It's fun how there's so much to learn and discover!

I hadn't realize it before but the more I come to understand Tai Chi the more I appreciate Aikido as well!

Thank you for commenting!

Cheers! 🙌☯️🙏

Thank you! It's a profoundly beneficial exercise because it helps you realize your ability to release tension in all forms, from first the apparent tension to gradually more unconscious tension, until you become aware of emotions, energies, and thoughts, that you have not realized was stuck before, but can completely free yourself from now in a simple and comfortable and easy way. And when tension leaves you, and ease becomes you, how lovely would that be, right? 😀☯️

Yes. The release can be very emotional for some people. We hold all our stress and worries in our bodies. 🙂🙏🏼☯️

Thank you! I appreciate your comments and positive energy! 😀

Thank you! I'll probably film it next week and post it the week after. We will be utilizing the same techniques as you've been seeing in other recent videos, so you can recognize how this is a consistent method and mindset!

Totally agree! Because Tai Chi is a great study in healthy and powerful body mechanics, when you combine it with the practical and tactical efficiency of boxing and FMA you probably get something really effective! I enjoy FMA practice too, extremely helpful to develop your sense of angle, timing, and reflexes. Thanks for the comment and welcome to the community!

Thank you very much for watching and commenting! Glad you enjoyed it!

@@phoenixmountaintaichi I Taught Yang' Long form for 40years, it's nice to see someone who understands the self-defense aspects!

​@@reflexflow908840 years of long form! You are an expert and a patient one at that ha ha. Respect! 🫸🤛

@@phoenixmountaintaichi I love Tai Chi and Martial Arts in general! I taught mostly out of park districts for Many Years, but also some MMA Gyms and did a lot of cross training and learned a lot about effective Tai Chi self-defense by working and sparring with different styles of martial arts! As much as I love teaching Tai Chi, the fact that most students were only in class for the health exercise, and I only had a few students that I could really roll, push and play! I'm almost 70 and teach a blend of FMA and Combative, and of course try to blend Tai Chi into it! You know your stuff and I look forward to following your channel!

Yes he does! He studied at several places and settled there as his favorite gym. His top loyalty is actually to BJJ and he's always trying to see if he can counter my Tai Chi Jedi tricks with his training ha ha. I'm totally grateful for these open minded and dedicated students and training partners!

This is a really intelligent commentary and explanation! Totally agree with you and it explains why the spiritual pursuit of Tai Chi Chuan is so valuable. Because when we rise above our base instincts, so that we can touch lightly with a beneficent intent, even when, or especially when, under threat and pressure, then we can all shift from sympathetic (fight or flight) to parasympathetic (rest and heal) nervous system. And that means we shift from a state of stress to a state of healing. And that can be much more valuable than just winning any fight, can it not? Thank you so very much for your excellent contribution!

Absolutely! I didn’t believe it until I felt it, my first class my aikido teacher grabbed me and told me to imagine I had a glass of water in my hand to give to him even though he wasn’t letting my arm go; I felt all this resistance and temptation to do a jiu jitsu technique. Then he told me; “how would you give me the water if I was your grandma?” And then no mindedly I responded; “I’d just give it to you” and as I said that I felt all the tension release and he was completely off balanced as I was extending the imaginary glass of water to him. I actually showed this concept to a medical doctor and some medical students and they confirmed it had to do with the mirror neurons. It’s funny because we experience this all the time in non physical ways; someone is upset or angry and you get them to smile or laugh by cracking a lighthearted joke. It’s just weird experiencing it kinesthetically with biofeedback from a partner.

​@@poeguru88that prompt about giving water to your grandma is totally genius. You have a great teacher!

Thank you for your comment!

As we say in BJJ OSSS

Thank you for that awesome feedback! It makes me incredibly happy to hear that you are experiencing success applying the fascia mastery techniques in real life sparring and grappling! Especially coming from someone who has been training with dedication for ten years, that means a lot to me that you are able to open your mind, learn new things, and have the courage to test it out there! As you gain skill and comfort in the skills, to please share this knowledge with people! I have plans to release a ground grappling course that fully utilizes this and I think you will love it when it's ready. 😀 I especially love your last sentence, "like black belt level details on grappling that instructors don't talk about" because I do see high high level practitioners of wrestling and grappling use this, possibly on instinct. And we know that real black belts of BJJ they just move differently and feel different. Maybe these skills I'm sharing is part of their secret. Whether they know it or not, teach it or not, I hope to share it with everyone, and hope people can experience it with an open mind, learn with a curious heart, and enjoy a higher level of skill to their practice, whatever their style they love is! Would it be okay if I quote your last sentence on the course website as a student feedback? I think your perspective as someone serious and experienced in something beyond Tai Chi would mean a lot to people considering learning this. Thank you! 😀🙏

