ChiDragon

Sorry, I left out this phrase: 传统太极拳要求腿不过腰 Traditional Tai Ji Chuan has a requirement that the leg should not kick above the waist. My link: Kicking in Tai Ji below the waist

The opponent can lift up your leg and get you off balance.

Listen to what he says at 1:04 and 1:15.

Yes, horse stance do help to build up the muscle tone in your leg muscles. That is the cultivation of Chi. Don't worry, Chi will never get stuck in you head. Yes, some people do get sick but not all get sick from chi kung practice, only if there were illnesses inside the body.

No, I am not talking about that. Tai Ji practitioners only punch with the arm at 45 degrees and never kick above the waist neither.

Well, interfere means the initiative was causing harm to Nature or the nature of thing. In some cases, if no initiative had been taken place, then there would be no harm done. If you were standing and get hit, you weren't the initiator. The philosophy behind Wu Wei was who initiated the interference, not the passive individual. Please get this straight. I am not suggesting that anyone should just stand there and get beat up and do nothing. The emphasis is on the initiator. I had talked about this long enough in the forum. Now I am getting better and better to explain what Wu Wei is....

WOW....... I am glad that everyone has an interest in Tai Ji.... Why Tai Ji does not extend the arms and legs fully...??? This something has to do with the understanding of the Yin-Yang concept. That was based on the Yin-Yang concept: 陽中有陰: There is Yin within Yang. 陰中有陽: There is Yang within Yin. Yin and Yang are two extreme opposite states. Let's use the situations in Tai Ji. When an arm was fully extended, it was said to be it is in the extreme Yang state. When the arm was fully retracted, it was said to be in the extreme Yin state. However, that is not a desirable condition in sync the philosophy in Tai Ji. In the practice, it was recommended to have the arms and legs only bend at some point but not fully extended. There are two reasons for that is to enhance the flexibility for the body movements. One reason is to allow the arm to contract or retract in either direction. In the worse case, if the arm was fully extended, then there was only one limited condition to allow the arm to be retracted. Thus no more room for extension. The same reversal principle applies to the Yin concept. The second reason was not to exert the Jin at full throttle. It a better to reserve some of the Jin for back up usage. When an arm was at rest or in the sung(鬆) condition, there is always some potential Jin in ever-ready for exertion. 鬆(sung): loose 放鬆(fang4 sung): is to be loosen the muscles for relaxation. That was the reason behind this pithy: There is Yin within Yang. There is Yang within Yin. Analogous to: There is contraction within extension. There is extension within contraction. The arms and legs were never fully extended; and The arms and legs were never fully contracted. The concept below was for the second reason above. It has to do with Fa Jin which is a matter of controlling the amount of Jin to be exerted by the muscles. 剛中帶柔: There is 柔(rou4) hidden in 剛(gang1); and 柔中帶剛: There is 剛(gang1) hidden in 柔(rou4).

The definition of Wu Wei is very simple. "Let Nature take its course with no interference." Another words, let it be the way it supposed to be. Did you see what manitou had done. She interrupted the course of harmony with her husband by interfering with everything to the way she wants it to be.

1. Kungfu was considered to be an external practice; and external practice dissipates energy. Thus Kungfu does not build up chi. 2. Practicing Chi kung is primary for chi build up and Kungfu is secondary for working out the muscles vigorously. BTW Chi Kung is an internal art of practice. Internal practice is more superior than external. I think you can figure out which way to go from here.

Yes, we do have a lot more to be discussed. The concept of yin-yang has not been revealed yet. Anybody know why, in Tai Ji Chuan, the arms and legs were never extended fully....??? It was based on this Yin-Yang concept: 陽中有陰: There is Yin within Yang. 陰中有陽: There is Yang within Yin. The basic concept in Tai Ji Chuan: 剛中帶柔 柔中帶剛 柔(rou4): slow and graceful motion; motion moves like the leaves of a willow tree. 剛(gang1): hard, strong; course; vigorous 剛中帶柔: There is 柔(rou4) hidden in 剛(gang1); and 柔中帶剛: There is 剛(gang1) hidden in 柔(rou4). Is there anyone who is interested to give it a try to break this riddle by interpreting one or both of these two concepts.....??? The better one can explain them will reveal how much one understood the secret of Tai Ji Chuan.

Any force exerted by the muscles, of a long time Tai Ji practitioner, is Fa Jin.

First of all, there are no such thing as two types of post-heaven Pakuas(Bagua). The yang and the yin are not called pakuas. Sorry, the terminology is not valid, no wonder the reader was confused as hell. I don't think this person even know what pakua is....

Does anybody know why is Tai Ji Chuan, 太極拳, called Tai Ji Chuan.....??? Or what is the concept behind Tai Ji Chuan...???

I was always thinking about doing something like setting up a retreat like that. It was my dream. You are lucky that you already have the land for that. You have won half the battle already, go for it....

Yes, it's all depend how you answer it...... I got you wondering. That is the kind of response I was expecting. Do you know something that you might want to share....???

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... I thought you knew what "Wu Wei" was........???...

If softness is wuji, then is hardness taiji.....???

Question to all Taiji practitioners.... What is the purpose for standing softly all day long.....??? If softness is wuji, then what is taiji....???

Very important point; and the temperature of the testis must be kept about 3 degree F below the body temperature.

When you Fa Jin, it was considered to be the extreme hard part....

Perfect harmony was not what you were after but the perfection of the wood pieces. Remember: A lessen lesson learnt was a lesson taught. Harmony will be on your way but don't expect it to be perfect....

Sorry... The Bagua was not shown here......

The final pithy was: 剛中帶柔: There is softness hidden in the hardness; and 柔中帶剛: There is hardness hidden in the softness.

Yes, that is. 剛中有柔: There is softness within hardness. 柔中有剛: There is hardness within softness. Thus: The softness and the hardness are interacting to keep the body in balance.

Dear Osalina... Through our discussions here, I am getting to flow your thoughts and the terminologies that you are using. As long we are in consistence, we can keep track of each other. When the term 'element' was used in TCM, I think we can agree that they are not the chemical elements as in the periodic table. The descriptions given here are definitely the characteristics of the Five Elements which made them the Five attributes. Thus I have no problem with that.... It is very wise of you to study the TCM and explain it in relation with modern science. I was attempted to do the same for my explanation of Chi Kung. I have discovered it was not very favorable here in a western atmosphere. Fortunately, I was not the only one that was doing so. As far as I know, you are another pioneer on this in the western world. BTW my first admirer was Daniel Reid, a British Doctor who studied TCM and practiced Chi Kung.