What does it mean to have liveliness in your waist? The waist is the most important part of your body within tai chi. Externally it has to be supple and soft thus creating an ability to be agile, the ability to store energy and the ability to release that energy. Internally it houses the Dan Tian, one of the main energy centers of your body and the location to change essence into chi. When your energy is alive you can respond to all situations without effort. Your movement becomes free and easy; any situation becomes effortless.
The waist is where internal martial arts start all movement (internally and externally). The power center, inside and out, drives the locomotion and generates the power. To develop this one must first find proper structure. The coccyx must be tucked, the Dan Tian sunk, chest hollowed, head hung high, chin tucked in, and back slightly rounded. Once the structure is correct a person must learn to relax into it or become “sung.” Through relaxation energy has true freedom and expression and power can occur at the speed of thought!
Now does this mean people need to have extremely supple waists and hip flexors? No but the more flexible you are the greater ability to store energy within your joints and issue when the time is needed. Flexibility and relaxation in the waist and hips is only one part of the greater equation though. A person must learn to connect their body parts together to create unison, internally and externally, to truly be able to express the power. Once the body is connected the intention can carry your energy through your body effortlessly. The bows of the body can be contracted and expanded at will and a person can become as fast as thought, this then leads to the idea of no-thought, a spiritual level, but that is for a later blog. Yet to accomplish all of this the waist must first be relaxed and the energy must be alive!