Very good question! Yes it works via tension along the fascia. This is different from the whole body push pull as seen in judo or wrestling. It's a subtle steering that tilts the axis of their balance, and they do not need to be pushing or resisting you hard. It's different from other methods of throws because you only need to apply a very light force, and the opponent only needs the lightest of resistance for you to gain control of their balance. This is not unstoppable though. A skilled opponent will yield to even that slightest tension, and on one level that is a part of what push hands is. And it is what having a high level of Song helps you to overcome. When applied to someone who mixes tension and relax, you will make their gears get stuck, such that they are unable to relax not resist properly. One student of the Fascia Mastery online course described it as feeling like the opponent's whole body locks up and their resistance disappears. Good question and I hope this discussion helps you understand this with more clarity! If not, ask away!

@@phoenixmountaintaichi That was a great detailed explanation and you answered all of my current questions Thank you Kindly

Thank you! I'm glad that you find it illuminating and useful!

Thank you for your comment! If your interest is in health then you're in the right place! Because it is the practice of 'Song' that provides a lot of the health benefits people get from Tai Chi practice. When it comes to application and punching like that, you're right to recognize that you can only receive and deliver a certain amount of force like that without injuring yourself. And that means when we punch like this we are delivering something aside from a ton of force. Like if I punch one of those punch power measuring machines that people play with at the arcade, I would not necessarily score very high. Beyond force, this relaxed state of Song let's you transmit something aside from kinetic energy, that allows you to affect their balance, coordination, and state of their body. On this channel I'm gradually sharing and building people's understanding of the inner practices of Tai Chi. Your intuition is good and asking about something that we'll be exploring soon! Welcome to the channel! 😀

Chen style develops more power and Yang style makes use of better mobility. It's good to go with what matches your personality!

Depends on the skill of the opponents.

I believe the gent in red has a blue belt in BJJ

Totally get hour frustration. Whenever you see videos of a so called tai chi master vs another martial artist they just get beaten. And yet I totally believe the stories of the old masters. Very confusing.

​@@paularora4325Yes we who love these arts, what we really want is to bring these skills back to the world, do we not? I have an interesting personal story about this. Decades ago, I grew impatient with my Tai Chi teacher, in the way that young and impatient man can be right? So without telling my teacher, I started to go and study with a MMA teacher in the area. The MMA teacher was very nice, and very skilled, and taught me all the "practical" combat skills I wanted to learn. One day MMA teacher said to me, who did you study with before? I mentioned my teacher's name. And he said "oh! Oh! Well, don't give up then... You know what, your teacher is very special." "Oh yeah? He keeps making me do these ancient things and I still can't make it work." "Yes well, when I first came to this town and I opened my school, I went and visited every martial art school, bring tea, say hi, being a nice neighbor, you know?" Me, "yes?" Teacher, "well when I visited your teacher, I asked him how his art worked, and he said attack me, strong and serious. And when I did, he touched me and I flew up and back and fell on the ground. I asked him how he did it and he said he would not teach me. Of all the teacher's I visited here, that was the most remarkable skill!" Me, "oh really?!" Him, "yes! So I'm happy to keep teaching you MMA but you should not stop with your teacher. Because he has something amazing and apparently he is willing to teach you, so you're more lucky than me!" So while I was impatient, I was lucky. And my patience did get tested. It wasn't until another fifteen years before I understood and made a break through in understanding the internal arts! So I totally understand the frustration of people who appreciate the traditional Chinese martial arts. And this channel is very much born out of the desire to help people walk this journey, and reach the destination that they always believed existed, in much much less time than it took me. This series of vs videos are more advanced topics, and the concepts of fascia control, song, etc are addressed in the many other videos on this channel. I worked hard on them so that people can understand these esoteric principles. They will provide a basic understanding of the applications presented in this video. If one wants to learn to do all of these things in depth, there are formal, organized courses for that. I hope one day, many people will be masters of these skills, and use them, perhaps along with other skills they have, and do well in fights, and live fulfilling lives, and evolve this art. So that we not only bring back the stories, but go beyond them to a better future! So thank you for watching the videos and I hope bit by bit we can all grow together!

