The Three Tips ... take your tai-chi to another level!

[@terrywall1094]

When practising Tai chi or chi kung should you use dynamic tension

[@petersnowtaichi]

That is an interesting question. Please understand that Tai chi and Chi Kung are two different art forms. They have similarities but many differences. My knowledge of Chi Kung is very limited but I believe the basic technique is to tense (muscles etc) and then release various parts of the body, this apparently helps to circulate the chi. I'm not sure what you mean by dynamic tension but maybe it is that? Tai-chi is very different. We do not use dynamic tension but rather 'Sung' and 'Peng'. 'Peng' is (among other things) expansive energy, like a ballon or a tire. 'Sung' is conscious release. We use hard energy (jing) only at the moment of impact (when delivering a strike). That being said there is 'soft' tensegrity in tai-chi, at least in the way we practice on this channel. Watch the video of Lee Yang Arng on my main page here. That's tensegrity and indeed it is very dynamic but that dynamism comes from stretching the tendons and tissues not by tensing muscle. Hope this explanation helps. Feel free to ask more questions. Truth is, if you stick to tai-chi and study 'tai-chi culture' your practice will eventually lead you to your own understanding. Good luck!

[@josemartins7299]

Compact and open at same time! A contaditction? Not at all! We are not talking of physical alignment but of an energetic one!

[@petersnowtaichi]

Exactly, though there is a physical element also

[@josemartins7299]

@@petersnowtaichi @petersnowtaichi What I mean, and here we have diverse approaches, those three tps are not xconsistent with some other TCC pronciples- the first one - realaxation! But this is up with one practice and has allways there are several diverse ways to Peactice TCC.