
I just stood there in a meditational posture, remembering also to keep the back straight. It was really tiring and when i opened my eyes (i.e. i couldn’t take it any longer), it was just over 5 minutes! My goodness… And then, the rest of the form training was more difficult because of that. Legs were just like jelly.
Sometimes, just before coming back, i’ll ask myself “can i stand the pain a bit longer”? And then the counter in the head would be “i won’t be doing any quality training because i couldn’t concentrate on being relaxed when the legs are shaking”. And then if i do come back from training.. “i could have trained a bit longer”…
All the battle of thoughts, and I’ve come to one conclusion inspired by the form itself. What do you do when you train with the form? Do you try to correct every bit with the principles as you go through it? Or do you try to go with the flow?
I find that correcting bits when going through the form very tiring. It’s like checking the dictionary for every word you don’t understand! I’ve actually tried doing this once, but you just lose interest in the whole story. After that, I end up just checking one or two words that interest me, and try to fully understand those words.
Similarly, when going through the form, you can just pick and choose a section that you want to work on and practise that section separately, trying to fully understand it. Keep the section you’re trying to practice as short as possible so that you get maximum focus.
When doing the form itself, try to remember the corrections when going through the form. But when you passed that bit that you’ve just remembered you’ve done wrongly, don’t go back. You end up losing the flow and ultimately lose interest. Force yourself to carry on. And accept that you’ve made a mistake. At least you’ve spotted it and is conscious of it. Find some way to remember it so that you can do it the next time. I find blogging helps!
So when you come back from training and feel that you should have done longer, force yourself to carry on and accept that you’ve given up that chance to do longer. At least you’ve spotted it and is conscious of it. Find a way to remind yourself that you’ll do longer the next time. Any suggestions warmly welcomed!
A great push hander
May 1, 2006
One of my teachers said, a good push-hander is someone whom you can’t test his intentions but end up being led away. With a great push-hander, you won’t even realise that he or she has led you away because it looked so effortless that you thought it’s all your fault for losing your own footing!
And what happens when 2 great push-handers meet? they’ll just touch each other (at the wrists of course) and know who’s less competent. Of course, that’s all speculation. It’ll be good to actually witness such a concrete example! Let me know if someone actually managed to arrange such a contest.
Such a contest might be boring to watch if all they did is touch for a few seconds and start congratulating each other’s Gong Fu! Maybe it’s ego at stake and they would like to give/keep their “faces”. We’ll never really know what happened. Only the push-handers themselves will know. That might be the main point though. Push hand is to test the push-handers, not a demonstrative sport. It’s meant to test your own skills, not to show others that you’ve pushed someone 10 feet away.
World Tai Chi Day
May 1, 2006
I was actually surprised when wujimon told me there’s a World Tai Chi and Qi Gong Day. It took me a while to find out that this started 8 years ago and is being held on the last saturday of April each year (it wasn’t clear from the website until i went through their PowerPoint Presentation!).
Let’s see, what did I do on Saturday. I was at an education fair learning about what courses are being offered out there. I was later in a beach enjoying the sands and the sea, doing no Tai Ji though… I’ve actually declared everyday to be a Tai Ji day, but naturally, the tendency to be lazy is always there, if only I knew it was a world Tai Chi day… nah, i don’t think that’ll help. Back to my everyday’s Tai Chi day routine.
Did anyone do anything special on Saturday to celebrate the World Tai Chi day?
Take off (your clothes) and enter – immediately!
April 28, 2006
My teacher gave me a very useful mnemonic yesterday. It’s when using 玉女穿梭 or more commonly translated as Fair Lady Playing/Working/Weaving shuttles.
The mnemonic only works well in Mandarin, so my English speaking readers will just have to remember that after guiding the opponent’s attacking hand upwards, your own attacking hand should immediately enter into the opponent’s space. It’s not a parry then punch (with fist or palm), it’s a parry (by guiding away) AND punch at the same time. In Mandarin, this sounds very much like taking off your clothes and enter immediately! It’s the age old marketing technique – sex sells!
And for the Chinese speaking readers, 托了就进。也就是说别浪费时间，脱了就进！哈哈。。。
Different people different hands
April 27, 2006
Different people different hands, sounds obvious but often forgotten. We have to treat each hand differently, that is we have to treat each opponent differently. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has their own preferences and dislikes. Everyone pushes in a different rhythm.
However the best ones have no preferences (or dislikes). The best ones will just “listen” to the opponent and adapt. The best ones understand that different people has different hands.
I guess right now i’m so far from it, I just try to focus on “song kua”. I always wonder why most push hands people i’ve seen always have a very “strong” hand, i.e. muscle more than whole body movement. A lot of them also seem intent on winning! I’m always skeptical pushing with these people because, as much as I want to learn the whole body movement, I’m very likely to be drawn into a strength contest! I guess now I understand how to learn from these people. I also have to understand that different people have different hands. That’s how I will improve!
