Why should we relax when practicing Tai Ji Chuan? Because Tai Ji Chuan is an aggressive sport. Its offensive and defensive requirements are that the latecomers come first. In other words, after the other side attacks, we should use the other side to respond to the enemy. This is the requirement that Tai Ji Chuan is different from other kinds of boxing. As the theory of boxing says, "if you don't move, you don't move; He moved slightly and moved first. " Practicing boxing seems to be slow at ordinary times, and the purpose of slow practice is to practice every tiny movement that conforms to the principle of boxing. Under the guidance of the mind, the nerve center should be highly concentrated and the skeletal muscle should be fully relaxed to achieve a high degree of nerve and muscle sensitivity. When fighting with each other, you can feel even a small change in each other's strength. Use your strength to exert your strength. This is the hearing mentioned in Taiji Tui, and it is an advanced kung fu in the theory of boxing that "nothing can be added and flies can't fall".
In order to achieve Tai Ji Chuan's advanced kungfu, it is very important to relax and be quiet when practicing boxing. You can't distribute quickly without relaxing your muscles. Without silence, the central nervous system will not be highly sensitive. So relaxing into silence is the basis of practicing Tai Ji Chuan, and it is also the basic skill of Tai Ji Chuan.
Beginners of Tai Ji Chuan should start with softness in moderation, seek quietness first, change from looseness to softness, and gradually accumulate softness for strength. The so-called whole body relaxation means complete relaxation from head to toe and from inside to outside, without any rigidity. Sensory nerve center (brain) can relax and concentrate, and reach a calm state before starting to move. Because Tai Ji Chuan is in line with the natural state of human body and follows the laws of nature, this leads to its natural force. Through the special whole cultivation process, we can adjust and strengthen people's instinct and develop people's potential, so that the body and mind of boxing practitioners can reach a state of balance and freedom, and at the same time, the muscles, ligaments, bones and organs of the whole body can meet the needs of ideas and achieve an ideal state of coordination, order, agility and flexibility, and even "flexibility". The purpose of Tai Ji Chuan's relaxation exercise is to make the whole human body release human energy at will under the guidance of ideas, that is, brain signals are synchronized with body movements.
From the point of attack and defense, it is necessary to mobilize the internal force of the human body, obey the needs of the mind, and concentrate the energy of the human body on one application point. The whole body must be in the natural state of the human body, so as to facilitate the rapid concentration and rapid distribution of the whole body's strength. If you don't send it, it will be as fast as lightning. Therefore, relaxation is the basic condition for practicing Tai Ji Chuan well.
Tai Ji Chuan's relaxation is intentional and positive. The so-called relaxation, the purpose is to eliminate the clumsy power, get rid of the rigid power. Work hard according to the rules and concentrate on the process of action. As long as the movement process is completed according to the change of the actual situation, and Tai Ji Chuan is practiced according to the principle of no effort, a kind of inner strength with lightness, heaviness, elasticity and toughness will gradually emerge. This exercise method can be fascinating and will become more and more interesting in the process of practicing boxing. Physiologically, it can also play a very good role. In Chen Xin's boxing theory, he said, "Wandering along the road, moving calmly and not panicking, and leather joints are everywhere." In other words, when practicing boxing, you should be calm and not chaotic, and your movements should be light and delicate. There is nothing in the muscles and joints that does not relax. Slow movements can gradually understand and correct the non-relaxation inside and outside the body. Therefore, to practice Tai Ji Chuan is to relax inside and outside from gentle movements. Tai Ji Chuan's relaxation intention and the exercise method of combining inside and outside have many advantages, which are shown in the following aspects.
1. In a competitive society, you can relax mentally. Relieve the harm of tension to the body.
2. It can make abdominal breathing and diaphragm movement unconstrained, and play a greater role in treating diseases, health care, martial arts and so on.
3. After the skin and joints are enlightened, qi and blood flow around without stagnation, and qi flows in the joints, which can strengthen the continuous function.
