The "Secret" of the Fingers in Taijiquan

The often-heard Taijiquan saying “when one part moves, all parts move” is really a simplified code for the fact that every part of the body is connected and affects each other. At a gross level this is manifested through the coordination of the upper and lower body, the left and right sides etc so that in the end we have a type of whole-body synchronised movement. In the Taijiquan classics this is reflected in the saying: “The motion is rooted in the feet, released through the legs, controlled by the waist and manifested through the fingers.” Look a little deeper and we can see relationships throughout the body that can help a practitioner to move towards a completely integrated and co-ordinated kind of movement.    

For example, most Taijiquan students are aware of the basic rules for the hands: middle finger extended, hukou (area between the index finger and thumb) opened, laogong (centre of the palm) relaxed and so on… Beyond this however they are often unaware that each digit has its own role and function to play within any action: “Everybody knows that the five fingers [four fingers and one thumb] together make the palm, but they don’t understand the secret within the palm.” 

What are the secrets?  Let’s take a look at the role and function of each of the digits in turn:

Thumb: The thumb helps to control an individual’s balance throughout any movement. To facilitate this, during practice the hukou must always be slightly open. Try stepping with the thumb tightly clamped to your index finger and you can immediately see that your movements are awkward and unbalanced.  Opening the hukou also allows the area beneath the armpit to remain open and the arms to turn freely. The, at first sight, seemingly humorous Chenjiagou saying to “always keep an egg under your armpit” reflects the importance of not allowing the upper arms to become stuck to the side of the body. 

Index finger: Do not use any strength in the index finger. It should be fangsong (let loose) and gently follow the path of a movement. If the index finger is not song (loose), then the whole palm cannot be song. This will have a knock-on effect throughout the body so that if the hand is not song, then the wrist cannot be song and flexible. This is reflected in another Taijiquan saying cautioning: “if the hand is stiff, the whole body will be stiff.” At the level of the whole body this negatively affects the ability to fulfil Taijiquan’s fundamental requirement of song jian chen zhou (loosening the shoulders and sink the elbows). 

Middle finger: The middle finger is said to control the direction. If yi (intention) follows the direction of the middle finger, then your intention  can reach far. Chen Taijiquan theorist Chen Xin instructed that every movement must culminate in a clear focal point combining the “hands, the eyes and the heart” and that “the eyes must look beyond the middle finger.” Throughout training a practitioner must simultaneously attend to the body’s position, energetic state etc while maintaining an acute awareness of the outside environment (forward, behind, above, below and the sides). There is a saying that the “yi travels forward with no end”. How far the yi can travel depends upon the gong (internalised skill) of a person.

Ring Finger: The ring finger is referred to as wu ming zhi or the “nameless finger” and is said to be the clumsiest of the five digits. It is responsible for any upward and forward movements of the palm. Therefore, all movements that involve forward or upward movement should be led by the ring finger. It is important then that when performing this type of movement jin (focused strength) should be concentrated in this finger rather than the whole palm. Failing to put jin in this finger when you are lifting up will result in all the other fingers being listless. During tuishou (push hands), your technique is less likely to be weak if you can maintain jin in this finger.

Little Finger: The little finger should always be kept song regardless of what action is being performed. In addition, before any movement that involves backward and downward motion you should first loosen the little finger – then relax shoulder, sink elbow. These are important preparatory elements that help lead you into other actions in an efficient way. 

The Eyes Have It...

Chinese martial arts across the many different systems agree on the fundamental importance of training the four aspects of shou yan shenfa bu (hands, eyes, body and footwork).  

Within Chinese philosophy there’s a saying often repeated in martial arts theories that the “mind is the commander.” From a position of balance and stability the mind decides the appropriate actions the body must take: “The heart-mind is the lord of the body and the master of one’s spirit and intelligence. It issues orders, but it takes orders from nothing.” To be able to do this it must habitually be in a state of “empty single-minded stillness.” This is described in History of Chinese Philosophy Through its Key Terms: “’Empty’ refers to not letting the existing knowledge that one has interfere in or obstruct the reception of new knowledge. ‘Single-minded’ refers to not letting an understanding of another phenomenon interfere with understanding the phenomenon at hand. ‘Stillness’ refers to not letting one’s free-wheeling thoughts disturb one’s normal understanding.” With these qualities in place an instant and appropriate response can be made within any situation.