​@@phoenixmountaintaichi You can't control fascia. Fascia is a passive structural element, fascia is not like muscles, which are active contractile elements under neuromuscular control; fascia is not activatable like muscles. You can't control fascia!!! I understand where you got that idea from, but you took the word "fascia" at face value and quote it literally; instead of really thinking about what that idea tries to convey (ancient text has no idea what fascia is). So off the bat, you are already demonstrating you utter lack of understanding of human anatomy, movement mechanism, and the essence of Tai Chi. By the way, the essence of Tai Chi is well documented. Well documented!!! And clearly you haven't bothered studying it. There is enough misinformation and polemic about Tai Chi, we don't need more snake oil.

​@@stefanx5470 Actually, there is a whole field of study in rehabilitative medicine and physiotherapy about the role of fascia in the human movement system, and how controlling it can help people with difficulty with movement, whether it's from a stroke, a bodily injury, spinal cord injury, or other diseases, improve their awareness of their balance, maintain their balance, initiate their desired movement and complete their desired movement. These methods are called neurodevelopmental technique anfd proprioceptive neuromuscular feedback. By increasing the pressure on the fascia system (loading), decreasing the pressure on the fascia system (unloading), by guiding the activation of the muscle and fascia, and the directional activity of the fascia (facilitation), it helps people with difficulties in movement walk, move, and use their body like someone without such difficulties. These methods are taught as part of doctorate level training at accredited universities throughout the world, for physiotherapists, physical medicine, and rehabilitation medicine physicians. The validity of these methods are researched and published in high impact medical journals of the highest academic regard. Anyone can google PNF and NDT and movement disorder rehabilitation and see the vast amount of peer reviewed science that goes into the understanding of how to shape human movement with a light touch applied to the muscular system and the proprioceptive system, of which fascia is a crucial component of. I teach and successfully train graduate students earning their doctoral degree in these techniques, so my understanding of human anatomy and the movement system is quite professional and well respected as part of graduate level academic training. To the extent that in the application of these rehabilitative techniques, the practitioner gains a sense of their client's forces and balance, the same methodology forms a type of tingjin we use in Tai Chi. And to the extent that gentle manipulation of pressure and direction on the fascia can improve one's awareness of balance, maintenance of balance, ease of initiating movement, and accuracy of completing movement, the inverse effect can be created by reversing the intention and application, so that pressure on their fascia system decreases the opponent's awareness of balance, ability to maintain their balance, create difficulty in initiating movement, and alter the accuracy of their intended movement. I have successfully taught all of my in-person students to do this, and students who have studied our online course have reported success in doing these methods to practice partners and resisting opponents. Students of this fascia control have taken their success beyond our school and successfully applied it against resisting, unknowing opponents, including in BJJ competitions. One BJJ practitioner with ten years of experience successfully implemented this into their practice and reports that it feels like what some of the skilled black belts do, but have not taught. So while I understand that you, and many other people, have not controlled fascia before, I hope other people's success can be a source of inspiration for everyone. Because no one else is saying and teaching this. I see people doing it, masters of it even. But they're not teaching it. And I know there are people who love Tai Chi out there and I want people who genuinely love this art to achieve the skill that they've always known to be possible. Beyond that, I want for people who have not yet experienced, not yet understood Tai Chi, to be able to appreciate the beauty of this art. In time, I hope Tai Chi, technology of Tai Chi, benefits of Tai Chi, whether martial, health, or spiritual, to become a common place part of our understanding of combat, health, and spirituality. To the extent you provide a basis for this discussion, thank you very much. Because you may not be alone in feeling the way that you do, and I hope that people can grow beyond all that they have assumed, experience more than they have expected, and achieve something that is more beautiful than what they had imagined.

Thank you! I hope everyone experiments and we can improve this art together.

