The secret of meaningful movement

First intention, then enlightenment. —Buddhist maxim

Yesterday, Sifu Dr. Weng was disappointed in me for performing the “Grasping the Bird’s Tail” technique as if it were only a series of movements. It seemed that I was not actively thinking about the application of the movements and just performing them for the sake of performance. He reminded me that every movement in T’ai Chi has meaning and that there are no unnecessary, meaningless movements.

What does it mean for movement to have meaning?
And how can I make my movements meaningful?

I was walking back from Karate class today and recalled the sword hand (unbendable arm) technique in Aikido, where an ordinary arm becomes amazingly strong, rigid yet relaxed, and sword-like due to concentrated Ki energy flowing through it: from the Hara (center of gravity) through the torso, the shoulder, arm, wrist and finally out of the palm with remarkable force—like water gushing out of a fire hose. The Ki energy doesn’t stop there, however; while coursing through you, it flows beyond you: past the Dojo (training room) wall, out into the courtyard, beyond the trees, the hills, the city, the ocean, the planet, the moon, the sun, the galaxy, and so on until it connects with the grand universe itself!

But how does this Ki energy flow?
And how can we cause it to flow?

The answer, I realized, is simple: we do so with intention. Intention carves a path for Ki energy to flow through and it brings concentration and awareness to the forefront of the mind. These, in turn, cause our movements to be natural, efficient, and effective. And such movements are meaningful because they are driven by purposeful thought (intention) and Ki energy.

This understanding seems to apply to all movements I have learned thus far in Karate, Aikido, and T’ai Chi.

For example, a proper Oi Zuki (lunge punch) in Karate is driven from the hips (which surround the Hara) and the punching hand rotates as it travels forward, causing a spiral motion. If we perform this technique using the Ki flow palm of an Aikido sword hand instead of a Karate fist, we discover that we automatically perform the proper hip rotation and footwork required by Oi Zuki.

Furthermore, when performing Oi Zuki backward, we discover that emphasis on intention and Ki energy flow causes us to automatically perform the correct movement. As emphasized in T’ai Chi, the wrist rotates as it travels inward because we are pulling the Ki energy in the direction of our intent (backward). The very act of keeping the Ki energy flow connected to our Hara, causes us to rotate our hips and keep our retreating hand synchronized with our retreating leg, in the proper Oi Zuki way.

Another example is the concept of “walking with your center”, which all of the above martial arts mention. If we simply move our body forward with intention, either being pulled in the direction of our Ki energy flow or extending the flow forward, we discover that we automatically walk with our center!

In short, it seems that intention naturally causes us to assume the proper posture and perform meaningful movements. What a wonderful, yet simple technique!