The kind of relaxation or loosening up described by me cannot be achieved within a short period of time. Furthermore, as there are so many things to remember and to watch out for, we tend to overlook certain things when playing taijiquan. However, even if we cannot have a high degree of relaxation, which can only be acquired with devotion and prolonged practice, we can still reap the benefit of the exercise. We can 'accumulate' or increase relaxation gradually.
And not to discourage you from taking up taijiquan as a hobby, may I add that what I have said in the previous chapter is just the outline. There are even more things concerning the mind and the body that we should observe than those I have mentioned.
When you start playing taijiquan, you should adopt a tranquil mind but at the same time, you should maintain high spirits and a cheerful mood which facilitate the floating up of the head. You should also concentrate on what you are doing. Apart from the tip of the head which appears to be floating upwards gently, we should also feel that the upper tips of both ears are floating upwards as well. This is necessary to enable the whole body mass to be maintained in an upright position. This is also necessary because taijiquan is based on the concept of YIN and YANG (and of course there is the CENTRE in YIN and YANG which many people are not aware of) which I will explain in detail at a later stage.
We believe that everything has roots. A taijiquan player should imagine that his root is at the head and not the feet. Many people have mixed up the words "root" and "heel" which have the same pronunciation in Chinese, which is "gen". The Chinese character "root" has the character "wood" as a radical and that is why this character means the root of a plant. On the other hand, the Chinese character "heel" has another Chinese character "foot" as a radical and it means heel. If the taijiquan player's root is at the top, it is not easy to upset his balance and to make him fall. On the other hand, if his root is at the feet, he may easily lose his balance if he is pushed.
Although I have said that the root is at the head, it is important to remember that there should NOT be any root at all. Can you tell me whether a ball can fall after you have pushed it? It just does not fall because it has no root. When there is no root, there is in fact root everywhere.
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