Thank you for your comment! 🫸🤛

Great analysis and questions! Yes this use of fascia explains those differences between classic self defense techniques and the cryptic statement of other masters. Fascia control confuses the opponent's neuromuscular sense of proprioception, or in simpler words, makes them feel incorrectly and respond incorrectly to what's happening. It is a practical form of Tingjin, not buried in mysticism. After fascia mastery, our next topic is Song mastery. In Song you learn to integrate the entire mass of your body and utilize its ability to generate a hydraulic like pressure. This is the beginning of your ability to receive tremendous force without having to distort or make the opponent misalign their force. This is also the key to being able to generate tremendous, effortless force, whether to project and bounce an opponent, or to do a strike that sends the kinetic energy deep into the recipient's body. It is the foundation of what many people consider to be the effects of Internal Power. And again, this can be learned without resorting to talking about "expansion of internal force in space" or anything vague like that. In person, I can teach a complete beginner to perform fascia control in an hour, and proper Song within another hour, if they don't have any serious prior injuries that makes them deeply uncomfortable. It's so viable and that's why I wish for everyone to be able to develop these skills. Because they are the foundations of authentic Tai Chi skill and the building blocks of a genuinely comfortable and powerful way of being. So while I love the mysticism and tradition in Tai Chi, I wish to help people go beyond the smoke and mirrors, overcome masters who talk but don't teach, rise above the symbolisms that do not help them, to arrive at a practical and personal understanding, that guides them to become the skilled and complete practitioner that I know, and they always knew, that they could become. Thanks for your thoughtful comment! I'm very happy to hear about your growth in progress and understanding! 😀🙏

@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thank you Sifu for your work and your words.

Yes good points! You can definitely do these counters with your eyes closed, because the Ting sense is faster than the eyes anyways. And fascia control is very much a practical form of Ting sense. If my partner is not skilled at falling or the floor is hard, at full speed I favor the methods of getting behind them because that is safest for everyone. It can be very fun to practice quickly who can better take the other's back! Some of the throws will indeed result in a very airborne flight if you do it at full speed!

That's awesome that you've done some of these things on instinct, and that means you have developed useful fundamental skills and are on the same paths as the Tai Chi masters! Glad to hear that this video helped you find more useful details to support that. This video series is especially great for people who have done the fascia mastery course because it's meant to give you more insight on how to progress the skills you've developed!

Yes! Very good point! Xingyi Quan has its roots in spear use and that means they have a very deep understanding of parries that glide over the attack and continues into a thrust. Because being able to instantly turn defense into offense is tremendously advantageous, is it not? Thanks for sharing your experience and perspective! 🙏

Very well said! Great description of the qualities of silk reeling energy beyond the physical movements alone. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you! Are there any other topics that you think would be good to explain?

When you really consider if zhan zhuang is the only way to build Qi, you can consider how zhan zhuang, as people understand it today, is really only about a hundred years old. And how did all the legendary masters, Yang Luchan, all the members of the Chen Taiji family, Sun Lutang, and more, build their Qi, before Zhan Zhuang standing, that made them the masters they are? You're right to think that forms are not the primary avenue to build Qi, and you'd be right to realize that the essential training, in a complete curriculum, always had the exercises to sink chi to Dantien, complete the body and immerse it in Yi, and build Qi, and to do it before one begins practicing forms. Because the essential foundation of Tai Chi, Song Gong (Song Practice), efficiently does all of this. In this video, which is a standing meditation that gives you the quality of Song and improves both the Yi and unconscious connection of the body, you see that as the gentleman relaxed, his Qi naturally sinks. And as he sends this relaxation and awareness of expansion and condensing to every part of the body, the body is connected by Song and the Yi becomes aware of every part of the body. That is why his punch push becomes more effective. And when it comes to building Qi, does our Qi magically increase as we do zhan zhuang or any other exercise? If not, why does our Qi feel more powerful with practice? Because what really happens is that we are removing the obstacles to the full function and flow of Qi in our body. And the biggest obstacle to Qi flow within us is our intent and our tension. And that means Song, as it releases all of our tension and frees our mind, is an incredibly effective way to improve the power of your Qi. So while many people have attributed all benefits of Qigong, meditation, Neigong, all to Zhan Zhuang, history has shown us that in the era of the highest levels of Tai Chi skill, a multitude of great masters achieved the most profound Tai Chi skill using the essential Tai Chi Neigong, Song. I myself practiced standing in Zhan Zhuang, 45 minutes a day, for an entire year. It was beneficial for body integration. And when I really understood Song in Tai Chi, my skill in the internal arts entered a whole new realm. Today, when I teach my in person students, Song is what we begin with and it brings their body integration even beyond where I had reached doing standing meditation, in less time than it took me. And I am happy they can be successful, in less time, with more comfort. 😄 Thanks for the question! Check out our other videos on the channel about Song and let me know how it helps you improve! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gJaChbFhx6rclmg.html

