We had an interesting Zen Super Boot Camp workout on Tuesday. George demonstrated that not all TaiChi "masters" understand the true meaning of the form. He has seen some TaiChi "masters" line up a bunch a people in a line, all pushing the "master" together, but the "master" is able to withstand the pressure. We learned that there are two tricks to this demonstration. One trick is that if you achieve a proper form, the body can transmit the applied force of the people through the core and down to the feet. This is the lesson he was conveying on good form means the harmonious transmission of Chee.
The other trick was that when you have multiple people trying to push in the same direction at the same time, any deviation from anyone in line can completely negate the force being applied to the 'victim'. As a result, if you have 10 people pushing and the 4th person in line is not completely applying all of their force exactly in line with the others, then the 'victim' truly only receives the force from the first three people in line and some diminished force from the 4th and beyond. To prove this, George lined us up and had us demonstrate this one person at a time with the others pressing against us. Ultimately he was correct. A few of us could hold out when everyone pressed 100%, but most of us stayed up for 50% which is still impressive seeing we had 15 people pushing in each line.
It just goes to show you that good TaiChi is more than an experience in mental stability and stamina. It is also a lesson in SCIENCE!! TaiChi for Mythbusters here we come!!
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