The importance of Softness

[dwai]

http://www.gbolarts.com/pages/notes_archive/notes_044.html

 

what exactly is meant by softness? First, do not mistake softness for being limp or lifeless. What we are talking about here is being truly relaxed. You must rid yourself of all bodily tension and stiffness. This will take a lot of dedicated and sincere practice on your part, because no matter how relaxed you may think that you are, you can always become even more so. Each time you practice, spend sufficient time with your loosening warm-ups, (neck, shoulders and waist), so that you release any physical tension. Then go into Preparation, and stay there until you can truly calm the mind. If the mind is not calm, the body will not be either.

[ChiDragon]

柔(soft)

 

Just make your motion moves like the leaves of a willow tree.

[Protector]

I heard when talking about softness in English it's softness, but softness in Chinese is something called Sung

 

 

edit: actually know what, I was thinking relaxation

Edited May 26, 2012 by Sinfest

[ChiDragon]

鬆(sung, loose)

鬆(sung) is to let loose for relaxation.

 

 

柔(rou4, soft)

柔(rou4) is an adjective describing a light and smooth flow of action.

Edited May 26, 2012 by ChiDragon

[Taomeow]

The term used in the Taiji Classics is sung.

 

It comes together with the idea of a "steel needle hidden in a cotton ball." Soft and yielding on the outside, hard and firm (but springy and flexible) on the inside. That's a taiji body. That's a taiji mind!!!

[Harmonious Emptiness]

It's said that Chuck Norris can cut through a hot knife with butter!!

 

 

(aahhh, couldn't resist..)

[ChiDragon]

鬆(sung, loose)

鬆(sung) is to let loose for relaxation.

 

 

柔(rou4, soft)

柔(rou4) is an adjective describing a light and smooth flow of action.

A Tai Ji practitioner will let all the muscles to be 鬆(sung), loosen, for relaxation.

 

And all the motions to become 柔(rou4) to be as soft and smooth as silk.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

I recall a number of years ago trying to learn some tai chi basics from a video and they mentioned [a technique called] "woman hands" which seemed like limp wrists but I've come to learn (from videos....) that this is never the case and there is always some relaxed but ever-readiness in the muscles.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Harmonious Emptiness

[dwai]

I recall a number of years ago trying to learn some tai chi basics from a video and they mentioned [a technique called] "woman hands" which seemed like limp wrists but I've come to learn (from videos....) that this is never the case and there is always some relaxed but ever-readiness in the muscles.

Its called the fair lady's wrist

[Taomeow]

Its called the fair lady's wrist

 

Accomplished by suspending the wrists from heaven on rubber bands. This opens the joint and gives it mobility and readiness in any direction without limpness in any position.

 

There was a movie, don't remember what it's called, where a Japanese warlord's wife falls in love with the main protagonist, a Westerner, a silk merchant. She does not dare speak or even look at him, but when she drinks tea in his presence, she picks up her little cup and, instead of just bringing it up to her lips in a straight line with the wrist held stiff and the movement coming from the elbow, the way it is ordinarily done, she rotates her wrist ever so slowly and smoothly, not in a straight line but in a curve, round and round and up, the movement coming from the center, the heart... and then puts it down in the same fashion, round and round and down in the opposite direction. I thought it was the most sensually expressive move I've ever seen in a movie, and I also thought, gee, this lady knows a thing or two about internal MA, no question.

[Dale Dugas]

You cannot move your body and be 100% Sung as you would be on the ground.

 

There is a little residual tension that exits no matter how many years you train or how much you "think" you are 100% Sung.

 

Sung as it was defined to me by my teacher, is a state where if you were to relax a slight bit more, you would be unable to continue standing as you would fall.

 

You need to be Sung in order to more freely and with certain intentions.

 

Without hardness you cannot know or understand softness and without softness you cannot know or understand hardness.

[zerostao]

yeah, there is a need to know when to go from soft to hard or hard to soft.

kinda like in the xingyiquan, stay soft until the moment to go hard.

i understand softness as the way i need to be to freely flow the energy.

if i am soft i can send it where i wish.

[ChiDragon]

You cannot move your body and be 100% Sung as you would be on the ground.

 

There is a little residual tension that exits no matter how many years you train or how much you "think" you are 100% Sung.

 

Sung as it was defined to me by my teacher, is a state where if you were to relax a slight bit more, you would be unable to continue standing as you would fall.

 

You need to be Sung in order to more freely and with certain intentions.

 

Without hardness you cannot know or understand softness and without softness you cannot know or understand hardness.

 

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.

[Taomeow]

We have a few new students in our taiji class, karate black belts and instructors. They are working HARD to unlearn hardness and learn softness.

 

Sung has a very peculiar feel to it. Beginners are usually uncomfortable and not in control of their total shape in any taiji position. Middle range players are getting comfortable -- very comfortable -- in any position, and complacent at that. If they don't move on, they don't discover sung. Sung is a state that makes you very comfortable and very uncomfortable simultaneously. If you're totally comfortable, something is tensing up, something is invested into maintaining the shape and therefore is not fluid and not ready. If you're totally uncomfortable, feeling as though indeed you're about to fall over, you have no true control over your balance and consequently your responsiveness is inadequate and your sensitivity is blunted.

