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Mechanics of Taijiquan

Author: Ava Belinda
Date Posted: September 16, 2008

Taijiquan emphasizes the need to overcome hardness with softness and to win victory by artful means rather than by brute force. The "softness" and "artfulness" here imply an ingenious application of force or, in mechanics phraseology, the use of minimum force for performing maximum work. This is particularly manifest in taiji tuishou ("push hands") duels, which are basically contests of strength but whose outcomes are not determined by strength alone. A person who is inferior in strength is sure to lose a bout if he makes it a contest of power, but may emerge victorious if he knows how to use his force cleverly.

Some taijiquan classics describe the art of taijiquan in terms of "silk reeling power," something that is constantly in circular motion. As far as the shape and posture of the performer are concerned, his trunk, legs and arms are all naturally curved to form a flexible whole that can react to external forces with a high degree of adaptability, now yielding to an incoming force while neutralizing or deflecting it, now launching an attack by concentrating its own forces on a single point, or, as is the way with an experienced fighter, by "borrowing" the strength of the incoming force to accomplish the feat of "overthrowing a weight of one thousand catties with four ounces."

Taijiquan is performed with the arms and hands moving in curves. As we know, anything that collides with an object that is moving in a curve will be deflected, thus reducing the impact to varying degrees. That is why one can nullify the strength of an attack more effectively with circular moves than with linear counterblows. This is also the reason why a person skilled in taiji techniques can beat an opponent with superior physical strength.

Of course, while we underline the advantages of circular moves, we should never go to the extremes in using them. As the taiji maxims go, "Conserve your energy with circular moves before suddenly releasing it in a straight direction," and "Store up energy like drawing a bow, and release it like shooting an arrow." Generally speaking, one who is on the defense employs a lot of circular moves to meet and neutralize oncoming forces; but to stage an attack one has to collect one's strength to deliver a straight blow from close in so as to achieve a most powerful effect.

Taijiquan movements are performed about the longitudinal, lateral, sagittal and numerous oblique axes -- all in a well-coordinated manner. An accomplished taiji performer may not be a physicist, but in practice he must be applying a lot of mechanical principles, either consciously or unconsciously.

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Article Source: JKD Street Combat - online collection of Tai Chi articles.

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