Comments on: Waist independent of hips? http://wujimon.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/ journey in search of the way through taiji, martial arts, meditation and health Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:17:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: wujimon » Blog Archive » What does a camera tripod have to do with Taiji? http://wujimon.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1793 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 21:03:37 +0000 http://wujimon.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1793 [...] Taiji? The most obvious answer would be to equate the three legs of the tripod forming a triangle. I’ve spoken about the optimal structure of a stance in relation to triangles before, but to reiterate, consider the vertices to be made of each foot and the centerline of our torso. [...]

]]> By: wujimon » Blog Archive » Some Points on Intention Based Practice http://wujimon.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1792 Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:47:47 +0000 http://wujimon.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1792 [...] ZenMindSword has often written about the differences between muscle supported structure and intention/qi supported structure on his Taiji@Stagmont blog. In addition, we’ve had some interesting discussions in the past about the role of muscles in applications as well as the role of intention in applications (redirect vs intention-based neutralization, Waist Independent of Hips?) [...]

]]> By: wujimon » Ren Guangyi Compact Erlu and Folding Kua http://wujimon.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1791 Tue, 25 Jul 2006 23:29:33 +0000 http://wujimon.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1791 [...] There’s actually quite a bit of discussion surrounding the kua lately.  Internal Arts IA has graciously posted an interview with CZH (Chen Zhong Hua) that was 2 years in the making! Formosa Neijia has posted a series of articles on Song Kua that reminds me a bit of my thoughts on the relationship between the hips, torso and kua.  Lots of good discussions and perspectives floating around so check em out [...]

]]> By: wujimon http://wujimon.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1790 Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:11:06 +0000 http://wujimon.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1790 Hi Eman.

I do agree with your common pitfall for practicing the above mentioned exercise and it’s something that I also fall victim too. Great thoughts!

]]> By: Eman Rohe http://wujimon.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1789 Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:10:42 +0000 http://wujimon.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1789 Yeah, I get what you mean , in my style of taiji, my teacher would test the structure of all our postures for strength of structure. For example, he would push against our palms in the an posture of Grasp Sparrow’s Tail, and see if our structure holds up or are we using too much muscle power to resist. But the aim of such an exercise is to sort of “resist” his push.
However, I think the strong sturcture is more important to give a strong attack. But when yielding, it is one must remember that structure should be fluid and dynamic, and not to pit structure against structure, which I sometimes still do…..a downside of the above mentioned exercise.

]]> By: wujimon http://wujimon.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1788 Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:09:49 +0000 http://wujimon.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1788 Hi Eman.

It is my understanding that the goal in redirecting is to redirect any incoming force into the ground. The goal is not for the strength of the rear leg, but the alignment and structure of the rear leg. I’ve been taught that if the alignment is correct, not much strength is needed to achieve this. I’ve had a similar concept demonstrated.

To me, “falling into emptiness” still involves some form of redirection. In my previous examples of the triangle structure, I would translate the idea of falling into emptiness to mean a redirection of the opponenent towards the vertex of the triangle instead of transferring the incoming force to the “rear base” of the triangle. I would consider this type of technique to be similar to those found in aikido.

In regards to resisting vs yielding, I think further clarification of these terms would probably be required. I believe in structural integrity of a posture and the structural alignment is defined in such a way to redirect incoming force. For example, if someone pushes on your arm in a ward off position, is it considering resisting if you maintin the roundness structure of your arm and try to redirect that energy into the leg? However, I do understand your idea of yielding in that if someone pushes on your arm, then you should yield and follow that push and lead them into emptiness before either letting them fall or bumping them back.

Again, perhaps this is due to my lack of exposure to the energetic side of the world.

thanks for the comment.

]]> By: Eman Rohe http://wujimon.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1787 Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:09:27 +0000 http://wujimon.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/#comment-1787 True, I agree with zenmindsword that the best way is to neutralise and not to redirect. Personally, I don’t really understand redirecting forces to the rear leg or to the ground as this to me would be resisting and not yielding. Furthermore, it is also detrimental to the rear leg, what is your rear leg is not strong enough to handle the force and gets injured? From the classics, any attack from the enemy is supposed to fall into emptiness and not to something.

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