Hi Rich, I'm well thanks. Good question. At first when practicing Vertical Power, it helps to just sink down the leg and then just rise up through the leg. We don't look at the duality, we focus on the sinking and rising, contraction and expansion, substantial and insubstantial. Then when have done this for a while focus and the change points. The point when you have sunk completely into the foot and are about to release upwards and when you are at the top of the rise and are about to sink. If you stay relaxed you'll start to feel sinking in the rise and visa versa. We are told in the internal martial arts to 'sink the muscles and raise the bones'. For me personally, the easiest way to find it was at the moment that I'm sinking down into the foot. This sinking force is coming form the continual release through the body, we're 'sinking the muscles' but we don't stop when we reach the foot. We continue throughout all movement. So when we release up from the foot, the expansion upwards through the white tissue (ligaments, tendons and facia), happens while we are still sinking. It's as if there is a separation of the bones and the muscles. There is a rise in the sink and a sink within the rise. With practice, you'll feel the rise coming up through the leg as you sink to. Sinking and rising support one another and are inseparable. This makes sense because all objects on the earth have a sinking and raising or Yin and Yang force in them that is in balance. Tai Chi and other arts like Xing Yi are just very good at helping us to really play with these forces. If you find that you can't quite feel the two forces working at the same time, then go back a step and focus purely on just sinking and then just rising. Eventually you'll start to feel the opposite force. This rising and falling is combined with the natural sinking of the Dan Tien through the Deng, into the feet and back up throughout the body. The outcome of the balance between Yin and Yang is that we can maintain a root at all times. One foot or two feet it doesn't matter. It gives us a clean Peng force the is transmitted throughout the entire body, every aspect of the body is is motion. To ensure that you don't sever the root, remain relaxed, don't force it and try to ensure that the rise and fall are occurring at the same time and are in balance. It can also help to do it wrong too! Play with feeling the duality and then go back to just rising and just sinking. You'll see after doing right, that it feels loose and separated and has no root. This is just me explaining my understanding thus far. If you talk to my teacher about rising and falling. He has got the the point where they are in balance, they are harmonized. This can only come from practice. Thanks Rich. Enjoy your training, Rich.

Hi Rich, Good question. Sorry for the late reply. Shoulder have been and are still one of the hardest things for me. Well over a year in construction diggling trenches and using heavy machinary left a great deal of imbedded tension there. In my experience there are a few things that can be done. 1. Zhan Zhuang - Wuji, Bing, Raise the Hands, Santishr. Use Wuji especially but also find out which postures are best for you. Practice relaxing the musclular tension and allowing the joints to open. With the shoulder, pay special attention to making sure the that the tendons at the front and back of the armpit are engaged. You can also imagine that the are sphere's in the shoulder joint that gently expanding in all directions and helping the joint to open. This is the same for all of the joint. It's important to make sure the expansion does not just go in the direction of the the bones, but instead in all direction. When this happens in all the joints it helps to cretae 6 Directional Froce or Peng. 2. Use the Swings while maintaining Peng. All of the principles and qualities learnt through the standing is to be maintained here while in motion. Keep the musclar tension throughout the body relaxed. 3. When the Jin or Force goes through the shoulder, it happens in a wave. First the shoulder joint opens, then the elbow, the wrist and finally the joints of the hand. This expansion/release trough the body can be practiced in Zhan Zhuang. With the inbreath, the body cantracts, with the outbreath the body expands. Follow this expansion through the body. The Dan Tien connets to the floor via the breath and bounces back up through the frame. 4. NOTE: I will say here that this is to the best of my understanding right now, and as I practice more, this deepens and develops week by week. I am still at the beginning of my path and these are quite advanced practices. I would say that if you want to develop quickly and with quality, then practice as much as you can and slow everything down. Theres a saying in the Internal Martial Arts, 'Three years long and slow'. This means to practice the movements slowly, long and open in order to get everything right, the body open and relaxed.

Hi Clive, Glad you enjoyed the class. If you go to the last of the 'Recorded Classes', you will find one entitled 'Bows'. This covers the work we have been doing with the 5 Bows and its affects on the Tendons/facia/white tissue. If you mean, the work with 'Drilling & Splitting'. I have given this to Chris but I know that his super busy this week finishing up the editing for the 'Foundation of Tai Chi' course. But it will be up by the end of the month. Thanks, Chris.

