Stuart Alve Olson – Intrinsic Energy The Secret to Mastering Tai Chi

Master T.T. Liang

Author of T’ai Chi Ch’uan for Health and Self-Defense

My student StuartHe has proved his worth. His translation of Chen Kung’s book is without doubt second to none on the subject of T’ai Chi Ch’uan.

Master Jou Tsung Hwa

Author of The Tao of T’ai Chi Ch’uan

This book is a very good document for both T’ai Chi Teachers and players. No one is able to reach the highest levels of performance as described in this book today. This book is a great resource for helping you achieve your goals. to Work toward achieving. If a dedicated T’ai Chi These are the different skills that a player can learn. “energies,” They will be able to promote the art to Very high.

Terry Dunn

Author of T’ai Chi For Health: The Yang Long Form

An excellent and extremely informative translation of an important body of work, that includes many principles and techniques not found in popular T’ai Chi manuals. Olson has written an accurate and lucid translation of a broad treatise, which, flavored by insights from his own experience of the oral teachings, renders an invaluable service in bridging the gap between theory and practice, enriching the understanding and practice of T’ai Chi All levels of players.

Download immediately Stuart Alve Olson – Intrinsic Energy The Secret to Mastering Tai Chi

Program Syllabus 

This three-day event is open to all-month intensive online seminar series, held weekly on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. Central Time between October 6th and December 29th. There will be a talk and a Q&A component for each class session.

Recordings will be available afterwards, so those of you who can’t attend live can watch later on your schedule, and you will have lifetime access to The recordings.

• October 6: Explanation Intrinsic Energies / Jin vs Qi / The Jin Training and Development
• October 13: Sticking Energies and Adhering Energies
• October 20: Listening, Interpreting Energies

The first four intrinsic energies—Adhering, Sticking, Listening, and Interpreting—are the very foundation of learning all of the other Taijiquan intrinsic energy skills. It is impossible to ignore or diminish their importance.

All of these intrinsic energies are based on the idea of learning how and developing it. to externally and internally sense not only the opponent’s action but your own reactions as well. As the Taijiquan Classic says, “To know yourself is to know your opponent.”

Therefore, to To be able to know your self, you need to develop sensitivity and awareness. Taijiquan teaches you how to adhere to the principles and skills.-Listening, Sticking, and Interpreting intrinsic energies.

You can develop non-adhering skills by adhering to these skills-Opposition to an opponent’s actions, and with Sticking skills, non-separation from an opponent’s movement. With Listening skills, you develop an awareness and inner sense of the opponent’s intentions. You can also learn Interpreting skills. to React naturally and spontaneously to an opponent. These skills are fundamental to fighting an opponent. to All the subsequent intrinsic energies, also known as ideas of non-Opposition or non-Separation, awareness, and spontaneity are the core of Taijiquan when used in conjunction with self.-defense.

• October 27: Neutralizing, Receiving, and Inturing Energies

These three energies—Receiving, Neutralizing, and Enticing—are essential to Taijiquan’s self-defense skills. If your skills are sufficiently high, it becomes easy to You will be amazed at how each technique and inherent energy skill is actually functioned at the root by one of these energies.

• November 3, Seizing, Issuing and Borrowing Energies

A defender using Taijiquan needs to Use these energies to You must diffuse all attacks properly.

The The development of these three energies begins with Sensing Hands practice. to They are at the top of their game in Greater Rolling and Dispersing Hands-Back training. In their higher forms, these energies become Receive-Attack, Neutralize-Attack and Borrow-Taijiquan’s classical texts mention attack techniques. Meaning, to Receive an attack to Issue, and to You can also neutralize an attacker by using these methods to issue. and Borrowing is also used for issuing—they are one action. However, in order to learn at the beginning stages of learning, students must first master the basics. to These energies can be viewed as distinct actions and ideas.

• November 10, 2010: Closing and Opening Energies
• November 17 Rising and sinking Energies

The next four energies are contained and developed in absolutely every movement and technique within Taijiquan—from simple breathing exercises to The most advanced techniques. That is when you inhale. opening/rising. Exhaling is the best way to exhale. closing/sinking. If you are able to neutralize an attack, it is called opening/rising. If you issue, it is closing/sinking. Adhering is opening/rising. Sticking is closing/sinking. When you adhere Qi to The spine is opening/rising. It is closing/sinking when it is taken off the spine.

