NO CREDIT!

 By Philip Starr

One of my taijiquan teachers, George Hu, had a handwritten sign up on the wall of his school that said simply, “No Credit!” And being the inquisitive type, I asked him what it meant. At that time, his English wasn't too good but I was able to understand what he meant...

Firing off a punch, he grimaced, “No credit!” He did the same thing as he performed a snappy kick and bent over to touch his chin to his toes...”No credit!” Then he spread his feet to stand in a solid horse-riding stance. “This makes credit”, he said. “Only this.”

What he meant was that although you may have a lightning kick and thunderbolt punch, they were worthless if you hadn't developed a proper “foothold” through the practice of a proper horse-riding stance (qi ma-bu). He believed, as I do, that although a technique may appear to be powerful, it actually had no real power if the foothold hadn't been developed. It was, he insisted, the only way to develop a strong root, which is essential for the cultivation of real strength.

The old, time-tested way of developing a strong “ma” is to hold the stance in a static manner (knees a bit higher than the buttocks) for varying lengths of time, depending upon the instructor. Certain breathing exercises may also be included. Personally, I recommend starting off or 60 seconds, then adding increments of 30 seconds when the previous time limit has become relatively comfortable...until the position can be maintained for 15 minutes. There's really no point in going beyond that.

Strength is developed slowly in the legs and hips as well as the ankles. The breath (and subsequently, the qi) drops to the lower abdomen. One becomes firmly “rooted” to the ground and the power of one's blows dramatically increases. There are no short-cuts; it's going to take a while. Patience is developed as well as power.

Many instructors nowadays don't bother with this training, fearing that students might quit because of the extreme discomfort involved. And maybe they will...but teaching authentic martial arts shouldn't be about simply making money. It's much more than that. Give credit only where and when credit is due.