TAI CHI: OPENING JOINTS: The FIRST step to INTERNAL!

In order to make your Tai Chi and Chi Kung really internal, you have to learn to open the joints.
This is the first step of three. In this video I explain and demonstrate how to do this. Enjoy!
If you like to know more about, how to go into the internal, check out The Core Essentials Chi Kung Course, www.chiskills.....

[@InternalTaiChi]

I have to tell you how relieved I am to hear what you are saying. There are so FEW Tai Chi practitioners that understand these concepts; especially always OPENING the joints. My Master taught me that Tai Chi is always an expression of opening and expanding. I have never thought about opening them while pushing. I like the idea of separating push/pull and experiencing the opening in both expressions. Thank you so much for your video and for your obviously genuine knowledge. I grow weary of so much stuff out there that is incorrectly taught. Therefore, it is refreshing to find you and your understanding of the deeper internal principles and excellent way of teaching them. Thank you.

[@ChiSkills]

Thanks for your kind words Susan, and my pleasure completely. Yes, I agree with you on this empty Tai Chi. Luckily we see more and more high quality internal teachers, like yourself. And there are obviously a lot of people looking for real information right now, seeing how quickly this channel is growing. Yes, pushing & pulling the joints gives a very clear experience and understanding of how the Tai Chi principle works in the intrinsic energies. Thanks again Susan!

[@InternalTaiChi]

@@ChiSkills I shared it with my students today. It was fabulous! Of course I gave you credit. Thank you so much! I look forward to learning more.

[@MissXzaara]

Finally someone who can explain the basics to me. Thank you!

[@ChiSkills]

My pleasure! Glad it helped you. Happy training!

[@RocknRollkat]

FINALLY ! Some real instruction without all the mumbo jumbo !

[@ChiSkills]

Glad it's helping you!

[@Hammadjay]

Peng - an opening and expanding energy. Thank you for this and your other videos.

[@ChiSkills]

Your welcome, glad it’s clarified!

[@salbiahahmad8264]

After vewing this, I understand how at times I think I am doing my forms correctly and at times "feel nothing" at all! Thanks.

[@ChiSkills]

That's great Salbiah! Awesome!

[@Taichistretchingspace3479]

I have found Nei Gong training…….Thank you🙏

[@ChiSkills]

That's great!

[@fatefulbrawl5838]

*Now I can take my training to the next level!* 🎊💖

[@ChiSkills]

That's just awesome!

[@fatefulbrawl5838]

@@ChiSkills Who taught you?

[@ChiSkills]

@@fatefulbrawl5838 Roel Jansen in the Netherlands, and Sifu Mark Rasmus in Thailand. Both very good teachers. I am forever grateful for being able to study and train with them...

[@fatefulbrawl5838]

@@ChiSkills Same here, how far have you come?

[@ChiSkills]

@@fatefulbrawl5838 I went through the elastic force training, and Hermetics training, but of course I keep going deeper and further with all of that.

[@francoisg.4339]

Hello from France :) Thank you very much for sharing. I learned something very interesting with your video. It will integrate my practice. 🙏

[@ChiSkills]

Hi Francois! Awesome, glad the video helped! Happy training.

[@madogblue]

The idea of the tube is helpful

[@ChiSkills]

Glad it helps!

[@facheux]

Very interesting. The lengthening and the opening of the joints are something we are looking for in the Alexander Technique too even if we state those ideas a little bit differently :)

[@ChiSkills]

Thanks for sharing! Very interesting indeed!

[@Amundsen8635]

This is very good! Do you have a video where you explain how you use your abdominal muscles/core muscles as well as the muscles in the legs and stretch them? I have been practicing Karate for most of my life and find your videos very helpful. Thank you!

[@ChiSkills]

Thank you Hassan! I have made a video not long ago about the legs. If you would throw a punch, and at the end of it drop the hip and stretch the spine, you would have a clear stretch from the fist to your feet. So throw the punch and then hold it in the stretch and then observe. How does your core feel now. What do you feel in the legs? If you have stretched the spine, then you will experience stretch in the core and legs as well. So the spine is key here. If you do not drop the hip and stretch at the end of the punch, it might have power. But if you do drop the hip you will start punching like a truck. Hope this helps! Good luck and thanks for the question!

