Coordination and Unity in Taijiquan - If One Part Moves, All Parts Move

As we learn Taijiquan, we are exposed to a multitude of theoretical guides and their interpretations. With differences in semantics, translation and different understandings, finding a way to unify and put these theories into practice can become an arbitrary and confusing process. We can end up running a constantly changing checklist in our minds. For example, let’s look at The Six Internal and Six External Harmonies, the Ten Guiding Principles, and Yin/Yang theory.

While they all work together, each has its own place. Yin and Yang is the oldest and broadest, a philosophy that can be applied to medicine, painting, the natural world and martial arts. All phenomena can be described using Taiji.

The Six Internal and External Harmonies are used in many Chinese martial arts, although they have a unique home in the internal arts, Xingyi in particular. There are styles of martial art that take the Six Harmonies as their core theory. The Six Harmonies gives landmarks that need to work together and the path that connects them.

The newest of the three, the Ten Guiding Principles, is a list for students learning Taijiquan when it was beginning to be taught openly, outside of a direct family connection. It articulates the important points and describes how we should practice.

We can now make a very approximate summary of our three examples: Yin and Yang - what is happening. Six Harmonies - where it happens and the path to follow. Ten Guiding Principles - how it happens. This summary implies we are dealing with one thing. As students, learning individual aspects of theory is a normal part of the process. However, in terms of physical coordination, our health, our spiritual life, the goal is to unify, to make whole and undivided.

As human beings we spontaneously unify multiple inputs. Our conceptual minds create an idea of ourselves as an individual entity, built from an amalgamation of experiences, feelings, thoughts and sense perceptions. Beneath this activity, the subtle awareness holding it all together, undivided and whole, is Xin. The character is usually translated as heart/mind, since Chinese thought considers the heart both the seat of cognition and the ruler of the conceptual mind (Western thought intuits something similar: spirit showing outward as heart, a wholehearted warmth radiating from within, etc.). Intention is what stirs from this, and through awareness and intention we can alter and direct our experience. While ‘Yi’ is often simply translated as ‘intention’ it is fundamentally a manifestation of awareness. In Qigong and Taijiquan practice, we intentionally exercise our awareness, in other words-we pay attention.

If we look at the Six Internal Harmonies, we can see a parallel. Most of the harmonising pairs relate to non-physical aspects: heart-mind harmonises with intent, intent harmonises with Qi, Qi harmonises with strength. Only this last pair, Qi and strength, touch on an external physical level.  

Now look at the Six External Harmonies - hand/foot, knee/elbow, hip/shoulder - three pairs to link using the internal path, beginning with awareness and intent (quite simply - be attentive and not distracted). With practice this develops into whole body awareness, a level of awareness that is accessible to most of us and carries immense health benefits. This training is like a feedback loop, becoming more refined and functional the more we practice. With truly dedicated training the whole body becomes unified by awareness and full of Qi, capable of expressing force at any point. The Six Harmonies is fundamental and highly effective. Most aspects of Taijiquan can be trained using the Six Internal Harmonies as a path.

We have also just described point eight in the Ten Guiding Principles and an expression of Yin/Yang theory - inner and outer united. Whole body awareness also enables the coordination stated in other Taijiquan classics - ‘From the feet, to the legs, to the waist, it must always be one complete, unified Qi,’ ‘The whole body, joint by joint, threads through, do not let there be the slightest interruption’.

The key is learning how to apply the training concepts with feeling instead of thought. If we remain in the conceptual mind we never access our deeper awareness. While we should not become attached to sensations, we need to go deep in our practice. To give an example: place your attention in your foot. Now place your attention in your hand. Now place your attention in both simultaneously. Did you really spend time feeling the foot and hand, really paying attention? Or did you create a concept or image of them and then think of that? Developing feeling takes time and effort, it requires practice. Thinking about a concept or image happens almost instantly. One is deep and creates a lasting connection, the other is superficial and fleeting. 

From here, with knowledge of the theories plus effective ways of training, unifying and embodying our three theories becomes exploration, play and practice. We can use feeling to make connections and identify aspects of the theories we need to work on. Instead of theories floating around in our heads and the physical movement being separated, they become unified and we become coordinated. To list all the ways our three theories fit together to create coordination and unity in the body would fill many pages. 

We can touch on a couple in a limited way to give an idea.

Point 1: An empty, lively energy suspends the crown. A classic Yin/Yang pairing - empty yet active. Six Harmonies - Suspending the head as if from a thread creates openness in the body, allowing the Six Internal Harmonies to link the whole body with no breaks. Point 7: Upper and lower mutually follow. A direct match to the Six External Harmonies (hand/foot, knee/elbow, hip/shoulder are literally upper-lower pairs), and to Yin/Yang as mutual cooperation.  

In the beginning the language in these theories can seem vague and ambiguous, this is threefold. The result of concepts interpreted (or misinterpreted), through translation, from one culture to another. The nature of learning an art that is difficult, deep, and fundamentally challenging to our conditioned state. And finally, we are diverse, naturally we all understand, learn and communicate things in different ways. 

When you can finally embody the correct understanding - re-read a reliable translation of the relevant material, you will find that the classical texts are precise guides and accurate descriptions. This wonderful discovery is a signpost that you are on the right path, your coordination has improved, the principles are being understood through experience, unified into an embodied whole. You are making progress!

It also becomes clear that the path to uncover unity and coordination lies within us, as we are a natural expression of Taiji, a manifestation of the creative, unbounded, undivided energy of Wuji.