Tai Chi Crossroads: February 2019

- A TAI CHI ESSAY -

THE ART OF CENTERING

Recently a friend of mine who doesn’t practice tai chi asked me about improving physical balance. She asked if I knew an exercise that would help. My initial response was this: Balance isn’t so much about balance as it is about centering. If you learn how to identify your center, your balance will be there. I offered to teach her some simple qigong movements with an emphasis on centering.  

So many times I’ve seen new tai chi students struggling not to fall, especially when doing kicks. They don’t realize it, but the reason why they struggle with balance is that they have not found their center. Without a center, they are fighting gravity, and in a sense, they are falling before they fall.

Granted, when a person is first learning tai chi, there is a lot to absorb. The student has to learn movements, a sequence, and basic rules, and is likely feeling awkward, overwhelmed, and silly-looking. That’s normal. New students have to struggle with many challenges. Comprehending the importance of centering, largely through keeping your head up high, can take a while to fully appreciate and religiously apply.

When learning tai chi I was told to imagine that the top of my head was being pulled skyward by a string. That can be easy to forget when you’re trying to remember everything else, especially when practicing at home without your instructor there to remind you. But if the student is given time to practice and contemplate, it starts to make sense and find its way into daily practice.

To visualize this, think of your spine as a heavy rope. If you hold a rope in the middle it will fall in any which way. However, if one end is pulled upward by a string, it will straighten, with gravity pulling from below. Herein lies the key to balance: the art of centering. First we raise the head as if it is pulled from above. Then we work on how the rest of the body is situated below. By doing so, we establish a center and we maintain it throughout our performance.

In several martial arts, there are similar concepts. In aikido it is taught that if you control the opponent’s head, you control the opponent’s body. Where the head goes, the body must follow. Many aikido techniques involve capturing and manipulating the opponent’s head, leading the opponent to imbalance and loss of control. Tai chi chuan and aikido share several methods, including techniques to put the opponent off balance to gain advantage.

Aikido Founder - Morehi Ueshiba

If the body can be manipulated so effectively by controlling the head, it stands to reason that controlling one’s own head is an effective means of controlling one’s body. A familiar saying may help as a useful reminder: “Don’t lose your head.”

In tai chi chuan a similar rule is found in the mandate to defend the center. I was taught that the center is the only thing that needs to be defended. As long as you maintain it, you can move it, ideally in unison with the movement of the opponent. It is even said that in tai chi you are the center. In many versions of Yang Style tai chi, the torso is held upright, although there is some limited leaning during certain transitions. In Wu Style tai chi, leaning is a prominent feature. But there is still an awareness of the center, where it is, what it does, how it’s moving. The practitioner maintains the center at all times.

When performing, our center is "pulled" from above and below. The mind keeps us in this condition. Within the torso lies the center, which we maintain by pulling up from the top of the head. When we do this, the musculature can relax because there is no need for muscles to fight gravity. This is called “central equilibrium.” We create a center column that can be moved from posture to posture. It can pivot along the body’s center line, left or right, easily turning as the motion gives rise to the leg and arm movements that form each posture in the sequence. The more constant the center, the more potential for relaxing in the structure. Motion can be achieved with little effort. The center is the quiet eye of the storm, the source of each movement, the heart of stillness within.

The 13th century Taoist monk, Wang Zongue, is credited with the following statements which are recorded in the bible of tai chi, The Tai Chi Classics:

Stand like a balance and move actively like a cart wheel.

The spirit of vitality reaches to the top of the head and the qi sinks to the navel. The body is held erect without leaning in any direction.

In Wang’s writing, the arms and legs are like the spokes of a wheel, with the center being the hub. There is very little movement at the center, yet the slightest turn results in torque, with turning power expressed at the extremities. Maintaining this state depends upon the attention of the practitioner focusing on awareness of the center. Internal awareness is what characterizes the so-called "internal" martial arts such as tai chi and aikido. With devoted practice, the student becomes capable of finding the center in a split second when required.

Once, long ago, I went out one evening with some co-workers to a café with an outdoor patio. We were seated at a table near the edge of a three-foot drop at a retaining wall. There was no railing or barrier along the edge of the drop. Of course, I got the chair with its back to the precipice. During our conversation I had forgotten about how close I was to the edge and casually repositioned my chair. Suddenly, my seat and I were over the edge and headed for the ground below. Without effort, I found my center. As my chair hit the gravel, I landed on my feet in a sort of horse stance posture. My friends were amazed, as they expected me to end up on my back with my head split open. Someone asked how I managed to land upright. I just shrugged. Once you find your center, balance will be there.

Passing the art of tai chi to new students can be challenging. There is much to be acquired and much to be let go of. However, with emphasis on maintaining the center, much of the awkwardness and struggle can be reduced, helping the novice to attain balance and relaxation through applying the art of centering.

- John