If you have any experience with Tai Chi, you are probably aware that all of our movements start with our feet. Stepping and shifting weight are vital to a strong foundation in Tai Chi If your stepping and/or stances are incorrect, it is impossible to do any Form correctly.
Most new students, and even some established practitioners still experience problems Tai Chi walking and/or just stepping in Tai Chi. Many wobble as they step or shift weight. As one would expect, there are many opinions on how to “step” correctly in Tai Chi and that may be one of the problems. There is never one answer! Some issues arrive due to your purpose or focus (so to speak) for doing Tai Chi. For instance, is your focus performance based, martial based, health or rehabilitation based, etc.?
I believe that we can all agree that feet need to be stabilized and rooted. I have done many blogs on rooting, so I am not going to repeat that in this blog. My motivation for this blog is that I see so many student’s feet roll from one side (inside) to the other (outside). They also lift their toes and/or their heels. Obviously, they are not rooted (or stabilized) and this causes their balance to be faulty and precarious. Not a good position to be in!
Every student/practitioner must learn to move from the lower body, in order to remain stable, efficient, and to exude power when needed. How can you move from your lower body if you are not aware of it! So let’s start with the feet!
There are experts who say to place the weightless foot completely down before placing any weight. Others, myself included, believe that the front foot is placed down on its heel first (with little to no weight), the body then moves forward, until the toes are placed. The weight does comes to the middle of the foot, with toes gripping the floor/earth. I’m not here to debate, just to offer some insights that, hopefully, will pertain to most, if not all, practitioners.
Rolling your weight to either side of the foot can cause serious knee damage! What happens when you roll your feet to the inside (pronate) and your knee rolls inward? How do you fix it? One solution is to open your “thigh close to the hip and gently rotate it to the outside” in order to line up your knee and ankle, and to get your foot flat. Rolling your foot to the outside happens when your knee is moved to the outside of the foot. This causes a lot of pressure on the outside of your foot as well as your knee. Take a minute to check the heels on shoes you wear frequently to determine if that is how you are stepping, walking, and/or standing.
When you do lift your heel, take a shorter step and don’t shift your weight to the point where your knee is beyond your toe. Do be aware not to lift your heel when you “arrive”! How about lifting your toes! Why do we do this? There are probably many reasons - probably the shoe you are wearing. Does the front of the shoe lift up (i.e. running shoe), are the soles too thick, or are you wearing sandals. Flat shoes are very highly recommended! There are those practitioners who practice barefooted - but that’s an entire different discussion!
To be balanced and rooted, your entire foot must “gently” grip the floor and/or ground. Don’t press your toes down too hard or curl them. Yes, there will be some gentle pressure. Don’t press your heels down too hard either. When the three nails/points of the foot (see Rooting Blog) touch down evenly, you will be rooted and stabile.
Ok, now that we are rooted and stabilized, how do we move forward? Stepping in Tai Chi is somewhat unique! However, it is very important that it be done in the correct order so that you “develop ‘Footwork’ (步法) and ‘Body Movement’ (身法)” in all Tai Chi applications and Forms.
First step is to be sure that your posture is correct, and that the top of your head, your nose, and Dantian are aligned. Feet will be either substantial (实) or Insubstantial (虚). Notes on this below.
The leg that steps out should be insubstantial (unweighted and passive). The other leg is substantial (weighted and active) and supports your body weight.
Sink into the substantial (weighted leg) with your knee bent, but not beyond the toes of that foot. The Dantian is positioned over this foot.
Stabilize before you lift the heel of insubstantial (unweighted leg) and “float” in preparation for stepping.
Sink your weight gradually forward while moving your lower body and aligning your hips at a 45 degree angle. This is now your SUBSTANTIAL foot with the Dantian positioned over it.
The other foot now becomes your insubstantial foot with little to no weight on it.
As you advance (keep moving), positions alternate.
Stability is provided when you maintain good posture from your erect head to your Dantian (center of gravity).
An insubstantial foot can be pivoted without knee damage! This is also important in everyday life!
Reminder: ALWAYS stabilize before you step out! Step slowly, don’t be in a rush!
Both feet are not in the “same plane, but in a slightly wider stance”.
Back to that same old question: Why do we wobble?
Let’s think about this. When you stand, do you feel the sensations in your feet? Are you aware of them? How about your weight? Is it evenly distributed? Can you feel every part of your foot that is in contact with the floor/ground? Where do you feel pressure?
Are you wearing sandals, thick soled shoes, or running shoes with the toes turned up? See above discussion!
Now let’s discuss Tai Chi in more martial terms -
As I mention to students when they commit weight forward before the “foot” touches down, we are inviting instability. Worse, in the martial instance, your opponent then has the perfect opportunity to unroot you, or (yikes!), sweep your feet out from under you.
As Erle Montaigue states in The Five Stepping Methods of Taijiquan, “We never retreat in Taijiquan and we can do this because of this stepping method”. This is because of the rear foot which “controls the waist in yielding and throwing away the attacker’s strength.” Instead of retreating, we can (and should) use our rear leg to controlled by our waist for evading the attack. We can then generate our power without stepping backward. A good example, is Brush Knee, aka Brush Knee and Twist Step, where we use the back leg to pivot safely on the heel “while contracting and issuing force” as the toes touch the ground or floor.
Erle quotes an old (but quite interesting) Tai Chi saying: “To enter is to be born while to retreat is to die”.
BOTTOM LINE: Take care and be aware of where and how you are moving your feet!
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