You know the Form pretty well, including where the hands, feet, weight, and gaze should be. You practice but it doesn’t look or feel smooth or effortless. Why is that?
It’s possible that Fang Song is the missing ingredient in your Tai Chi practice! You could also consider Fang Song (and Peng Jin) as the “special sauces” to help you improve and reach a deeper level of practice in Tai Chi Chuan! So what is Fang Song?
It’s been quite a few years since we talked about Fang Song (aka Fangsong, Song, Sung). It’s an important principle and vital to our practice of Tai Chi (and/or Qigong). Let’s put it this way: the other principles in Tai Chi are not effective unless Fang Song and Peng Jin are both present! While Fang Song deals with resistance (or should I say the “absence of”), Peng Jin relates to expansiveness and keeping the body from becoming “too” relaxed! In this blog, we are only going to talk about Fang Song.
Fang (放) means “to let go” and Song (鬆) means “loose.” Fang Song involves clearing the mind of distractions and resistance in order to achieve a state of calmness and focused awareness. Developing and practicing body awareness helps you to discover where you are holding your tension and muscular contraction. Only then are you able to release it and relax all tissues of the body, including joints, muscles, and so on.
When your instructor tells you to relax, obviously they don’t mean collapse or get floppy. You need some muscle contraction to maintain proper body alignment and movement. However, Tai Chi is NOT about muscular strength! It’s all about how you relax and use your muscles. Pushing through form with concentrated effort will not result in Fang Song. The more you tense, the less your body and Qi will flow and move smoothly.
In Tai Chi, the body moves as a whole unit, connected by fascia, tendons, muscles, etc. All joints need to be relaxed so that they can move freely, as does the Dantian. If there is tension in the muscles around a joint, the body will not move as a whole. Mental/emotional tensing also hinders the whole body movement because the mind and the body are intimately connected.
As one instructor described Fang Song: it is the absence of resistance. You could also call it, releasing “inappropriate” muscle contraction, while you reduce physical tension, and loosen your joints. This “whole body skill” takes a lot of time, patience, and effort to develop. Sounds simple to do? Not really! It’s a learning process. We need to train to use “less and less” force with maximum relaxation.
In Fang Song, when we are relaxed, soft, light, sensitive and agile, we “temporarily” stop thinking and minimize our force as much as possible. With enough practice, it becomes unconscious, and effortless without a trace of tension. This is truly “being in the zone”. Is it easy to maintain? Not so much!
The practitioner must use his or her mind and consciousness to develop this feeling of lightness, agility, and sensitivity. The mind is concentrated, breathing is quiet, the body is aligned, from the top of the head to the feet. There is uniformity and harmony. All joints move at the same speed without interruption. Qi circulates throughout the body freely, harmoniously and in balance.
What about speed and/or power? Are they diminished?
Absolutely not! Fang Song actually improves speed and power because the muscles can easily change from relaxation to contraction. When our relaxation improves, so will our contraction capacity, which in turn, increases both speed and power.
Fang Song in Qigong
If you are having difficulty relaxing your muscles in Form, Qigong (especially Static Qigong) is a great starting point or addition to your practice.
Practicing Zhan Zhuang is beneficial to reaching Fang Song because it helps one to focus without being distracted by movements. This is a special way of training, stillness without motion. In this way, you learn to release the areas of tension in your body in stillness. Once learned, you can then progress to releasing during movement. Many practitioners would rather practice Dynamic Qigong, myself included.
When practicing Dynamic Qigong, we move slowly and deliberately. Our joints have to be relaxed (Song) in order for meridian channels to open so that blood and Qi flow easily. This flow is hindered and/or blocked when your body has physical tension and your muscles are contracted. Areas of stagnation and blockages can hinder or even cease blood or Qi flow.
Best place to practice Fang Song
You can practice indoors or outdoors. The important thing is that the place is quiet, clean, and without wind or distractions. Be sure you are wearing comfortable clothing and stand (or sit if necessary) with eyes fully or partially closed. Let your entire body relax from your Baihui (crown of your head) down to soles of your feet, including your organs, bones, meridians, and connective tissue. Use as little force as possible.
It may be beneficial to practice several times. At times, you may choose to go through Form fairly quickly, especially the first time. Then repeat Form while consciously thinking about lightness, next choose agility or uniformity, and so on. This type of practice should aid you on your journey to relaxation and Fang Song.
Unfortunately, try as you might, you cannot hide your muscle tension when doing Tai Chi. Tension causes fatigue and you will have less energy. Your body will also look and feel differently - not effortless, nor agile, and light. That’s why we practice consistently in order to achieve Fang Song!
I’m including an explanation of Fang Song by Master Yang Jun, “current head of the Yang family” for your viewing and listening pleasure! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiv8QVISwI4
While we may not reach the level of Master Yang Jun, we can certainly enjoy practicing with less effort and tension!
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