Having practised traditional Taijiquan for a certain number of years, a practitioner should have solid insight into its principles and methods. He or she is ready to pursue a higher level of mastery than the original purpose of improving his or her health. But using muscular strength is the first hurdle that a practitioner will encounter in the quest for Taiji internal power.

There are two kinds of strength generated from within the human body, i.e. brute strength and inherent strength. Brute strength, an inherent strength per se, is a clumsier form of the latter. “Strength” is termed “energy” (jing) in Taijiquan, which instead refers to the power generated through the internal practice of the interchangeability and the dynamic balance between Yin and Yang. “Strength” and “energy” carry different meanings in Taijiquan. By scrutinizing the various parts of the body of a person who calls upon strength in his or her practice, one will notice that his or her waist is like a stiff board without any suppleness or relaxation and his or her arms are no different from two rods—strength can be felt in every part of his or her body. If one’s hands, wrists and arms have become strong as mentioned above having practised Taiji for many years, this is a far cry from attaining the state of Taiji internal power. A practitioner pursuing internal power ought to gradually reduce his or her crude muscular strength in the process. This kind of strength will affect one’s blood flow and capillary circulation, compromising the flow of Qi within your body’s energy channels and the 14 meridians, which goes against the pursuit and preservation of good health. It is therefore imperative for a Taiji practitioner to change the reliance on muscular strength all through his or her body, practicing the forms and sets by observing the special characteristics of Taijiquan in accordance with its principles.  

The greatest obstacle to high level Taiji is the challenge posed by one’s muscular strength. Stiffness and tightness of the upper and lower parts of one’s body, internally and externally, hinder the development of lightness and agility. The problem right at the outset for the practitioner is how to overcome the hurdle of one’s inherent use of strength. Taijiquan emphasizes the unity of “principle” and “application”—“principle” refers to the practice of the form while “application” covers push hands and real fights. One will have to face the issue of “strength”, irrespective in the practice of the form, push hands or real fights. In Taiji terminology, this is called “point of strength”. Discarding inherent strength is a challenge. It would be fairly difficult to master Taiji if one does not understand how one is using muscular strength and how to look for points where strength is being used. By the same token, one ought to identify the opponent’s points of strength in push hands and actual combat. Without first discarding one’s points where there is force, there is no way that one can neutralize force being used by an opponent when he or she is on the offensive. Both sides will not be able to disentangle from each other or neutralize the strength of the attack by pitting strength against strength. They are losing sight of the characteristics of Taiji, i.e. “lightness and agility in all movements”, “interchangeability between Yin and Yang” and “movement/stillness and weightlessness/weightedness”. It is hard to say both sides are doing “Taiji” push hands under such circumstances as they are using force to attack each other.

1.  On Points of Contact Where Strength Is Used

First and foremost, a Taijiquan practitioner ought to figure out what constitutes a point of contact where strength is used. This phrase means the part or parts of the body where both sides contact each other. In Taiji terminology, this is called the “point of contact”. The point of strength is the place where one feels the muscular strength of the opponent in a split second.

The point of strength can be big or small—it can be as small as the tip of one’s finger if one touches an opponent with one’s fingertip, or it can be as big as the palm of one’s hand pressing down on the opponent’s limb. Is there a point of strength used when one is doing the solo form without contacting any opponent? The answer is also yes! Nevertheless, it is very hard for a beginner to identify the points of strength on his or her own body not just anyone else’s body. Generally speaking, when a Taiji student is performing every move in a conscientious manner, he or she will respond by saying that “I am not calling upon any strength” if he or she is reminded not to do so. It is therefore necessary to inculcate Taiji principles into a beginner’s mind for him or her to consider during practice. As an individual, one can be oblivious to the fact that one is calling upon strength to every part of one’s body; only when one contacts the opponent that the point of strength manifests itself. At the point there will be a strong sense of two strong unyielding forces opposing each other at the point of contact by both sides.

