APPLYING THE PRINCIPLES OF ZHANG SAN FENG TO EVERYDAY LIFE
Loosening the waist is a very important in Taijiquan
Question
Question 15
I've been thinking about how to concretely apply the specific principles of Zhang San Feng to everyday life.
I have been thinking through them one by one and how I would apply them to typical daily situations like high profile office meetings or dealing with family situations or teaching students in a class environment or even eating a meal or studying for an exam.
In some cases the "application" is very obvious like
- Empty the mind of all thoughts
- Use intention, not strength
- Perform patterns continuously in one gentle, graceful flow without any break
But for most of the others it is not so obvious, for example :
- Loosen the waist
- Apply the principle of false-real
- Apply the principle of sinking and pressing
- Co-ordinate the top and bottom part of the body
- Integrate internal and external aspects of training
- Movement in stillness and stillness in movement
Omar
Answer
Thank you for your question. It directly reflects why we in Shaolin Wahnam train Shaolin Kungfu, Wahnam Taijiquan and chi kung. Besides having good health, vitality, longevity, mental clarity and spiritual joys, we transfer what we learn in classes and courses to our daily life.
What you have mentioned is applying the 10 Essentials of Taijiquan to daily life, except that you did not mention not tensing any muscles. When Zhang San Feng mentioned these 10 Essentials, they were meant to guide participants to attain the Great Void. But to us still in the phenomenal world, they are to enrich our daily life, besides achieving the aims of our school.
It is worthy to remember that at the time of Zhang San Feng who lived in the 12th century, Taijiquan was known as Shaolin Kungfu. It was called Taijiquan many centuries later.
I shall appy each one of the 10 Essentials to high profile office meetings, dealing with family situations, teaching students in class, or any daily activity.
The 10 Essentials stated by Zhang San Feng are as follows: 1. Empty your mind of all thoughts 2. Do not tense any muscles 3. Loosen your waist 4. Principle of false-real 5. Principle of sinking and pressing 6. Using intention and not using strength 7. Co-ordination of top and bottom 8. Integration of internal and external 9. One gentle, graceful flow without any break 10. Movement in stillness, stillness in movement Emptying the mind of all thoughts leads to mental clarity, one of the aims of our school. When we have mental clarity, we will have better result than when we do not have mental clarity. We will also have better result that all other people who do not have mental clarity. It is not only important in high profile office meanings, dealing with family situations, or teaching students in classes or courses, but also in all situations every day of our life.
Having myriad thoughts coming to their mind happens to be the problem of most people at all times. They just do not know how to clear their mind of all thoughts.
Similarly, tensing their muscles is also the problem of most people all the times, even when they sleep, and usually most of them do not realize that they tense their muscles. It has become habitual.
They will have better results if they are relax than if they are tensed, not just in high profile office meetings, dealing with family situations, or teaching students in classes or courses, but in every situation in their daily lives.
When they tense their muscles, they cannot develop internal force. Hence, not only they can do better by not tensing their muscles, having internal force contributes to even better results in their daily life.
We often do not realize how important is our waist. If a person’s spine is fused, like some of my students were but chi kung practice overcame their problem, he would not be able to turn his body at a meeting, dealing with family situations, teaching students, or in any everyday situation. A fused spine will also affect other organs, thus affecting his health, vitality and longevity.
The principle of false-real is important in high-profile meetings and in family situations, though it may also be important in other daily situations. In a meeting of a board of directors, for example, a general manager or a managing director may want to gauge the response of the directors before presenting his proposal. If the response is not favorable, he may have to change or modify it to get their acceptance. The principle of false-real will be very useful.
On the other hand, the principle of sinking and pressing is particularly useful in meetings with sub-ordinates. He may need to press his points so that his sub-ordinates will accept his proposal. If the response is unfavorable, he would need the principle of sinking, i.e. modifying the wording of the proposal without changing its actual objective, so that his sub-ordinates will accept his proposal and work with zest. Pressing may also be useful in high profile office meetings.
In everyday situations, “Using intention and not using strength” may be interpreted variously. When dealing with family members, for example, instead of using his authority as the father of the family to bulldoze his children in accepting his ideas, the father may emphasize the benefits that his children will get as a result of his ideas. Similarly, instead of forcing his sub-ordinates into accepting his proposal, a manager may emphasize the benefits they will get in carrying out the proposal.
“Co-ordination of top and bottom” is important when dealing with two sides of a business, like a managing director dealing with a board of directors and his sub-ordinates, or a sale person dealing with his company and his customers. He should co-ordinate so that both sides will benefit.
In the practice of Taijiquan or any arts in our school, internal training should be integrated with external training, like energy flow integrated with physical movements, and presence of mind integrated with external forms. The internal and the external can be interpreted variously in situations of daily living. For example, when asking someone to do something, the tone which is internal, should be integrated with the words used, which are external, appropriate to the occasion. An executive seeking the approval of a manager should be persuasive, whereas a teacher telling his students should be commanding.
One gentle, graceful flow without any break saves a lot of time and effort regardless of high profile meetings, dealing with family members, teaching a class or course, or any everyday situation. In some situations “without any break” does not necessarily mean without any time in between. Sometimes, like dealing with family members, a family member may need time to carry out his action. But the person implementing this principle must complete all the necessary steps, including giving some time to carry out the action, in one smooth flow.
Let us take a simple situation of taking your girlfriend for a date, or your family for an outing. First you take your girlfriend or family to a restaurant, then to a place where you can spend time together. You don’t go to the restaurant and find that it is close, and spend time arguing on another restaurant. You have decided on the second restaurant, or even the third one. After a delicious meal, you don’t spend time arguing on where to go next. You have planned where to go. You may ask your girlfriend or your family for her or their suggestion, and acti on it, but you must have one gentle flow without any break.
In high profile office meetings, dealing with family members, teaching students in classes or courses, or any everyday situation, movement may be interpreted as you talking, and stillness may be interpreted as you listening, while others are talking. Listening, or stillness in this case, is an important skill that can give you much benefit.
These 10 Essentials of Taijiquan can be applied in high profile office meeting, dealing with family members, teaching students in classes or courses, and in any everyday situation. The three courses we will have in the UK Summer Camp, Puerto Rico and Penang provide good opportunities to apply them.
The principle of real-false is applied here in combat
The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread Questions to Grandmaster on Wudang Kungfu/Taijiquan & Zhang San Feng in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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