World Tai Chi Qigong Day We celebrated World Tai Chi Qigong Day on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at a beautiful park setting in Roosevelt Park. More than 100 people came together for a synchonized Tai Chi performance and several group performances afterward. Many people stayed to socialize and catch up on old friendships. The event was enjoyed by all. Thanks to everyone who came.
The Secret to Push-Hands Sink, Turn, Expand By Joseph Eber
If you've ever watched a Push Hands match, you've probably wondered if by mistake you've stumbled onto a wrestling match. You have probably experienced the frustration of having your Push Hands turn into a pushing, pulling, shoving match, feeling completely ineffectual, and saying to yourself, “I know that this is not the way it is supposed to be.” What then is the secret to elegantly Pushing Hands without using muscular force? This question takes me back to when I first started studying with my teacher, Master William Ting. His answer was always SINK, TURN, EXPAND. I would walk away thinking, “Yeah, I got it now!” But soon I would find myself back again asking the same question, again and again. It took a number of years for me to understand these three words. They sound simple enough, but understanding and doing them is not so simple. This article will describe what it means to SINK, TURN and EXPAND, and how to use them to do Push Hands effectively, softly and elegantly. Before we can begin discussing sinking, turning and expanding, you must make sure that you understand the basic principles of T'ai Chi, and that you incorporate them into your being. Most players “think” that they understand these principles, but very few demonstrate this understanding. The most basic of principles is being upright. Yet, too often I see players bending forward, or worse, bending backward. Another example is to “Keep a space under your arm pits,” which just about every player knows. Yet, most players collapse their elbows into their bodies as soon as an opponent pushes them. To do Push Hands elegantly and without using force it is vitally important to do every principle correctly. For excellent articles on the T'ai Chi principles, please read “ Fundamentals of Correct T'ai Chi Practice ” by Ting Kuo-Piao (William Ting), in Tai Chi magazine Volume 19, No. 4, and “ Basic Requirements for Body Posture ” by T.K. Shih ( Qi Journal , Autumn 1996 (Volume 6, Number 3). When we talk about SINK, TURN, and EXPAND, let us be very clear that they must be done simultaneously and NOT as separate movements. Each is a component of the other. Sinking is related to vertical expansion . Turning without sinking has no power. Sinking and Turning without Expanding limits your flexibility and limits the extent of your turning. However, in order to explain them, we will address them separately. TURNING is probably the most obvious and maybe easiest to understand and do. One of the defining aspects of T'ai Chi is that it is circular, which immediately suggests that all movements have some turning and spiraling. Turning is important because it: • allows you to avoid the opponent's push • makes your chest less of a target • allows you to reach further than your opponent so you can keep pushing while their push is exhausted • generates power by allowing force to come up from your feet and out through your hands • causes your opponent to push more on one side than the other, leading them to imbalance and a weakness in their structure So what's the big deal about turning? Everyone knows how to turn, don't they? Yes, everyone knows how to turn, but not in a way that is effective in push hands. The classics tell us that “all movement starts at the feet.” Therefore, to turn, it is the feet that must start the turning. Do the feet actually turn (in stationary push hands)? No! Nevertheless, the mind tells them to turn and they “feel” like they are both turning inwards towards each other. The feet initiate the turning, but because they cannot move, they create force against the ground that spirals up the legs and causes the hips to turn. The hips turn causing the body to turn. It is important to note that the feet always turn towards each other, regardless of which way you're turning. This inward turning turns the lower part of the leg (shin) outward, which causes the knees to slightly turn inwards creating what is known in tai chi as the “leg bow”. The knees turning inward causes the thighs to turn outwards which opens the hip joints (qua), which is crucial for sinking and expanding (see picture 1). In addition to both feet turning, one foot must pull as the other pushes . Most people push off one leg while the other leg passively receives the weight. This creates an imbalance in the legs which hinders the sinking of the feet as the weight shifts from leg to leg. Which leg pushes and which pulls depends on which way you're turning. This may be very new to you because either you've been taught that the waist originates the movement or your teachers haven't talked about moving from the feet. But, before you reject this way of moving out of hand, do some research into the meaning of, “ all movement starts with the feet, is controlled by the waist, and comes out through the hands .” William C. C. Chen in his article The Mechanics of Three Nails 1999 writes , “ Not until in middle 1980's that I began to realize that the thigh itself has no ability to make any moves or turns without the help of the foot which is rooted firmly on the ground. Therefore, the rooted foot, and specifically the “three active nails” are in control and energized …” Try pulling with one foot as you push with the other and have both feet mentally “turning” towards each other. It may take a while to get used to moving this way but your results will be worth it. You will have better balance as you move, deeper root, and more power. Picture 1: (A) feet turn inwards; (B) lower legs turn outwards; (C) knees turn inwards towards each other to create a bows; (D) the thighs turn outward Turning, therefore, starts from the feet. As the feet “turn”, they cause the hips to turn. The