Cheng Man Ch'ing (1902-1975) was one of the later students of Yang Chengfu (1883-1936), a key figure in the development and codification of Yang style Tai Chi. In 1947 he wrote 'Thirteen treatises on T'ai Chi Chu'an', translated and publisehd by Black Snake Books (California) in 1985. I was struck by this section on the relationship between Tai Chi and swimming:
'The tan tien is the chi hai (sea of chi) and is located 1.3 inches below the navel. It is named "sea" because of its large capacity and deep floating power. If the ch'i can travel to the "sea" and accumulate day by day, then in three years there will be significant enhancement. But this is siphoning only a little ch'i from the universe, as if one were to take only a single hair from ten thousand oxen.
How does one start to accumulate such chi? The answer is to learn the movements of Tai Chi Ch'uan [...] Swimming is the only other exercise that conforms to the principles of Tai Chi Chuan and wíhch concentrates the ch'i to become supple. The results depend quantitatively on the effort and time you devote to it, but day by day your progress will increase and there will be no limit. For this reason I use swimming as an example of Tai Chi Ch'uan; the practitioner can immediately see the comparison. It is easy to comprehend that air, like water, is not empty. When you execute each movement, you feel your motion as if you were swimming. Closing and opening, floating and sinking, moving forward and moving backward —all are like swimming.
If you can reach this level it is a great achievement. How does a beginner start to practice this? You must wave the arm and let the palm move against the wind, feeling the air as if it were water. As you make greater progress the air will not only feel heavier than water, it will feel like iron'.
Cheng Man Ch'ing demonstrates Single Whip and Ward Off:
No comments:
Post a Comment