Sticking power in Tai chi

[dwai]

My friends and I made a video going over how we approach sticking power (na Jin). Thought I’d share in case people are interested in it. Also will be happy to discuss details if there is interest on the topic. 
 

In our system we approach it differently from other schools.

 

[ChiDragon]

2 hours ago, dwai said:

how we approach sticking power (na Jin). Thought I’d share in case people are interested in it. Also will be happy to discuss details if there is interest on the topic. 
 

In our system we approach it differently from other schools.

It is just a point of interest. Your school called it sticking power (na jin). Is the character of na jin, 拿勁? I would like to point out the purpose of na jin. It's purpose is to lock the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints of the opponent. At the same time to keep the opponent off center, so, the opponent can be manipulated by the other. I see there are lots of grabbing by both practitioners at different occasions. Thus the basic principle is the same. The joints are locked and the body is off-center while the opponent is off balance.   

PS
There is one thing that I should mention is that sticking hand should be no grabbing involved but na jin does.

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by ChiDragon

[Sahaja]

6 hours ago, ChiDragon said:

It is just a point of interest. Your school called it sticking power (na jin). Is the character of na jin, 拿勁? I would like to point out the purpose of na jin. It's purpose is to lock the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints of the opponent. At the same time to keep the opponent off center, so, the opponent can be manipulated by the other. I see there are lots of grabbing by both practitioners at different occasions. Thus the basic principle is the same. The joints are locked and the body is off-center while the opponent is off balance.   

PS
There is one thing that I should mention is that sticking hand should be no grabbing involved but na jin does.

 

Having been on the receiving end of both (joint locking and using internal energy to uproot someone), they are very different. Joint locking involves pretty straightforward physical techniques using your physical leverage and muscular strength to attack weak points to subdue and control the opponent where as the various uprooting techniques (which there are a number)  in internal martial arts are much more subtle involving interaction of mind body and qi. They require control of your own physical and energetic  response to being in contact with the other person so you can go inside to influence their reaction (essentially make them lose their balance or root  with your qi and a very small amount of force to trigger it).  There are also some partially external physical  partially internal subtle techniques such as rebounding that will “give serious air to someone”. To me these subtle internal methods are much more about learning how to develop and control your mind, body and qi interaction than they are about learning practical self defense. 

[dwai]

12 hours ago, Sahaja said:

Having been on the receiving end of both (joint locking and using internal energy to uproot someone), they are very different. Joint locking involves pretty straightforward physical techniques using your physical leverage and muscular strength to attack weak points to subdue and control the opponent where as the various uprooting techniques (which there are a number)  in internal martial arts are much more subtle involving interaction of mind body and qi. They require control of your own physical and energetic  response to being in contact with the other person so you can go inside to influence their reaction (essentially make them lose their balance or root  with your qi and a very small amount of force to trigger it).  There are also some partially external physical  partially internal subtle techniques such as rebounding that will “give serious air to someone”. To me these subtle internal methods are much more about learning how to develop and control your mind, body and qi interaction than they are about learning practical self defense. 

There are practical self-defense applications, too, but getting there takes a long time. Those applications are a side effect of the cultivation - not the goal.