Tai Chi Basics, Relaxation and Anti Stress

The first basic principle of tai chi (TC) is total relaxation. This is absolutely necessary to ensure that your movements and techniques are effective during application while being also beneficial to your health and wellbeing.

Total relaxation means both the Mind and Body is fully relaxed, or at least as relaxed as possible. This state of relaxation is called “Song or Sung”. It is an essential part of tai chi basics. Masters of TC refer to it as “the first important step” towards getting the benefits of this ancient chinese martial arts gentle exercise system.

Here is a real life scenario to help you understand the first principle in the basics of tai chi practice.

I am sitting here fingers poised over the keyboard thinking of how to tell you about relaxing the mind and body or Song. In checking my body, I discover that my legs and feet are completely limp and basically dangling from my knees down.

My upper body is the complete opposite. My back is slumped forward, my chin out as I stare at the screen. My shoulders are tense and rising. My arms are tense, fingers stiffening as they wait for action.

My mind is buzzing with the articles and books I have just read as well as a continuous stream of other totally unrelated thoughts. I am feeling anything but relaxed, calm and focused!!!

So what is Song?

Song or “sung” as it is sometimes written, is translated by various writers to mean “relaxed”. They often explain what they mean by relaxed, quickly telling us that we are not to be limp, flopped out, dead meat or cooked spaghetti with our minds in neutral. Instead we should hold only enough tension to hold the postures, and that our mind should be calm, still and alert.

So right now I am far from Song. My legs are like spaghetti, my upper body is incredibly tense and my mind is a can of worms.

The first step to change, to become relaxed, is to calm the mind. You have to consciously decide to relax the mind in order to relax the body.

We draw our attention inward focusing on our breathing. We breathe long slow deep abdominal breaths.

As the mind relaxes the body can follow. Keeping the focus inward we seek out muscle tension. We adjust our posture so that the body’s alignment is correct.

Faults like leaning and letting the front knee extend over the toe in a forward stance prevent us relaxing and transferring the body’s weight into the ground (see also the article on How to do TC - stances and the bee's knees). When we are not fighting gravity we can relax the muscles.

In tai chi, sinking and relaxing go together. We can’t sink without relaxing and vice versa. By lifting the spine as if we are puppets on a string that passes through the top of the head, we draw the body into the correct posture and elongate the torso.

Then we focus on sinking and relaxing each part of the body. We loosen the joints in the arms and shoulders, imagining each joint is opening and stretching. It is impossible to be tense when the joints are open and stretched.

We sink the chest allowing it to be slightly concaved. We need to relax and free the waist (there is another article about that) so it can turn and generate the movements in the upper body. The hip joints need to be stretched and opened to allow for the opening and closing of the “tuck” that is necessary for balance and weight transfer.

Finally we need to relax our weight into the ground below the feet. By doing this we have established a firm root against which we can generate power.

The power in tai chi comes from minimal muscle exertion. Tenses muscles easily fatigue and lose power. A strike should be like a whip that has no tension but has immense power in the strike.

Song is said to be a state of balanced Yin and Yang. We briefly switch to extreme Yang as we release pent up energy to strike. As soon as the strike is over we should return to Song.

By relaxing the muscles, stretching and opening the joints we can make the continual circular movements characteristic of tai chi. Locked joints are not relaxed and restrict the flow of Qi - Chi energy. Like a cat we should remain relaxed so that we can change and become light and agile in our movements coordinating the upper body with the lower so when we move, the entire body moves in unison.

Like the relaxed nature of water in a river which flows around obstacles and changes direction, our relaxed movements can be very powerful. We experience this in Push Hands and applications. When we stay relaxed as our opponent tenses and strikes, we can absorb and deflect the strike.

And, while staying in control, we can retaliate if we choose with a push or strike. In this situation we can practice using Song as we need to focus on keeping the mind composed and alert and the body loose and agile. In fact learning the lessons of Song is the primary goal of Push Hands.

To conclude, Song is something we have to feel and train ourselves to learn and use. It takes time. Standing in Wu Chi or Chi Cultivation are ideal times to focus on relaxing the mind and body. Then once we know a form we can practice Song while doing the movements. Of course there is no time like the moment; practicing Song can be done at any time and anywhere.

So no excuses, I can start right now, just as soon as I have stilled my mind and emptied it onto the page and I have let go the tension in my shoulders etc…… .

And you can too … begin to relax your mind and body…as from now.

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