@@phoenixmountaintaichi Zongqing Lin, Thankyou kindly for the time you took to write such a detailed explanation and reply. To paraphrase your reply to make sure i understand, It all Starts with Song to free our mind and tension, then our Qi will naturally sink. If we are aware of the expansion and condensing our yi becomes connected to every part of the body. The great masters didn't use the current static competitive Zhan Zhuang. Hence why your teaching a more dynamic way to discover Song and Yi Connection? The reason for my original question was I've heard a couple Influential neigong and Tai chi Teachers who seam to have real skills claim, That building Qi, is done through stillness like Zhan Zhuang or seated meditation. And that moving exercises just unblock, open, move, release and access the Qi you already have. I learnt Yang Tai as a kid, and i'm quite alliterate on the theory and technical aspects of Tai chi. All of my very limited understanding has come from direct introspection, curiosity and playing. And the Above statement Chi is only built through stillness, Just doesn't make sense to me. And goes against my personal experience and understanding. I am curious to hear your perspective on that. Thank You

Thank you for your comment!

Thank you! We are probably not good enough as actors to fake this ha ha. I look forward to sharing more demonstrations to help people understand and appreciate both the practical and the esoteric aspects of Tai Chi!

It's coming! Based on the enthusiasm and feedback I received from the Fascia Mastery course, I've decided to dedicate myself to putting up our complete set of Tai Chi curriculum online! You will learn through it a whole year of dedicated instruction like you would in person, and takes you all the way to advanced Yi and Fascia work along with Energy and Shen work. That means, after completing the course, anyone will be able to demonstrate the internal work of Tai Chi as shown by the masters. (Just a bit slower at first.) The tricky part is helping your learning be effective and efficient online, but I've mostly solved that in the past few months, especially with the help of the questions and feedback from the Fascia course online! And for the student, their part is to find practice partners! So I hope this and other videos can motivate people to practice Tai Chi together. I look forward to a new generation of real Tai Chi practitioners with a new level of profound internal skill. I hope to see you among them soon! 🫸🤛😀

Thank you! I want to open our minds up a little to what could be possible, that's just a little beyond our usual experience, and totally within your reach! Because Tai Chi is really deep and amazing when you begin to see it all. And how can these concepts be valuable, beyond martial arts and fun demos? Cheers! 🙌

@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thank you for making all those concepts more accessible to the World and especially to Westerners. Language can definitely be a major obstacle, but as you've already pointed out before, culture too, as some concepts have been given metaphorical names that don't mean much to us. This concept of catching the partner's intention is similar to what I've been learning from Mikhail Ryabko's school of Systema via Vladimir Zaikovskiy, although I have yet to fully understand it and be able to reproduce the phenomenon consistently. Your way of teaching has definitely caught my attention over the past few months as you offer to teach similar concepts through a slightly different filter, and I think it's a good way to get the bigger picture. Kind of like in that story where blindmen are asked to touch different parts of an elephant to figure out what it looks like. Thanks again! I look forward to learning more about Yi.

@@phoenixmountaintaichi As to how these concepts can be valuable beyong martial arts, I think you may come to those arts because you want to develop your martial skills, but odds are you will stay for deeper reasons. In my case, I know that internal work does not work if I don't bypass the animal reaction, anger, fear, and so on. Destruction is easy. Anyone can beat someone up out of anger. It may even provide some sick kind of relief upon doing so, but it will definitely bring tons of problems upon you: lawsuits, vengeance, and having to live knowing you're behaving like a bad person. I think that in the internal arts we try not to break the person but rather their desire to hurt you. They made a mistake. We make mistakes too. Maybe you had something to do with it, consciously or not. Maybe the've had a bad day. Maybe they are a great dad, mom, brother, sister, or friend to other people and they just so happen to have completely lost it in this situation. Who are we to "punish" them by breaking them physically just because "we know martial arts?" Most fights happen over stupid reasons and because someone with an attitude wants to be right. So that's what I like about internal MA when it comes to defending yourself. You first try to avoid those situations, you try to not take things personally, and you choose your enemy more wisely, aka the bad intention rather than the person. Then on a deeper level, you get to know yourself and how you infuse your daily life and relations with those skills and concepts. Even as a dad to a 3yo, those skills help me. I still get tired and angry at times, of course, but certainly not as often as I would if I'd only practiced "external" arts. I think it just makes your life easier, thus benefiting everyone around you.

@@CharlesEBusa Absolutely! When something is deep and vast, it's easy for each person who experiences to come away with an unique, but valid perspective. I do admire the teachings of Mikhail Ryabko! I think it's easily misunderstood or overlooked but there is a real wisdom, and real kindness within him, if one takes the time to look. I respect everyone's perspective and value each person's wisdom, and I think that encompassing spirit has helped me to share and helped my audience understand. We'll definitely be talking more about Yi in all the content to come! Thank you for sharing!

