Root: a secret of the inner power of combat Tai Chi
In China, there are three martial arts that together are known as Nia Jia, the internal arts. These are Bagua, Xing-Yi, and Tai Chi. While other martial arts focus more on things like physical strength or specific fighting techniques, the internal arts focus on what is happening within the practitioner.
This inner focus includes elements such as relaxation, breathing, structural connectivity, the flow of energy within the individual, the individual’s sensitivity to what is happening within their own body, and their ability to manipulate it. In the external arts, the practice of a specific movement is the point. On the contrary, in the internal arts only the movement necessary to develop internal capacity is used.
As an art, Tai Chi develops serious power in its students. The full name of the art is Tai Chi Chuan, which translates to Grand Ultimate Fist. Clearly, to those who named it, Tai Chi seemed like an incredibly powerful fighting system. However, Tai Chi training takes a different path than most other martial arts.
A skill that Tai Chi uses to develop serious power through inner skill is called root. The ability to root involves the ability to use mental intention to drop your center of gravity below the ground.
Some athletes have learned skills that are comparable to what Tai Chi artists do. For example, some boxers have the ability to use the body connection where the weight of the whole body enters a punch. However, most athletes have not developed the ability to root or anything like that.
Although rooting involves the intention of the mind, it is more than just visualization. If you practice rooting, you can feel the weight of your body dropping below the surface of the ground. When you practice exercises with partners, they should be able to feel it too. This way, if you use root in a combat situation, an attacker will also be able to feel your root so that you feel like a slab of concrete driven deep into the ground. In other words, it will be very difficult to get over it.
When you first learn root, you start by practicing standing in one place. However, you can learn to keep your root on the ground while walking or in a combat situation. It is possible to learn to root deeper and deeper even while fighting.
Rooting isn’t just about being well anchored to the ground, either. Root can also help Combat Tai Chi artists launch more powerful punches. The most advanced Tai Chi involves Jings or expressions of energy. Thesis
Allow practitioners to direct energy in specific ways. One of them is called Fa Jing, which translates to explosive energy. Fa Jing involves the ability to deliver powerful kicks and hand punches that send
energy to an opponent. Rooting is a prerequisite for learning Fa Jing. Also, a deeper and stronger root will allow even stronger and more powerful energy expressions.
Over time, it can develop its root so that it is deeper in the ground and contains more and more of its compressed body weight. Some Tai Chi masters may have a root 50 feet or more below the ground. For an attacker, getting hit by someone with a really deep and strong root can feel like being hit by a 300 pound gorilla.