Continuity Through Expansion and Contraction

I have observed that practitioners lose out on feeling the flow of the Chi in Push Pull and Rocking Motion by turning the hands around too soon, prior to completing the backward weight shift.

First, let’s delve into Rocking Motion. From the point in the movement where the practitioner has fully shifted forward and is up on the balls of the feet (heels lifted) and the hands are at shoulder height, the hands turn gently over and begin their cascade downward in sync with the downward/backward weight shift. As the hands pass by the hips, the wrists release completely (this is easy to forget and very powerful).

Holding tension in the wrists where it is not necessary blocks the flow of the Chi, just as engaging the wrists where appropriate enhances Chi flow. Releasing the wrists as the palms pass the hips, the hands do not turn palms up just yet. The body is still shifting backward from the tan t’ien, and so, too, the hands continue to travel back, led by the invitation from the tan t’ien, palms facing the wall behind the practitioner as the toes lift.

The palms complete their trace around a small circle in the back before facing forward, as the body, initiated by the forward movement of the tan t’ien, invites the palms to move forward as well. I have found that the movement loses its power if the hands prematurely turn around to face the front wall in an effort to cultivate continuity while the body is still moving back in space.

Continuity in all the movements is more powerfully achieved through feeling the expansion and contraction inside the body as activated through the dynamics of the weight shift and aligning with it, not applying seeming smoothness to the movement of the hands by turning them around prior to fully completing the weight shift in a given movement. In fact, for me, when I turn the hands around too soon, the flow of the Chi seems to be cut off rather than enhanced.

Rocking Motion and Push Pull seem very closely related to me when viewed through the lens of expansion and contraction. More and more in my own practice, I am aware of dimensionality being created as the body shapes and accords with the Chi. This experience has led me to understand the principle of Continuity through a larger lens.

Push Pull has the same potential for missing its full power if the practitioner cuts short the completion of the return of the hands over the top of the ellipse by turning them forward before the weight has fully shifted back. Instead, after coming over the top of the ellipse, relax the wrists and allow the hands to drop slightly in toward the chest; and then allow the wrist to softly flex and the fingers to lift up (not drop down and around) as you place the palms forward again at the shoulders to complete the movement. Done in this manner, one can experience the completion of the backward weight shift and a simultaneous powerful opening into the heart as the hands drop slightly down. Through the activation of the side of the wrists (wrist vitality) you will also find a deeper integration and synchronization from the tan t’ien as you begin the next repetition. (Please observe Justin practice this movement on his 1990 DVD.)

While presenting Push Pull at the teacher conference, a couple of friends raised a wonderful question. If the hands drop in toward the chest so that the pinkies are almost parallel to the ground at end of the backward weight shift, where is the continuity? The practitioner must then lift her hands from this more sideways position and return them to the point where the fingertips are pointing upward before the tan t’ien carries her forward again, which might seem an abrupt stop, rather than a continuous flow.

The answer, I believe, comes from understanding TCC through the movement of the tan t’ien and the weight shift. Justin often commented that TCC is done below the waist. The tan t’ien is our guide; it must initiate all, all must emerge from and return to this center from which the movements originate.

I would encourage us to allow continuity to be held in the larger container of movement of the tan t’ien. Can we feel what occurs in each of the transitions of the movements, where the tan t’ien, once flowing in one direction, expands in that direction, reaches an apex, contracts, shifts direction, and then expands in another direction. I struggle to find words for this inner experience, however. Maybe there are others who would like to comment?

Uniformity of pace is essential. Justin used to say, “Don’t rush the back swing!” Justin also used to comment, “The concept you have of T’ai Chi Chih is all-important.” Continuity, as one of the principles of TCC, can be understood more deeply as a felt-sense in the body expressed within the flow of the weight shift as originating from the tan t‘ien and contained within the inner experience of expansion and contraction.

If the way I have presented Push Pull here differs from the way you learned it, I invite you to spend some time with Justin’s 1990 DVD and focus on the flow from the tan t’ien as you shift the weight fully forward and fully back. Feel the enhanced wrist vitality as you softly engage and release the wrists as you start and complete each movement. Feel the relationship between the hands and the tan t’ien; feel the continuous flow of the Chi, and let that be your guide.