The fourth part of introduction: relax and begin to obey

Taiji requires that the intention should not be hard, especially the clumsy power should not be used. Through years of training, he gradually reached the advanced realm of flexibility with rigidity, combining rigidity with softness, and emptiness with emptiness. However, in daily life and work and labor, people will inevitably form the habit of exerting force because of contact with heavy objects, which will lead to muscle tension, stiff joints and inflexible tendons, thus producing different degrees of clumsy and stiff strength. These are reflected in people who have just come into contact with Tai Ji Chuan, and they will feel that things are not smooth here and uncomfortable there, and they are in harmony with women. Therefore, the requirement of "not hard intention" and its own "clumsy power" have formed a pair of contradictions. How to solve this contradiction has become the primary problem for beginners in Tai Ji Chuan.

Tai Ji Chuan's exercises generally have three stages, namely, obedience stage, sinking stage and illusory stage. In Tai Ji Chuan's case, combining rigidity with softness means that softness is refined, rigidity is seamless, and falsehood is illusory. Although there are three stages, they are inseparable, accumulate to a certain extent and naturally sublimate. In the compliant stage, the first contradiction to be solved is to cultivate and establish compliant strength while removing rigid strength. This contradiction should be solved by "looseness" If the novice starts lightly, it will not only be difficult to get rid of the stiff strength, but also be more cautious and nervous. If you focus on lightness, it will easily lead to distraction, sloppy momentum, and softness with rigidity. Starting from relaxation, we can not only relax the stiff strength, but also relax the sinking, which is conducive to the cultivation of softness and easy sinking.

The so-called looseness means that there is a heavy feeling in relaxation. The first is to relax, so that the whole body inside and outside, limbs, tendons, tough skin as much as possible to relax; Relaxation means lengthening the body and limbs, stretching tendons and pulling bones, lengthening tendons, separating tendons from bones, opening joints, and making the meridians unimpeded without any stagnation. For example, underground ditches run without blocking; The transportation pipeline is unimpeded; The meridians of the human body are not closed, but the qi is open.

How to operate? Mind operation, want to relax, relax inside and outside the body; If you want to relax your mind, you should relax your muscles and joints. The trick is to concentrate on the acupoints. Meridian is like a canal in the valley, a river between mountains and rivers; Meridian points are like towns and villages, which are connected with rivers through channels. Meridian points are the most active and sensitive places where internal qi prevails.

Acupoints located at joints are called articular orifices, which are the key to the influence of internal qi on bone marrow. Passion is concentrated on acupoints, which means that all joints are intentional. If you want to relax the joint of the shoulder (Jianjing point), the shoulder joint will naturally relax after a long time; It means that the joints of elbow joint (Quchi point) are relaxed, and the elbow joint is naturally relaxed for a long time; It is intended to relax the joints of the hip joint (Huantiao point), and the hip joint will naturally relax after a long time; It means that the joints of the chest (Zhongshan point) are relaxed, and the chest is naturally relaxed for a long time, and so on. By analogy, the muscles naturally leave the bones and the joints naturally open, thus achieving the effect of relaxation.

Because of the effect of "qi head, qi moves at will", when you pay attention to relaxing joint orifices, internal qi is continuously injected into bone marrow from joint orifices, and then fills the skin from joints and reaches four ends through meridians, so you can relax and sink, and achieve the effect of relaxation for a long time. In addition, all parts of the body except the jacking force and virtual collar, tongue, palate and perineum should be relaxed and sink downwards, such as shoulders and elbows sinking, chest lifting on an empty stomach, hips arching, hips sitting on knees, abdomen sinking, and so on. Whether you are standing on a pile, setting a shape, or exercising all over your body, you should think about relaxing the sinker. For example, when the hands are relaxed, the arms should be relaxed, the female side of the arms should sink, and the shoulders, elbows and waist should sink at the same time. Doing this for a long time will not only be stiff, but also supple.

The so-called suppleness means that the whole body is smooth and flexible inside and outside, not soft. Harmony, the spirit of harmony in the heart; Smooth, smooth and coherent, not stagnant; Softness, compared with rigidity, is neither soft nor hard, neither light nor heavy. Slippery strength means that with the harmony in the heart, it flows like soft water, runs smoothly through the whole body from the inside out, twists and turns, flows slowly, does not stop, does not stop, does not break, accumulates over time, and becomes the flexibility of Taiji year after year. There is heaviness in softness, seemingly soft in appearance, but hard in heart. The work has been going on for a long time and has just been born from softness.

Therefore, it is the key and method for beginners in Tai Ji Chuan to get rid of the rigid strength and enter the adaptation stage and cultivate the flexibility and inner strength of Taiji.

The ninth part introduces: chest and abdomen folding and opening and closing.

The way to return to Gan Kun is that the chest is dry, the abdomen is Kun, the chest and abdomen are open and closed, and the yin and yang are open and closed. The chest and abdomen in front of the body is the yin side, which is responsible for the yin pulse; The back of the body is the yang side, and the governor has a yang pulse. The two meridians of Ren Du are generally yin and yang, ascending and descending; The upper and lower limbs are by-pass of Yin and Yang, with the chest and abdomen open and the back closed, the chest and abdomen closed and the back opened, the front opened and then closed, and the front closed and then opened, so that the Ren and the two meridians are connected and repeated. When the chest and abdomen are open, the upper and lower limbs are open; When the chest and abdomen are closed, the left and right sides are closed. The body is bounded by the waist. When the chest and abdomen are open, the gas reaches the shoulders, elbows and hands of both arms from the waist upwards. Below the waist, qi drops and reaches the legs, knees and feet. The chest and abdomen intersect, and the four ends of qi return to the abdomen and meet in one breath.