@@CharlesEBusa Beautifully said! The real enemy is the intention, not the person, not the person's weapon, not the person that made that person. Because if we resolve the intention, the conflict goes away. I think this is the meaning of the Japanese concept of the Life Giving Sword, that strikes down and ends conflict without killing. I want to add that, I am also a father to a 3 year old! And this is where Internal martial arts has profoundly impacted my life too. Because no matter what he's saying, or not saying, what he's doing, or how he is emoting, because I am able to understand his intention, I can communicate with him, help him, or guide him in a way that is genuinely meaningful, joyful, and loving for us. It's probably the most beautiful experience I have as a result of this internal practice. We also have really fun rough play, pushing, pulling, tumbling, and I'll credit that to martial arts too! So you're very right, life is easier, and benefitting everyone around you. :)

Thank you! My hope is that one day not too far in the future, you will all be able to do this too! 🙏🙌

You're very welcome! I think this topic is so fascinating and I wish for more people to understand and enjoy these valuable practices!

Haha thank you! Connor is great because on one hand he totally trusts that I can deal with it no matter what crazy thing he does to me. On the other hand, his true love is BJJ not Tai Chi, so he not-so-secretly wants to see if he can overcome my Tai Chi Jedi mind tricks lol. When you combine these two mindsets of his, hilarity happens! I'm grateful for such a sincere and skilled practice partner! 😁🙏

Yes, finding a good practice partner is my biggest challenge! I like the laughter too.

@@Flowingmobility Yes! We should all aspire to be so joyful ha ha.

Thank you glad you enjoyed! 🙌

Yes old six roads, you have a good eye and are very knowledgeable! You had a lot of great videos on your channel. Do you practice Xingyi primarily?

@@phoenixmountaintaichi Yes i mainly practice Shanxi xingyiquan, however am v interested in taiji also. I am looking for a good Old Six Roads teacher in Beijing, can you recommend someone?

I will work on that. There will probably be more footage of me flying through the air the along the way. 😆

Thank you! I wanted to share something advanced, but also kind of fun ha ha. Next video will be the Tai Chi vs stand-up grappling! 🙌

Thank you for your comment 😄🙏

Thank you! Very good example about the wood in the middle of a whip, that's a great metaphor that nicely illustrates the idea. And you're right about the abstract encompassing all of the physical and frees you from the limitations of over focusing on the physical! Thanks for the comment!

Thank you and thank you for commenting!

It's like how a boxer or a football player might train pushups, and jumping jacks. Do you ever do a movement in boxing or sports that looks exactly like that, but the strength and coordination developed in doing pushups will make you better prepared to box or play football. Similarly, forms sometimes are training the application, and other times are training the coordination. By coordination I mean the ability to move your body in a useful way, but not necessarily in that exact way. This is especially true of forms often called large frame. While the small frame forms may look more like how they will be applied. Does that clarify it a bit for you?

@@phoenixmountaintaichi I totally understand how sometimes applications don’t resemble the forms, I was wondering if cloud hands specifically would ever apply arms and legs together like in the form! I guess not, according to your answer? Thanks for your input, and always masterful videos! ✌️🤲☝️😉

Hi! You are right that it's multilayered, because you can learn to release the tension in more and more parts of your body, more and more deeply than before. As you release more tension, the connectivity of your body improves along with the adaptability of your body to pressure. There's definitely a limit to how much pressure I can take in the way shown here! Maybe 25% more than the pressure he applied I would have to move or adapt in some additional way. The point isn't that we're immovable, rather, because aside from a physical demonstration, we want to become more stable and adaptable with the body and strength we have. And as we learn to rely on that to support us, we can relax and better focus on the other aspects of Tai Chi being that benefits from our attention, or on whatever else you want to focus on, that can bring you more success in life, in ways beyond what tensing and struggling have not brought before.

Your intent expands outwards, and pierces along the line of your finger, so it's perpendicular to their push on you. Even if you're using your whole hand for arm wrestling, you still extend your intention in this direction. Once you feel that their force is not penetrating into your body, but is caught in that line of intent, you can begin to feel where their force is coming from. Follow that force along their fascia until you feel it all the way to their feet. At that point you can borrow their force and move them in the direction you want. This is a fun party trick to show what is possible when you have good awareness of power (Tingjin), control of intention (Yi) and borrowing force (Jieli) with fascia control!