Formosa Neijia

The first part of this series is here, the second part is here.

Before I leave this topic, I want to add one exercise that I think can help most people.

Kua squats can really help you loosen and strengthen the area known as the kua, which is so vital to good taiji.

Start with your feet parallel and about shoulder-width or a little wider apart.

Then bend down in a squatting motion WITHOUT letting you knees move beyond the middle of your foot. The knee will flex BUT WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD. Instead, your weight will move BACK. This is a very important point. I try to sink my butt straight down. Go down as far as you can. You should be able to see half of your feet beyond the knee the whole time you do the squats. BTW, this will keep your knee almost completely safe. These are the safest body squats that I know of.

As you sink down, bring your arms up in front of you, with the index finger side of your hand pointing up. Bring them up to about face level as you hit the lowest part of the squat. Really sink the butt down, while at the same time lengthening through the arms. Stretch as far as you can.

Return to starting position and repeat. I do about one a second, and I manage to go to just about thighs parallel with the ground on each rep.

You want to do as many reps as you possibly can. Shoot for a hundred, but keep them clean. The sky is the limit.

This exercise will strengthen and lengthen the muscles involved with moving from the kua. It’s not a perfect exercise, and it won’t do everything that this type of motion requires. But it does address the need to be strong in this position, something stretches don’t do.

One caveat: hard-core Chen people will fault me for sticking out the butt. I do it on purpose in this exercise, even though you aren’t supposed to do it in the form. I stick the butt straight down, not out, but it goes that way a little anyway. I don’t even try to tuck on this exercise and I recommend that you don’t either. Why?

This is a training exercise, not a form. Sticking the butt straight down and then lengthening through the back, arms, and out the hands gives a very good stretch to the whole back — something that I’ve noticed that is also hampering my form movement. This back stretching (especially getting the lower back to release) is another vital piece that will greatly improve your taiji. You can always tuck or not tuck when practicing the form. But I recommend doing the exercise like I described, at least at the beginning.

I hope you guys have enjoyed the kua series. I’m sure we’ll return to this topic eventually.