When training the martial aspects of Taijiquan it will become readily apparent that when you neutralize and entice an opponent’s incoming attack, that is using Opening energy. Closing energy is when you grab and attack. Also, to neutralize means enticing an opponent’s energy (their movement, breath, and intention) upward. This is to Use Rising energy. With seizing and issuing, you bring the opponent’s energy downward—thus Sinking energy is used.

Both energies are complementary for another reason, but this takes long experience. to It is important to fully understand and comprehend it. Take, for instance, the first time you issue to An opponent will notice that you use Rising energy to attack them. However, your immediate intention is to use Sinking energy. This is the best connection to the actions of the troughs and crests of waves—where each creates and is followed by the other. Think of the whip’s movement. All energy is sent out to Although the whip tip is visible at the crack of the crackle, it becomes limp as soon as the whip is extended. Wavelike motions best describe these four energies. They are all paramount to Taijiquan is a proper system.

• November 24: Warding-Off, Rolling-Pushing, pressing, and back
• December 1: Pulling and Splitting Energies

Eight Operations EnergysThe Many Taijiquan practitioners make the common error of not being aware of this. to perceive these Eight Operations, or posture, energies as wholly just techniques—such as those seen in the solo form postures—but the practical applications vary in execution as they are based more on intention than on a specific method of movement. Take, for example:

Warding-Take off Any type of action that is springing, such as pushing an aeroplane, is called energy.-Place the ball in the water, then let it go. The Warding is synonymous with the energy of the ball jumping out of the water.-Save energy.

Rolling-Back Any non-energy is energy-Resistant or yielding actions, such as when a soccer ball is incoming. Then the ball will either go out or it will return. to You can either absorb the energy, as a goalie might do, or you can sidestep the force and send the ball along its path. This is seen in Borrowing Energy.

Pressing Energy is any reactionary force or rebounding force that can be used to bounce a ball, or throw a coin onto drumheads.

Pushing energy is like the troughs and crests of waves or the filling of empty spaces—it is both overwhelming and pervasive. It appears like water but it is very powerful. Taijiquan skill can sometimes be interpreted as being pushed by someone who is skilled in Taijiquan.

Pulling The action of a lever can clearly show energy. Pull on the right and the left sides will follow. The upper will strike you if you attack below. The opposite side will react, just like a balance beam.

Splitting Energy is like a whirlpool, or a spinning object. These can be used to either drag you under or send you flying.

Elbow Energy is unbroken, connected energy like the whip’s action. Even though an opponent might be struck by the elbow, the shoulder or fist will immediately follow—this is called the “folding-up” technique.

Shouldering Energy is the same as the action that you do when you pound a pestle into a mortar. to You can crush anything. A person might feel like they are running blindly into brick walls when they carry energy.

These are just a few explanations of what the energy of the eight operations is. It’s not about using a technique, but how it is expressed and used.

• December 8: Intercepting Energies and Long-lived

In Long Energy, which is everything, can reach any place it wishes. It’s soft and gradual. Every part can become a weapon, and generate intrinsic energy. A metal spring stretched out to Its limit is its devastating effects. to An opponent.

Intercepting Energy can be hard and sudden. It can also reach wherever it wants. Every part of your body can become a weapon, and you can release intrinsic energy. The body is like a person who assumes that something is solid, and then pushes it. to You may find it no longer exists and feel the hard effects of falling.

• December 15: Drilling and Lofty Tower Energies

Drilling Energy is dependent on natural torquing powers. Nature uses circular, arcing movements. By imitating nature, Drilling Energy is one of the most effective martial energies. The point of entry to a drill is not obvious, but the exit wound can be seen. While a Taijiquan master might strike an opponent with Drilling Energy, the real damage happens internally.

High Lofty Energy borders on the mystical but is a result of developing a strong spirit and mental concentration. Examples of this energy can be seen in a Taijiquan master’s ability to With just the sound of your voice, you can defeat an opponent “ha!” In the ability to wave a hand or point at a candle and extinguishing the flame. Or the highest level of Sticking Energy, which allows objects to be lifted and rearranged without any effort. to These are important to remember

• December 22: Restraining and Seizing Energy

Grasping Tendons & Sinews

Closing Qi Cavities

• December 29th: Closing and Grasping Energies

Restraining Blood Arteries

Seizing Qi Meridians

It is said that mastering these four energies that will be covered in the last two classes makes a practitioner “unbeatable,” These are the culmination or distillation of all Taijiquan energies.