Chung Chi - the springs by Paul Chou 10/7/2002
A compressed spring
tends to recover its original stat. Work
need to be done to compress a spring. While
under reciprocal load and unload situation, spring will perform a
dynamic pattern like pendulum. In pendulum type of motion, kinetic
energy transfers to potential energy and back continuously.
'The will to
maintain and utilize this type of energy system appears everywhere and
so important Taichi. The trained intention
that maintain practitioner's body in such neutral position to provide
the pendulum's K factor is Chung Chi. '
What is the theory?
In the article 'Peng jing and application ', I've
described the structure that support weight and mess inertial which
occurs in acceleration and deceleration while in movements. The assumption is the practitioner could arrange
his/her body in a way that pressure transfers through bones, to the
ground. The ligaments take tension to hold
possible bending stress happened around joints.
What I didn't mention and a very important part for advance
practitioner is the next step. After the
bending stress disappeared, these ligaments not only present tensional
member function but also act like springs. They
tend to return to their original length. When
synchronized properly, these springs react in-group, bounce back and
forth to form a major energy source for Taichi movement.
We can name the compress state of spring as Yin and pulling
stat as Yang or vice versa. It doesn't matter how we define it
symbolically, but matter very much how we synchronize its behavior in
practice.
How to
synchronize these springs in our Taichi exercise?
To revive springs action in our exercise you need to:
1.Clarify Peng system. Without the Peng
system, your mess moves in random and makes effort of synchronizing the
spring groups impossible.
2.Dividing our body in three parts:
- Upper body: including chest cage,
arms and head. It centered in Da-Tzue,
linked to both elbows and finishes at fingers.
- Middle body: the so call middle Dan
Tein. This area is very soft and full of
internal organs, under diaphragm that related to breath. This
area is used to store and release internal energy. As
the link between upper and lower body, it also is the major spring for
automatic stat.
- Lower body: guided by lower Dan
Tein. Through hips to arch like legs
structure. It operates through 3 systems:
- Bones and joints system.
- Muscles system.
- Digestive system: This
portion is the base of everything in Taichi. It
governs the orientation of steps. It also
governs the rotation and weight distribution.
While satisfying the theories of 'five
bows as one ' and '3 point aiming ', Peng, as general requirement. First, operates the lower body, 'sink down', to
get in to the wanted orientation. Then, let
the middle body spring (the largest one) brings over the upper body
into neutral position. This offset in time
should be very small and almost instantaneous. The
rotation and translation of upper body eventually pass the neutral
position and the mess moment of inertia compresses middle body spring
into opposite direction, this trend further passes down to lower body,
torque the lower body spring until tighten to the ground. It
torque through each joints along the way to toes. Now, the bounce back
ground reaction (rotational) moves up and brings lower Den Tien to next
position and orientation. The whole sequence start over again,
recursively. This type of bouncing back and forth continues through out
the entire form.
When one achieves this, he is in the automatic mode. His form presentation will be effortless but
powerful. In the progress
table by master Pan, this is the path into the last stage. In the progress
article by me and edited by Scott years ago, this is the 'Stage Six
Ordinary Practice '.
Why relate
this to Chung Chi?
Chi can be
translated as something persistent, like the word 'will '. Guided by
one's motivation. The examples of those
persistent are:
- Do Taichi everyday.
- Work hard and look for perfection.
- Have a good business idea and decide to work it out.
- An idea that we need to create a better world.
Chung Chi is that kind of persistent, design for Taichi
practitioner. This persistence is to have
joints rotate back to its neutral stat. Joint neutral stat is defined
by the 'Peng Jing'. Whenever joints rotate
form that neutral (Peng) state, this persistence brings them back.
My theory here is
that the entire Taichi form is designed for discover this phenomenon. Around this point, my future articles will
include:
- 'How to' in simple move.
- 'How to' in Cannon fist.
- 'How to' in push hand.
- 'How to' in Application.
- The translation of Classics related to this topic.
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