Secret #9 - Let go the ego

Let go the EGO

What is the EGO, the ego in this case is "not to lose". This is the natural instinct to use force against force. This is the instinct that tells you not to let other take advantage of you, or not to be push into a disadvantage position.

In the progress in learning Taiji, the most difficult part to archive is to let go of my ego, and no, I had not reach that stage yet. You may think that you had let go, but sub-consciously you had not, because this is the natural body behavior. 

As Master Chow, and many other Taiji masters, had mentioned, learn to lose.

Lose your strength and lose your ego. When you lose them, your real strength will come.

Secret #8 - 吞, 吐, 浮, 沉

吞, 吐, 浮, 沉 (Swallow, Spit, Float, Sink)

Last Sunday while practicing, Master Chow commented that our stances/form had no "intend".

Every stance should have an "intend", and each stance, in different situation may have different intend(s).

I used the word "intend" because I do not know of another word to use.

There are four major different "intend"(s), 吞, 吐, 浮, 沉 (Swallow, Spit, Float, Sink).

吞 (Swallow) - Swallow your opponent force

吐 (Spit) - Spit out your force (fa-jin)

浮 (Float) - Llift your opponent chi (raise the CG). The defense before the offense.

沉 (Sink) - Sink your chi (heavy hand)

Points to note:

- The intend(s) are never tie to the stance. Same stance may have different intend depending on situation

- Intend flow from one intend to another seamlessly, as the stance changes from one to another, or as situation changes

- Even during practice, the intend in the stance must be clear