However, for the above statement to make sense the mind must have enough information to be able to accurately read any situation. A second saying is that “the eyes are the vanguard.” In the military tradition of Sunzi the vanguard is the part of an army that goes ahead of the main body gathering information on the ground before any tactical decisions are taken.

I was struck by the following vivid description by Teddy Atlas of the importance of the eyes in a fight. [Atlas has been a well-respected boxing coach since the mid-1970s, including six years at the legendary Catskill boxing club of Cus D’Amato. Atlas is perhaps best known for serving as Mike Tyson’s trainer the first four years of his career and preparing him for the eventual world heavyweight championship]:    

“The eyes are so important in a fight. You must always see everything. That’s what I mean when I used to call the fights on ESPN and say a guy’s got “good eyes.” He’s got good vision, he’s calm, he sees everything. He’s laser-like, he’s concentrated – you have to see! Because if you don’t see it [an incoming attack], your brain won’t register it coming and you’ll be hurt more. You can get knocked out; those are the ones that can hurt you even more. The punches because you don’t have time to prepare yourself for it. You didn’t see it!” Using the eyes properly allows a fighter to be “… always balanced, always in position, always ready to take advantage of a mistake.”

Boxing coach Teddy Atlas: "You must see everything"

Despite the importance placed on the subtle methods handed down to train the capacity of the eyes in Taijiquan, today many practitioners pay little more than lip service to this aspect. Within Chen Taijiquan’s syllabus and its underlying theory is a clear and progressive method for developing the eyes:

Stages of training the eyes

1. In the beginning stages of training the basic habit of keeping the eyes level is laid down. For example, before starting the form almost like a mantra checking: the body is loosened as much as possible with weight sinking down to the feet; the eyes are level and taking a wide view; breathing is natural and unrestricted; and one’s mind is calm. Then repeating this process as you go through each of the postures of the form. 

2. The habit of keeping the eyes level is incorporated during jibengong (basic training) and coordinated with movement at a gross level. For example, during the front reeling silk movement the eyes look beyond the hand during the upper part of the circle; During the lower part of the circle, they follow the direction of the hand without looking down.  

3. When a practitioner is very familiar with the choreography of form and they have laid down a foundation from stages one and two, the requirements become more stringent. For example, each movement finishes with a precise focal point of intention. A recent post on a mind training in Chen Taijiquan included the following examples which are also relevant in this context:

Performing Single Whip (Dan Bian), “Maintain visual focus on the left hand which moves left and upward from the lower right side in a large semi-circle at the front of the body. At the end of the movement, focus on the middle finger of the left hand… In Pie Shen Chui (Turn Body and Punch), focus the eyes on the toe of the left foot, while in Zhou Di Kan Quan (Fist Beneath Elbow) the focus is on the fist located under the elbow.”  (Source: Chen Xin’s Illustrated Explanation of Chen Family Taijiquan)      

4. Throughout the course of each movement practitioners use intention to use their eyes in relation to their stepping, direction and the position of a potential opponent. The elements “guard the left” and “anticipate the right” from Taijiquan’s five methods (jin, tui, gu, pan ding) refer to skills such as instinctively glancing in the direction one is going to step before taking the step. Carefully watch any good football player running with the ball and you’ll catch taking in the situation around him before releasing the ball. Likewise, in Taijiquan it doesn’t make sense to step blindly without checking first.  

The eyes synchronised with one's footwork, direction and the position of a potential opponent. 

5. The culmination of all the above factors leads to a place where we can say that the eyes lead, and the intention follows. Like driving a car where your actions are dictated by the information taken in through eyes. You wouldn’t dream of driving with your eyes closed or looking down towards the floor of your car. But this is just how many people practice Taijiquan. Instead of feeling the movement while keeping awareness of the outside situation, they are almost transfixed by the “skill” of their own movement and oblivious to what is going on around them.      

Why we need to Fang Song...

An important element of Chen Taijiquan’s training theory is the need to let go of physical or mental tension (fang song). Only by achieving the correct state can you be composed and stable. By eliminating physical tension, the body’s internal sensations can be better enhanced whilst training. At the same time by reducing mental tension clear, instantaneous, and correct decisions can be taken. Zhang Zong Jun, chief instructor of the Shandong branch of the Chenjiagou Taijiquan School stressed the importance not overlooking this aspect during training: “To be clear, you need to fang song before, during and after your quan. Preparation is important. Many people come to do Taiji in a hurry and, without mental preparation, go straight into form practice. The mind is not given time to quieten and calm now. Practice with a calm mind and the quality of Taijiquan will improve.”

