Little things of Taiji

Am I practicing it right? Below are the things I take note of when practicing. In no order of importance.

1) Transfer/Shifting of weight through the ground. Do not move the upper body to transfer weight.

2) Knee cap pointing same direction as feet. Especially when one foot is in front of another, the back foot keen cap is frequently pulled inwards.

3) Sole of feet flat on ground. Feel the whole sole of the feet including the toes to be in contact with the ground. Keeping knee cap in same direct as feet helps.

4) 松(Relax) 沉(Sink). The magic words. Comes with practice and feeling. This phase helps me a lot - 沉 (sink) is not 跪 (kneel). Sink does not equal to Kneel. Imagine the kneeling action, the force is at the knee cap. Your thigh muscle will be tighten. This is bad practice and will hurt the knees.

松 (Relax) the heel/ankle, small cafe muscle, back of knee, back of thigh, 胯 (kua), tail-bone in and anchored down. As you 松 (relax), the 沉(sink) will take place naturally as the channel is now open. Imagine the feeling of filling the inside of your legs with water from bottom up, At this time, there will be a downward force exerting from the sole into the ground. At the same time, there is a upward force as the water (chi) level raise up.

5) Upper body never move on its own. It moves because the waist move. But the waist does not move on its own either. It moves due to the shifting of weight, the 松 and 沉.

6) Do not drop the weight abruptly. Once 松(relax) and 沉(sink) improperly done, there will be minimum change in height.

7) The next point is abstract. Be aware but not focus of your body. To lead but not control the chi. Breath naturally, do not control breathing.

8) Do not control your thoughts but bring your thought back when it wonder off.

9) Imagine a the head is hung by a hook at the base of the skull to straighten the neck bones. Instead of tucking in the chin. (虚灵顶劲)

10) 虚实分明 - For most (all?) of the steps, try to archive clear substantial and in-substantial in the legs before going to the next steps. Again 虚实 is archive by 松沉.

11) Tip of tongue is always touching the upper plate of the mouth, just behind the teeth. This is to complete the circuit flow of the chi though the body.

12) The center of gravity should always be at the 丹田 area. Do not let the center of gravity raise to the upper body, then it becomes floating. Like a tree/bamboo, the lower body is trunk and root, the upper body is the branches and leaves. Archive by 松沉.

13) For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Find/feel the opposite force. It is necessary to find this opposite force, so that the Ying and Yang force is complete. Start exploring the bigger action such as 功腿 (gong).

14) Like the Taiji Symbol.
- It is round
- The bigger white area flows into the smaller black area, and vice-versa
- There is a black dot in the white area and vice-versa

How do you interpret them in the 太极 (Taiji) practice?

Below is the documented 10 Principles for practicing 太极.

1 虚灵顶劲
2 气沉丹田
3 含胸拔背
4 松腰敛臀
5 圆裆开胯
6 沉肩坠肘
7 用意不用力
8 尾闾中正
9 上下箱随
10 虚实分明