hips turn the shoulders and the shoulders propel the arms to interact with the opponent. This is the point where many players fail because they do not connect and move their arms as a unit with their bodies. Their body turns, but their arms do not follow. Your arms must stay in front of your body and move with it at all times. The space under the armpits must NOT close and your arms must NOT collapse against your sides. However, your arms should not open to the point where your shoulder blades move toward each other and your chest sticks out. From experience, I've found that most beginning players make one or the other of these mistakes; they either pull their arms towards their body and close the space under their arms, or they open their arms too much. The principle of “Chest in and Back out” tells us that the chest, and more specifically the “Middle Tan-Tien”, must sink inwards while the back must remain rounded and the shoulder blades move as far apart as is comfortable. If your arms are too open and your shoulder blades are moving toward each other, your arms will not have any power because your back will be “closing”. We will discuss the “opening of the back” in more detail when we discuss Expanding later in the article. There is one other aspect of turning that must be done correctly, and all too often it is not. I see many players who try to turn and yet the turning doesn't seem to work very well for them. This is because they do not sink the hip joint (kua) and bend their front knee. When they turn, their front knee and kua almost straighten out. The entire side of the body from the ankle to the shoulder is practically a straight line (see picture 2a ). This causes the front hip to rise along with the center of gravity, and it causes their rooting to disappear along with their stability and their ability to withstand a push. It is very important that when turning, both hips must sink and the knees remain bent. In fact, because the hips are sinking, your knees should feel as if they are rising and lifting. In addition, the front knee should keep pointing toward your opponent's chest, especially when you have shifted your weight back. Turning, then, must start from the feet, the arms must stay connected to the body and expanded forward, and the hips must be sunk and the knees bent (Picture 2b).
SINKING is crucial for balance, power and expansion (as we'll see later). First, it is important to understand that sinking is NOT the same as going into a lower stance. One can be in a very low stance and not be sunk. Sinking is relaxing the body and feeling as if the feet have sunk deep into the floor. In Push Hands the depth of your ROOT is of vital importance to the stability of your stance and your power. The deeper your root the more stable you are and the more flexibility you will have. Also, the deeper your root, the more power you can draw from the ground through your feet. When you are relaxed and rooted, you become more sensitive to the depth of your root as well as your opponent's root. You can then “cut” your opponent's root by going under their root which will “uproot” them and cause them to lose balance. If your opponent's root is deeper than yours, you will be uprooted. To understand how to sink and root, imagine holding a plastic bag that is two-thirds filled with water. The bottom is heavy and pulls downward while the further up the bag that you go the lighter and lighter it gets. The same is true in your body; the heavy energy sinks to the floor and your lower body feels heavy and rooted while the light energy rises to the ceiling giving your upper body a light and agile feeling. In my opinion, the best way to develop this feeling of sinking is by doing standing meditation and qigong. As you relax, feel the heavy water settling down while at the same time, the upper body is emptying and like a light balloon, lifting the spine to lift the head. In order to sink, there are a number of things that must be done, and unless you do them, you will not be able to sink. First and foremost you must relax and expand (which we'll discuss in detail below). Relaxing allows the heaviness to flow down. Next, you must lift the head and sink the chin. This is often overlooked, and yet without it, you will not be able to sink deep, but only stay on the surface. A good way to tell if your head is lifted and your chin is sunk is by feeling as if your spine is pushing your head upwards while at the same time your chin lowers so that it covers your Adam's apple. Try to feel the top of your head touching the ceiling, or at the very least feel as if your head is holding up a piece of paper and keeping it from falling. The next thing that must be done is that the hips must be bent and the kuas (hip joints) be so relaxed and loose that you feel as if there is a space in the hip joints. Look at the pictures of the masters on the cover of practically every T'ai Chi magazine and notice how deep their hips are bent. Regardless of which form you do or how high your stances, both hips MUST be bent. An even more advanced way of bending the hips is to actually move the upper part of the joint up and back and the top of the hip bone down to create a space in the joint. We call this “opening” the qua. This is probably the most difficult concept to teach and learn, and comes only with a lot of practice, patience and a very good teacher. To help facilitate the opening of the kua, the tailbone must sink to the heel of the back foot (in most stances) and deep into the floor. When the kua is open and the tailbone is sunk, the knees will automatically bend and feel as if they are actually lifting upwards. To sink the tailbone and feet even deeper, you need to feel as if your knees are actually reaching to touch your elbows. To be clear, this is done with your mind; you do not actually touch the knees to the elbows, nor does your tailbone touch your heel. The effect of making these connections, and relaxing and lifting the head will allow you to sink deeper than you thought you could, and will give you the rooting, flexibility and power that is needed for real Push Hands.