Accepting the need to fang song you must be able to distinguish between the correct state of looseness from simply being collapsed and weak with no strength to speak of. The creation of a state of song requires the cooperation of the emotion, intention, and the body. This is not a passive process. Many people make the mistake of becoming limp and collapsed when what is required is an active and alive type of relaxation. You must mentally lead the process of relaxing the mind and quietening the emotions. Following this process, the body inevitably begins to loosen. One key advantage of song energy over stiff energy is the ability to redirect a larger force - looseness enabling the body to turn and deflect in the face of a strong incoming force. 

Achieving this optimum condition follows a long-term cultivation of an acute sensitivity to the sensation of what it means to truly loosen the body. Within Taijiquan’s oral tradition several sayings are really admonitions to give up the use of hard strength. At the same time, they point to the method through which the loosening process can be approached. For example, 

• “The muscles go down and the bones go up.” 

• “Hang the meat from the bones.” 

The underpinning philosophy and methodology of Taijiquan recognises the need for an individual to be continuously aware of the opportunity or potential for either movement or stillness. This is only possible if they can discard all preconceived ideas or plans for how to respond within any given situation. Instead, any response must arise spontaneously based on their sense at that precise moment. Matching philosophy and theory we can take the example of the push hands process where an experienced practitioner is able to manifest the condition of wuji by remaining in this unplanned yet ready state. In contact with an opponent, responses arising only based on the feedback provided by heightened sense awareness – in practice expressing either movement by attacking, or stillness by defending. Either option only possible if the body and mind are in a state of song.  

Zhang Zong Jun "...you need to fang song before, during and after your quan."

Lessons in the Temple of Heaven Park

Just been going through some old notes, as I like to do now and then, and came across my reflections on some days training with Zhang Baosheng in Beijing’s Temple of Heaven Park in the 1990s. Zhang was in his seventies at the time and had learned from the renowned Wu style master Wang Peisheng. We met by chance during a few days in the capital getting over jetlag en route to Chenjiagou. Below are some of his words of advice…

On Zhan Zhuang:

• The arms are expanded outwards. The strength in each arm coming from the opposite leg if tested from the side. If tested from the front, the arms extend forwards while the lower back pushes backwards – as if pushing the lower back against a low wall.

• It can be helpful to practice zhan zhuang against a tree or wall with your back very slightly away from the wall; In the same way you can practice xu bu (empty stance) – as in zhan Zhuang, but with one foot forward and insubstantial; or gong bu (bow stance) by facing a tree with the front knee, toe and nose to the tree representing the final position you can extend to - this slanted position being a feature on Wu Taijiquan.  

On the importance of preserving energy - It is important to preserve pre-natal qi as the qi produced in later life is not so effective. To do this:

• Never finish practice panting and out of breath.

• If becoming agitated during practice, then stop and steady oneself.

• It is important in nei gong (internal strength) training that qi does not become excited and rise. The basic exercises mentioned above are helpful in this.

On intention and maintaining a “secondary energy”:

• The mind clearly distinguishes between yin and yang or solid and insubstantial.

• Do not concentrate totally on a particular response. Instead, always have an alternative or secondary alternative ready should your first response be inadequate.

• Apply the idea of root, trunk and branches to the upper and lower body. In terms of the arm, the shoulder is the root, elbow is the trunk, and the wrist/hand is the branch. In action, if you are pushing in with your hand and the opponent responds to this, then give him the hand (i.e., soften it) and push in with the elbow. 

• When performing a movement there should always be two energies present: one acts as a dummy or ruse and therefore, the opponent must be aware of it; the other performs the true attack and is disguised. So, while the opponent is aware of the “dummy” hand, intent must be with the other “attacking” hand.

On tuishou:

• When practicing push hands emphasis should be upon sensitivity. Connecting very softly and letting your partner reveal their weaknesses like water level settling after it has been disturbed. In Zhang’s words, “Pushing an opponent should be like pushing a boat with the tide, rather than against it.”

• The elbows should not be allowed to lift, and the shoulder mustn’t lift in response to an opponent’s pressure.

On form training:

• You must relax while doing the form, but at the same time be full of intent. Visualisation is as if you were swimming across a river to attack an enemy on the opposite bank. Though your intention is serious, you do your utmost to make no noise or ripples in the water.

• During form training every movement must be carried out with attention and precision. To help with this you can visualise that your extended hand is holding a precious vase.  

