I often find it helpful to start a blog post with a formal definition, to give myself a frame on which to hang the idea. For example, the Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines “sweet spot” as “An ideal or most favorable location, level, area, or combination of factors for a particular activity or purpose.”
At this point it is tempting for my research-loving self to keep exploring. Inquiring minds (i.e. mine) want to know what is meant by “ideal.” Okay, not today.
In my practice of t’ai chi ch’üan, I see the sweet spot as more of a sweet zone. It can be experienced as the place of greatest ease and fluidity within each movement and sequence. Thus, the sweet spot is in constant motion.
Three overall themes and aspirations of t’ai chi ch’üan, described by Gerda Geddes in Looking for the Golden Needle, are flow, balance and clarity. I aspire to bring these three to my practice, and sometimes they layer themselves into a movement—one, two and even all three together. For me, that’s the sweet spot. The body is in motion, restfully and with equilibrium.
Resting in complete stillness happens in just a few places in the form: when we Carry Tiger to the Mountain to mark the end of parts 1, 2 and 3, and when we begin and conclude the entire 108-movement sequence of the long form Yang style. They have some similarities: standing with the weight equally distributed on both legs, the whole body facing the north, and the joints relaxed and open.
The main difference is in the arm positions.
For Carry Tiger, tuning in to that “sweet spot” might come from visualization. Picture the size and heft of a tiger. That suggests an arm posture associated with lifting something big and heavy. Embrace it, get as much of the whole arm around it as possible, and lift from the legs while holding the object against the body for support.
At the very beginning and the very end of the form, we stand in what I sometimes call the “ready position.” Again, this suggests resting in stillness, but in a more primordial sense. By comparison, the Carry Tiger movement also rests in stillness but is felt as a calm and peaceful pause.
I sometimes use the “ready position” phrase when teaching students about the stance for the opening. This originated when I taught my young son safety tips on riding his bicycle on the streets of Denver. When waiting at a red traffic signal, the ready position means the cyclist is paying attention. Pedals are placed in the optimum position for movement, hands are on the handlebars, eyes are alert and taking in any potential hazards. This allows for the shift to movement to be smooth and safe. No sudden “jackrabbit” accelerations or getting caught daydreaming, off guard and missing the green light.
Likewise in t’ai chi ch’üan, the shift from the sweet spot to the transition can be soft and easy, yet clear. From the Carry Tiger movements at the end of parts 1 and 2, the hands gently turn palms down, uncross to slide back toward either side of the waist, then just as gently flow into the next phrase, Walk in Opposition.
Throughout the transition, the hands continue to have an energetic relationship to each other. They trace this energy through the air as they delineate the shapes of each movement.
See the video below for how this might look. This same idea of gently tracing energy is present from the beginning of the form. The hands rest down at the sides, palms facing back. They are suspended from the shoulders in an unbroken line of chi, yet there is space and energy all around each arm and each finger. As the practitioner begins, the arms lift up to the level of the heart space, with elbows soft and the wrists just slightly higher than the fingertips, as if the fingers were rising out of the ground and thus remaining connected to it for an instant longer. Then, the arms sink back down, with elbows softening to lower through the air—air which has a heft, softening everything so that the limbs resemble a swimmer’s arms and legs moving through water.
To find and polish your own sweet spot, try breathing gently and slowly with the beginning movement, shown in the video. Repeat the up and down movement of the arms, with an accompanying breath. Think about completing the inhale as the arms finish their upward journey to the heart space, then think about completing the exhale as the arms return to their vertical spot on each side of the body. Draw the inhale and exhale with your fingers as though they were swimming through the air. Take your time but don’t lengthen the breath too much. Instead, see if you can visualize the breath as an oblong circle, exhaling and inhaling completely but without a hard stop.
Then you may notice the moving, flexible sweet spot that has no need to be sought. This calm yet dynamic feeling can be the companion throughout your practice.
