Let's Chat About This Topic: ‘What is ‘Pulling’’, Hoping to Give You Insights
Three-foot sword, ten-mile pavilion, play the guzheng. People cannot look at their appearance, and fists cannot look at their appearance. Appearance has a deceptive effect, looking at it is fierce, but it is a soft. Looking at it is relaxed, it's actually arrogant. Saying someone is powerful, doesn't mean their inner strength is strong, the force is only on the surface, it can't penetrate. A master's strength comes from inner power, seizing the opportunity, suddenly fierce, instantly hits the mark. Saying someone is gentle doesn't mean they are weak. Those who show weakness are not necessarily weak. The act of 'playing a tiger' is all too common. Inner arts are like this, strength is not outside, power is inside, invisible, intangible, looking at it is like a fair-weather day, suddenly a violent storm, afterward it's calm. Fist strength releases with a certain pattern. People are always tense, and that's not powerful. People always want to relax, not knowing they have inner tension, and gradually they become weak, not becoming soft, you must relax and expand. Either it's wrapped in softness or it's a combination of softness and strength, both are good, you can't be rigidly one-sided. The technique isn't the force, the technique contains the power of the fist. When the force is cultivated, the technique will be effective. This is like cutting vegetables; if the cooking skills are not good, don't blame the knife. The spiritual nature of the hands is in the heart, and the heart and mind work together skillfully. When starting to practice boxing, use a lot of brains, discovering problems is a good thing, if the weakness is not exposed, then think of a way to solve it. Once you understand it, 'oh, this is how it works', you'll have a number, you'll have an experience, it will be easier to encounter it again. Like saying, your hand can't go through, it turns out your shoulder is supporting it, you haven't turned your waist, your hips are stuck, your crotch strength is not activated. Footwork is clumsy, it's because your legs are stiff and unable to stretch and twist, you can't bend and extend your feet. Associative thinking will continuously improve you.
Stand like a pillar, the spine is like a dragon, the top goes into the back of the brain, the bottom goes into the tailbone. A person's thoughts, through the 33 pairs of spinal nerves, transmit throughout the body, when the spine is open and sensitive, movement and stillness are coordinated. Movement creates heat, heat is energy, inner movement and inner heat, outer movement and outer heat, inner heat stimulates outer heat, to drive out the whole body, inner arts boxing, movement and stillness are not much, the inner cavity has strong heat energy, heat steam, the abdomen is like a furnace. Although it seems quiet on the outside, the inner strength is churning, it wanders with the boxing style, the heat energy surges, fills and enters. When it's cold and you're practicing boxing, you'll see white smoke coming out of your head, your body is steaming, so-called 'pulling' – standing still, a slight movement of the shoulder blades, activates the muscles between the shoulder blades, to clear the chest and neck vertebrae, then to move the entire spine, with the intention of relaxing and loosening the spine, slowly open the hips, focus on the perineum, gently stimulate the tailbone nerves, improve sensitivity. After the back is sensitive, the dynamics are improved, when standing there, people haven't moved, but the consciousness is wave after wave, wanting to rush out, the skin feels like being electrified, this is called 'penetrating the skin'. What kind of energy, it's all from the heart, when cultivated, it's all full, you have to subdue your heart, the action turns into a sharper, and then you can pull it back. Things look light, but they actually contain suppression, the quality is actually higher.
Like a river flowing upstream for three thousand miles, one stone stirs up layer upon layer of waves. Pulling, the first technique of Tai Chi, the meaning is to stand up and build a support. Whole and dense, soft and sinking, flexible, continuous is the essence of pulling. Pulling is expanding. Expansion has two points, first to relax and open, second to form a complete shape. Relax and open the joints, arm circles, full arm, not to bend and twist, keep the arm's arc and not to stiffen. The back should have two openings, one is the opening of the shoulder blades, to open the shoulder blades, loosen the shoulders and elbows, round the arms and stretch the muscles, keep the arm's arc and not to stiffen. The shoulder blades can be closed, two blades are closed, stand up, straighten the waist, raise the force, leverage helps, masters are not powerful arms, but they are suddenly activated the ribs, using ribs to stimulate arm, release the force, this power is very strong, and it also penetrates inwards. When circling the arms or when wielding the arms, it's closely related to opening the ribs. From a structural point of view, the four elements of pulling, vertical lifting, horizontal support, joint movement, standing-pillar expansion, inner pressure. The 'waist axis', also known as the hip joint, must also have pulling, to mutually push and move the hips, to train the hip joint, so that it can expand the space. The hip joint is large, it's conducive to pushing and stretching, conducive to the interaction of emptiness and fullness. Rapid snap and shake, it's the release of pulling force. Remain calm, hold firmly, you must also be able to 'snap', this is very powerful. Advanced pulling, like a net, can instantaneously expand and can suddenly relax. Extreme changes are very fast, the displacement is very small. Pulling, is also in the inner cavity churning, the purpose is to stimulate inner pressure, inner strength and body. When it's soft and smooth, it's like a still lake, when a small stone is thrown, it's stirred into layer upon layer of ripples, slowly open. When it's fast and changeable, the force is like wind, the whole body is strong, deep and tough, potential energy bursts. When it's quiet, it's forgetting, when it's active, it's fully focused. If the heart has no limit, then pulling has no limit.
