Tai Chi Master

Mastering tai chi requires the following:

• A lifelong commitment to the furtherance of the art
• Spontaneous demonstration of every and any aspect of the art
• The ability to train other people to become Tai Chi Instructors
• An embodiment of the principles outlined in the Tai Chi Classics
• Highly accurate rendition of every exercise/form/drill/application
• Extensive knowledge of every facet of every subject in the syllabus i.e. 'jing'
• An in-depth understanding of every facet of the exercise/form/drill/application
• How the exercise/form/drill/application links to other aspects of the curriculum
• The ability to dismantle and explain how and why the different components operate
• Grace, ease, subtlety, sensitivity, nimbleness, appropriateness, simplicity are all a given
• The willingness to train disciples to acquire every aspect of the teaching and perpetuate the art themselves
• Unselfconscious, skilled and utterly effective application of the art in combat employing chin na, jing and shuai jiao
• The ability to develop, improve and deliver a thorough, fully differentiated syllabus suitable for all ability levels and all ages
• The ability to dismantle and explain how and why every form posture operates and how it can be applied in at least 7 different ways
• Comprehensive theoretical knowledge and the ability to discuss and explain how taoism, martial theory and actual practice all tie together
• The ability to apply the tai chi principles (yielding, stickiness, peng, jing, composure, connection, 4 ounces etc) in every situation with absolute ease and certainty

Lineage disciple

Master Waller actively dissuades any student from seeking to become a lineage disciple.
The obligation is not for the half-hearted.

If the student is neglectful with their training and commitments, they will no longer be an indoor student.

Confusion about yielding

If taoism is the art of adjusting to life, then tai chi chuan is the art of adjusting to the opponent.
This process of adjustment is what yielding is about.
Balancing, sensitivity, change.

Yielding is concerned with not opposing force, making space... and then counter-attacking.

Having made space, you must incapacitate your attacker. Yielding is only half of the requirement.
Unless you neutralise the attacker, they will continue to assault you.
Step-in decisively and finish-off the attacker.

Internal way

The internal way of using strength has some basic considerations:

1. Never employ force against force; always yield to strength
2. No more than 4 ounces of pressure should be exerted upon your body or expressed by you
3. Each movement should be a whole-body movement
4. Unite internally using neigong yet remain soft, pliable and yielding
5. You can transmit strength via groundpath
6. Intention can unite mind and body into one focussed unit

People read these points and feel dissatisfied, as though some crucial part was missing.
You must remain calm and composed, relaxed and easy.

Internal skill

Internal skill is subtle.
It takes decades of time, understanding and training to cultivate: this is why so many people go astray.

The visible outward signs are small. Most of the work takes place within the body. The movements are smaller, less obvious.

As the student's skill improves, the physicality of the tai chi chuan diminishes.
The frame serves to supplement the mind.
A more subtle physical expression is now possible.

Partner drills and form application teach the student how to minimalise their movements.
Balance, timing, structure, softness and mind combine to create the desired outcome: a twitch instead of an arc.

Internal arts

The 'internal arts' are so-called because the focus is within.
You are required to feel rather than do.
Outward movement must reflect the inner condition and should stem from what is happening internally.
This sounds difficult until you consider it further.

Every movement made by the human body begins under the skin; nerves activate muscles and muscles move the bones.
There is nothing special about this; it is the normal process.
Tai chi simply reconsiders the way in which the movement is generated; it explores the how.

Indications of the external

External bad habits:

1. Force against force
2. More than 4 ounces of pressure exerted by you or expressed by you
3. Localised arm and shoulder movement
4. Deep, long or wide stances
5. Fixed legs - disconnected upper & lower
6. Tensed muscles
7. Over-emphasis of the waist
8. Incorrect use of the pelvis and hips
9. Pushing upon impact
10. Aggression

These will all perpetuate an external approach to tai chi chuan.

Mind

Yang Cheng Fu said "Use mind not force" and this one statement holds the key to understanding the difference between internal and external.
Intention requires considerable presence and awareness.
The student must have a calm, clear mind; focussed on the here and now.

The mind is used to create energetic outcomes within the body.
For example: a student seeks to 'sink' and 'root'.
A beginner may accomplish this by dropping deep into the hips, bending the knees and bearing the weight down.
Such a method would be fine in most martial arts, but in what way is it internal?

The physical action needs to be slight. No deep bending. No bearing down.
Use your mind instead.
If this seems difficult to you or unlikely, it reveals the fact that your training remains largely 'external'.