It can be seen that the opening and closing of a body is first in the chest and abdomen, and the opening and closing of the chest and abdomen is a total opening and closing. "Boxing Classic" said: "The chest is full of vitality and vitality, full of the whole body, and soft and solid, which really prepares for the virtue of health and obedience." The five zang-organs are hidden in the chest and abdomen, and the meridians start from the five zang-organs. Essence, spirit, qi, blood and soul are stored in the five internal organs, among which essence, blood and qi are the most precious substances in the five internal organs and are the basis of human life activities. Jingxue is full of qi and blood. If it can be kept constant, people will be healthy and strong, and they will be better than others in boxing. Liver and soul, heart, spleen, lung and kidney are the gods of the five zang-organs, and each has its own master, with the heart dominating the pulse, the liver dominating the rib, the spleen dominating the meat, the lung dominating the fur and the kidney dominating the bone. When the five internal organs are well maintained, the muscles, body and bones will be well maintained. When the five internal organs are strong, the bones and muscles are also strong; When the five internal organs are healthy and strong, their essence nourishes qi and blood. Qi foot, blood foot and essence foot nourish essence, vitality and spirit, and nourish congenital deficiency. Open and close the chest and abdomen, massage, transport, strengthen the five internal organs, pass through the meridians, pass through qi and blood, and protect the whole body. When you practice at a certain stage, if there is a beating image on your body, it is because your heart is full of energy; If you feel muscles moving or twitching, it is the essence of liver meridian qi and blood at work; If there is a feeling of muscle beating on the body, it is the essence of spleen meridian qi and blood; If the skin feels itchy or the airflow jumps up and down, it is the qi, blood and essence of the lung meridian at work; If the joints ring into thin feet and lift yang during exercise, it is the function of kidney meridian with sufficient qi and blood. It can be seen that the opening and closing of the chest and abdomen makes Tai Ji Chuan's health care effect more perfect and remarkable.

All over the chest and abdomen. When the chest is loose, the whole body is comfortable, and the diaphragm drops, which drives the shoulders to relax and sink naturally, leading to virtual loss; Chest deficiency and abdomen excess, qi sinking and abdomen excess. When the upper deficiency is real-time, the turbid qi drops, the clear qi naturally rises, and Yin and Yang Can are distinguished. The chest and abdomen are folded and transported, and the upper body is more virtual and the lower body is more solid. I'm not afraid of being pushed down when I push my hand. If you have a broad chest and abdomen, you can adapt to everything.

All wrapped in silk, transported by chest and abdomen. The cooperation between the opening and closing of the chest and abdomen and the left and right rotation of the lumbar spine makes the qi in the abdomen and the strength in the chest whirl like too much qi, and gradually whirl from the inside out, from the inside out, from the outside out, from the outside to the left, and from the inside out to the right, like a whirlpool, like an oolong twisting a column and a python circling a tree. On the top, it turns its arms and wrists. On the bottom, it turns its knees and ankles. It wraps the whole body. If the chest and abdomen don't think about opening and closing, the abdomen can't attract push and pull, and the waist can't turn left and right, it will be difficult for the internal qi to surge and start. If the internal qi can't reach the umbilicus, the true qi can't get in and out of the circle, the qi can't get around the skin, and it can't penetrate into the bone marrow, so there will be no winding strength. The chest and abdomen can be opened and closed, and the stroke can be muddy.

As for body double:

There are two pronunciations of the word "Chong": the first pronunciation is Zung6 (Cantonese) or Zhong4 (Mandarin), such as "Chong"; Another pronunciation is Cung4 (Cantonese) or Chong2 (Mandarin), such as "repetition". The former is read by the most people. Because most people say that Tai Ji Chuan should pay attention to the "virtual reality", especially the two feet should distinguish between the virtual reality and the virtual reality, and the body weight cannot be evenly distributed on the two legs. However, the application of "Yin and Yang" in Tai Ji Chuan includes not only the relationship between reality and reality, but also a variety of unity of opposites, such as whole and part, mind and body, rising and falling, expanding and shrinking, advancing and retreating, glancing left and right, opening and closing, and so on. In addition, the starting position, crossing hands and closing positions in the boxing frame are all standing with both legs balanced. Isn't that a double fault? Why didn't the seniors delete or modify it? Also, in the conversion process of virtual and real feet, no matter how fast the conversion time is, there will inevitably be a moment when both feet bear the weight on average. So, I think duality is not limited to two feet.

I don't know whether the "heavy" of "double" should be pronounced Chong2, then "double" becomes the meaning of "repetition". What's the weight of the "double"? It is the Double Ninth Festival or Double Ninth Festival, that is, Yang Yang or Double Ninth Festival. We call the ninth day of the ninth lunar month the Double Ninth Festival because nine represents Yang in the Book of Changes, so adding nine in September is two Yang, so it is called Chongyang. "Double stagnation" means double yang or double yin, that is, there is no yin and yang, that is, there is no yin and yang. How can we achieve "Yin does not leave Yang, Yang does not leave Yin; The combination of yin and yang is the only way to understand strength. The disease transmitted by Taiji is "dualistic", because the more he practices, the more refined he is, and the more he tries to figure out what he wants. The disease is moving, and there is no yin and yang.

Wang Zongyue said in "On the Biography of Taiji": "..... the weight is followed, and the double is delayed. Every time I see the pure merits of several years, I will make it myself if I can't move it, and I will not understand it if I am ill! If you want to avoid this disease, you should know Yin and Yang.

In addition to understanding Yin and Yang, we should also achieve "the combination of Yin and Yang" and "the balance of Yin and Yang".