So push with as many people as you can, but remember the principles. Let them push you around but don’t forget the principles. Just understand how to adapt. You’ll learn more that way and sooner or later, you’ll be “winning” just because you have understood and learnt from them.
Remember, different people, different hands!
Where are the good teachers?
April 26, 2006
Finding good teachers is difficult everywhere. I’ve posted this question to Jarek Szymanski who started the website China From Inside and he too relates to the difficulty of finding a teacher who can teach the basics, even in China! So where are all the good teachers then? Should we wait for the teacher to appear in front of you before starting tai ji just because you don’t want to be led down the “wrong” path?…(click here for more)
My experience with teachers has been to learn from whoever’s in the vicinity. It’s something to do with fate, if you believe in that sort of thing. It’s also a very practical approach. If the class is close to you, chances are high that you’re going to attend his class quite regularly. However, this approach doesn’t filter out the good from the bad. It does take a lot of trial and error to find someone whom you can really trust and whom you think knows his stuff.
A proxy to finding a good instructor is to look at the size of the class. The larger the size, the class is generally more well regarded. The fact that the instructor has students coming along on a regular basis must mean that he’s got something to teach.
Another proxy is to look at the diversity of the class. Diversity can be in terms of age, sex and physical attributes. If there’s equal numbers of young and old, the instruction must be generic enough to be applied to people of all ages, and yet specific enough to keep both the young and the old to keep coming back for more classes – a sign of a good teacher. Similar argument can be used when looking at the sex composition of the class or the physical attributes of her students. The more diverse the class is, it means the teacher really understands the theory and can apply it to all sections of the society.
Both these proxies work well to a certain extent. There’s also Mike Sigman’s teacher’s test (just google it, you’ll find plenty of places talking about this test) which I haven’t tried before just because I’m too timid to walk up to a teacher and say “push me”!
I find that the best teacher is always yourself! Treat all other teachers as guides to your own improvement. I use the word teacher as meaning the class instructor, the students and books you happen to read, because all can tell you what to do and what not to do.
Always question why each method has to be the case and experience it yourself. Only through self realisation that you truly understand the art that is Tai Chi. Your body actually knows more about what’s wrong than you give it credit for. Listen to the aches and pains of the body. It’s always an indication of something is wrong. Also listen for the flow and the “good feeling”, that’s also an indication of something is right. The key here is listen to yourself. Heighten the sensitivity to feel your body as you do your tai ji. Use the instruction from your teacher (be it the instructor or the student or a book) as a guide only. Until you feel it for yourself, the instruction will only remain as that – an instruction. You haven’t learnt it yet. Stay true to Tai Ji! It’s an experiential journey…
The waiting game
April 25, 2006
Do you hate waiting? Waiting for your turn in the queue, waiting for the bus to arrive, waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for the clothes to dry, waiting for the lift to open its doors while you frantically press the “up” button, waiting for the perfect Tai Ji teacher to appear? Waiting for this paragraph to end?
Personally, I don’t like waiting. So sometimes, I do wonder what attracted me to Tai Ji in the first place. As most people i’ve spoken to relate Tai Ji to slowly waving your hands and moving your legs – they can’t wait for it to be over! They’ll be thinking “what’s for dinner tonight” or “what if I don’t finish my work tonight” or “can that person stop coughing?”!!…(click here for more)
Even people who do Tai Ji regularly, when being corrected by a teacher, they can’t wait for the instruction to be over because the legs hurt! It gets worse when the teacher is correcting you in front of the class, because you’re trying to listen to the explanation, but at the same time trying to maintain composure so as not to crumble under muscle stress!!
So why wait?
One of my teachers gave me the most interesting answer. It’s a measure of Gong Fu – i.e. a measure of how much skill you have acquired throughout the years. Execution of a technique takes patience – waiting for the right moment. To be able to wait is to be able to tell your body to hold on that bit longer, to have the will power to tell your muscles that another minute is still ok.
That’s my motivation to wait. To be able to tell myself that I can wait that bit longer. To be able to tell myself that my will power is strong. And hopefully one day, to be able to tell the guy on the floor that “I’ve waited for you for 30 years, that’s why i’m still standing and you’re on the floor…” 
A spine (tingling) question
April 23, 2006
This question has been with me for a while, and when I thought I found the answer, something (or rather someone!) else always manage to prove otherwise.
I’ve been doing various styles just because I happen to be in the location and that teacher of a particular style happens to be there. After speaking to many teachers, this fundamental question seems to elude me. The direction of the lower spine.
Chen style seems to have a lower spine slightly facing backward (buttocks slightly sticking out) whereas Yang style and Sun style seems to make sure it’s tucked in. The theory (normal reference is Wong Zong Yue) seems to be in favour of the post-Chen styles due to the straight spine alignment. But looking at Chen Xiao Wang, there is no doubt that his method is very effective. Maybe someone on the internet can enlighten me?
