Yang Cheng-fu (1883-1936) is the considered the best known teacher of the Yang style t’ai chi chuan, which I have practiced for 20 years and taught for 12. His student, Choy Hawk-Pang, taught Gerda Geddes in Hong Kong in 1951. Gerda Geddes, an internationally renowned t’ai chi instructor, taught my teacher, Maedée Dupres—also internationally known as a dancer, choreographer and t’ai chi instructor.
I am so very privileged and honored to be part of this lineage, and the principles espoused by Yang Cheng-fu inform my daily practice. He wrote “Yang’s Ten Important Points” to keep in mind (as well as the body) while performing the t’ai chi, and the first point has to do with the idea of connecting upward. Here it is, in bold, with the following commentary by Chen Wei-ming:
“The head should be upright so the shen (spirit) can reach the headtop.
“Don’t use li (strength), or the neck will be stiff and the ch’i (breath) and blood cannot flow through. It is necessary to have a natural and lively feeling. If the spirit cannot reach the headtop, it cannot raise.”
There’s a lot to think about in that description. In particular, the sentence about having a natural, lively feeling suggests that I clear a path, invite the spirit to ascend to the headtop…and then open my mind’s door to the sky. It’s a sense of buoyancy.
However—it is my habit to overthink everything. So instead of making it my job to figure out how to achieve such an ephemeral concept, I have better luck if I start with a pleasant visualization. How to achieve buoyancy? By picturing a buoy. Floating on top of the ocean, nimbly riding the waves, going with the flow.
The buoy rides effortlessly on top of the water, tethered by a line to the bottom of the ocean. Like the midline through the body, it connects us from top to bottom. From that midline, we move outward in all directions. Like the rope connecting the buoy to its anchor, this line is straight but not held. It has some give to it. Then the anchor point, or the feet, provide substance and groundedness at the bottom.
Buoyancy has a mental and spiritual quality to it as well. Light, happy and supple, buoyancy in the mind and spirit realm offer a way to gently flow with the current. A natural, lively feeling, as Yang Cheng-fun described, offers the practitioner a way to connect with the natural world and its way of being. It also helps us do the one most important thing to help our practice: relax.
