Evolutions of the Two Poles

All Taijiquan movements are composed of multiple, ever-changing conversions of Yin and Yang (insubstantial and substantial).  Therefore the core of Taijiquan practice is the process by which the human body (and mind) deals with the conversions and the evolutions of the two complementary poles. 

So what is required to actualise Taijiquan’s Yin and Yang?

On the most simplistic level people often view the weighted side as Yang, the non-weighted side as Yin; a clenched hand is Yang and a relaxed hand is Yin; a punch or a kick are Yang manifestations etc…In fact, those views are not in line with the quan theories.  Yin- Yang actualisation should be within the operation, function and performance of Taijiquan:

It must involve all the components of the physical body - head, torso, limbs, bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, skin etc,  as well as the flexion and extension, opening and closing, folding and piling, ebbing and flowing, rising and falling controlled by the mental processes.

The Yin element is realised when all the components of the body and the mental processes, under the control of yi and the guidance of the qi, gradually eliminates tension, stiffness and clumsy strength into a light, constantly-releasing and comfortable relaxation, at the same time, within a certain degree of stability and appropriate strength. 

The Yang element is actualised when all the different parts of the body and the mental processes, under the control of the yi and the guidance of qi, fills up like the spread of water that flows naturally towards gravity; like inflating a balloon, the pressure gradually increases as it fills with air.   The substantial “Yang” required by Taijiquan is full of elastic tension, weighted and heavy, flexible and strong.

Taijiquan’s "Yin” at the same time as being light and agile, is capable of instantly converting into an immovable support strength.  In the same way, Taijiquan’s “Yang" is capable of instantly changing from weightedness to ethereal.  This is what is described in Taijiquan theory as “within Yin there is Yang; within Yang there is Yin”.  

The complementary opposites are ever-changing and converting.  Without realising looseness and weightedness, flexion and extension, opening and closing, and crucially without establishing the body’s own “tension”- peng jin - the body cannot manifest its own Yin and Yang.