Preparing To Pull Taffy

The “taffies” are the hardest T’ai Chi Chih movements for students to learn. I’ve struggled with simplifying them for 13 years and have made some progress, but I still felt dissatisfied. The approach has finally come to me.

Students are most confused with which way the hands go, so I start by focusing their attention on the bottom hand, the one pulled across the body as if it is scooping the Chi. It is the “opposite hand” to the leg that is becoming “substantial.” I begin to point it out as they shift their weight in Carry the Ball to the Side because no one gets confused about which way the hands point in that movement. Sometimes we just relax in our feet and shift the weight side-to-side, releasing the arms to move how they want. I let them watch how their palms naturally swing back and forth across the body. They notice how the hands move with the weight shift, going toward the leg where their weight is settling.

I point out that the palm they can see (not the back of the other hand) is the moving toward the leg that is receiving the weight. I ask them to feel that hand, the one whose palm they can see as it is pulled across the body with the shifting weight. Feel the weight shift and see the palm scoop across to the leg where the weight arrives. It’s an organic feeling of the arm moving in opposition to the lower body. Point out that we walk that way: our arms swing in opposition to our footsteps. When the left foot steps forward, the right arm swings forward, and vice versa. Have them try it.

Next, they need to understand the idea of a “windup” to get the weight off the leg they will step out on. I begin by asking them to turn slightly to the right and sink their weight into the right leg, then touch out their left heel in a small step to the side. We do it several times and reverse it.

I explain that the “taffies” are a combination of opposites. We sink one direction to move the other way. The hands come in close, one palm down and one palm up, overlapping. Then when the empty leg steps out to the side, the hands pivot open, sort of like windshield wipers. We move from a closed position to an open one, keeping the elbows heavy, down and close to the body. Let the arms pivot open and closed without turning over either hand. Then ask them to reverse the hands (left on top, right on the bottom) and practice the opening and closing.

Add the notion that the top hand moves down on a diagonal and the bottom hand just moves straight across. Sometimes I use the image of petting a kitty with the top hand – across the kitty’s head, its back and down its tail until the hand is pointing to the side with the palm parallel to the floor.

Finally, I deal with what moves the upper hand. It moves in response to sinking the weight into a leg. Here’s a simple way to say that: the leg we sink into raises the hand above it. From the resting position where the hand is parallel to the ground, it rises up across the chest as we sink our weight into the leg. We practice that sink and rise part several times. Then I add the little twist away from the leg they will step out on, and we practice that little turn as we sink (the weight) and rise (the arm above it) into the starting position. This is the “windup” that precedes the taffy pull.

I don’t need to say right or left (which confuses students by adding another element to process). I point in the direction we will wind up and step out so they see the direction we will pull the taffy. Once they understand the biomechanics of the movement and feel how the weight shifts move the arms, teaching the rest of the movement should be pretty easy.