Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 194

Advanced Level Bā Jìn 八勁 – Part 3

The second pair of Bā Jìn 八勁 is Jǐ 擠 and Àn 按. Jǐ means squeeze, like when you are crowed place and squeezed between many people. In Tàijíquán 太极拳 we can use Jǐ Jìn 擠勁 by putting our two hands together in front of our chest so that our arms form a circle. When we push forward in this position, this is Jǐ Jìn. We can see this in the movements Liù Fēng Sì Bì 六封四閉 – Six Sealing and Four Closing in the Xīnjià 新架 – New Frame of Chén Shì Tàijíquán 陈式太极拳 – Chén Style Tàijíquán the backs of the hands touch with the outside hand palm facing out and the inside hand palm facing in. In other styles of Tàijíquán 太极拳, like Yáng Shì Tàijíquán 楊式太極拳 – Yang Style Taijiquan, the outside palm faces in and the inside palm which is holding the outside palm, faces out. This is Jǐ Jìn and both hands are pushing out so they also have Péng Jìn 掤勁.

Péng Jìn can actually be used with all the other Jìn. Once a movement or Jìn has some expanding energy, it is Péng Jìn. All the Jìn can also have Lǚ Jìn 履勁. This means, when we use both hands and they are together, it is Jǐ Jìn, and if we are using them to pull back or reversing into the body, then they are also Lǚ Jìn. We can see this in the movement Tuìbù Kuà Hǔ 退步跨虎 – Step Back and Mount the Tiger and Shuāng Zhèn Jiǎo 雙震腳 – Double Shaking Legs. So, we can see that Jǐ Jìn can have Péng Jìn and Lǚ Jìn, as long as the hands are together when applying the movement and Jìn