This is a really good article on the importance and technique of standing post, goes into a quite detailed but easy to understand explanation using western terminology.
http://www.yiquan.org.uk/art-pom1.html
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Tuesday, February 3
Friday, January 30
Taking the centre
by
Adam
on Fri 30 Jan 2009 03:27 PM GMT
One of the 'party tricks' of Tai-Chi is a seemingly impossibly powerful push that sends someone flying with seemingly minimal effort. When you first see it it can appear almost magical, but when you break it down it's just the application of certain principles done in a subtle and clever way. Looking at examples of this on youtube it's possible to break down some of the ways this power is generated and used.
If we first look at a clip of Chen-Man Ching used on an old UK TV programme on martial arts. The man being interviewed in the clip is Robert Smith, now in case you're thinking 'he's let himself go a bit' this Robert Smith is not the lead singer of popular 80's miserablists The Cure, rather he's an old school Martial Artist well known for popularizing Chinese martial arts in general and Cheng Man Ching in particular in the west. The bit of the video we're interested in for this article is at about 1.07. You see Cheng Man Ching doing some push hands patterens with a student who he then suddenly sends flying. If you watch the slow motion replay carefully you'll see a couple of important points. Firstly the timing, just before he pushes he steps in between the guys legs, so that as the guy pushes he's 'stolen his root' or dropped his centre of gravity slightly lower than the students so that he has control of it. Secondly he uses his right arm in the classic 'ward off' position firstly as a way of hiding his movement (with his arm relaxed the student can't feel him close the gap slightly with a step) and secondly it gives him the space he needs to fold inwards with the push allowing the kinetic to compress his muscles and then release with an explosive force (the arm has to be relaxed, tension would give away any movement and give a lever to the rest of the body). In essence he is storing the energy of the attack in his body and then releasing it back as a push. Another clip here is of some Spanish Tai-Chi players running through some similar exercises, note again on most occasions before the other guy is sent flying the teacher will slightly move in to take the students centre. Another thing to note is that he will first move in one direction to load the movement before releasing in the other (so he'll move down before he goes up or back before he goes forward, sometimes only very slightly). Finally to see some of these principles in a more un -cooprative environment this is footage of a push hands competition in Tiawan. Notice how the guys in the white t-shirts (who are quite frankly kicking everyone elses arse) position their feet and use similar techniques to the other clips to take their oppoents centre of gravity before throwing them. As a PS none of the above should be mistaken for the clip below which is just the product of suggestable students and a deluded or manipulative teacher. |
Welcome to the blog of Adam Lammiman. I teach Tai-Chi in the Minehead area of West Somerset, I'm also a yoga teacher with the British Wheel of yoga, practicing in a style heavily influenced by the teaching of Vanda Scaravelli and finally I'm qualified in Hollistic Massage with the Bristol School of Massage and Bodywork a member of the MTI. The aim of this blog is share my passion for Tai-Chi, Martial Arts, Yoga and Bodywork. This will include links to stuff I think people will find interesting as well as my own writing. I did keep an earlier blog here: http://www.donotthinkofablueelephant.co.uk/ but I've let that fall by the wayside. Feel free to have a look around there though some of my opinions have changed (which they tend to do if you keep growing) but I still like some of the content. |
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