Peng-Wardoff

Peng is the first of the primary manifestations of jin (power) in Tai Chi Chuan. It's the first movement and the first application most students learn, and it's one of the most used forms of jin in Tai Chi Chuan. It is therefore vital that the student learn what Peng is, what it feels like, how it's applied and how to defend against it.

The first of the primary hand movements, Peng is a strong offensive form of energy (Yang Jin). An expansive bouncing energy it should feel like a balloon or a rubber ball that when compressed bounces force away. Most often it is not used as a direct attack, but rather to intercept an opponent's movements and attacks. Once the opponent has committed to a movement the Tai Chi player will use Peng to redirect the opponent's force (usually upwards or sideways), protecting the player from the attack while unbalancing the opponent and creating an opening to counter. Peng can also be used at close range to powerfully strike an opponent from the side in the chest, head or arm.


The most common example of Peng is intercepting a straight punch. Once the opponent has begun his attack the player will use Peng to press into the opponent's arm (usually at the elbow or just behind it on the upper arm). This sudden powerful intercepting force will lock the elbow joint and cause the opponent's fist to change direction unexpectedly. At this point there are several option available to the player, adhere to the opponent's arm and lock the joints to “capture” his limb, roll back and break the opponent's root (pulling him to the ground), strike his now undefended side, push the unbalanced opponent (knocking him over), use the locked arm to throw the opponent, etc. Clearly the variations are endless with Peng.

Peng is usually employed via the forearms, but it is vital to remember that this is merely the place where the energy is emitted, not the energy's source. As with all movement in Tai Chi Chuan preparing the body is the first step. Proper breathing (exhaling) during the movement is vital. Correct body alignment* and coordination is also crucial. Keep the body relaxed and your muscular and skeletal structure aligned After breathing in and solidly rooting rooting yourself (in preparation) you exhale and meet the opponent's energy at an angle.

You push into the ground with your rear leg (to generate power) while aligning most of your weight onto the front leg for stability. The energy should coil around your legs and rise as your rear leg pushed you forward and your hip joints (which must be loose) will open and close to allow the energy to rotate your torso. Then you will feel a powerful expansion of the pectoral muscles (like a balloon suddenly filling up) by keeping the arms and shoulders loose this powerful expanding sensation moves out from the chest and into the arms allowing them to meet your opponent's movement with a great deal of power and speed.

It's also important, as part of Tai Chi Chuan strategy, to come at the opponent from an angle. Rather than meeting the opposing force head on deflect it slightly before the opponent's energy has reached its full extention. If the opponent throws a punch use your forearm to press into the outside of his elbow before his punch has fully extended (and hit you!). This will cause his elbow to suddenly lock up faster than he'd expected and at a very different angle, thus leaving him vulnerable.

Defending against Peng is fairly straightforward, redirect the opponent's Peng or shift your footing and capture the opponent's force by wrapping and coiling around the powerful Peng. Alternatively you could use Cai (plucking) to pull his attacking limb, or simply use rollback to redirect the Peng energy to your side (leaving the opponent open to counter attacks).

As you can see Peng, while a very basic form of energy, has a great deal of depth. Students would do well to research and study it. Training with a partner is also vital, so as to get a realistic understanding of how to apply it. In addition it's important to explore your own posture so as to maximize your effectiveness in application. Lastly solo training with a heavy bag is also useful to further develop and strengthen you Peng energy.

For further illustrations view these:
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here

*The details of correct body alignment in Tai Chi are very complex and fall outside the scope of this article. For a more detailed discussion on the subject read my previous post: here

Wanna learn?

If you are interested in attending a class my current group is meeting at "El parque del indio" in Condado on thursdays at 5:30 p.m. and saturdays at 8:30 a.m. For more information write me an email at yinyangtaopr@gmail.com or joncarlobetancourt@yahoo.com.

