Unleashing The Power

It didn’t start this way. While remembering my T’ai Chi Chih training, an episode of complete puzzlement comes to mind. Having learned Daughter in the Valley (DITV) the wrong way (i.e. when the weight was shifted completely to the front, the hands were in the valley), I couldn’t understand what Victor Berg was telling me the morning before the training started. After what seemed an eternity spent practicing this move, he finally threw his hands up in the air, and I felt like I would never get it. Years have passed since that day, and of course, some big and small improvements have happened along the way.

So here is DITV. Get ready, bend, bring hands up with the palms facing forward, and step out. Shift the weight forward, let your hands go down, let your palms turn to face each other as they anticipate the valley (from the start of the J). Get ready to feel the energy between the hands all the way up. As you shift back, the back knee is allowed to bend, the hands open up to the world, letting go and enjoying the release. Relax the wrists, the hands, and the fingers. The circular motion is not way out there. The upper arms stay fairly close to the body, and the movement of the hands is to the inside of the side of the body until the palms turn and connect to the power – just before entering the valley and all the way up. Going up, the palms face each other, and the hands pass close by your body. On the last shift back, your hands open up (the fingertips come close to the shoulder area), and you step back to a graceful conclusion. Bring the hands down (palms face the earth) to the side of the body by the hips and at the T’an T’ien level. Enjoy. Feel it all the way. Feel the power, the connection.