A practitioner can be said to be at a beginning level when the internal and external use of muscular strength throughout his or her body has yet to be totally discarded. The very first thing that the practitioner feels is the strong resistance from the opponent when either the latter touches his or her limb or your hand touches a certain part of the opponent’s body. This is the resistance caused by force at the point of contact. Following the guiding principles of Taijiquan, a practitioner is not allowed to resist the opponent’s attack. As clearly indicated in Taiji classics, “let go of oneself and follow the opponent to invite him in so that the attacker’s center of gravity becomes weightless.” A practitioner is advised to think deeply about this—a wondrous and profound aspect of Taijiquan. A Taiji practitioner will find it very hard to gain internal power if his or her body relies on and is pervaded by muscular strength. No matter how many years he or she makes efforts practising Taijiquan, as long as using muscular strength is not discarded, practice without this goal will lead the practitioner nowhere.

It is normal for a Taiji practitioner to have points of strength on his or her limbs. If those points of strength can still be detected throughout the limbs of a practitioner who has been doing the form for many years, i.e. wherever you place your hand on any part of his or her body there is an extremely concrete point of strength resisting your touch, this is evident that the effect of his or her Taiji practice all those years is miniscule. It is therefore imperative for the practitioner to look for the mistakes in either the way he or she is learning or practising. It is definitely a detour for a practitioner if he or she who from the very outset of learning Taiji forms to years down the road, cannot eliminate as much as possible the use of muscular strength throughout the body. The major reason for that is that he or she has not endeavored to understand the principles and methods of Taijiquan. Oblivious to the special characteristics of Taijiquan, he or she merely does the practice according to the common requirements of any martial art. It is unnecessary for me to speak about Taiji’s unique characteristics here. Nevertheless, we as students should at least follow the change from Yin to Yang and vice-versa when doing each form.  Being light and agile as well as refraining from using muscular strength when flexing and extending our limbs, bending and straightening our body and advancing or retreating are the basic requirements of Taijiquan. It is the duty of a Taiji practitioner to abide by the above principles.

It is a long process from learning to becoming familiar with the form, from reflexively relying upon strength to utilizing mental intention, from using muscular force to being light and agile with every arm or leg movement. The duration of this process depends on his or her insight into and understanding of Taijiquan methods, rationale and the development of comprehension — it may be very short or can be incredibly long, but the journey is nonetheless very precious. During this prolonged period of cultivated practice (testing and searching), the learner should bear in mind the requirements:  “establishing the root at one’s feet”, which means relaxing every joint, big or small, at one’s feet, thereby experiencing the joy of gradually discarding the muscular strength in the course of practice.

2. Loosening up the Points On the Body Where Strength is Exerted

To discard the points of strength is no mean feat and how to do so deserves some serious examination.

Any primary movement made by human beings at all stages of life requires strength, be it a newborn flailing his or her arms and legs or at the later stage of infantile development rolling around, crawling or sitting on the floor. We gain bodily strength as we grow up and acquire the habit of using strength for most of our movements. This habit naturally agrees with how strength is used in aggressive martial arts that are based on the use strength. Apparent results can manifest themselves in a few months or within several years after a learner has become familiar with the external style of practice. However strength-based external training is considered an obstacle in Taijiquan. Being able to consciously control the speed or deliberately slow the movements down is not difficult. Teaching a beginner to do the form without any muscular strength is hard. This is due to our inborn tendency to rely on strength for whatever we do. The practice of Taijiquan, on the contrary, aims to discard one’s muscular strength. It is extremely challenging to “use  intention rather than strength”—the first major hurdle facing a Taiji practitioner. There are teachers who promote “tightness rather than looseness” because it is apparently easier to develop “tightness” since even a primary school student can tense up or use strength. The tighter you get, the stiffer you become and the more strength you use in your practice. This cements the bad habit of first calling upon one’s muscular strength. A learner will not be able to loosen up and break out of this cycle no matter how many years he or she spends practicing Taijiquan. Intention, not muscular strength, is what is used in Taiji practice. The conflict between muscular strength and a body that is completely loose is almost irreconcilable. The practitioner, therefore, must discard the habit of muscular strength throughout his or her body. 

