Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The foot, balance and body programming

Balancing on one leg and raising the other leg is a real test of balance. In professor Cheng Man Ching's form there is what I call an "acrobatic section" - starting about a third of the way in. Its a challenge for beginners and an ongoing challenge to anyone to maintain their balance skills.

I'm not going to talk about the elements of balance, and how important relaxation and posture are. I'm not going to talk about relaxing the bum and lower spine when lifting a leg. And I'm not going to go on and on about doing things slowly in order to let the body learn the structures it needs - nor about needing to breathe and relax into each portion of the movement.

I'm going to talk about the foot.

Here are some principles that often get applied to the foot, in order to get good grounding and improve the stability for tai chi postures:
  • Think of the bubbling well, the centre of the foot, connecting with the earth and your body sitting on top of the bubbling well.
  • Try William Chen's theory of the three nails, where you imagine three points on the sole of your foot - like a tripod.
  • Keep the foot flat, don't roll the foot
  • Relax the toes, don't grip with the toes
  • Put a little more balance emphasis on the outer edge of the foot to prevent the foot rolling inwards due to an unsupported arch of the foot [that one is mine].
Trouble is, these ideas are not necessarily perfectly compatible - do you focus on the three nail points or on the bubbling well point? Do you concentrate on keeping the foot completely flat or do you visualize bit more weight on the outer edge of the foot to prevent the foot rolling in?

Like anything in life, there are multiple perspectives and truths. Some of it consistent and some not quite consistent. Such are the hazards of post modern, multidimensional (multiple perspectives) truth seeking. As I concluded from my university days doing philosophy with some seriousness, just because there is a bit of relativism around doesn't mean we should throw the baby (objective truth) out with the bathwater.

So actually try this: Run each of the above principles through your brain as you prepare to stand on one leg. Allow each principle to take effect, then move onto the next. After applying all the principles, lift your empty leg off the ground. You should find that your balance is much improved. The brain figured out a way to combine all the principles together.

Well, that's my theory.

Just because there are discrepancies between tai chi principles doesn't mean that the brain can't use them. Each has its own bit of the truth. Logic cannot strictly reconcile them, but the brain and the body can. You just need to "program the body" with the ideas - in a slow thoughtful, exploratory way.

This goes for most tai chi practice. Its quite intellectual - you should apply some idea or set of ideas to your form - each time you do the form. The classic five principles
  • relax
  • body upright
  • separate the weight onto each leg clearly
  • flat relaxed hands and
  • turn with the waist without twisting
are meant to be applied all at the same time - as you do the form. They are not incompatible principles, so applying them is a little easier that applying principles with slight incompatibilities. But even when you have supposedly compatible principles e.g. relax vs. body upright - there are questions - if you relax too much you can't be upright. If you are too stiff and upright, you are not relaxed.

So the point is, principles combine in deep mysterious ways and generate results and learning. Even slightly incompatible ones.