The Internal Practice of "Looseness" and "Sink" in Chen-Style Tai Chi Chuan

(Excerpted from the book "Chen-Style Traditional Old Frame 83 Forms" by Master Cheng Kejin, this text plays an important guiding role in the practical application of Tai Chi Chuan in combat.)

Mastering "looseness" and "sink" is the key to health and fitness in Tai Chi Chuan.

"Looseness" and "sink" in Tai Chi Chuan are essential requirements for practical combat skills.

The biggest difference between Tai Chi Chuan and other martial arts in the world is that it does not seek to use force in combat but emphasizes using skill to overcome strength and achieving preemptive strikes. To achieve this, one must rely on the unfocused internal energy cultivated through "looseness" and "sink." Otherwise, even if you intend to preempt, you will inevitably be defeated by opponents who rely on brute force and strike first.

Since Tai Chi Chuan does not seek victory through force, how can it achieve preemptive strikes and be the first to strike? The simple reason is that, under equal conditions, the one who strikes first and with greater force gains the advantage. To avoid being at a disadvantage when striking second, one must not only master the Tai Chi Chuan routines and their practical combat applications but also be able to manifest the unique requirements of single movements in combat. This requires speed and, more importantly, practice in a state of "relaxation" and "sink."

The combat movements of Tai Chi Chuan involve the combination of two or more types of force: one is the explosive force generated by the contraction of muscles, similar to other styles of martial arts; the other is the unique force of Tai Chi Chuan, which is the body's own weight. When a specific muscle is controlled by the nerves to exert force, the body moves accordingly. When nearing but not yet making contact with the target, the muscle's force stops in advance, but the body's weight continues to propel it forward due to inertia, unaffected and maintaining its original speed and force until it strikes the target. In addition to muscular force, the force of attack also includes the body's weight, making the force greater and the movement smaller, with concealed and sudden characteristics. This is what Tai Chi Chuan aims for: "using the smallest movement and the shortest distance to concentrate all the power that can be mobilized in the body into one point, striking out as quickly as possible, while simultaneously relaxing and recovering to prepare for the second attack." This is the "sink" based on relaxation, which is more holistic.

The relaxed state and the "sink" that reaches the fingertips, combined with the "opening of the three joints and reaching the four extremities" and the "force reaching the fingertips" in Tai Chi Chuan, make blood circulation smoother, greatly increase microcirculation, and effectively alleviate the insufficient blood supply to the nerve endings caused by aging. As mentioned in the "Treatise on Tai Chi Chuan," "the intention is the ruler, and the bones and flesh are the subjects," which means that "looseness and sink" can unblock meridians, dissolve stasis, enhance immunity, and achieve health goals.

What are "looseness" and "sink," and what are their standards?

"Looseness" is the prerequisite for "sink," and "sink" is the result of "looseness." The two are dialectical. In fact, Laozi's "Dao follows nature" refers to the fact that "successive generations of martial arts practitioners should learn from nature" and "draw from nature" and "the survival of the fittest." Since people on Earth are subject to the gravitational force of the Earth from birth, they bear their own weight every minute. Over time, they do not feel the weight of their bodies. The muscles and bones support the body's standing under gravity. Only when extra weight is added do they feel the weight, such as when lifting a book.

In general, a person's relaxation is actually a relaxation under load, that is, a relaxation under force, not a true relaxation. The "relaxation" in Tai Chi Chuan requires you to go against your habitual consciousness and thinking to experience the feeling of bearing your own weight. This feeling is first and foremost contrary to habitual thinking, but only this kind of conscious experience can make you feel the heaviness of your body or a part of it as a material, allowing you to open up all the joints and achieve the state of "the whole body is a unit." Wang Zongyue's "Treatise on Tai Chi Chuan" accurately describes this state as "a feather cannot be added, and a fly cannot alight," which refers to the practitioner's sensitive reaction and feeling when bearing their own weight. The more sensitive this feeling is, the higher the level of relaxation, which is also the standard for "looseness" and "sink," a correction of consciousness in the experience process of bearing the objective existence of one's own weight from birth. Therefore, it requires "using intention without using force." This force refers to the clumsy force without adding extra weight, which is extremely soft and then extremely hard. "The arm is like cotton wrapped around iron, extremely heavy" is a very accurate description of this.

How can one achieve "looseness" and "sink"?

The "looseness" and "sink" in Tai Chi Chuan correct habitual feelings of bearing weight. This kind of training, of course, starts with the mind. One should easily find one's own existing problems, such as not being able to produce the "doubling force" called "dou jin" (this point cannot be replaced by any brute force or brute force), and therefore cannot achieve the transformation of "extreme rigidity" and "extreme softness" (this principle also applies to other types of Tai Chi Chuan).

Training method: According to the above principles, feel through others. Place your arm on someone else's shoulder and imagine that this arm is completely out of your control. When the other person feels weight, you are in a relaxed state (the other person can move up, down, left, and right, and the weight remains unchanged). Your relaxation is correct. Grasp this feeling, lift your arm,