Key Points of the East Coast United States Tai Chi Seminar

 

Key Points of the East Coast United States

Tai Chi Seminar

Supple Push-Hands Partner Practice

Tai Chi Chuan embodies the philosophical ideas of “non-action (Wu-wei)” from Laozi and Zhuangzi, as well as the principle of Yin–Yang transformation from the I Ching (Book of Changes).

Grandmaster Cheng Man-ch’ing applied the logic of Wu-wei to the practice of supple Tai Chi. He proposed several important training principles such as “Beautiful Lady’s Hands,” “No Arms in Tai Chi or Tai Chi does not initiate with the hands,” and “Investing in Loss or Accepting loss is gaining advantage.”

The concept of Yin–Yang in Tai Chi includes the transformations between movement and stillness, emptiness and fullness, hardness and softness, as well as the dynamic principle of mutual generation and mutual control.

The Treatise on Tai Chi Chuan states:

“Yin does not depart from Yang; Yang does not depart from Yin. Yin and Yang assist each other; only then can one understand Jin (trained energy).”

The Tai Chi Classics further states:

“The root is in the feet, issued through the legs, directed by the waist, and expressed in the fingers. From the feet to the legs to the waist, the movement must be unified in one continuous energy.”

These teachings all take Wu-wei and Yin–Yang as the foundation of the relaxed and soft martial art of Tai Chi.

In order to preserve these training principles passed down through generations of Tai Chi masters, the Push-Hands Referee Committee of the World Tai Chi Chuan Federation has consolidated four training methods and incorporated them as required movements for Designated Push-Hands Partner Routine Competition.

During practice, both partners must not only relax the major joints of the body, but also release brute force, rigid effort, aggressive intention, attachment, and stubborn resistance. They should harmonize with each other’s movements of advancing, retreating, turning left and right, and maintaining central equilibrium.

This is one of the training methods for developing Listening Energy (Ting Jin).

From the perspective of Laozi and Zhuangzi, Wu-wei may appear outwardly as softness, weakness, non-assertion, or non-interference, yet in reality it is the path toward true strength, unlimited adaptability, and great usefulness.

When combined with the Yin–Yang transformations described in the I Ching—movement and stillness, emptiness and fullness, hardness and softness—the practice naturally produces cycles of mutual generation and mutual control, forming a continuous, ever-circulating skill of relaxed and soft Tai Chi.

Key Training Principles

1. Wu-wei (Non-action)
Acting in accordance with the natural momentum of the situation.

2. Yin–Yang
The interplay of emptiness and fullness, movement and stillness, hardness and softness.

3. Ten Essential Principles of Yang-Style Tai Chi

Suspend the head top (Xu Ling Ding Jin)

Sink the shoulders and drop the elbows

Contain the chest and expand the back

Relax the waist

Clearly distinguish empty and full

Use mind rather than brute force

Coordinate upper and lower body

Harmonize internal and external

Maintain continuous connection without interruption

4. Key Principles from Grandmaster Cheng Man-ch’ing

Beautiful Lady’s Hands  

  No Arms in Tai Chi” (NAIT)

  Investing in Loss

5. Principles from Master Song Zhijian

Original Space Position (OSP),

Original Body Position (OBP),

Guided Motion (GM),

Reaction Motion (RM),

Moving Forward and Backward (F&B) --swinging movement,

Float Up and Float Down (U&D),

Inertial Movement (IM), and

Arc Moving Line（AML）.

 

6. The Eight Methods of Tai Chi

Four Primary Energies: Peng, Lü, Ji, An; Four Corner Energies: Cai, Lie, Zhou, Kao

7. Five Element Footwork

Advance, retreat, look left, look right, and central equilibrium.

8. Five Methods of Sensitivity Training （Five Push Hands Techniques to Contemplate and Practice）
Stick, adhere, connect, follow, and neither lose nor resist.

9. Nine Major Joints

Shoulder, elbow, wrist, neck, back, waist, hip, knee, and ankle — connected with lightness and continuity.

10. Four Character Essentials
Light, slow, even, and upright — avoiding breaks, bumps, or unevenness.

11. Relaxation and Expansion of the Body

Supple Push-Hands Partner Practice – Breakdown of Movements

1. Sticking and Adhering Method (4-movement breakdown)

Peng → Lü → Cai → An → Kao → Peng …

Mutual generation and mutual control, circulating continuously without interruption.

2. Outer Connection Method (5-movement breakdown)

Peng → Lü → Cai → An → Kao → Peng

Mutual generation and mutual control, circulating continuously.

Yin–Yang alternation:
Left hand → Right hand → Left hand → Right hand → Left hand.

3. Inner Connection Method (8-movement breakdown)

Peng → Lü → Cai → An → Kao → Peng …

Mutual generation and mutual control, circulating continuously.

4. Eight-Method Sequence (5-movement breakdown)

Peng → Lü → Cai-Lie → An → Kao-Zhou → Ji → Peng …

Mutual generation and mutual control, circulating continuously without end.