Experiencing Yin and Yang!

When I first started to study the arts of Tai Chi, Xing Yi and Qi Gong, my understanding of Yin and Yang was purely theoretical.  

I knew of concepts like masculine and feminine, night and day, light and heavy. I knew that the idea came from Taoism and had been adopted by much of the Chinese martial arts, the philosophies and religions of the area. 

I also found when I started reading books about Tai Chi, that ancient or new, they would constantly be talking about this subject, in detail. It could be in normal observed thought or through poetry. Always this conversation about Yin and Yang.

It could be linked to martial arts, politics, relationships, medicine, how to govern countries, how to live your life, a code of ethics. It permeated into all aspects of daily existence. 

This I had heard of before and, to a certain extent, understood. It was when I got deeper into Tai Chi and Xing Yi, that I noticed things began to change! 

In these arts we have something called Sung. It is not an easy thing to describe to someone who can’t do it or who has never done it, but it is an integral part of these arts. If there is no Sung, then there can be no Tai Chi or Xing Yi. 

So, what is Sung? Putting it simply, Sung is when we release the tension in the muscles, sinking their mass and excess weight down through the frame, into the feet and through to the ground. This is not something we do once and then stop. It is an ongoing process; we are constantly releasing.  

While we are releasing the muscles, we are also inflating the skeletal frame! While we release, we sink the centre and open the lumber region of the back. This sinking of the Centre and expansion of the lower back pushes the tailbone and pelvis downwards and under slightly. This downwards force goes through the legs and drives the feet into the ground. And starts to create the root. 

This pressure hits the ground and because we are releasing the muscles, it rebounds back up through the skeleton, riding the bones and white tissue (tendons, ligaments, facia) up into the hands and to the top of the head. The pressure builds in the frame pushing the joints open and stretches the white tissue.  

It’s as if you have a rubber balloon in the centre of every joint and they are all expanding together. This means the body begins to expand in all directions at once. The muscles are releasing while the skeleton expands. This expansive force we call ‘Peng’. Peng is of great importance and is a by product of Sung. 

This is not an easy or simple ‘Engine’ to learn. I use the term engine because, like an engine, it creates power. It takes time, dedicated practice and guidance from a good teacher to acquire Sung and is ultimately a lifelong practice. 

When you can Sung and you have Peng, then Yin and Yang really start to make more sense. 

When you are Sung you can ‘experience’ Yin and Yang simultaneously. Experience is the key word here; it’s no longer theory. We can intellectually observe and physically feel them both and see that they are in fact no long two separate things but are two parts of the same whole. 

For example, when we release the muscles, gravity takes this weight and they become heavy as a mountain but while we’re doing this, the skeleton is inflating and the bones a feel light as a feather. We feel simultaneously deeply heavy and fantastically light at the same time. 

When we release the muscles, they sink and when we inflate the skeleton the bones rise. So, we are sinking and rising in the same moment. 

When we release the muscles, they become soft like cotton. When we inflate the skeleton, we open the joints pulling the tendons taught like stell wire. We are simultaneously soft as cotton and as hard as steel. Two old analogies describing Tai Chi are an iron bar wrapped in wool and a needle hidden in cotton. 

The list goes on. We are expanding and contracting, coiling and uncoiling, still while in motion. It is here that our relationship with duality starts to change. Everything is seen to be part of everything else. The whole body is linked and moving as one. Not just the body but the mind is soaked into everything. All of the space in the body is filled with the mind. It is in the centre and everywhere. 

Moving or even just standing becomes quite beautiful. We may look to be still externally but internally; we are in motion.   

If we sink, then we are immediately rising. If we contract, then we are also expanding.  

We no longer understand Yin and Yang from a theoretical point of view. We can now not only experience it, but we can create and replicate it on demand. It is from here that things really become interesting in Tai Chi and Xing Yi, in Qi Gong (Moving Chi), Nei Gong (Developing Chi) and Yi Jin Jing (Tendon and Marrow Changing).  

Without this ‘engine’ or quality, we are just moving our bodies around and creating pretty shapes. But with Sung, the gates to these arts start to open!

To find out more, about local classes or my school called 'The Monkeys Temple'. Follow the link: www.threetreasures.co.uk/discovermore