 

The middle ground, where you are comfortable with no tensions, and simultaneously uncomfortable because this no-tensions state absolutely requires a continuos flow of micro-adjustments (not visible to the eye) to a looseness that constantly threatens to throw you off balance -- but you don't lose your balance because you don't stop micro-adjusting -- that's sung. I wouldn't call anything in taiji "hardness," more like "if I stopped here, I'd tense up and harden, but I don't stop" -- the non-stopping is internal movement, not necessarily external, externally you can stop in any position and meditate on "movement within stillness."

[Harmonious Emptiness]

....

 

I've started trying to pick up some Tai Chi basics again in hopes to have some progress before starting lessons. I'm finding Chen silk reeling to have a real qi gong flavor to it. Perhaps I don't have too much difficulty with the softness having most of my MA experience in western boxing which seems quite relaxed in comparison to karate. I also play drums which utilizes a lot of loose/tense action in the wrists and a bit in the elbows.

 

After learning a few different versions of Chen and Bagua silk reeling, it seems almost like I could pick up most of a form from watching a demonstration, but I guess once I finally get into a class I'll find out all the little things that I'm missing.

[mYTHmAKER]

The more sung one is the easier it is to read/feel/see another persons intentions.

[RiverSnake]

I read Shadow Strategies by Glenn Morris recently. He makes a couple of good comments on being soft which i thought were very insightful:

 

"The more relaxed and softer you are able to do a technique, the greater will be your ability to react to your opponents response, which allows you to adjust appropriately rather than "getting stuck" or attaching to the technique which may no longer be effective, depending on the response. Sensitivity results in effective adaptability."

 

"The softer you are, the faster you can move and the harder you can hit. The softer you are, the easier it is to feel the intention and predict the opponents move and act accordingly."

 

[Protector]

pfffffffft Everyone here is a softie

 

[Taomeow]

I've started trying to pick up some Tai Chi basics again in hopes to have some progress before starting lessons. I'm finding Chen silk reeling to have a real qi gong flavor to it. Perhaps I don't have too much difficulty with the softness having most of my MA experience in western boxing which seems quite relaxed in comparison to karate. I also play drums which utilizes a lot of loose/tense action in the wrists and a bit in the elbows.

 

After learning a few different versions of Chen and Bagua silk reeling, it seems almost like I could pick up most of a form from watching a demonstration, but I guess once I finally get into a class I'll find out all the little things that I'm missing.

 

I keep finding little (and not so little) things I'm missing in every class. That's the way of taiji -- as soon as you "get it," your new level of skill reveals to you the inadequacies you weren't aware of before. It never stops. They don't call it "supreme ultimate" for nothing. There's literally no ceiling to hit, no "top of the line" skill. You can improve on anything you have. So, if you start a class with a good teacher, you will start feeling -- um, rightfully frustrated with your own performance. Taiji and self-satisfaction simply don't mix.

 

The more sung one is the easier it is to read/feel/see another persons intentions.

 

True. Another way to put it is, the more sung you are, the less of what they call "ego" you have. An "ego" always has a physical counterpart, it is put together of habitual tensions and habitual responses to stimuli that are never limited to the mind and always either originate in the body (shaping the mind accordingly) or extend into the body (from habitual processing grooves in the mind). It is not all in the head -- in fact, most of it isn't. You can only be sung when you're not busy maintaining that. And this removal of awareness from the "ego" frees the former up to notice and understand the other person(s) much, much better. Top level taiji people literally feel to the touch (in push-hands) as though they've disappeared, as though there's nothing there. You're pushing against emptiness! Mighty annoying!!

[ChiDragon]

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.

[zerostao]

pfffffffft Everyone here is a softie

 

 

yeah we are , but not so easy for everyone else.

it is harder to be soft than it is to be hard. if one is soft they can also be hard.

but being hard is no guarantee of being soft.

being hard only is being stagnant and dull.

being soft is being agile, swift, flexible and sharp.

only a softie can manifest proper fa jin.

most folks never ponder, play, or grasp the secret of softness.

[ChiDragon]

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

[mYTHmAKER]

 

True. Another way to put it is, the more sung you are, the less of what they call "ego" you have. An "ego" always has a physical counterpart, it is put together of habitual tensions and habitual responses to stimuli that are never limited to the mind and always either originate in the body (shaping the mind accordingly) or extend into the body (from habitual processing grooves in the mind). It is not all in the head -- in fact, most of it isn't. You can only be sung when you're not busy maintaining that. And this removal of awareness from the "ego" frees the former up to notice and understand the other person(s) much, much better. Top level taiji people literally feel to the touch (in push-hands) as though they've disappeared, as though there's nothing there. You're pushing against emptiness! Mighty annoying!!

 

I realized many years ago that when when someone is worked up, forceful, argumentative, trying to get their point across, if you listen without any verbal response, you can dissipate any craziness, calm them down.

Responding is a resistance and escalates the situation giving something to push against rather than

pushing against emptiness.

Letting go of the need to win is a good practice

[gatito]

pfffffffft Everyone here is a softie

 

 

[mYTHmAKER]

Yes, I believe Taomeow shared a story about this art of "taiji communication."

 

Rats. Foiled again