We often conceive of our personal space as ending at our
skin. When we practice our form, at a certain point it can be beneficial to
enlarge our sphere of awareness to encompass the space in which we are
practicing. When we practice indoors this may be envisioned as the walls of the
room. We align our bodies naturally to the four walls. Outdoors we can
similarly use the horizon to align our position with the compass directions. As
we use this connection to the area beyond our skin we may find resources beyond
the personal and begin to operate within a larger meaningful dimension.
Reference points
As our attention expands beyond our reach, useful reference
points allow a much greater ability to attend to proper angles of feet, arms
and legs, etc.. This immensely aids the accuracy of the form as one moves
through the directions.
Mr. Chow would talk about the “standards” as he instructed
new students. These included the importance of the angles of the feet and the
angles of the arms and legs, both in relation to the horizontal and in relation
to the front and sides of the body. He would demonstrate their importance by
placing a dime on the floor at his feet, then do the entire form and end
exactly where he had started. He said that this was a result of adhering to the
standards.
As I teach I often find that when the hips are not turned
sufficiently in the turns, the following moves are made more difficult or
impossible to do correctly. When this happens, usually one twists the shoulders
to make up for the lack of range of motion, and this is often an extra movement
which throws off the balance and creates unnecessary tension. It is not good
T’ai Chi.
If the hips come out
of a turn facing a wall or cardinal direction, then it is much easier to
observe that the angles of the feet are pointed either straight ahead or at 45
or 90 degrees with respect to the facing direction. If the hips are also facing
the same direction then putting the arm or leg (or both) out at 45 degrees and then
moving them horizontally is facilitated. If the hips are not in the correct
position then what would be a simple movement is complicated by the necessity
of shifting the hip orientation at the same time, creating a situation in which
the balance is often impaired.
First Example
(The following is
extremely technical and probably not clear to those not already familiar with
the form.)
Examples of this are often seen just after “Carry tiger to
mountain and cross hands”(movement ends facing wall, or cardinal direction - S).
The next movement is a 45 degree turn called “Left side brush knee and twist
step” (movement ends facing corner, or half way between cardinal directions
–SE), a variation of the walk with an added 45 degree turn to the left.
The
movement which follows, Right side brush knee and twist step”, is a 180 degree
turn combined with a weight shift entirely from the left foot to the right
foot.(ends facing corner – NW.) If, (due to lack of flexibility, movement not
perfected yet, …) the hips are not turned the full 180 degrees, so one is not
facing opposite the starting corner, then the hip position will not allow the
necessary range of leg movement for accurate presentation of the form.
This can
either create balance/tension dysfunctions, or a mis-alignment in space which
creates problems related to not being in the correct position for the following
moves.
Second and Third
Examples
This hip position accuracy is even more important, and a
sloppyness here more detrimental to balance in the following moves. After the
third round hand, both before the second “Snake creeps down”, in the horizontal
kick just before the sccond “Attack the tiger”, and after the second “Snake
creeps down”, in the “Turn around and kick horizontally” which precedes the final
sequences of the form, when the hands perform a figure eight while balanced on
the left foot. (Again, almost impossible to describe verbally without
demonstrating, unless already familiar with this part of the form – sorry…)
Expanding Personal
Space
When we begin, our personal space may be seen as that which
is within our skin. As we practice and become capable within the reach of our
hands and feet, our perception of personal space naturally expands to encompass
this sphere. Physical and emotional self defense applications may become
obvious at this point. Next we may start to become more aware of our
surroundings, expanding what we notice as far as we can see. Inside this is
often the room we are in. Outside, our view may extend to the horizon, and we
may notice the clouds and the weather, etc.
Some Speculative
Possibilities
We may enter a realm of serious growth as we allow the
acceptance of all we see or can conceive to be part of our space.
We take care
of what we consider ours.
As we relax and no longer feel threatened by our
environment, we may gain the ability to be more aware of and to work within
this larger space. Our focused awareness may evolve into what the Buddhist
meditation texts refer to as panoramic awareness.
Our form at this point may
gain an elegant simplicity and spontaneity, and may also create feelings of joy
and peace…
