Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang's Twelve Principles of Taijiquan

[taiji fajin]

1. Heart and spirit void and quiet from start to end.

 

2. Center equilibrium.

 

3. Use mind to move qi. The heart is the commander.

 

4. Start with sink and drop.

 

5. Search for soft and smooth.

 

6. Inside/outside and upper/lower should work together.

 

7. The transition of yin/yang will help you find hard/soft.

 

8. The silk reeling force should be present through the body.

 

9. Search for open/close by folding the chest and stomach.

 

10. Concentrate on dantian to improve neigong (internal force).

 

11. Keep your heart calm, mind quiet, and practice slowly (stillness in 12 movement). The form is a moving standing pole (huo zhuang).

 

12. You will be successful if you know both how to practice and how to nurture yourself (yang sheng).

 

 

 

What do you guys think of these? For me, they are extremely helpful. Its hard to say which one helps me the most, so instead I will say which one I have the most trouble with and need to work on the hardest. I believe this would be 12. While I nurture myself during my formal taiji practices, my nurturing throughout the rest of my life, equally as important, has definitely dropped. I am doing my best to try to get back on track, though.

[busling]

They sound eloquent, however focusing on those sorts of thought is not my style.

 

I happily train in a school that focuses on technique. Their is no focus on the mental game, apart from correct breathing and mental toughness to push on past adversity.

 

Of the ones that I understootd I can see that if you are interested in the mental/spiritual approach then they would be good guiding principals.

[wingchunner]

Principles sound good. They are right in line with what I practice. They are good principles to follow. Just be sure you understand what they mean. If one doesn't understand what they mean, you won't get their real purpose.

 

Marty

[Nick_UKWC]

8. The silk reeling force should be present through the body.

 

hmm?

[taiji fajin]

Silk Reeling is a spiraling energy type of exercise. It works the 18 balls very well, along with being helpful with jointlocking, counterjointlocking, and other things. Do a google search on it and I'm sure you can find a lot. There are also videos out there that are helpful (though of course videos never show you all of it and are no substitute for a instructor you meet with in person).

[Nick_UKWC]

Thanks, there is a quite a lot of reading material online, seems fairly high level to try and grasp without instruction though. One of those things where you can understand what they're saying, but not really understand what that means.

 

If that makes sense.

[taiji fajin]

Very true. I can quasi-imagine it through some reading, know the motions when I see someone do them, and really understand the energy behind it when my laoshi uses it against me. Chen style has, from what I've heard, a lot more silk reeling emphasis than the other styles (can anyone in other styles confirm this?) but its very helpful in whatever style you practice.