Salute to Zhang Baozheng!

Are You Feeling It?

Soak up what you see - Chen Xiaoxing demonstrating a point.  

An often repeated truism is that to be good at something, you should put yourself into an environment where you can follow people more skilful than you. Then, all being well, assimilate some of  what they have. The  reverse is also true. For example, most responsible parents would worry if their children were keeping bad company in case they picked up the poor attitudes and behaviours they were exposed to.

Thoughtful Taijiquan practitioners accept then that simply having the correct physical form is not enough. Beginning level students (here we are not referring to the amount of time a person has trained, but to their understanding of the training method) often perform the shape or pattern of the forms or push hands drills rather than actually “doing” it. An individual may be a good mimic, but comparing them to a highly skilled exponent it seems something is missing. 

In Chenjiagou it’s said that to become skilful you must be able to copy the external shape and work out and understand the inner aspects. Replicating these less obvious requirements calls for a deeper level of attention. The ability to be present in the moment requires an inner calm and full engagement to the action being practiced. As well as demonstrating the correct shape, all of the internal requirements of Taijiquan must be actualised. Of equal importance to the formal instruction process is the informal learning process. Observation is perhaps the single most important mode of informal learning. By watching more experienced practitioners learners can absorb the subtleties and essence of the methods.

Irish fencing champion John Twomey gave an interesting parallel from the modern sporting arena after the experience of training in Estonia: “He remarked how coaches from many countries had trained him in technique, but his Estonian coach told him only to watch the best fencers as he was training, to sense their feeling, imitate them, be like them, not to concentrate so much on technique but on that “feeling”, the special spirit of perfect fencing.” (Source: Peak Performance: Zen and the Sporting Zone by Felicity Heathcote psychologist for the Olympic Council of  Ireland). The same applies to learning Taijiquan, if you put yourself in good company and look deeply enough some of it might literally rub off on you. 

Look hard enough and some of what you see might rub off on you!

Can you Develop Push Hands Skills Without Training Partners?

Chenjiagou 1998 - A youthful Chen Ziqiang and David Gaffney 

A question people often ask is how they can practice push hands if they don’t have access to regular suitable training partners. By suitable read interested. During one of our early trips to Chenjiagou we interviewed Chen Bing. One of the questions put to him centered on any perceived advantages he had benefitted
from having trained in the village his whole life. His answer was that, on a general level, everybody knows the rules of Taijiquan, so in that sense he had no special advantage having to put in the hard work like anyone else who wants to improve. Pushed a little further though, he conceded that the two significant advantages he had enjoyed were the readily available access to high quality coaching and an endless supply of good training partners. 

With that in mind it would be foolish to say that a lack of training partners isn’t a potential barrier to skill development. Sometimes there are people who want to push, but they just don’t have the patience to want to train systematically and in line with the laid down process. Finding yourself in this situation is clearly not ideal. That said, it’s always better to focus on what we have and what we can do rather than crying about what we don’t have. Progress can still be made by taking a long term perspective and looking at the skill as a whole. So, for example, preparing for the time when you do have access to push hands partners by:   

1. The first point obviously is to continue to refine and develop the form. Form training, standing pole, reeling silk exercises etc. are of fundamental importance in building the basic skills that will ultimately make one’s push hands effective. 

2. Secondly an individual can train the various supplementary drills and strength building exercises of the system. These can be used to develop obvious physical fitness components including strength, speed, power, agility and flexibility that will ultimately enhance overall practically usable skill. So, for instance, there are: single movement drills that can be used to work on the ba fa or eight intrinsic energies (peng, lu, ji, an, cai, lie, zhou and kao); stepping drills to enhance footwork placement and agility; pole-shaking exercises to train whole body connected power; reaction drills etc. Chen Taijiquan has a deep repository of training methods and the list can go on and on. 

3. I remember Chen Zhenglei offering another method to telling the group that how they could begin the process of training listening skills by very consciously mirroring another person’s form. His suggestion was that they do this by trying to exactly match their teacher’s form in terms of speed, rhythm etc.  

All of the above exercises can be helpful in preparing for push hands. Eventually, though real sticking, following and listening skills require working with a variety of push hands partners. Good luck finding them and value them when you do!  

 

Chen Fake – Four Types of Fajin

Power focused to a single point

In practical terms releasing power can only be effective if the person applying a technique can combine the ability to generate a great amount of force with doing so in a short time. Skill, in terms of delivering a technique accurately, and the capacity to harness the maximum possible strength possessed by an individual also have a great bearing on whether it “works” or not. 

