On the Question of “Song”(relaxtion)

Master Li Lian (李琏)

Translated by Mao Liang*

“Song”(roughly, “being in a state of no-tension”) is the soul of Taiji, but is also frequently misunderstood. Many Taiji practitioners believe, wrongly, that in order to be “Song,” we would not use any strength, being sort of totally “relaxed,” that is, not stretching any of our muscular parts or joints. All such ideas are, in fact, diametrically opposed to the correct understanding of “Song,” causing many practitioners stall in their progress, often after many years of practice. Hence, an accurate and veracious understanding of “Song” is really needed.

According to my teacher, Master Wu Tunan(1884-1989), who composed an important tract on “Song,” “Song” is a natural condition of our body, but rather a physical state that requires a systematic, step-by-step procedure of training or practice that develop our body from the bones, ligaments, muscles, skin and finally to the “Qi.” But, first things first, what is “Song?” Master Wu Tunan gives three definitions to describe the state of “Song.” “Song” is achieved when our body actually senses a “fluffy extension and expansion” in our joints, muscles, ligaments and skin as if there are spaces created and enlarged; secondly, “Song” refers to the our body feeling all the time much less burdened by weight and more sprightly in movement; and finally on the “Qi” level, “Song” is achieved when it is accompanied by the sense of our body being “emptied out” of all substances and hence our perceptions get re-oriented out of our physical body to whatever surround it.     

From such definition given by Master Wu Tunan, we can see clearly that “Song” is not the natural “relaxation” or “non-exertion” of our muscles and joints which only leads to a state of slackness(懈) of the body. My own experiences of practicing Wu Tunan Taiji have taught me that “Song” as the sense of a “fluffy extension-expansion” in our body is a physical state that requires continuous training which begins with “Zhan Zhuang” ( a part of Taiji Gong) when we consciously feel how our body could expand and extend in six different directions of up and down, front and back, left and right. As we continue practicing “Zhan Zhuang,” this feeling would get enhanced first through our bones and ligaments and finally to our muscles and skin. This is the first step that leads to the two other and higher states of “Song” in Taiji.

In other words, in the basic as well as higher levels of Taiji, we should emphasize the training through Taiji Gong which makes our muscles and joints more resilient and flexible and also consequently stronger. This, again, is not achieved by just “relaxing” or not using our muscles, ligaments and joints, but rather on the opposite by constantly “extending,” “expanding” and “exerting” them. In Taiji, there is a classical saying that in the beginning stage, we must seek to expand and extend before we can arrive at a more compact way of practicing, or as another popular saying go, we must never go half-way in any of the gestures and moves of Taiji.

Nevertheless, when we stretch and expand our body in practice, we necessarily feel our muscles, ligaments and joints rather “tensed up”，which is a natural result of the effect of “antagonism” between muscles and ligaments. How should we deal with this effect? Firstly, it is important not to give up the process of expansion and extension; secondly, we must use “Yi” (意, i.e. using our mind to orient our body in Taiji) to relax the felt antagonism all the while keep our body in the state of extension expansion. As we employ more “Yi” to orient and adjust our body, the muscular tension is subsequently reduced, until we feel a new state (not the “natural” one) of being comfortably relaxed in our expanded and extended body gesture. This is the first step towards “Song.”

In Taiji, there is an old saying that we should use “Yi” instead of “Force”(用意不用力); an old saying indeed, but also the most frequently mis-apprehended one. Many practitioners read it to mean simply stop using any of our muscular force in Taiji, which is not only impossible in Taiji, but also in life as long as we are normal human beings. What this law really tells us, as Master Wu Tunan explained in his important article, is that “Yi” should be used for the sake of relaxing and reducing the effect of antagonism when our muscles, joints and ligaments are in the state of extension and expansion, in order to achieve the state of “Song”, that is, “Song” as enabling us to feel eased and relaxed when our body in actually stretched out in practicing Taiji.    

When we are in the state of “Song”, that is “Song” when our muscles, joints and ligaments are extended and expanded, we reduce the effect of antagonism and gradually facilitates and enhances the circulation of “Qi” and blood within our body. After this stage, we will continue to sense the higher states of “Song” when “Qi” could reach our hands and fingers, our feet, and the passages within our body precisely because we can extend and expand and then relax our body in practice. In such higher stages of “Song,” our senses will also be oriented outward. In practice, there are moments when we sense our skin to be communicating directly with the air surrounding it, or when our body seems to have many small holes allowing substances passage in and out of the body, until the body itself is felt to have been “emptied out” to allow our senses to communicate lively and naturally with what surrounds it.

To conclude briefly, Master Wu Tunan’s article on “Song” is a classical piece in the theoretical study of Taiji. He clarified the often distorted idea of “Song,” telling us that “Song” is not the natural state of the body, but one that requires systematic training of our body, “Yi” and “Qi”. Master Wu Tunan passed onto us the system of training he inherited from his masters—“Song Gong” (松功)—which employs different gestures and moves aiming at all the different parts of the body (from head, neck, to all other major and minor joints). Master Wu Tunan also revealed for us the three stages of achieving the state of “Song” –first on the bones and ligaments, then the muscles and skin and finally on the level of “Qi” and “Yi.” His teachings in both theory and practice are consistent with the traditional teachings of all the Taiji masters before him in the more than one thousand year long history of the development and crystallization of this treasure of Chinese civilization.

 

 

 *(Note: This is an edited excerpt from a piece written by Master Li Lian. Master Li Lian(李琏), a student and disciple of Master Wu Tunan whom he followed for 20 years until Master Wu passed away in 1989, now resides in Beijing. He teaches many students Wu Tunan Taijiquan and Wu Tunan Taijigong. This piece is edited and translated by Mao Liang, a student of his, as celebration of the sixtieth birthday of his dear Teacher in August, 2011.)