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Song -
is it all in the spinal column?
by K.C Cheah (June 2006)
Song, we were told, is imperative in Taiji
and, in fact, the hardest thing to achieve or be.
In the beginning, one's concept of song
is that of just relaxing the entire body, like a piece
of dead meat. Much later, one realized that it is not
that simple at all. Even enduring body aches and pains,
complaints and doubts, many will still drop out of Taiji
practice without even a glimpse of the Taiji gate whilst
the persistent and diligent ones walk into the realm
of song and beyond.
Unlike most external or hard-style martial
arts, Taiji is basically soft and internal, a qigong
really, requiring years of practice to achieve a reasonable
level of song. The keyword here is internal
and yet many Taiji practitioners are still seen waving
their hands and legs high up and about, with all their
lines of support and centroid, thrown all over.
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Taiji
is soft and internal requiring years of
practice to achieve a reasonable level of song
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One basic requirement of song
starts with an internally straight and relaxed posture.
Merely standing upright is not it in Taiji. Being an
internal art, qi is always involved and its development
helps achieve the many special skills of Taiji, such
as ting jing, jie jing, etc.
What is more internal than the internal
spinal column? "Is it all in the spinal column?"
Besides being a body frame support, the spinal column
houses the body's central nerves system which connects
up the entire body to form a crucial nerves network
that make us a creature of sensation or senses. The
condition of this spine and its nerve fibres, etc. tells
on the health of a body, a condition much abused and
obliviously taken for granted.
Many qigongs mentioned in books, tell
of qi being mind driven up, down and about the body.
Experience shows that if the focus is inside or
right into the spinal column as well about and
around it, one's internal condition improves tremendously
with practice. When the mind and body relax, each of
the vertebrates of the spinal column sits comfortably,
keyed, onto each other. A relaxed sunken sensation is
felt, with the qi settling into the bottom half of the
body. This internal focusing is uniquely refreshing,
producing strong internal strength and a healthy central
nerves system so crucial to the development of ting
jing.
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Zou
Yun Shou (Left - Wave Hands in Clouds) - a typical
song and internal rotation about spinal chord
with relaxed kua
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In time, a sensation can be felt to
link the "jiagi" (the true song support
of the shoulders and arms), the ming men, the
weilu, the kua and the yongchuan,
all aligned in a song upright posture. Until
this is achieved, one cannot truly say that one is even
on the path to song.
Resist not an incoming force with your
superficial strength but absorb it (jia jing)
into your internal and then circularly return it (fa
jing). A strong internal system and a really song
mind is needed for this.
Being song is thus not just about
relaxing every muscle and fibre in one's body. It's
about the correct focus and development of qi about
(most importantly, into) the spinal column,
resulting in a refined awareness of the mentioned key
points in the body.
( K.C. Cheah is a student of Master Koh, and has been
practising Taiji for 15 years.
Contact K.C at ditto@streamyx.com
)
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