All About Rooting

[greanforest]

Hello ,I'd like to open up the topic of ''Rooting'' and am very eager to learn what others would like to share on this subject , Thank you

Edited November 19, 2010 by greanforest

[Taomeow]

Hello ,I'd like to open up the topic of ''Rooting'' and am very eager to learn what others would like to share on this subject , Thank you

 

All right.

 

It is a taijiquan skill, an advanced one -- beginners can't root, intermediate level players can't root very deeply, and people who only do solo taiji without the sparring are not likely to root realistically (i.e. they may have the machinery for rooting developed but they won't know how to use it in push-hands until they do, um... hands-on push-hands.)

 

Advanced taiji practitioners have both rooting and "uprooting" skills (the latter is what you use against the opponent). When two taiji players of high-level skill do push-hands, all they're really doing is looking for the root to uproot.

 

It's very easy when you're dealing with someone not trained in taiji or other "internal" MA (regardless of their experience with "hard" MA -- as the song goes, "the harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all!") It is utterly impossible if you're dealing with a taiji master of considerable skill above your own -- he or she will never reveal the root to you, sprout fake roots to confuse you, etc.., while having no trouble spotting yours and sending you flying in the direction of his or her choice.

 

This is the tip of the iceberg, of course... or rather, the little sprout above the root.

[greanforest]

Thank you,

I enjoyed this post and your blog that was quite an adventure , did you or your son take the herbal concoction you described. I do look forward to practicing taijiquan with a sparring partner for that reason but for now am just working on solo meditations.

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

Hey, I lost my reading glasses, but here's a link to a book for you.

[greanforest]

Thankyou Edited November 20, 2010 by greanforest

[Taomeow]

Thank you,

I enjoyed this post and your blog that was quite an adventure , did you or your son take the herbal concoction you described. I do look forward to practicing taijiquan with a sparring partner for that reason but for now am just working on solo meditations.

 

Thanks for visiting the blog! -- it's nowhere near completed, but I'll get to the rest of it soon, please stay tuned!

 

Yes, me and my son were taking the concoctions I described, and they taste absolutely awful... and they work.

 

But back to rooting -- if you mean rooting in meditation, that's a bit different from what I was talking about earlier... not fundamentally different, but "technically," so to speak.

 

Well, there's two kinds of meditation positions I know as particularly rooting -- zhang zhuang and full lotus. And what kind of meditation to you practice?

[greanforest]

I'm exploring different practices as a beginner .But for the winter maybe just the eight pieces of brocade , zhang zhuang and seated meditations . Edited November 22, 2010 by greanforest