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Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain

Classic Corner - Number 6
Longfei News Letters - Volume 4, Issue 2

NUMBER 6
Use the mind
and not force

The Taiji Classics and all ancient and modern commentaries emphasise he need to cultivate the use of the mind and resist the use of brute strength.

Chen Wei-Ming has recorded: "All of this means use i (mind) and not li (force). The whole body must relax, not one ounce of force should remain in the bones, ligaments, tendons or blood vessels. Then you will be agile and able to move freely and turn easily. If you doubt the non use of strength how can you increase power?" 

He goes on to say that if the whole body has hard force (not relaxed) the meridians are choked up and the flow of the blood and Qi is checked. Alternatively if the meridians are not obstructed by hard force the Qi can flow freely.

If you use i (mind), not li (strength), hard force can be replaced by a power that is issued from a state of deep relaxation. This implies that relaxed power directed by the mind allows the Qi to follow the i. The Taiji Classics says: "When you are extremely soft, then you are able to become extremely strong and hard".

If we practice in this way every day after a long time we can obtain real internal force (Nei Chin).

"Someone who has extremely good Taijiquan skills (Gong-Fu) has arms like iron wrapped with cotton wool. Without this skill, just pull one hard and the whole body will lose its equilibrium."

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