In your Tai Chi Chuan of the Sun style practice, pay attention to YANG’S TEN IMPORTANT
POINTS
One: Keep an upright head so your spirit can reach the top of your head. To achieve this, feel
the string suspending your head from the sky. In that way your posture will be upright and yet
relaxed.
Two: Sink your chest and pluck up your back. This point is meant to counter the tendency to
puff up with jutted out chests. To achieve this point, keep your spine in line with your hips. By
doing this you will have the feeling that your chest is relaxed and in balance. Your back will
support that balance.
Three: Relax your waist. This involves sinking your abdomen into your hips for a stable base.
Your relaxed waist promotes a rooted feeling that along with your gently bent knees helps you
feel your feet flatten into the ground.
Four: Differentiate insubstantial and substantial. This speaks to complete weight shifts. If you
keep your weight on one foot or the other, you can turn quickly, smoothly and easily. This
principle of the substantial and insubstantial is key to the flexible nature of Tai Chi Chuan
Five: Sink your shoulders and elbows. This means to relax your shoulders, to move with
relaxation. Your elbows should remain close to your body. In larger moves, it means that your
elbows should curve gently within the circle of the whole movement.
Six: Use mind rather than force. By visualizing movements with your mind, you can remain
relaxed and still project energy. This may seem somewhat esoteric, but it really speaks to the
ability to move with relaxed power, the kind of relaxation that defines the smooth performance
of a top athlete. In Tai Chi Chuan applying your mind to the form results in a smooth isometric
exercise.
Seven: Upper and lower mutually follow. This speaks to the harmony of arms with feet, knees
with elbows, shoulders with hips. This is the connection and linkage of the body that makes the
Tai Chi Chuan an exercise of unification.
Eight: Inside and outside coordinate. This means that your spirit must give direction to your
body. Your calm spirit helps you execute the form more smoothly and with better linkage of
body and mind, which add up to spirit.
Nine: The Tai Chi Chuan moves without breaks. This speaks to the continuous circular pattern
of movement. It means the form never stops, that it stays in motion, and thus always retains some
energy. It also speaks to the importance of retaining curves within your body. Your legs always
retain their flex. In the same way, the arms retain a springing kind of curve. In both cases, this is
the reserve that makes possible the unbroken path of the Tai Chi Chuan form.
Ten: Seek stillness in movement. This speaks to moving with peace and calmness in your heart.
This is the meditation in motion that makes Tai Chi so relaxing. Tai Chi Chuan is an excellent
vehicle for meditation. In the beginning, your intense concentration on the movements turns off
interference from the inside as well as from the outside. Later, when you have memorized the
moves and you don’t need to concentrate just to complete the moves, you have the training and
experience to concentrate well so that when your mind inevitably wanders the flowing
movements of Tai Chi Chuan bring you back into your simple present beingness.