Integrating Body and Mind…

Six harmonies to unify body and mind

The famous Chinese military strategist Sunzi stated that: “Victory comes from deep thinking, detailed preparation and long calculation”. Chen Taijiquan’s systematic training methodology takes into account every aspect of an individual. Its unique training method was devised to unify body and mind and sayings such as “concentrate on one thing lose everything” reflect an implicit understanding that no single facet can be understood except in relation to the whole. Recognising this practitioners work towards harmonising the opposing forces or aspects within the body through the gradual realisation of Taijiquan’s “six harmonies” – divided into three external and three internal harmonies.

Understanding and applying the six harmonies is not easy, especially the three internal harmonies and learners shouldn’t expect to achieve this overnight. To take them in turn, the external harmonies refer to aspects of  structure and alignment and the coordination of the external aspects of the body. The three external harmonies represent the connections between:

Hands – Feet

Elbows – Knees

Shoulders - Kua

The realisation of the external harmonies is sometimes referred to as the skill of “everything arriving at the same time”.

Working Towards Integration

Chen Xin

Broadly speaking we can say that anything that leads us towards integrating the body and mind leads us towards realising the six harmonies. Over the generations different ways have been used to explain this process. For example, Chen Taijiquan makes use of “three sectional movement” explained by Chen Xin as follows: “Jin is divided into three sections, every section is interconnected [jin] moving from section to section”. The following passage taken from the Chen family classics explains how to use this theory to synchronise the whole body:

“In truth it can serve the purpose by discussing them [the different parts of the body] by three parts: the upper, the middle and the lower, or root, middle and tip. For the entire body, head is the upper part, chest is the middle part and legs are the lower part. For the face, forehead is the upper, nose is the middle and mouth is the lower. For the torso, chest is the upper, stomach is the middle and dantian is the lower. For the legs, kua is the root, knee is the middle and foot is the tip. For the upper limb, arm is the root, elbow is the middle and hand is the tip. For the hand, wrist is the root, palm is the middle and finger is the tip, from which the case of the feet can be deduced. So there are three parts from neck to feet. It is important to focus on the three parts in their cooperation. If the upper is not clear, there will be no source, if the middle is not clear, the internal body will be empty, and if the lower is not clear, instability will occur. From this it is obvious that the three parts of the body cannot be overlooked”.

The bow has the function of stretched power between two opposing forces. 

Others use the idea of “Five Bows” to explain Taijiquan’s internal power mechanics – simply put, bows have the function of stretched power between two opposing forces.  The body consists of five primary bows - the torso, the arms and legs which, when combined, form the basis of focused whole body jin.  They allow the collective force of the entire body to be emitted through one point, hence the saying, “five bows combine into one”.

In practice it is important to become more aware of movements opposing and complementing each other - recognising the fact that if there is a motion upward, there will be a motion downward. If there is a motion forward, there will be a motion backward.  If there is a motion leftward, there will be a motion rightward. This is reflected in advice passed down such as: “The heels sink down while the achilles tendon lifts up. The kua loosen while the lower spine lifts up. The shoulders relax while the neck lifts up”. Or the “three liftings” of the internal martial arts which instructs practitioners to use intention to lift the baihui, tongue and huiyin while everything else sinks down.

To summarise harmonisation:

-      No action in isolation

-      When one part moves another part harmonises (upper/lower, left/right, hand/foot/ qi/action etc) 

While Taijiquan is considered to be an “internal” martial art, there is a close relationship between the external and internal aspects. So for instance, the process of quieting the mind leads to the calming of the emotions and inevitably to the relaxation of the body. In the early stages of training practitioners use the external shape to lead the internal, eventually using internal energy to drive the external shape.

Taijiquan’s three internal harmonies are usually described as the harmonisation of one’s xin (heart/mind), yi (intention), qi (intrinsic energy) and li (body strength). These are unified through the connections of:

Xin – Yi

Yi – Qi

Qi – Li

Or alternatively:

Xin – Yi

Qi – Li

Jin (Tendons) – Gu (Bones)

Zhu Tiancai summarised the body’s internal connections as a chain reaction:

1.   Xin is activated in instigating an action.

2.   Yi dictates the direction and power of the action.

3.   Yi sets in motion qi energy (that starts to move under the direction of yi).

4.   This in turn produces li or physical power.

Singapore 2002 pushing hands with Zhu Tiancai: "Intention dictates the power of an action"

Heart and Intention

The xin represents the centre of human feelings and emotions, from tranquillity, calmness and serenity to anger, grief, disappointment and frustration etc. The yi, on the other hand, refers to the logical decision-making mind. To cultivate mental unity both the emotional mind as well as the logical mind must be present. Fully focused energy can only be achieved with a decisiveness of purpose.

Nowhere is this more important than in the arena of combat where conflicting thoughts and feelings can easily lead to an unsuccessful outcome. Here xin is needed to summon up courage and fighting spirit and yi to make clear judgements and logical decisions. To paraphrase 14^th generation master Chen Changxin, when facing an opponent “stand like a living dragon and then crush him like plucking a weed”.  

Chen Changxin statue in Chenjiagou

Taijiquan's "Big Four" Joints...

Chen Zhaoxu

An article published on Taiji Yiren, a Chinese site created to promote Taiji culture, reported the response by Chen Zhaoxu to the question – “How do you train this martial art”? Chen Zhaoxu (the eldest son of Chen Fake and father of Chen Xiaowang and Chen Xiaoxing) answered, “You have to fangsong (loosen) the “four big pieces” in the body”. That is the two shoulders and the two kua.

His younger brother Chen Zhaokui expanded on this, advising practitioners of the need to pay attention to relaxing the chest as only if your chest relaxes can your shoulders relax. He gave the example of push hands: “During push hands, the first thing is to control someone’s shoulders. If your shoulders are not flexible, you are actually locking yourself”. He went on to suggest that once you’ve solved the problem of the shoulders - that is they are flexible and can execute full rotation – even if someone locks you from behind,

 

Chen Zhaokui - "First thing is to control an opponent's shoulders"

you can reverse the attack and escape. Chen Zhaokui spoke of the relationship between the shoulders and the kua:   “Relaxing the chest and shoulders facilitates the folding movement of the torso and that has a direct relation to the kua being relaxed.  

Sun Lutang - "First solve the problem of the shoulders and kua"

Sun Lutang, the renowned internal martial artist and creator of Sun Style Taijiquan believed that, such was the importance of these four joints that in the early stages of training learners should focus upon them above everything else: “The key is in the shoulders and kua. In the beginning don’t think about anything else – just solve the problem of these two parts”. He advised learners to constantly think about how to relax and sink (ie don’t lift) the shoulders. This focus should be carried over to encompass one’s daily activities – “In your everyday life think about sinking your shoulders and dropping your elbows. [In time] you’ll see an obvious change”. Sun Lutang was of the opinion that a lot of people who have trained gongfu for many years have not succeeded in opening their kua.  Concluding that this was a serious failing that he believed meant that no matter how much effort they put in, without addressing this shortcoming, whatever they you train will be incorrect”.

Sun cautioned practitioners to be patient, advising them to only move on to other aspects of training when this basic requirement was achieved. Relaxing the shoulders and the kua is crucial if one is to develop an integrated body and from that point start to open up and stretch the rest of the joints: “After your shoulders and kua open other things are not so difficult. If you are diligent and persevere your body will start to change shape – you might even get unexpected results”.