[@Amundsen8635]

@@ChiSkills Thank you!:-)

[@briansprock2248]

Altijd goed om weer ernaar te luisteren. Dankje!!

[@ChiSkills]

Graag gedaan Brian! En je Nederlands is goed!

[@briansprock2248]

@@ChiSkillsspreek van huis uit NL. Vandaar wrsch. 🙃 mijn grootouders kwamen uit Limburg.

[@ChiSkills]

@@briansprock2248 ah, dat verklaart het! En waar woon je nu?

[@briansprock2248]

@@ChiSkills op Curacao

[@ChiSkills]

@@briansprock2248 ja dat is ook zo! We hebben eerder contact gehad. Veel plezier daar!

[@brigittemilde44]

Very well explained, thank you👍

[@ChiSkills]

Thank you Georg!

[@kieranferguson982]

Excellent video, thank you so much.

[@ChiSkills]

Thanks Kieran, glad it helps!

[@buddhikagamage2526]

Thanks

[@ChiSkills]

Welcome! Happy training.

[@sinabehbahani7746]

Very helpful and clear sir! Thanks

[@kcorsnosbig]

Thank you So much Sir.. Glad to see you have shared this with the poor... And cleared the mystery... Have questions Breathing out stretch out assuming this is correct.? And the posion of the thought in the back part of the Head..?? Center is the Datain right.? It comes from that point into the earth so root from Center to ground... And from datain to past mountain top.. Center to the universe...?? Again thank you so much sir for your graciousness to share this ancient Secret...!! ☯️ 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️ ☯️

[@ChiSkills]

You are welcome, glad it helps you! I breath out when pulling: the body becomes ‘smaller’, air goes out. When pushing, the body expands: air comes in. These are no set rules or anything, just how I prefer to do it, as it makes sense to my body. But you could also hold the pulling or pushing positions for a couple of breaths. This can really help ‘solidify’ the construction in either of the two positions. Yes the dantian is the centre in between the crown, and the feet. Make sure the dantian can connect to the earth by aligning above the kidney 1 points, just behind the balls of the feet. In this way you can ground. Most people have their weight a little bit to much towards the heals. Internal martial artists love that, by the way;). Yes, through opening the crown we can tune into the wuji, or Akasha. For this you need to understand internal alchemy. On a foundational level it means that we open/ lengthen the spine by stretching the crown upwards. So there you go. Hope this helps! Happy training.

[@kcorsnosbig]

@Chi Skills Thanks again Can feel the weight in my toes a lot and naturally This feels wrong... Have been useing right in front of heel to straighten the alinement... That make more since as the cycle you explained there.... And the body as a whole with the breath... Under stand the cycle Thanks for the share Sir....

[@kcorsnosbig]

Thinking out the breath And expanding In you expand float... And breath out you sink.. You conect to the ground Better with the out breath And structure of the skeleton...?? Not trying to be argumentative Just the ground flow ? Didn't get the opening of joints, so I'm all ears... But if we are grounding back to the spine.. Not the ground... Then if we expand with joints and the Fusha then expanding is a flesh exspanding not so much a skeletal conection... Understand the inter is slower than the outer does this come in to play at this point... Thanks for knowledge..

[@neuromancer27]

Very helpfull, thanks!

[@ChiSkills]

Thanks for the feedback! My pleasure...

[@carlosroji4144]

thanks for the upload, It looks very much like yi quan, What linneage do you belong to? thanks for any comments

[@ChiSkills]

My pleasure, my background is a mix of Kuntao (Tit Khun) and Yang style Tai Chi. Thanks.

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

🙏

[@phillipmills5703]

Hi thanks for the video. Just wondering how the concept of Close in Open / Close (Kai/ He) fits into this, if at all.

