Tai Chi and the Art of Sensitivity
– Chief Instructor Brett Wagland

“Stand like a sensitive balance;
move actively like a wheel.”
“A feather cannot be added to the body nor a fly alight.”
(Douglas Wile, T’ai-chi Touchstones, p.128, 123.
Brooklyn, New York : Sweet Ch’i Press, 1983)

A high degree of relaxation can be reached by practising Tai Chi correctly.  In the beginning, students learn to fa soong (relax) every part of the body until they are using minimum strength to maintain a posture.  Excessive tension prevents the qi (energy) flowing through the meridians smoothly.  Tai Chi training strengthens and stimulates the flow of qi throughout the body. 

Relaxation leads to sensitivity.  It opens the door to inner perception and allows us to experience the body and mind in a different way.  The Chinese describe this type of sensitivity as ting jing (listening energy).  Through your practice, you learn to listen to your body-mind with your whole being.  You feel your tension before it becomes chronic.  This process is very much part of knowing yourself.  Often tension masks many of our underlying feelings.  Once we release our tension, we can acknowledge hidden emotions.  The process of relaxation enables the mind, body and spirit to regenerate, helping us to cope with stress and ill health.  Gradually, we become mentally, emotionally and physically stronger.  This is when we begin to feel spirited.  It is easy to misinterpret relaxation for docility.  Eventually, we feel the relaxation a cat exhibits as it hunts its prey.  Its body is perfectly calm and relaxed, yet its eyes show alertness, displaying spirit or shen in Chinese.

Once you have developed ting jing in the Tai Chi solo form, this sensitivity can be further enhanced in Push Hands.  Through training with a partner with softness and yielding in mind, you become aware of your own tension when being pushed.  You also learn to interpret your partner’s tension or resistance.  Now you learn to experience relaxation while under pressure.  This adds another dimension to your training and helps you to take another step in developing your sensate energy.

Master Yang Cheng Fu was a great exponent of Yang Style Tai Chi.  He was often challenged by other martial artists.  Once in Guang Zhou, he was challenged by a kung fu master.  Rather than fight, Yang suggested that they compete by attaching a piece of cotton to the index finger of each hand.  He invited his opponent to perform any movement he wished.  If the string became slack or broke, Yang would lose.  No matter what his opponent did, the cotton remained taut.  His opponent soon became tired and admitted defeat.

A high level master can move like a leaf.  He can follow an opponent’s fist forwards and backwards.  As the opponent advances, he moves so that he is just out of reach.  As the opponent withdraws, he is also there.  He can tell which movements one is practising, even if one is several metres behind him.  This is an example of being able to feel the environment.

Ting jing will allow you to understand yourself, others and nature.  To be able to truly listen under any conditions, especially during a conflict, is a very valuable asset.  Without relaxation and the ability to feel, we become insensitive to and ignorant of our inner and outer world.  Ting jing is one of the tools in the Tai Chi kit which enables us to live a more harmonious life.


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