Song of Iron Rings
Effort less movement
Swimming in air
In balance
Power less
Sensitive in movement
Weighted equilibrium
Flexing frame
Thoughtlessly aligned
My Tai Chi teacher once told me that the weapon forms help us to extend our Chi. So let’s interpret 'Chi' as a perception of our internal muscles, tendons and facia as they finely balance and align our body as it interacts with the force of gravity.
Any weight added to our arms will require additional adjustment. In this sense the additional weight of a weapon tests our ability to sense and adjust to the effect of gravity.
An Embodied Tai Chi perspective would then have a different perspective to that of the traditional use of Iron Rings used to build muscular strength in the external martial arts (Douglas 2014, Shaolin.org 2024, Wikipedia 2024). The additional weight of the arm rings can be used to test our sensitivity, our ability to align our body so no tension is felt using the traditional Tai Chi concept of 'sung'. In this way movement feels flowing and effortless.
Now the interpretation of ‘sung’ deserves an article in its own right but briefly it has been translated as sinking or relaxing. From an embodied Tai Chi perspective we would perhaps describe it as ‘allowing our flexor or fine balance muscles working with our autonomic nervous system to interact with the force of gravity’. The term ‘Dancing with Gravity’ works well with this idea and is explored within Embodied Tai Chi classes. Here an obstacle to finding balance can be power muscles taking over from the balance muscles often as a result of our mind having the wrong intention.
The intention when using arm rings or weapon practice in Embodied Tai Chi is to finely tune our balance muscles so we become more effective at maintaining equilibrium as we move. It’s less about our power muscles being able to hold heavy objects. As Douglas (2014) suggests arm rings ‘will attempt to unbalance you. As such they force you to sink into your stances better.’ However, rather than being ‘forced’ to find better balance we need to feel a springy flexing relaxed balance.
This requires patience, first we must find balance through simply moving our bodies through the Tai Chi solo form, dancing with gravity. Then when you are able to internally sense and feel your movement try adding a small extra weight to your arms or legs. This could simply be a heavier pair of shoes, remember it’s about becoming more sensitive by avoiding using power muscles. As Shaolin.org (2024) suggest ‘practitioners start with lighter rings to master basic techniques and gradually progress to heavier ones as their proficiency increases.’ It is also perhaps why traditionally students are not taught the Tai Chi weapon forms until they have mastered the principles of the solo hand forms.
Image; Here this is tested using simple arm weights, traditional Dao sword and the larger Bagua Dao sword. The aim is to use these 'arm extensions' to test the principles we learn in the Embodied Tai Chi solo forms.
References
Elmes Douglas (2014) Do you train with Hung Ga iron or brass rings; 30th October 2014, https://practicalhungkyun.com/2014/10/do-you-train-with-hung-ga-iron-or-brass-rings/ , accessed 21st July 2024, Doc: Song of the Iron Rings
Shaolin.org (2024) Iron Rings in Shaolin Kung Fu; https://www.shaolin.org.gr/public/library_item_us/iron_rings_in_shaolin_kung_fu , accessed 22nd July 2024, Doc; Song of the Iron Rings
Wikipedia (2024) Iron rings;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_rings , accessed 22nd July 2024, Doc; Song of the Iron Rings
