Mental, emotional and physical conditioning in Taijiquan...





A complete training approach needs to balance the internal and
external, balancing physical and mental aspects.

Taijiquan is no different than any other martial art in that to achieve usable skills you have to put in the hard work. This is reflected in sayings such as “Go to bed with tired legs and wake up with tired legs”, “eat bitterness” etc. But training hard is not the whole story. The obvious consequence of intense training is the expending and depletion of energy, physical and injury and damage to a practitioner’s body and, at times, feelings of exhaustion and despondency. To counter these negative aspects most traditional martial systems include exercises to help the body recover and recuperate – exercises such as zhan zhuang (standing pole), variations of standing, seated and even lying down meditation, massage, breathing exercises etc. To be completely clear, these methods were never designed to replace intensive training but to complement it.

The late grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang summarised the balance between training and recovery as follows: “Taiji gongfu is acquired through a combination of training and nurturing, with nurturing being its mainstay.” Optimum performance is only possible when all the forces within the body are balanced so every aspect must be cultivated and nurtured. He went on to say that robust good health was the necessary foundation without which any talk of gongfu was irrelevant.   



Taijiquan trains skill and resiliency 

In The New Toughness Training for Sports, premier sports psychologist James E. Loehr examined the mental and physical factors that impact human performance at the highest level. In particular he looked at the areas of mental, emotional and physical conditioning and the equally if not more important need to actively train recovery in these same three areas. “At the most basic level, recovery is simply anything that causes energy to be recaptured… It’s essential also to understand that recovery occurs in three areas – physical, mental and emotional – [just like the three areas to which we must apply stress if we are to see improvement and growth of a Taijiquan martial artist].

The most common signs of recovery identified by Loehr in each area include, but are not limited to - Physical Recovery: reduced feelings of hunger, thirst, sleepiness, tension; slower heart and breath rates; decreased blood pressure, muscle tension and brainwave activity. Emotional Recovery: feelings of emotional relief; increased positive feelings of fun, joy, humour, and happiness; decreased negative feelings of anger, fear and frustration; and increased feelings of self-fulfilment. Mental Recovery: feelings of mental relief such as an increased feeling of calmness; the sense of mentally slowing down.

Back to Taijiquan – Where some people are naturally drawn to the physical aspects of practice enjoying the sweat and hard work, and others prefer the quieter and more meditative aspects. Both are necessary and any complete training approach needs to take account of multiple characteristics that address both internal and aspects. The goal in the end, alongside the development of skill is to get stronger and more resilient physically, mentally and emotionally. Final word to Loehr, who after a lifetime coaching world class performers to peak performance in disciplines including boxing, speed skating, golf, tennis etc., concluded that, “Mind, body, spirit, thoughts, feelings, emotions are all part of the same continuum of life. There is and can be no separation.”