I agree completely with your focus on movement coming from the lower dantien and want to add some comments on it. For me it has lead to the greatest discovery about the true meaning of tai chi. One first discovers ,as you and Cheng Man Ching have ,that all movement is managed by the lower dantien, The limbs just come along for the ride, but they are not limp since one’s awareness fills them. This gives them a subtle tension, but they report to the lower dantien. Once one is immersed in this process the microscopic orbit engages, where the chi travels from the lower dantien, down to the perineum, up the back, thru the upper palate, down the front and again thru the lower dantien. After some practice the macroscopic orbit starts which builds branches on the microscopic orbit. The energy branches in two places, first down the front of legs, into the earth, returning sharply up the back of legs, and joining the microscopic obit. The second branch is from between the shoulder blades to the heart chakra, and then joining the flow down to the lower dantien once again. This branching into the earth and into the heart represents the full realization of the form and gives the practitioner access to the unlimited energy of the earth and opens up the heart to love and compassion. Do you agree with these ideas and have any sense they are right? I really enjoy your deep understanding of tai chi. Thank you.
Thank you for watching my videos and commenting appreciatively. I would say that some of the movement of the limbs arises from the momentum produced by the shifting and turning of the trunk of the body, but some of the upward movement of the limbs against gravity comes from nei jin (internal expansive strength). I would also say that allowing the dan tien to relax and fill with hydraulic pressure is necessary for attaining nei jin. Regarding qi, I have read about the different pathways of its flow that have been mapped out by Traditional Chinese Medicine, but questions about that field of knowledge are better answered by someone more versed than I in acupuncture or nei gong.
@@dsfgnk4 Thank you for replying to my comments. I do think that what you call internal expansive strength is what I call awareness of the limbs. I can't say that I've really experienced all the processes I discussed but do have good evidence from different sources that this is right.
This is a controversial subject. Yun Shou commonly called cloud hands means to move something heavy from one side of the body to the other side and pack it downwards with the AN force. If you turn away at the end like you are doing you don’t express this, and miss the point of this movement. Hidden within Yun shou are the four directions of Peng Lu Ji An. Happy to discuss this with you. 50 years of practise .
Since I began applying your insights concerning dong dang and nei jin to my form, I've been progressively amending my way of performing all of the actions of the short form, including Cloud Hands. It is encouraging to hear your explanation of the way you now practice this action as the changes I've recently made are clearly bringing my own way much closer to yours. For some time now, I've been applying "qi down/qi up" hydraulics in this movement so that the downward motion of one hand feels that it drives the upward motion of the other.II've also become more aware of how the elasticity involved in the horizontal wind-up and release of the kwa while turning to the side and returning to centre also provides propulsive motion to the rising arm. The way you're describing here feels fully compatible with and complementary to the "hydraulic"/fluid dynamic approach I was applying before I began to study your methods. This all feels to me like the way forward to a wu wei taiji practice that's more flowing and powerful than anything I've felt before during my past 4 decades of practice. Thanks again for all that you share.
Thank you for expressing all of these wonderful insights. Taiji and its benefits are truly amazing! I am so glad to be able to share what I have experienced and their benefits, and I’m gratified to hear that my doing so benefits others.