EXPANSION can be easily understood on a cognitive level and yet very difficult to do for most people. There have been numerous articles in this magazine that emphasize expansion as a vital part of one's T'ai Chi practice. In fact, my teacher, Ting Kuo-Piao (William Ting) has written an in-depth article about it called “Relaxing and Expanding” in this magazine (Volume 25, No. 1). Often time you will see expansion referred to as Peng-Jing or Ward-off energy. This article will attempt to explain what it is and how to do it specifically in Push Hands. If we use a balloon as a model, then it is easy to understand what expansion means. When a balloon inflates, it does not expand in one or two directions. It expands in ALL directions. Easy enough to understand, but not so easy to do when one is being pushed. By definition, as something expands, all the extremities move away from each other. As a balloon inflates, the top moves away from the bottom; the right edge moves away from the left, and so on. Therefore, in order to have this expansion or moving apart, first and foremost one must be very relaxed. The balloon can expand because it is soft and not rigid. When you are relaxed, like the balloon, you can expand in every direction. Let's look at expanding vertically. When done correctly, expanding up and down will allow you to feel your lumbar vertebras separating and the ming-men point “opening”. The ming-men (“gate of life”) is the acupuncture point in the back, opposite the navel; for our purposes we can refer to it as the “lower back”. The lower back “opens” when the head lifts and the hips sink under (pelvic tilt) to create a lengthening of the spine and a flattening of the lumbar curve. This is an extremely important point because unless you open the lower back, you are not truly expanding or doing ward-off. If you are not expanding and opening the lower back, the power cannot move up from your feet and through your back to your arms. Nor can the power move down to your feet when you are pushed. In other words, when you are pushing, the force must come up from your feet, go through your ming-men, and then come out through your arms. If it doesn't then you're just using arm muscles. The same is true when your opponent issues power against you. The oncoming power must be absorbed from your arms or chest down through the ming-men to the feet and into the ground. If it does not, your Push Hands will quickly degenerate into a wrestling match. To experience opening the lower back, stand with your back against a wall with your arms in front of you. Have a friend exert some pressure on your arms as if trying to push you into the wall. Do not push back with your arms. Instead, push your lower back into the wall to force your arms to expand forward (Picture 4). Your friend will feel an immediate surge of power in your arms. Your friend should be able to tell you whether you are pushing with your arms or your back because if you push with your arms your force will be stiff, whereas if you use your back the force will be solid and strong and your arms will remain relaxed and soft. As you push with your back, have your friend exert more pressure. If you successfully open the lower back, your friend's push will go through your feet and into the ground. You will feel as if your friend is hardly pushing, and yet they will swear that they are pushing with all their might. The next step is to move away from the wall and do the same thing without the support of the wall but by sinking the tail bone to the back heel, lifting the head, and opening the lower back. You will find that you can withstand a tremendous amount of force if you use your lower back and not your arms.
