Yang Chengfu’s Important Points for Taijiquan Practice
In his original book (edited by Chen Weiming), Yang Chengfu wrote that there are ten essentials for Taijiquan.
These are as follows:
- Sink the Shoulders and Drop the Elbows.
- Contain the Chest and Pull up the Back.
- An Intangible Energy Lifts the Crown of the Head.
- Loosen the Waist and Kua.
- Distinguish Between Empty and Full.
- Upper and Lower Follow One Another.
- Use Mind Intent Not Strength.
- Inner and Outer are United.
- Seek Stillness in Movement.
- Proceed Evenly from Posture to Posture.
By the time he got to write his last book, edited by Zheng Manqing, these Important Points had become 13.
- Sink the Shoulders and Drop the Elbows.
- Contain the Chest and Pull up the Back.
- Sink the Qi to the Dantian.
- An Intangible Energy Lifts the Crown of the Head.
- Loosen the Waist and Kua.
- Distinguish Between Empty and Full.
- Upper and Lower Follow One Another.
- Use Mind Intent Not Strength.
- Inner and Outer are United.
- Intention and Qi Interact.
- Seek Stillness in Movement.
- Movement and Stillness are United.
- Proceed Evenly from Posture to Posture.
Whether you are following a tradition with 10 or 13 Important Points doesn’t really matter, because we are looking to achieve the same thing and none of these guidelines are contradictory; In fact, they appear to inform and support each other. Moreover, the order of the points itself is also important. That Yang Chengfu has arranged them in this order, and also that he added the additional three into the sequence and not simply appended them, we might assume has some significance.
They appear to form a kind of progressive checklist, which, by mastering each point in turn, and over and over again, we are able ultimately to discern and own for ourselves the intricate body mechanics of the art.
Over the next few weeks I will visit these in turn and discuss where I have got to in my practice and understanding of them.
