Yin and Yang Separation
From Ming dynasty, Zhou DunYi said “Yin and Yang – TaiJi”. From Qing dynasty, Wang ZhongYue “when you witness many with years of training, yet not successful due to human flaw, the flaw lies with double heavy. To rid this problem, have to understand Yin Yang.”
To acquire TaiJi Quan, must have yin and yang separation. Otherwise all are in vain.
TaiJi practitioner understands that the quan system’s requirement for the head is “void the collar, protrude the top”. Poke the top upwards and sink the bottom, the yin yang of the body will be shown. The purpose is to create a clear outline. If this yin and yang is not separated, everywhere else in the body is wrong. Most teachers when teaching “void the collar, protrude the top”, can explain well, but 99% of the teachers do not mention Yin and Yang, missing the most important point.
When training the form, it is separating Yin and Yang within oneself; during push hand, it is separating Yin and Yang between oneself and the opponent. Isn’t Yin and Yang separation important?
In Lan Za Yi, those who understand will connect between the left foot and the middle finger of the right hand. Some are not clear about this. Actually, this is to separate Yin from Yang. At this moment, right hand and left foot are solid, these two ends have to be stretched out, left hand and right foot will become empty, naturally this will prevent double heavy. This example proves Wang ZhongYue’s “to avoid this illness, must know Yin and Yang”. Once there is Yin and Yang separation, double heavy is prevented.
Is it enough just to separate Yin and Yang between front fingers and rear foot? No, the above article discusses general concept, every part of the body must have Yin and Yang separations.
For example, everybody knows “sink the shoulder”. When you are reaching out your hand, how do you sink? In addition to the hip moving up and down, the shoulder should be separated into two parts. One moves upwards towards the arm, the other moves behind the neck. Once Yin and Yang is separated, it will achieve the purpose of “eliminating the shoulder”. Wgen moces upwards towards the arm, is moving towards the finger, moving behind the neck, is moving towards the rear foot. In this move, the base of the palm and the fingers must have separation as well, the wrist and the elbow also must be separated. Every parts, big or small, must be Yin and Yang separated. It is whole system.
A push hand example; If opponent is pushing at my chest, opponent is Yang, the contact point of the push is Yin. I used my hand to harmonized and don’t move, I used the other hand to issue at the mid point between the opponent’s front hand and his rear foot. Yang opposes Yin, defeat the opponent. Actually, issue horizontally at his shoulder will also do the job. Lots of people do not do this. Opponent pushes, one will push back, or turn body to divert, or pull the coming hand. This is not understanding Yin and Yang.
Some would say this is too hard. No other way,TaiJi is hard. Recently, I have written a caligraphy for a JiangSu newly built TaiJi school. “It is hard to acquire a wonderful art, perseverance can enter the door”.