Picture 4: Joe is pushing on Richard Lund. Richard is expanding his arms into Joe by pressing his lower back into the wall. We've looked at the “up and down” concept of expanding and “opening” the lower back. The “forward and backward” expansion can be difficult for many people because they are NOT used to moving in this way. When some players push, everything moves forward because they are trying to exert their maximum force. When they yield, everything moves back because to them yielding means moving everything backwards away from the opponent. The classics, however, tell us that if there is up, there is down; if there is forward, there is backwards; if there is left, there is right. The classics also tell us that there is always “Yin within Yang and Yang within Yin”. Therefore, expansion means that when you go forward (Yang), there must be something going back (Yin). And, if you are moving back, there must be something moving forward. The problem, I believe, for many players is that they consider yielding and pushing as two separate and distinct entities. Yielding is yielding and pushing is pushing; two opposing movements which are done separately, and are mutually exclusive. So how can you yield and push at the same time. Most of us were taught that T'ai Chi is about yielding and not using force against force. Although this is true, many players find that it doesn't seem to work well for them because yielding puts them into a worse position than they were before they yielded. The reason is that there is no expansion in their yielding. They are moving back with nothing expanding forward. The classics tell us that there is always “Yin within Yang and Yang within Yin”. Yielding therefore cannot be moving everything (trunk, arms, and legs) backward with nothing going forward. If the trunk is yielding by moving back, then the arms must expand forward at the same time toward the opponent. As the chest sinks inwards towards the back (remember the principle: “Chest in, Back out”), the elbows press forward and down. As the elbows press forwards, the knees should be connected to the elbows and point forward too (the principle of “Elbows connect to the knees”). This is a key point because the leading knee should remain bent and pointing toward the opponent. However, how often have you yielded and moved back to the point of practically straightening the front knee. “But my knee is still bent,” you protest. Yes, that may be true, but is your kua bent? If your knee is not bent enough, your kua cannot be either, and that means that your center of gravity is not in your tan-tien but has moved higher, and you don't have any root. Also, by moving everything back you put yourself in a purely defensive stance with no offense, and in order to get out of this predicament, you must fight the opponent off by using muscular force. However, by expanding, you stay in a good posture while your opponent is being led into “emptiness” and imbalance. So, when yielding, yes, your trunk moves back, but you must expand your arms and knees forward as you shift back. It is important to understand HOW to expand the arms and knees. The arms do not expand by themselves. They are extended forward from the back and through the shoulders. This is directly related to the axiom, “Chest in – Back out”. In other words, as your chest (middle tan-tien) sinks in, your back rounds forward pushing the shoulders forward which expands the arms. The knees expand forward because the lower back opens, the kua bends, and the tailbone sinks. (See pictures 5a & 5b).
To experience simultaneously yielding and expanding, have a partner push your upper arms (or anywhere for that matter). As they push, your weight and trunk move back, your tailbone and feet sink into the floor, and your head lifts. Slightly turn to receive their push, and at the same time, expand your elbows and arms into their arms or chest. If you do it slowly and without force you will see your partner's toes start to lift up and eventually they'll be teetering on their heels. (See picture 6) Picture 6: Richard is pushing Joe. Joe's trunk is moving back while his elbows and arms expand into Richard. His body turns slightly to his left to yield while his right is advancing. If Richard continues to push and Joe continues to expand and turn, Richard's toes will start to rise, lifting him off balance. Does expansion also hold true when we are doing the PUSHING? Absolutely! As you push, you must also expand. Most players only push, they do not expand. They push with everything going forward, and usually lean forward while doing so. You may be able to get away with pushing like this with inexperienced players because they react by stiffening and resisting your push. A more experienced player will yield and expand and move your force to the side and have you off your heels very quickly. The principle of “something going forward must be countered by something going back” is just as applicable to advancing as it is when yielding. As your arms push into the opponent, your body moves back and sinks down. Master Ting, my teacher, uses this example: If you were stuck in a narrow closet how would you push the door open? You would push your back against the wall while your arms expanded into the door. When the door gave way, you would still be standing and balanced. If you don't use the wall, you would be just using your arms. If you lean on the door to open it, when it gave, you would fly forward and possibly fall on your face. When you Push Hands, since you do not have a wall to push against, you must have a force going back and down (see Sinking above) to give you the forward force. You learned this in physics; “for every action/force, there must be an equal and opposite reaction/force”. Players who push with everything moving forward usually wind up off balance and arching their spine toward their stomach, which we call “closing the back”. When you “close your back” you cannot use the power of your legs and feet, and you wind up using your arm's muscular strength, which is not what you want. As a test, try the following. Have a partner resist your push as you push with everything going forward and determine how well that worked. Then push your partner again, and this time expand by having your arms go forward and your body go back while turning slightly. When you push, push from your feet and not your arm, making sure both knees and quas are bent. Notice your balance and the efficiency of your push. Another good example is doing a shoulder strike. Beginners only focus on the force of the shoulder, and neglect everything else. For a shoulder strike to be powerful the back leg must sink deep into the ground and the back hand feel like it is pushing against something. In other words, there