On folklore

It is common practice with any group to see stories swell in their scope with every telling. Facts become blurred, and certain truths are lost. The “fish” gets bigger the longer it's been since it got away. This happens for several reasons, not the least of which is the way our memory works so that only those things that most strongly impact us are held strongly in our minds while everything else becomes blurred. As a result things that felt huge at the time become ever larger in our minds as time goes by.
This mental phenomenon is only one part of the change in stories. The other is the so called “poetic license”. Storytellers need to enrapture their audience one way or another, and a very simple and effective method is to make things viscerally powerful. Things that are larger than life jump out at us and capture our attention. We all wish we could be the mighty hero who overcomes incredible (often impossible) odds, going far beyond the limits of ordinary humans (and well beyond the laws of the natural world). Thus a brave man who performs a bold act slowly becomes a superhuman warrior of legendary feats, a hero immortalized for many generations to come.
Lastly, over time, we hear the same story so often that we become accustomed to the bold act, becoming desensitized to how amazing it truly was. Like a junkie who needs increasingly higher dosages, the deed needs to become greater with each telling in order for the audience to continue to be impressed. As a result stories and feat become ever greater in a constant exercise of “one-up-manship”, a perfect example of which is Monty Python's skit about a group of older gentlemen who complain about the ungrateful nature of the younger generation who don't appreciate how much easier their lives are as opposed to the difficult childhood each of these men experienced. They then take turns telling how horribly difficult their lives were, each one worse than the last. Things quickly go to ridiculous extremes, with the gentlemen claiming their entire 20 member families lived in a shoebox in a whole in the road, worked 36 hours each day at the nearby mill, without food, then returned home and were killed by their father before going to bed each night.
Cultural tales of heroism suffer from these same phenomenon, doubly so the stories of mythical martial artists of the past. As I mentioned earlier this comes at the cost of losing important an important truth, since the feat has been blown so completely out of proportion we can't really know what the true original feat was. Without a realistic measure of what happened we can't know what truly happened, and therefore we can't gauge how truly great the ancient deed truly was in comparison to our own efforts.
However not all truth is lost. The dramatics and theatrics that obscure the realism of the tale also work to highlight lessons and teachings. The oral stories and traditions should not be blindly accepted as factual truth, but rather as moral stories. They can highlight important messages and teachings. They may simultaneously preserve and obscure unexpected applications of certain movements or techniques. They preserve an ideal (and therefore impossible) goal for the individual practitioner and the art as a whole, which functions as the carrot on a stick that helps them continuously move forward and evolve, always striving to improve.
Therefore listen to the stories, to the myths and legends. Hear them carefully and with a critical eye and you will find nuggets of wisdom and great lessons. In this way they become more than blindly believed tales, they becomes lessons to help us learn to analyze and be critical thinkers rather than to be indoctrinated fools. Listen and be mindful, open your heart, your ears and your mind; if you do you'll find that the tales become truly do become more amazing with each telling, teaching us more each time.

Tai Chi Chuan- 24 & 48 Postures With Martial Applications - Book Review

Tai Chi Chuan- 24 & 48 Postures With Martial Applications
by Master Liang, Shou-Yu & Wu, Wen-Ching

As part of our efforts to revitalize the blog I'll begin periodically recommending some helpful books. To begin I've chosen one of the first Tai Chi books I read. This book by Master Liang is a great reference tool and is especially helpful for beginners who want to perfect their stances and get a basic idea of some of the applications for the form movements.

Initially the book gives a brief, overall description of Tai Chi theory. It covers basic breathing methods and includes several illustrations of some basic energy channels and accupoints. It then goes on to give a brief history of the art and its development. It then goes on to give some basic guidelines for practitioners to follow. They're very general pointers that mostly echo the Eight Body Methods and the Song of the Thirteen Postures, but a reminder is never a bad thing.

After this the author gives detailed explanations of the many body postures employed in Tai Chi's forms including several photographs to help students get a full understanding of how to adopt the posture, and then how to transition from one posture to the another. This is easily one of the most valuable parts of the book since one of the most important (and most difficult to grasp) parts of Tai Chi are the transitions between the postures. Transitions between postures are never easy to display and are especially difficult to show in a book. That said the author does an admirable job in giving detailed written explanations of how to execute said transitions.

Lastly, the book offers some basic applications for the movements in the 24 form. The transitions have fewer pictures and the applications are very basic, but for beginners it helps to offer them some simple examples of what they can do. Sadly Tai Chi Chuan is rarely taught with any emphasis on its martial aspects. This is a major problem not only in that it greatly reduces depth to which the student can learn, but it also castrates the form, making it impossible for students to learn how to defend themselves. While some students (and sadly many teachers) are willing to forego any knowledge as to the arts martial aspects they fail to appreciate how detrimental this lack of knowledge is to the performance of the form. Knowing the applications that the movements are designed to execute is precisely what dictates how the movement must be performed during form practice. Without this knowledge the movements will invariably be clumsy, incomplete and possibly detrimental.

I've personally borne witness to instructors who've practiced the form for years without ever developing any knowledge as to the applications those movements are designed for. As a result they tend to have problems establishing a firm root and correct body alignment. When they and their students perform the movements incorrectly they torque their knees, wobble on misaligned hips and ankles, have poorly distributed weight causing them to be unbalanced (and sometimes fall), etc. In essence their lack of understanding results in incorrect movements that harm rather than help the practitioners. For this reason alone this (albeit brief) portion of the book alone makes it a very worthwhile read, especially for beginners.

In summary it's a great read. It offers the beginner a good introduction to several aspects of the art and it offers more advanced practitioners a quick reference to some of the basic aspects and movements of the art.

Team Championship Cup

I was very happy when in 2006 I became part of the Puertorican team that went to Zheng Zhou, China to compete in the 2nd World Traditional Wushu Championship. The entire trip is full of very fond memories that I will forever cherish, both on and off of the competition floor.

As for the Championship itself it consisted of a week's worth of events and activities culminating in the team choreography events. Our team had done fairly well during the individual events, taking several bronze, silver and even a few gold medals. (I was very honored to receive silver in hand forms and bronze in weapons forms.) At last it was time for the final event and all the different teams gathered together to perform their routines before an unexpected group of guest judges including Wu Bing and Li Deiyin.