4. The sensitivity of skin touch and inner body feeling, the fluency of movement and the activity of turning can be highly developed.
5. The joints of the whole body naturally sink due to relaxation, which develops the supporting force of the lower limbs. The chest, back and ribs are relaxed one after another, and the lateral side is forward, which helps the qi sink and stabilize the center of gravity.
6. Ability to develop strength and speed. Because the whole body has relaxed its strength, it can speed up smoothly without any obstacles.
7. A stable center of gravity is conducive to the agility of movements and the strength of martial arts application.
8. Relaxation exercises help to improve skills, improve people's mood and enhance people's self-confidence and strength.
Tai Ji Chuan exercises that relax the whole body will gradually move smoothly and harmoniously, bend and rotate freely due to the guidance and concentration of consciousness. Over time, the arms become extremely soft and hard, and the whole body becomes extremely light and stable, which is the accumulation of softness and rigidity. Make the action look loose but not loose, combining rigidity with softness, that is, muscle relaxation and contraction cross more. When the Tai Chi transmission leg rotates in a spiral way, the muscles in all parts of the body are always loose and tight. Because the relaxed consciousness dominates the limbs, even twisted muscles are not stiff, but full of elasticity and toughness.
Because Tai Ji Chuan is characterized by "combining rigidity with flexibility", it takes more time to relax than to contract in the actual exercise process. In other words, the operation process of each formula is very easy, and it is also calm and coherent when it comes to formulas. Tai Ji Chuan's movements are always spiral, and the internal and external coordinated movements of the wiredrawing type make all parts of the body round, flexible and elastic, so he can focus on a certain point flexibly at any time, thus developing strength and speed. Just as boxing theory says, "Fast is fast, slow is slow", flexibility is changeable, and strength is complete.
Many people who don't really understand Tai Ji Chuan's sports often don't understand the significance of Tai Ji Chuan's relaxation and mistake Tai Ji Chuan's slow training and gentle behavior for the sports of the elderly. In fact, in sports, every action before exertion is to relax first. Only by relaxing first can we give full play to our rapid strength. Tai Ji Chuan's relaxation theory is not only applicable to Taiji theory, but also to all sports. Under the guidance of Tai Ji Chuan's theory of relaxation intention, we can learn more about sports. Tai Ji Chuan's relaxation into silence is the practice of every Tai Ji Chuan practitioner, which must be carefully understood.
Practice Tai Ji Chuan's gentle behavior for luck, and be meticulous. At the beginning, with quick practice, it is inevitable that some movements will slip away and will not be just right everywhere. Only when you practice slowly to a certain extent can you change from slow to fast, from fast to slow, from slow to ten, and to the extreme. Such repeated exercises can be extremely virtual and extremely spiritual, extremely heavy and light, fast and slow, and you can do whatever you want. Light is loose, loose is fast, slow is to increase internal strength, and natural weight is heavy without exertion. After slow practice, practice as fast as you want. Can be fast but not chaotic, light but not floating. Lightness is a necessary condition to ensure the relaxation of the whole body inside and outside, so the boxing theory says, "One stroke, the whole body should be light." Every time you hit a potential, you should run lightly. Only by using labor-saving light training method can we practice more flexibly and achieve high sensitivity of "not adding a dime" Spirit is a development of light. If it is light, it can't be loose, and if it is not loose, it can't be soft.
Relaxation and quietness are the necessary conditions for practicing Tai Ji Chuan, and Yin and Yang are the soul of practicing Tai Ji Chuan. The highest state of traditional Tai Ji Chuan is simply walking with God, only seeing the flicker of God, but not the trace of rigidity and softness. Judging from the highest steps and requirements of Tai Ji Chuan, relaxation is not Tai Ji Chuan's goal, but a necessary means to achieve it. If you want to practice Tai Ji Chuan well, you must deeply understand the importance of relaxation. If you don't understand the intention of relaxation, you won't understand Tai Ji Chuan. If you don't fully relax and practice boxing, you can't practice the real Tai Ji Chuan.