In my last piece I talked about what is Song and why it is important in Tai Chi. However I didn’t give much away regarding how to train it.

So how do we develop Song??

Song can be developed through everything that we do in Tai Chi - whether it’s form or push hands, standing practice or stretching.

Stretching and Opening

Simply put Song means ‘release’ and in the Yang style system that I practice the first fundamental method is to progressively stretch and ‘open’ the body. We need to stretch, release and open the whole body so that we can start to rid ourselves of all the tension accumulated from daily living over the course of our lives.

Now there are specific stretches that work particularly well for Tai Chi however actually any stretch can be used to some degree.

So it’s not so much which stretches you choose but how you do them that is important.

So here’s the method for stretching and opening :

Whichever part of the body we are working on - we need to stretch until we can feel that we are creating some space and release in that area. We use both the physical movement and intention (Yi) to do this. We can also utilise the breath and gravity as I will explain.

The secret to this process is to stretch until we feel the tension and then to relax as much as we can further into the stretch rather than using too much muscular force. Using the breath i.e. breathing into the stretched area can enhance the opening and release that we are looking for.

Use gravity rather than muscular force. So for example with a side bend where we might be looking to open the ribs, try to relax as you stretch sideways and allow gravity to pull you further over rather than trying to force it through contracting other muscles. Breathe into the ribs as you do this.

So being strategic, using all the tools or hacks that we have is generally superior to using only force. Using force can create tension and therefore be counterproductive.

Another stretching trick is to use momentum. Tai Chi has a number of ‘swings’ which are used to create a specific quality of looseness which could not otherwise be achieved.

Allow enough time to stretch properly. So for example if we’re working on the shoulders we should do so until the shoulders feel looser and more released. That might mean focusing in on just one or two exercises for long enough to get the results rather than rushing through. Lots of repetitions of the same exercise can bare more fruit that doing too many different exercises.

Lastly always be as absorbed as possible into the stretch. We want the ‘ting’ which is the listening and feeling quality of the mind to be very absorbed, focused and stable inside. So in other words we must calm the mental chatter and try not to dissociate even though stretching can be very uncomfortable. Stay absorbed and stick with it.

Stretching and opening is one of the often neglected areas of training in Tai Chi but it can yield incredible results when trained diligently. Not only will it give you the flexibility to perform Tai Chi well, it will also enhance the more internal skills of Tai Chi particularly ‘ting jin’.

Both Song and Ting work together. Each consolidates and builds the other. Opening the body is the secret.

In the next part I’ll look at how to develop Song in Zhan Zhuang (standing post) practice.