Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 244

The Theories of Chén Cháng Xìng 陳長興 – Part 6

破之而不開，撞之而不散，上欲動而下自隨之，下欲動而上自領之，上下動而中部應之，中部動而上下和之，內外相連，前後相需，所謂一以貫之者，其斯之謂歟！

Pò zhī ér bù kāi, zhuàng zhī ér bú sàn, shàng yù dòng ér xià zì suí zhī, xià yù dòng ér shàng zì lǐng zhī, shàngxià dòng ér zhōngbù yīng zhī, zhōngbù dòng ér shàngxià hé zhī, nèiwài xiānglián, qiánhòu xiāng xū, suǒwèi yīyǐguànzhī zhě, qí sī zhī wèi yú!

“The Tàijíquán太極拳 movement cannot be broken with force, cannot be crushed and separated. When it starts to move upwards, the bottom part of the body will come along, when it starts to move downwards the upper part of the body will follow. If the centre of the body moves the upper part and the lower part of the body will respond as well, from the internal to the external body, from the front to the back of the body is all one – Tàijíquán”

This means that when we practise Tàijíquán, every part of the body is connected when we move. If we want to move forward, the back of the body will follow, just like when we step forwards – the back leg goes first and the front leg becomes the back leg. This is how it works, front and back coordinate together. It is the same with walking backwards the front leg becomes the back leg and the back leg become the front leg. Up and down, left and right, they all coordinate together. If we move the waist all parts of the body will balance together, so one moves everything moves. One stops everything stops.