I have avoided using the words 'lift' or 'raise' in the title of this chapter because these two words may mislead you to think that you should use your muscular power to move your arms upwards when practising taijiquan. Let me repeat here: using muscular power to do anything when practising taijiquan is against the taijiquan principle. You should use the concept of YIN YANG and the force of gravity to move the different parts of your body.
Let us take a look at a see-saw. When one side falls, the other side rises. And when the higher side falls, the lower side rises. The see-saw is the best example to demonstrate the principles of YIN YANG. We can say that the higher side of a see-saw is YIN and the lower side is YANG. When some weight is added to the higher side, it gently falls. The higher side becomes the lower side and vice versa. As YIN falls, YANG rises and therefore YIN becomes YANG and YANG becomes YIN.
While the ultimate aim is to turn your arms to ribbons or to make them move or flow like water, let us as a start treat your right forearm and your right upper arm as two separate entities. Divide the forearm into two halves so that the middle of the forearm becomes the fulcrum of a lever or the support of a see-saw. Let the weight of the wrist bring the forearm downwards so that the elbow rises. The important thing to remember here is that the position of the middle of the right forearm should be fixed, just like the support of a see-saw which is also fixed. Still fixing the position of the middle of the right forearm, this time let the right elbow drop by not acting against the force of gravity, resulting in the wrist rising up.
I have asked you to let the weight of one end of your forearm move your forearm. When you are doing this, you are making use of the force of gravity to do the work for you, instead of labouring yourself away.
While we are doing this, try to concentrate on the following:
- keep all the fingers, the palm and the wrist relaxed, with the feeling that they swell like the rest of the body.
- relax the shoulder. Many people have mistaken this to mean the shoulder joint. Of course we ought to relax the shoulder joint, but it is equally, if not more, important to relax the shoulder, that is, the part between the joint and the neck.
- most important of all, remember all the essential points that you have to watch out for to prepare yourselves for practising taijiquan, that is, float your head upwards, relax your chest so that it caves in, let your ribs drop as much as possible, relax your hip joints, relax your knees and rest your feet on the ground.
I am repeating myself many times because it is so easy to overlook some of the essential points.
After you have practised the movement of the right forearm in this manner,
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try your right palm, using the middle of your right palm as the centre; then
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your right upper arm, using the middle of your right upper arm as the centre;
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after you have tried all three parts, try to do this procedure starting with your right upper arm, then right forearm and then downwards to your right palm; and
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while you are performing this continuous movement, try to relax the remaining parts of the arm and shoulder, and of course the whole body.
You should repeat the whole procedure with your left arm and then do both arms at the same time.
Important to note: Whenever you move your arms, do not move the upper arm, forearm and palm at the same time. Move the three joints linking the three parts in sequence; either shoulder, elbow and then wrist; or wrist, elbow and then shoulder. This is how a whip is moved. Further details will be provided in Chapter 11.
You may find it difficult to follow the above procedure in the beginning but if you persist and concentrate, you will be able to move your arms without using any muscular power at all.
We will discuss how you can cause your arms to rise in the next chapter. Note I have again avoided using the word 'lift' here. Indeed the best 'verb' for this movement is 'float', that is, you float your arms upwards. The crux is to let the fulcrum or the centre move instead of fixing its position. This is different from what I have said before and we will discuss this later.
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