[@ChiSkills]

Hi Phillip,yes very much so. The whole Yin Yang relationship. It is represented in everything, including ourselves.

[@kintaro6135]

Do you engage the muscles when doing this?

[@ChiSkills]

Hi, thanks for the question, it is a good one. When we open the joints we engage the fascia stretch. The elasticity of the body. Tendons, ligaments, but also the fascia of the muscles. The muscle fibers are held together by the fascia. So if we open the elasticity of the fascia, the muscle fibers can relax. They have somewhere to go. So the order is, and I will adres this in a coming video: 1. Open the joints. 2. Fine tune the fascia stretch. 3. 'Hang' the muscles. This very different then what you mostly see. Floppy. Floppy is not relaxed. In Tai Chi we are looking for song. Song is the transformation from muscle tension to fascia stretch. Fascia holds the construction up, and is the riverbed for the energy streams. Hope this helps!

[@heiah]

How am I supposed to know if I am doing it right? Is there something for me to test that stretch? What should I look out for to check if I am doing it right?

[@ChiSkills]

Hi there, yes, start with an arm. Take the position I do in the video. Pretend that your arm goes in a tube. Make your arm slightly longer by opening the joints. The ask a friend to test the strength. He/she should not be able to bend your arm. Make sure you keep the arm in a half circle...feel a slight stretch of the tendons etc... Hope this helps.

[@heiah]

Chi Skills thanks for the quick reply. So this act of opening the joints is exactly what I am struggling with- is it a stretch that physically enlarges the space in between my joints? Because if so, I have no idea how to physically do that hahahha Any active attempt on “enlarging” let’s say my wrist joint results in a subconscious push or pull from my shoulder Is there a way to isolate a joint (physically) so that there is no way to subconsciously cheat that enlargement (by using muscle tension, which is exactly what we don’t want) other than to actually immobilize my hand, arm and shoulder? Sorry for my many questions- I hope you understand what I’m trying to say though

[@ChiSkills]

@@heiah no worries I am here to help. Thanks for the question. I know what you mean. The best thing is if I make another video to explain deeper. Hard to describe in just words. I will upload next week. Stay tuned.

[@rayericmolloy]

@@ChiSkills l

[@martialpath1270]

What's the meaning of ching li in tai ji quan? Opening the joints is cai?

[@ChiSkills]

Opening the joints is an underlying internal principle. Without opening the joints there is no optimal structure etc. Cai or Tsai, is one of the 8 basic principles, intrinsic energies in Taijiquan. It translates as pull down. And opening the joints is part of that also. The energy dictates in which direction the joints open. Pushing or pulling. Hope this helps!

[@martialpath1270]

@@ChiSkills thnx

[@dolphin8778]

Do u have any video on 'kua'

[@ChiSkills]

No yet specifically, but I will in the future. Although this video about opening the joints is already in the direction of how to open the kua. Open all the joints, and gently stretch the fascia and bring your focus to creating space in the joints where the upper legs and hips meet. Start vital breathing gently towards this groin region on an in breath, and release away on the out breath. Good luck and thanks for the question!

[@perrypelican9476]

You say you can switch legs if you want to? Why would I want to? Is it necessary?

[@ChiSkills]

Hi Perry, thanks for the question. Yes you want to train this one on both sides. It is preparation for Tai Chi form training. So keep it balanced.

[@perrypelican9476]

@@ChiSkills that I understood. What I didn't understand is the "if you want to" part. I would think it's not about you wanting to and it should be mandatory. Is it an English language thing?

[@ChiSkills]

@@perrypelican9476 initially you can just get used to the exercise as I show in the video. Just to get the feel of it. And while doing so you can change legs if you want to. But when you have it figured out then you can start with training it on both sides. From there the concept can be implied in a Tai Chi form. Hope this helps!

[@perrypelican9476]

@@ChiSkills ok I understand. Thanks.

[@briansutton1682]

Why that looks like try force 🤔 in the practice of Yi chuan..

[@ChiSkills]

Yes, elastic force