Vitality in the Wrists

Do the fingers droop downward? If so, lift them to neutral, where the hand is in line with the forearm. Feel into this shift. Then (and this is the critical piece), hinging from the wrists, lift the palms ever more slightly upward. You might notice a slight tug in the wrists.

Try Around the Platter and see what you feel with palms slightly lifted (no more than roughly 20-30% from neutral depending on your wrists.) The opening in the wrists cultivated by lifting the hands slightly is what I like to refer to as “vitality” in the wrists. This slight muscular engagement opens the meridian channels in the wrists and invites the Chi to flow much more strongly through the system.

To expand further on the power of the wrists and the importance of their engagement or vitality in our TCC practice, let’s look at another movement, Push Pull. First, again take a look at the starting position.  With the palms at the shoulders open to the wall in front of you, hinging from the wrists tilt the palms backward slightly so that you again feel a tiny tug in the wrists. Now, with an awareness of an openness in the wrists (though not forgetting the 60-40 emphasis in the yang hand to balance which ever foot has stepped out), allow the tan t’ien to compel you forward.

What do you feel as the wrists (rather than the palms or fingertips) trace the underside of the slightly downward-pointing elliptical shape? For me, I feel a much greater sense of aliveness in the body and flow of energy when my wrists are engaged in this way as opposed to when flowing from the tan t’ien with a more neutral wrist.