Body

Beginners treat tai chi chuan and baguazhang like external systems and rely upon deeply bent knees and exaggerated stances for power.
Their seeming root is accomplished through physicality not energy.
The jing of 'root' is created by mind, by energy, not-doing, by allowing - not by squatting.

In terms of something else

It can be difficult to perceive something new on its own terms.
The temptation is always to see it in terms of what you already know.
Yet, this approach closes your mind to the new.

Tai chi cannot be seen in terms of the conventional, external martial arts.
Yes, we require similar results:

1. Success in self defence
2. The ability to perform a variety of skills against a range of opponents
3. Appropriateness

But the means by which we accomplish and manifest these skills is quite different to mainstream combat systems.

You may know two hundred different martial arts but what is the quality of your movements? It's still just movement, it doesn't matter how many forms you know.

People with wisdom will use a tool properly, but a person with lower knowledge will recognise only one function of the tool. In the same manner, internal martial arts can be used for many functions because you use the same tool. This training method is only one tool, but it has many different uses.

You need to use one form for practice and include everything in it - mind, structure, movement and qi. If you can easily do all of these within each motion, that is the internal martial arts.

 

(Luo De Xiu)

Central equilibrium

To feel central equilibrium you must find balance within your body.
The upper and lower must be united.
The front and back.
The sides.
Yin and yang (but that comes later).

Everything must work together.

Central equilibrium is not just the ability to stand on one leg.
It is about finding the middle way between apparent opposites.
If you are too much one way or the other, you will be weak.

Balance

Gaining a sense of balance is essential in tai chi.
You must never lose your balance.
Every step, every arm movement must be within the natural range of your reach, without compromising balance in any way.

Martially, you are vulnerable as soon as you lose balance.
You do not have to be falling over to lose balance, you just need to lift out of your centre.

Cross-training

When people ask Master Waller about cross-training he typically advises people to be cautious.
Why is this?

The problem is tension.
When people exercise they typically end up exerting. This results in tension in the muscles and inflexibility in the joints.
The problem is not with the exercise, but rather with how you do the exercise.
If you can keep tension-free, then do whatever suits you.

The one kind of cross-training that never works is mixing two internal and external martial arts together.
The tension you learn in the other style (and the bad body use habits) are always detrimental to your tai chi.

Master Waller does not cross-train.
The training methods in our syllabus are extensive and offer an extremely comprehensive, balanced daily workout.

Limbo dancing

Bending and twisting your spine is not encouraged in tai chi.
It can leave you vulnerable to back injury.

Maintain an upright posture, unless bending briefly forward at the hips in order to evade a strike.

If you need space, turn the hips and/or step.

Bandy legs

Flaccidity in the legs can be as bad as tension.
Floppy legs fail to support the body appropriately and in combat you are apt to fall over unnecessarily.

Standing qigong is the remedy for bandy legs.
Sink into your hips, relax the back of the knees and drop your weight internally.

Empty centre

The danger with being floppy is that you lack centre.
Without a pliable but flexible root, you cannot yield easily.

If you are tense, you will be brittle and hard.
Your centre must be strong but empty.

You may be capable of relaxing your arms, but if your torso is tense you have missed the point entirely.

Sung

Tai chi teaches the student to be loose, flexible and mobile.
But this condition is not flaccidity.
Going limp involves being disconnected, and will not usually work in combat.

When you have balanced softness appropriately, you will no longer be tense or floppy.
You will be 'sung'.
This is going to take some time, so be patient and practice.

Relax?

Many people translate sung/song to mean 'relax' but this does not adequately capture the nature of this neigong.
Sung feels like the limbs are moving by themselves; all doing is gone.

It is a composite skill which relies strongly upon yielding.
Sung requires the body to be naturally sunk at all times and for the joints to open & close without conscious effort.
Peng permeates the body constantly, creating elastic bow tension although no conscious will is required to manifest or sustain it.
Resistance to force should feel anatomically uncomfortable.
The waist should return to the centre by itself once rotated and the elbows should be heavy.
Sung is not flaccid or inert - it is a cat-like readiness within the mobile structure.

You will not master sung until much later in the curriculum, but you can begin cultivating it immediately.

Getting it

The true sign of skill in tai chi is your ability to remain absolutely soft and gentle throughout your practice.
You will find that grace and fluidity emerge and you will be hard to manipulate.
Your movements will become smooth and flowing, and you can spontaneously adapt to the changing nature of the moment.
Strength will be present in your every movement, yet you will be unaware of it.

Expert students learn to feel only the movement, and not their own body.

This is called 'sung'. Until you stop being tense, this kind of skill is not possible.
Every time you move, relax. Then relax again. Repeatedly remind yourself to let-go.