Structural engineering

If I were to choose the most optimal scientific discipline for a tai chi practitioner to come from, I would most likely choose structural engineering. Just like when building bridges and towers, structure is crucial in tai chi and understanding and manipulation of forces is the key essence.

As an analogy, when we are learning tai chi, it is human nature to focus on the hands and try to copy that. Just as if we imagine being tourists looking at Big Ben, we are naturally drawn to staring at the ornamental spires and turrets at the top. What is actually important in tai chi however is the connection with the ground, controlled primarily by correct foot placement. Our structural engineer when faced with big ben will therefore naturally be curious about the bottom of the tower, as they have been trained to understand that the foundations control the structure.

Everything we doing tai chi must come from the feet, as it is the only connection we have anything other than a potential opponent. When you are learning tai chi therefore, try to copy what your instructor's feet to the rest will follow.

Technique vs superpower

Where do these astounding abilities of tai chi and other martial art masters come from? Surely they are supernatural and fuelled by chi power. That can be the only explanation. Or not.

It seems to me there is a direct parallel here to Arthur C Clarke's famous phrase "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". What this means is that although something may appear supernatural to one person, it is in fact totally rational and explainable to another.

I believe martial arts, and internal martial arts like tai chi in particular, have an analogous property. So recasting the phrase we get "any sufficiently advanced technique is indistinguishable from superpower". Hence when a tai chi master throws people around alarmingly (and you can find many such videos), it does not conform to your expectations or understanding of technique. It appears that it must be a manifestation of this masters chi, or some other supernatural ability. If you were to train and dedicate yourself to the art for decades so as to learn the techniques, you will realise that there is no magic or secret. The Master simply has a level of competence and control over his own body, that "it defies belief".

His sufficiently advanced technique is indistinguishable from a superpower.

Star wars yoga

Is this robot yoga :-)

Original source here.

Perception of weight distribution in tai chi stances

In tai chi we make a significant conscious effort to control the distribution of our weight in postures and stances. This led me to wondering, that although we talk about having 70% of our weight on one leg (for example), how accurate and exact is this 70% figure? I intend to carry out some tests myself, but in the meantime I did a quick search for scientific literature on the subject and discovered this particularly relevant journal paper entitled "Perception of unilateral lower extremity weightbearing during bilateral upright stance".

The abstract of this paper is below, but in summary it seems that humans can judge the weight distribution to within a 7% error for asymmetrical stances [i.e. if you feel like it's 70% of you weight, it is likely somewhere between 65% and 75% of your weight]. It seems reasonable to assume that with tai chi training, this error margin is reduced, as it is a conscious, learned and developed skill say to a 3% accuracy [i.e. if you think it's 70% of you weight it is likely somewhere between 68% and 72% of your weight] - which is pretty accurate.

What this means is that this 70% figure is not just an arbitrary feeling that our teachers are talking about (as it would be if the average percentage error was high implying humans were bad at judging weight distribution, like say >20%), but a real scientific quantification of what we should be doing. Hence when we talk about moving 70% of our weight onto one leg, not only should this feel like 70% of weight is on that leg, but practically it should also be 70%. Hence it makes sense to play around with bathroom scales at home to actually measure how good your stances are and improve your perception of weight distribution for better control.

Abstract of "Perception of unilateral lower extremity weightbearing during bilateral upright stance"
"The primary purpose of this study was to describe the error in 61 healthy subjects' perceptions of weight-bearing at three target levels during bilateral upright stance. The secondary purpose was to describe the effects of age, sex, lower extremity dominance and target weightbearing level on the error in perceptions of weightbearing. Weightbearing was determined while subjects stood on digital scales. They adjusted their weight in an attempt to bear 25, 50, and 75% of their weight through a designated lower extremity. Three trials were allowed at each weightbearing target, and the results were averaged. Each subject's error in perception of weightbearing at each target level was determined by taking the absolute value of the target percent weightbearing minus the mean actual percent weightbearing. The mean errors at the 25, 50, and 75% targets were 7.3, 3.3, and 7.7%, respectively. The magnitude of the error was unrelated to age. An analysis of variance showed that error was not dependent on sex or whether the dominant lower extremity was used for making judgements. The error did differ between target levels. Clinicians cannot assume, based on the findings of this study, that individuals can accurately judge the percent weightbearing they are placing through one of their lower extremities during bilateral upright stance."

Note I disagree with the final sentence of this abstract, as I believe that this weight distribution perception is the key skill that tai chi practitioners are developing, and hence their ability to judge it is significantly better than the normal population. You can hypothesise an extrapolation of this fact from the numerous scientific studies demonstrating that there are benefits to doing tai chi for improving balance. I would argue that improving your balance is primarily driven by improving the accuracy of your weight distribution perception.

Dr Love's QiGong rap

I feel appalled even posting this, but hey it is a "western interpretation of chi gung" :-) ! Thanks to Integral Qigong where I found it originally.

Transferring force with structure

A beginner recently asked me what the principles of tai chi were (or something along those lines). My view, from the scientific stance, is that it is essentially about controlling mass and force and putting a structure in place to be able to do so.

So, to use an example, if I am punching using just the muscles of my arm, the amount of force I can impart is related to the mass of my arm and the speed with which I move it. I use the muscles of my arm to give it kinetic energy and then impart that kinetic energy into my opponent. However if I can punch from the centre of my body and also use all the mass of my torso and upper body, I can impart a lot more force, as I am using a lot more mass. The arms don't need to be substantially stronger, just able to maintain the structure that allows a connection between the force from the torso and the fist. I have put a lot more energy into the system (to be imparted to my opponent) not by increasing the force of my arm muscles, but by involving more of my body.

The principle of tai chi is therefore about understanding the structures that allow you to transfer force from different areas of the body. We developing the levers, linkages, drive shafts, cogs and mechanics between all the different parts of the body that allow this transfer to take place. The force being transferred can be our own internally generated force, or can be things like gravity, or centrifugal force. In other words if you can transfer your body weight from your feed to your opponent (at the correct angle), it is suddenly a powerful impulse for them to counter.

For further reading, along those lines, I heartily recommend a visit to the martial tai chi website which expands upon these points in great detail. That page provide some great descriptions of Chinese tai chi concepts in a western physics framework.

The happiness advantage

Wonderfully entertaining talk from TED talking about the benefits of being happy and five very simple steps to achieve it (all backed up by scientific research). Everyone should take the time to watch this. Seriously.



For reference here are the links to the research he quotes for the creating lasting positive change:

• 3 Gratitudes (Emmons and McClough, 2003)
• Journalling (Slatcher and Pennebaker, 2006)
• Exercise (Babyak et al. 2000)
• Meditation (Dweck, 2007)
• Random acts of kindness (Lyubomisky, 2005)