Taijiquan first requires expansiveness then compactness. However the expression of expansiveness is controlled and precise. If expansiveness is overdone and not within boundary then it may be difficult to achieve compactness at a later stage.Compactness does not mean being tightly locked. It is an integration of all parts of the body that are capable of expansion and contraction. Fulfilling the core principle of duality - “within expanding is contracting” and “within closing is opening” - the mutual transformation being its root.
Taijiquan is a practice of reconciling paradoxes. Practitioners are often hovering between the “rights” and “wrongs” as there are no absolutes. There is only a minuscule between over-doing and under-doing. Just in the correct distribution of expansion and contraction and the body exhibits a strong and impenetrable “peng jin”. A little over is resistance, a little under is lax. “Peng jin” should be a state that is not in response to an outside stimuli. The inability to maintain this state during transitions of movements directly affects structural cohesion and transformation.
