Greetings all,
I was reading some of the recent issues of Yang Family Taiji Journal and came up with this image so I could understand the nature of the theory and principle of what Master Yang Jun was talking about:
anyone care to talk about or elaborate on this subject?
This is how I understand Dang Yao Jin.
For the Yang Family style, we must understand that different styles have different training methods and different ways of explaining things. Whereas as Chen style, for instance, might talk about Dantian rotations, we talk about the Dantian principally in connection with breathing and sinking Qi.
Some people stress synchronizing the breathing with form movements, but we do not. We are much more interested in sinking Qi. Qi goes to activity, and so to sink it, you must avoid unnecessary activity.
Imagine you are having a water fight with some friends and are running around with a bucket of water hoping to splash your friends with the contents. If you swing around the bucket too much, you will agitate the water and it will spill. If you don't run around at all, you can't catch anyone. But if you run around trying to keep the bucket relatively still, you will have a full bucket of water to throw at someone. This is how we want to manage our Qi, like water in a bucket.
Now change the image from water in a bucket to water in a belly-sized bag. The same considerations apply, but new ones also appear, since the shape of the bag is flexible.
Stand in the basic position to do standing meditation (zhanzhuang) or "hug-a-tree." Feel your breathing and how much capacity you have to take in air.
Now deliberately arch your lower back (i.e., your Yao), lift your butt somewhat, and then feel your breathing. You should now feel that your breathing capacity is distinctly diminished because of the pressure your lower back exerts on your abdomen.
Return to the "correct" position, and verify your breathing is no longer restrained. Now, deliberately angle your tailbone far forward, trying to arch your lower back in the opposite direction from before, like a lobster. You should now feel your breathing capacity is diminished by the pressure exerted by your abdominal muscles in the front.
Return to the correct position where you do not feel that your abdominal breathing is distorted by pressure either from the front or the back. This is a major part of what we mean by "loosen/relax the 'waist.'" You must drop your butt a little to open up the lower back, but not so much that you must tighten your abdominal muscles. It is basically what you unconsciously do to open your lower back just before you sit down on a chair. You align and open your back to absorb the energy that will go up your spine as you sit.
If you can feel these differences, assume the correct standing position and check that your breathing is correct. Now, deliberately lean forward so that your weight is more in your toes, and check what you feel in your abdomen. Return to the correct position. Now, deliberately lean back so that more weight is on your heels, and check what you feel. If you are either too far forward or too far backward, your breathing will be affected.
But it is not just your breathing, it is also the muscles in your core. If they are busy holding you up in one place, they are unavailable for other things. That is way we try to maintain this feeling of unrestrained natural breathing throughout the practice of the form.
The Yao (lower back/waist) also has other important functions. Using the Yao is the main way in which we physically manage changes of full and empty and keep the energy continuous. We do this by moving the Yao in various circles as we absorb and release energy.
For the family style, we do not train just horizontal (transverse) circles, but also vertical circles (coronal and sagittal) and combinations of the two (e.g., figure eight circles). The movement is often not obvious externally, but it is always there and very important.
Let me give an example of the Yao movement I use for Play the Pipa. I imagine that at the end of Brush Left Knee, my opponent has used their right hand to grab my right wrist. Going along with the energy, I initiate a small sagittal circle (front-to-back vertical circle) with my Yao that imparts a forward and downward wave in my right arm and hand that begins a circle. I will then try to draw my hand back by a new path to respect the energy circle, but the circle in the Yao is more important.
To draw my right arm and hand up and backward, I adjust my right foot to change the rooting and use a clockwise transverse (horizontal) circle in my Yao (lower back/waist). To bring my right arm and hand back down to press on my opponent's right wrist, I use a small clockwise coronal (left-to-right vertical) circle, like the hands of a wall clock. Many people incorrectly use a counterclockwise transverse (horizontal) circle here. Although this can send energy to the region get palm, it will draw too much energy away from the right arm. Using the correct clockwise coronal (left-to-right vertical) circle not only adds energy to the downward push of the right palm, but also to the upward lift of the left arm.
To use the Yao (lower back/waist) properly, you have to support it. We do this with the crotch (dang 裆) and hip joint (kua 跨). To connect the two, you need to make sure to open the Yao and let the tailbone be positioned without any bias toward any direction.
You have to keep a rounded feeling in the crotch with the hips open. To me, it's as if the legs are a Roman arch and the tailbone is the keystone. To keep the correct dynamic, you must keep the legs relaxed to let the weight sink unto the bubble well points in the feet. It should create a springy feeling throughout the legs, like sitting on a Pilates ball.
We try to round the crotch at all times, in bow stances, empty stances, and even while standing on one leg. It is more an issue of opening the hips to spread the knees than the "width" of the stance. Even in empty stances, where there is no "width" in the stance, you have to keep the rounded feeling.
I hope this is helpful.
Take care,
Audi