Thanks you Jo, Thats really kind of you. Chris.

Yeah, this is a practice that comes directly from Grand Master Lio Peizhong. He used to practice this every day and he lived into his 90's! It becomes even more interesting when you look at the martial applications of each joint movement. The 9 Circles Qi Gong cleverley breaks down the type of movement available to each joint strenghtening the body but, with practice, it also makes you aware of the bodys inate movement patterns and how to link each joint together.

Hi Joe, glad to hear your better. You're always welcome to train anytime. :)

Thank you Joe, thats really kind of you. It does now mean that I have to train even more than I did before. 🤣

In Taiji they sometimes talk about the 5 bows. Each limb is a bow and the body is a bow, both legs link (the Deng) to create a bow, Both arms link to create a bow and all 5 bows link together to create one giant bow. The bow insinuates continually stored power. This is what Taiji is. It does not turn off and on. Although it contract and expands, coils and uncoils using Sung, it always has potential to release full power at any moment throughout its movement. It important to note that even when sinking, we are also rising, when advancing we also retreat, when cotracting we expand. It's contact duality, thats why Taiji has this inseperable connection with Yin and Yang. With Cloud hands it really depends on what level you're practicing and what it is you're focusing on. With this pattern and others, we don't open and close, we Sung down and up through the frame and the centre is key. Mind leading the breath, breath leading the body. Chris.

Find a posture that your comfortable with. Wuji, Standing Post , Peng or soemthing like that and align your body properly. Used all of the priciples that are there is Wuji. Set the feet, bring the mind to the centre, open the centre and decompress the spine, allow this expansion to go throughout the body. Just building the centre correctly will connect you to the and eventually bounce back up throughout the body, filling the body up, opening the joints and stretching and lengthening then tissues. Principles create qualities, from here expansions and conractions and rotations of the Dan Tien will go down into the feet and rebound back up. This includes the breath too. With practice, this expression from the centre is not slowed because it is bounced off of the feet, it happens throughout the body instantaniously. Some systems/schools may develop Jin/power differently and make it work but so long as the power is generated from release and not the contraction of muscles, then it is internal.

Hi Rich, the centre is definitely key. First, we build the correct body with Zhan Zhuang positions like Wuji or Standing Post because they are often the easiest to do and also Yi Jing Jin and Nei Gong. With the correct body alignments, the centre becomes more apparent. We literally have to build the centre at the beginning. Mind to the Dan Tien, open Ming Meng, release and open the spin, engage through the Kwa and connect through the Deng and up through the rest of the body. Once we’ve built the body and centre, we can open from the centre to the ground and allow that expansion to come back up through the body creating Ding Jin and 6 Directional Force or the beginning Peng. The Centre (Dan Tien) in Taiji that I know contracts and expands and can even spin horizontally and laterally, In Song Xing Yi Chaun it expands and contract and rotates over the top for Yang movements and underneath for Yin. Some people have come across teachers who incorporate this into their Taiji too.  All movement comes from the centre expands down into the feet and rebounds back up through the body. The process is instantaneous. There is no separation in the movement. Only at the beginning while its being learnt. Some styles of Taiji insist on releasing straight from the floor and insist on not having to use the breath to lead the body. They can make it work but my teacher Alex Kozma insists the we start at the centre (Dan Tien). This way its far easier to power the Jin, or movement from the centre. There’s a reason we call it the centre, it literally sits at the centre of the body. Whatever happens there, will effect everything else. The breath lays on top of the frame and literally drives the body. The mind leads the breath, the breath leads the body.   To my understanding, there may be some separation in the movements of the Dan Tien and the Kwa and in through the Deng but eventually it’s all part of the same Jin expression. Everything should not be rigid but connected to allow the released expansion through the tissues. Power through release, not the contraction of muscles. The important thing is that everything is linked and working in harmony and not just the physical mechanics of the body but the mind and the breath too.  This, I would say is pretty advanced training and requires and strong and dedicated foundation in the basic practices of the internal martial arts.   Thanks,    Chris – Monkey Temple