Rooting in Taijiquan

By Sifu Yeung Yun Choi

There is the saying that "rooted on the feet, issued from the leg (calf and thigh), mastered by the waist and formed in the fingers. From feet then leg and then waist, all must be completed in one breath [of time], moving forward and backward is to gain position at the right moment, to gain position at the wrong moment then the body is scattered. The ills can be found on the legs and waist". The concept of rooting is relevant to Taijiquan perhaps interpreted differently.

The conventional idea of rooting is attaching to the ground for stability and balance. The criticism is being static and stiff, and it is unnecessary to do long hours of static training in low stance and pile-work, etc. Prominent writers of Taijiquan in China often accuse Taiji pushing-hands competitions being like ox fights, two oxen locking horns and pushing each another as hard as possible. This is to push by lowering the stance, pushing with the rear leg and arms to produce a unidirectional force. The most powerful impact of two forces will be coming from opposite directions and in-line with each another. The result will be overbalance if the opponent is capable of deflecting the force, or being up rooted by the opponent.

The teaching of Taijiquan is that when experiencing a big in coming force, is "to lead it in and let it go" like "deflecting it by using four teals" (16 teals is equal to 1.676 kilograms). Deflection is very simple by rotating the torso, moving backward, stepping backwards or to the side, etc., to redirect the incoming force. But the problem lies in how to lead-in the incoming force. To lead-in there must be resistance upon impact which is certainly more than 4 teals. Therefore, rooting in Taijiquan should embrace the concepts of absorption, transmission and neutralisation of the incoming force with possible counter attack.

Relaxing the muscles of the body will produce a sinking effect, which will make full use of the body weight to absorb the incoming force. Being relaxed will also minimise resistance upon impact and allow the incoming force to shift the body mass. Thus, the resulting force will be the incoming force less the body weight and will be further reduced by shifting the body mass away from the original position. In a way, this is borrowing the opponent's force to move one's own body mass and deflection will come very easy to deal with what is remaining of the incoming force.

Extension or stretching of the tendons will facilitate connection of the joints, which will assist transmission of the incoming force to the arm, shoulder, mid-section, hip, thigh, calf, foot and to the ground. When a person is in a proper Taiji posture; he or she will experience this transmission. The incoming force will travel from the hand down to the foot smoothly. A good way to test whether one is in a proper posture or not is to apply a force on that person. Tension will build up to stiffen the part that is not extended nor relaxed otherwise it will be grounded. This is how one can "listen to forces" or "interprets forces".

Once transmission is facilitated then neutralisation is easy, by moving various joints or shifting the whole body with the legs depending on the magnitude of the force. The mechanics of the legs allows the rotation of the hip, opening and closing of the thighs, bending of the knees, and flexing of the ankles for neutralisation. Therefore, the movements of the legs can be a little subtle to accommodate the weight of the body, the incoming force and to initiate motion.

To be in the right position at the right moment to counter attack requires the ability to move into the opening of the opponent after neutralisation. And as suggested that there can be many ills on the legs and waist in the given example of moving forward and backward. Some of the common ills are the following:

1. Failure to sink the weight of the body to the legs.

2. Failure to relax the joints for easy movement.

3. Failure to extend the thighs to the open position in a forward stance.

4. Failure to rotate the hip to assist the thighs to the closed position when moving backward.

5. Failure to spring from the closed to the open position back to the forward stance.

6. Failure to use the waist or torso in initiating movements.

7. Failure to co-ordinate the thighs with the torso to generate power.

These ills are just basically failing to develop the right mechanics in moving forward and backward in Taijiquan. The main reason for these ills is the extensive use of the limbs to generate force instead of the torso. Limbs are much simpler to use but lacking the power of the larger muscle groups of the back, abdomen and thighs. Initiating force with the limbs will stiffen the joints and hinder mobility as well.

It is not uncommon to push forward with the rear leg and push backward with the front leg in shifting the weight of the body. There might be no noticeable difference until a force is exerted on the practitioner because the body weight plus the exerted force will became more apparent. When one experiences a push from the front and moves backward using the front leg, this will be assisting the opponent by pushing oneself backward. If one pushes forward with the rear leg against a push this will create an upward movement of the body upon impact and will be easily up rooted. There will be a lack of co-ordination of both legs if one is using force while the other one is not. This is inclined to distort the level of the body when moving forward or backward.

Proper rooting is very important especially in teaching Taijiquan to the elderly because it is most likely this area will cause problems. It is a common mistake that Taijiquan is soft and slow which even the very weak and very old can practice it, after all it is better to move than not to move. Taijiquan basically is a martial art, which does not cater for the needs of the elderly and therefore extreme care should be taken. The major problem with the elderly is the inability to change. It is very difficult to change the habit of moving their limbs to a more extensive use of the major muscle groups. Therefore, much patience is needed.

As a dynamic self-stretching exercise, the movements embedded in Taijiquan are very good for the elderly. Often the need to stretch out the limbs has been overlooked by just relaxing. There is nothing wrong with relaxing but in most cases relaxing the upper part of the body only and putting all the weight onto the hip while pushing up the weight with their legs will created extra tension on the lower back.

Simple techniques in shifting the weight of the body between legs will actually help people to move more lightly like floating but being static on one leg will resulted in putting too much strain on one leg with the total body weight. Leg muscles that are poorly developed will provide difficulties in weight support. Therefore static single legged posture should be avoided or modified to meet the needs of the elderly.

The knee is very troublesome for the elderly if they push with the knee or put all the body weight on one knee. Particular attention should be given also in turning movements. The knee is an uni-axle hinge joint, which only allows the knee to move in one plane. Therefore, care should be taken to make sure that turning is done by the hip joint and not the knee and no strain is exerted on the knee other then its normal movement. Furthermore, low stance should be avoided for anyone without special training to deal with the unnecessary strain on the knees.

There should be some all round warm up exercise accompanying the practice of Taijiquan for the elderly, as Taijiquan is a martial art which does not cover all aspects of movements of the body and some techniques can be strenuous. Advance elderly students should be encourage to practice pushing hand exercises which is a kind of resistance training for improving their oxygen uptake when it is done adequately.