What are the reasons that a practitioner is unable to discard the habit of using force or muscular strength at certain parts of or throughout his or her body after years or decades of Taiji practice?  One possibility is that he or she has not delved into the theories of Taiji and failed to thoroughly grasp the essential nature of Taijiquan, and as a consequence, the practitioner cannot refrain from using strength instead of thoroughly relaxing. The crux of the matter lies in the practitioner’s failure to examine the principles and methods of Taijiaquan before embarking on its practice. Obstacles will certainly arise on the way without any background understanding of its theories. The prerequisite for any thoroughgoing Taijiquan practice is to have a solid comprehension of its principles. To gain some realization into what Taijiquan ultimately is, is by no means a one-off process. Even a measure of understanding requires repeated efforts to make sense of those principles as well as the special characteristics of Taijiquan, namely “Changing from Yin to Yang and then from Yang to Yin”, “moving with lightness and agility” and “utilizing intention rather than relying on strength”. Of course there are more specific elements that comprise Taijiquan and a practitioner will come to realize its multifaceted nature as he or she goes along their journey. There are clearly demarcated levels of training in Taijiquan. Just as there are four levels of studies from primary school to university—the average primary school student would not be able to understand what is being taught at the junior secondary level; a junior secondary school student cannot comprehend the senior secondary school curriculum; and a secondary school student may find university courses baffling.

A genuine understanding of the art of Taijiquan is neither just mental knowledge nor verbal explanations; it is realized through changes in the practitioner’s body. They are physically noticeable, manifesting themselves as a sort of bodily insight. For instance, when describing the looseness and relaxation level of one’s hands, Chen-style Taijiquan Grand Master Chen Xin put forward the norm that “a skilled practitioner’s hands should feel weightless”. To achieve that level requires complete looseness and weightlessness in one’s hands. A practitioner cannot be said to have fully understood what Taijiquan really is if the muscular strength in his or her hands has yet to be discarded. Master Li Yiyu of Wu (Hao)-style Taijiquan mentioned in his Five-word Oral Instructions, “one should follow the opponent rather than oneself so that even when following oneself, one still follows the opponent. But following yourself will render you dull and slow, while following the opponent will make you agile and supple. One can then feel the subtlest movement of the opponent  through one’s hands.” This explains what Master Wang Zongyue tried to convey in his insight: “let go of oneself and follow the opponent to invite him in so that the attacker’s center of gravity becomes weightless”. As students of  Taijiquan, we should all endeavor to understand the sagacious quotes of these great masters of the past.

Chen style Taijiquan master Chen Changxing was honored with the title “Sir Tablet Monument” as recognition and praise for his martial art achievements. In traditional Chinese family ancestral halls, names of outstanding family lineage ancestors were inscribed on tablets to be venerated and those tablets basically were not moved once they were placed at the designated locations. I cannot agree more to how Master Chen was honorably addressed. My experience over years of practice is that our upper body from the shoulders to the pelvis, should be as upright as a “tablet”—there should not be any upper bodily movement in the solo form, push hands or combat. We ought to bear in mind that any impulsive movement will disturb our own balance. In Taiji terminology, your two shoulders are “points of flexible movement” and your pelvis is “the point of rotation”. In spite of this, your upper body must remain as upright as a “tablet” without even the slightest active or impulsive movement. The practitioner is advised to experience this in his or her practice in order to achieve a higher level of Taiji.

It is really not difficult for a practitioner to discard his or her muscular strength. First and foremost, one ought to settle ones’ mind in learning the principles and methods of Taijiquan. By regularizing one’s movements according to the rules and special characteristics of Taijiquan, one will definitely reach the state of mastery in the course of time. In my earlier book, 13 Chapters Explaining the Secrets of Taijiquan, my explanation of the set practice of the form entirely accords with the principles of Taijiquan where I have further elaborated on the working of those principles in one’s own practice. A practitioner should be able to discard muscular strength throughout the body as long as he or she dedicates efforts in his or her studies of Taiji principles.