Longfei-Taijiquan Association of Great Britain

Opening the KUA
Longfei News Letters - Volume 1, Issue 2

MASTER YANG CHENGFU REMARKED:

"Although I ponder deeply over Taijiquan all year long, discuss it all day long, yet, once I am engaged in hand to hand fighting, I find I am still a layman"

It's useless to be an armchair strategist, one will not master the secrets of Taijiquan until he trains through a hard and bitter process. One needs to train the standing stance to enter the gate of hand pushing. Through the constant drill of the standing stance one will gradually learn the mechanism of the integration of mind power and vital energy. To have the crown of the head press against the heavens will help to achieve a sense that your joints have been relaxed and extended. To have the feet firmly and steadily placed on the ground as if the roots of a tree had been planted deep into the earth.

The preceeding paragraph has been taken from the Journal of the Beijing Institute of Physical Education. The original article was considerably longer and more philosophical so what I have recorded here are the bare bones.

I often ponder on how disadvantaged Westerners are trying to get to grips with Taijiquan although from my own teaching experience I have not found any individual or groups particularly gifted. I write of course only about physical endowment and not examining the philosophical and psychological content of the art. I have not found the young, the middle aged, senior citizens, ethnic groups including Chinese readily able to assimilate the intricate movements of Taijiquan. Indeed the only path to success is that emphasised by all old masters of the art - Diligence, Patience, Perseverance, etc.

However I feel there is one distinct cultural advantage the Asians have, that favours the ability to be free in the KUA. This word describes the area of the body's fulcrum, generally the form, the function, and the area of the hip joints, the sacrum, the sacroiliac joints and inquinal creases.

The Asian historically has crouched and sat on his haunches and sat on the floor in variations of the half and full lotus for many centuries. A habit they may well lose in the next few centuries. This suppleness of the KUA can of course be seen in our children and grandchildren.

The Importance of Opening the KUA

All practitioners are urged to loosen, soften the waist. How many times are we told to initiate the movements from the ground through the feet and legs and controlled by the waist?

So lets come back to the armchair strategist - we may hear it, we may know it but do we train it? On a practical level and for our general well-being, it is most important that the inquinal joints are soft, open and free from tension.

The circulation, the supply of nutrients, the function of the nervous system of the lower limbs will all benefit from a relaxed KUA. For Taiji practitioners it becomes of major significance to sinking our energy and rooting. Reflecting on some of our Tainji postures, will our snake ever creep down without this facility.

More importantly, examine the "White Crane Flaps its Wings", "Playing the Lute", when we do these one-legged empty step postures do we open and relax the inquinal joints and the hips?

With the most familiar step in Taiji, Gong Bu (Bow Step), it is easier to open the relevant joints but we should pay more attention to he empty steps.

I think that a simple visualisation is to view the inquinal joints, hips (crotch) as a and not as a applying this to all our postures. Applying this armchair knowledge to practise will enhance both form and pushing hands.

For developing the KUA, softness and relaxation of the hips take a renewed look at the Daoyin Postures.

Picking up a Hugh Rock
Elephant Looping Trunk
Oriole on the Wing

Also for those who attended Master Wang's Tui Shou Seminar there were a least three first class exercises for opening the KUA. Anyone that trains regularly in Zhan Zhuang can also apply this to the method of opening the lower body.

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