imklg's blog

The slack of which I speak can only be felt after cultivating coupled power and experiencing a bit of 'noninterference' in meditation. Conceptually, this definition is analogous to the slack of a geartrain. Slack for our purposes is defined as the range between 'softness-weakness' and 'strength-vigor'. This experiential range is subjective, and arises exclusively from interoceptive signals received from the deep core stabilizers. Chinese Martial Arts terminology at the start of this process is Jibengong or 'basic methods' and Shenfa, aka 'torso methods' as practice deepens.

This is a weighty topic. When students first encounter the bones, they laugh. Bones don't make sense. I say:

"Bone Training is weird. You enter a strange and uncertain place. With gravity there is no Yin/Yang. How could there be when gravity does not vary? To separate meat from bones requires great and sustained efforts of mental transformation. Your body's state of bony separation never varies. Our expectations are what varies. At this time, to perceive bony cues is virtually impossible."

Many don't like this sort of thing, to me, any additional awareness is good for TaiJi and Chinese Internal Arts in general.