is a part going forward and an equal part going back - expansion. We have discussed how your body and movements expand. Expansion however is more than physical. Expansion is also MENTAL and ENERGETIC (Qi). T'ai Chi Ch'uan is truly a mind-body exercise which means that your mind plays a powerful role in your stability, rooting and in issuing force. Expanding physically is very effective in push hands, but to take it to the next level you must use your mind and expand past your physical body. Expanding past the physical is common in sports. In tennis and golf you hit through the ball, and in boxing you punch through your opponent. In T'ai Chi you do the same, with some additions. When we practice, all our moves are done as if our arms can reach a point well beyond us. Our head feels like it can touch the ceiling, and our feet sink deep into the floor. This magnifies the power of our moves. Try it for yourself and you'll be surprised at how much more power you'll have. As you stand in any posture imagine that your arms can reach across to touch a distant object. But do not just expand forward; expand all over as a balloon would. Master Ting tells that his teacher, Grandmaster Lu Ji-Tang used to say, “Imagine that you are standing in the middle of the ocean. You can feel the water pressing all around you. Feel the pressing all the way to the end of the ocean and your expansion will reach to the end of the ocean.” As you continue to relax into your stance, imaging that your head is touching the ceiling or that you are looking at yourself from somewhere above. Feel as if your feet have sunk into the floor up to your knees or more. Soon you will be in what athletes call “the ZONE” – a state of relaxed awareness where you are effortlessly aware of everything around you. When you expand MENTALLY, you want to get to a point where you begin to feel that you are bigger than your opponent. In fact, you want to feel so big that you fill up the entire room and you can wrap your opponent up with your energy. You will be surprised at what this will do for your Push Hands. To feel this kind of expansion, push hands with a friend and put your attention on where they are holding or pushing you (as most people do) and notice how effective you are. Next, do the same and this time ignore that they are touching you. Put your attention on a point somewhere behind your opponent and fill up the room with your energy and expand to envelop your opponent. Notice the difference from the previous push. By expanding your attention beyond your opponent, not only are you more powerful, but you can now feel their whole body as opposed to just their hands. Picture 7: Joe is pushing hands with his teacher Ting Kuo-Piao (William Ting). Master Ting is expanding both physically and mentally covering the entire room with his intention/qi. Although, obviously shorter than Joe, he feels that as he expands, he is becoming larger than Joe and enveloping him with his energy. Beginning players often rush to push their opponent. Push Hands calls for patience; the right moment, the opportunity, finding a weakness. You do not need to rush or force your pushing. Instead, expand, and keep expanding and your opponent will unbalance themselves. We call this the python effect. The python squeezes its prey so that the prey cannot expand its lungs to breathe. With every exhale, the snake tightens its coils, preventing the prey from taking in a breath, until all the oxygen in its lungs is exhausted. Like the snake, when you sense a weakness, expand into it and stay there. Your opponent will attempt to move in another direction, usually backwards to escape your expansion. When they do that, they will create another weakness somewhere else. Expand into it as well without letting up. Pretty soon your opponent will run out of places to move. They will become immobilized as you keep expanding into them until they lose their footing. To put it simply, the more you expand, the less your opponent can expand, and if they cannot expand and keep their joints open, including the lower back, then they will lose power along with their balance.
It is important to realize that EXPANDING and RELAXING while being pushed is COUNTER-INTUITIVE. When pushed, instinctively we tend to do the opposite of expanding. Instead of expanding we shrink our posture. We stiffen-up and react by pulling our arms into our body (see picture 8). Instead of expanding our opponent's arm away from us, we instinctively pull them into ourselves. Next time you Push Hands and you are moved off balance pay attention to what you did either as it happened or a second before. In most cases you will find that you were pulling your opponent's arm into you and helping him or her to push you off balance. Your challenge will be to change this habitual response of pulling your opponent into you and to relax and to expand. Picture 8: As Joe pushes, instead of expanding and getting bigger, Richard is shrinking. His arms are pulling inwards and his elbows are collapsed and his shoulder blades are closing. It is important to note that everything that we covered in this article for doing push hands is exactly the same as when you do your form or qigongs. T'ai Chi form or Push Hands without expansion is like a balloon that's half full. It may look somewhat like a balloon but it cannot float or have the effect of an expanded balloon. Moving without sinking is moving on the surface without balance or root. Doing the form without turning (from the feet) is counter to T'ai Chi Ch'uan where all movements are circular, round and have a spiraling effect. In this article we have tried to explain how to use SINK, TURN and EXPAND to improve your Push Hands. If you do sink, turn and expand will you become “invincible”? Probably not. Push Hands is a very complex exercise that is made up of a combination of your posture, your sinking, turning, and expanding, your reaction time, your root, how relaxed you are, and many other factors. Add to this that you are interacting with an opponent who is trying to upend you and you can see that there is a lot involved. There are also other aspects of Push Hands that for the sake of brevity were not included in this article which must also be taken into account when doing push hands. However, by incorporating SINK, TURN AND EXPAND into your play, your Push Hands will significantly improve, becoming elegant, smooth, and effortless, the way you always thought it should be. Joseph Eber Joe studies and teaches in New Jersey. He started his studies in 1982 with the late Sidney Austin and studied the Wu style for 10 years with the late Sofia Delza. Since 1995 he’s been studying with Master Ting Kuo-Piao (William Ting) of Mt. Laurel, NJ.
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