This really put all of the teams on their toes and us in particular as the routine our team would be performing was one created by Master Li Deiyin, the well known Tai Chi Kung Fu fan routine. Despite having a major musical malfunction (the sound system died halfway through our routine) we didn't miss a beat. What was truly amazing was that the crowd was so exited that they started singing and clapping their hands to the beat to cover the silence when the music died! Hearing the whole stadium singing and clapping was truly amazing. We were exceptionally pleased with how things went and incredibly shocked when were told we'd one. Then the camera crews came over and everything after was very much a blur, but it truly was magical. It was an experience I'll treasure for the rest of my life.

Moving Backwards

Once students have learned to move forward the next direction I'll begin showing them how to move in is backwards. This is usually a bit trickier, so much so that I've even met some instructors who struggle with it themselves.

To begin adopt an empty or insubstantial stance (known as Xubu). For this example we'll assume the front leg is the left and the rear leg is the right. The rear knee should be bent and the rear foot turned out slightly (about 45 degrees). The front knee is also bent with the front foot in front of the back foot. The front foot will only touch down with the ball of the foot. It is important to put no weight on the front foot and to keep this leg very relaxed. The front foot is kept empty of any weight (hence the name of the stance). All of the weight should be on the rear leg and the torso should be facing completely towards the same side as the rear leg (i.e. if your rear leg is your right leg your torso should be facing to the right).

From this stance bring the front leg back smoothly until it's slightly behind the right leg. How far back you bring the leg depends on personal preference and the conditions you are in, however it must be farther back than your huiyin cavity. I usually have my students take a normal step back the way they regularly would while walking and then have them use that distance as their measurement. Having brought the left foot back it is important that just as that leg was only touching down with the ball of the foot in front it again lands with only the ball of the foot behind us (still with no weight on it).

Now for the tricky part, push down with the right foot while twisting the hips to the left. This will make your torso move from facing to the right it will now face to the left. However as your hips twist shift your weight from the right leg to the left leg (which is now behind the right). To be able to shift the weight smoothly you must lift up the right heel (so that only the ball of the right foot is on the ground) while simultaneously allowing the left heel touch down. You're essentially rocking the weight from one leg to the other on the balls of your feet and slowly transferring all the weight to the left leg as the heel comes down. It's very important that during this twisting movement you pay attention to the bending of the knees, making sure that you maintain the same height throughout the movement. You should now have all the weight on the left leg with the right empty so that you are once again in an empty stance, but on the opposite side. To continue moving backwards repeat the process on the other side.

Wanna learn?

If you are interested in attending a class my current group is meeting at "El parque del indio" in Condado, tuesdays and fridays at 6:00 p.m. For more information write me an email at yinyangtaopr@gmail.com or joncarlobetancourt@yahoo.com.

Under Construction...

Hi! You may have noticed there have been some changes to the blog. We are working hard to update the site and add some new features, such as recommended links and books. I will be writing a few brief synopsis to give you a feel for them. See you soon.

Tai Chi Walk (Forward)

Some of my newest students have been working on Tai Chi Walk so I thought it'd be a good time to touch on the subject.

Tai Chi walk is the next step in training I give my students after Zhang Zhuang* practice. As previously stated Zhang Zhuang teaches the student about establishing a stable center, therefore the next step is learning to move in the four cardinal directions while maintaining that stability.

Initially, this proves to be a very difficult progression for most students and entails a LOT of practice. To help them in said practice I'll detail just how it is performed.

For now I'll be focusing on the first direction I train my students in, forward. To begin they let their weight sink onto one leg, emptying the other of weight. (It is important that both knees stay bent at this point.) Next they stretch out the empty leg letting it land heel first in front of them, it's important to note that the foot seems to land slightly outside so as to maintain the width between the feet (remember, shoulder width apart at all times). Once the heel lands the weight is slowly, gently transferred onto the forward leg as the back leg's knee straightens (driving the body's weight forward). The forward knee should be bent, without moving farther forward than the toes. The student should now be in gongbu or bow stance. The weight should be about 70% on the front leg and 30% in the back.

Then the hips will rotate, from facing straight ahead, 45 degrees into the direction of the lead leg (ie if your front leg is the left leg you rotate your hips 45 degrees to the left). The power for this rotation again comes from the rear leg. The toes should dig into the ground (like you're squishing something) and the rear heel is elevated, pivoting on the toes. It is vital at this point to shift all of the body's weight onto the front leg (emptying the rear leg of ALL weight) and immediately lift the back leg, bringing it forward free of weight. In this way the practitioner's body will be in a mirror position from what he/she began in. It is very important to always keep the lead knee bent once the weight has been placed on it, otherwise the student's body will bob up and down and they'll likely lose their balance.

After the movement is complete simply repeat on the opposite side to continue moving forward.

Here's a video link on how the forward stepping is performed.


*For more on Zhan Zhuang.