Taijiquan requires us to “focus power onto a single point.” At the same time it makes use of a type of sequential movement that picks up strength through the kinetic chain of every action. This is reflected in the saying that every practitioner is familiar with: “Power starts from the feet, goes through the legs, is directed by the waist and expressed by the hands.” In the excitement of trying to replicate the fajin effect of a skilled exponent it’s easy to lose sight of what is behind their action that makes it so powerful. It’s all too common to see people trying to muscle out the movement with their upper body and overlooking this sequential chain effect. Outside the realm of Taijiquan a study by Russian Yuri Verkhoshansky, a prominent figure in the field of explosive strength training, examined boxers of varying skill levels trying to establish where their power came from. He found that elite boxers generated 38.46 percent of their force from their legs against only 16.51 percent by what he described as Class II and Class III (lower level) athletes. At the same time superior performers relied less upon trunk rotation (37.42% vs 45.5%) and arm extension (24.12% vs 37.99%). The point, as in Taijiquan, is that force is picked up throughout the movement.

The kinetic chain from feet to hands

Assuming an individual is capable of generating this force, the next thing is that it has to be expressed where it is needed. That is, it has to be directed and controlled according to the situation.   Taijiquan has multiple means of delivering force. In a recent post the Chengoushui or “Water of Chenjiagou” website posted a short piece about fajin and four different ways it can be expressed according to Chen Fake. Chen Fake was renowned for his high level of Taijiquan skill, his tremendous physical strength and his practical experience. He listed the following methods of releasing force: 

1. The force on the “outer-edge of the wheel” [at the edge of the circle] where an opponent can be hit without [seriously] damaging them.

2. The force from the inner strength of the wheel. Here he gave the example of Taijiquan’s lie jin (splitting/tearing force), of which he said “this strength can break bones.” Lie jin is used by emitting a very short and sudden twisting and tearing movement. On a cautionary note, it is not easy to experiment with this method as it is very easy to seriously injure your training partner’s joints. 

 

Chen Fake

3. The third method he called “drill strength” or penetrating strength, describing this as cun jin or Taijiquan’s “inch power.” Penetrating force is realised through the combination of spiraling movement and speed focused towards a single point. Again this was described as a type of strength with the potential to hurt its opponent.

4. The final method was bao fali or “explosive jin.”  In Chen Taijiquan this strength is often compared to a sudden explosion akin to an earthquake emanating with no warning from the centre of the earth. Three generations earlier Chen Fake’s great-grandfather Chen Changxing vividly described the abrupt and unexpected nature of fajin: “Lift your hand like lightning flashing. When lightning flashes, there is no chance to close your eyes. Strike the opponent like thunder clapping. When thunder claps, there is no chance to cover your ears.” 

The Importance of Timing and Distance…

In martial arts training the concept of timing and distance incorporates not just the space between opponents, but also the time it takes to bridge the gap and the angle and rhythm of attack. Together, these elements all contribute to the exact position from which one opponent can effectively strike another. 

Talking about the practical application of Taijiquan Chen Ziqiang said: “The most important strategy is to always be in a stronger position than your opponent. If your opponent is in a weak position in relationship to you, no matter how strong he is physically, he cannot generate much force against you. Nor will he be able to deflect your attacking force easily. He will always be behind your movements… he will always be trying to catch up with you, but you are always ahead of him.” 

Your “position” can be considered either in terms of: your own shape/posture; or your strategic position in relation to an opponent. In the first case the meticulous attention paid to minute differences in bodily posture during training is rewarded with a balanced structure that does not favour any side. In Taijiquan practice this is referred to as “strength in eight directions” - the posture does not overreach or fail to reach your optimum boundary of strength. In the second case, using your sense of timing and distance, the aim is to grasp where change is heading so that one can position oneself advantageously as events unfold. In simple terms, a person is said to have good timing when they know when to release an attack; and good control of distancing when they are able to close the distance from an opponent with effective footwork. A good mastery of timing and distance can help overcome a faster or stronger opponent. In western boxing there is a saying that “timing can be used to overcome speed.” These skills can only be are developed through experience. For instance, improving your timing mostly involves you watching and adjusting to your opponent. Unskilled practitioners often fail to do this instead being preoccupied with themselves and what they are doing.

Training to improve your timing involves watching and adjusting to your opponent...