Peng Is the Most Important Concept in Tai Chi

Peng is the Most Important Concept in Tai Chi

peng jin tai chi energies taiji energies Mar 01, 2007

The most important "jin" (strength or force) in tai chi is peng jin. Chen Xiaowang has described peng jin as "chi flowing, everything full, nothing broken."

Peng jin is an expansive feeling directed outward from the body--beginning with the ground, transmitted by the legs, directed by the dan t'ien and manifest through the hands and fingers. It must be delivered without "local" muscular tension--in other words, you use your entire body as your fist, you don't strike with primarily your arm and shoulder muscles.

Peng jin works with the ground path to provide a solid structure in the body.

This is the foundation of internal strength.

In every movement in Taijiquan, the ground and peng must be present or your movement is empty. This is my the first thing I teach new students is the ground path, then peng jin.

Peng jin feels a bit like the same type of force that exists when you push a beach ball beneath the water. The potential force is ready to be released when you let go of the ball, but the ball maintains its structural integrity. If you release the ball, it springs back out of the water.

My favorite visualization of peng jin, ground path and silk-reeling is to jump on a beach ball or a fitness ball in a swimming pool. The expansive pressure inside the ball represents peng jin. If you try to mount the ball in the water, it will give, but it will maintain its structural integrity, and the water pressure provides "grounding." Then, when your force is expended, the ball springs back and spins you into the water. There is nothing you can do to hang on.

The ball is not tense, and uses no muscular tension to dump you into the water. It has peng, ground, and spiraling power.

Every movement in tai chi is intended to maintain and manipulate peng jin. Without peng jin, and in every other jin (liu, ji, an, cai, etc.) there must also be peng or there is no tai chi.

There are a LOT of tai chi people practicing without a clue about peng jin. If your teacher has never discussed and shown you peng jin, you're probably not really practicing tai chi.

Peng (pronounced "pung") has sometimes been called "concealed strength."

Once, I was in class as a student, and my teacher at the time was standing quite a ways away from me. I began a movement and he called out, "Ken, you just lost it."

"What did I lose?" I asked.

"Your peng!"

I wondered how he could tell from way over there. :) Now, it's obvious when I watch my students and others. I can see the peng vanish when they do some movements, or I can see that it was never there to begin with.

When someone loses peng jin, you can see a slack look in their body, or arm. It relaxes too much.

It takes a lot of practice, thought, and study to begin to understand, and to begin working on the concept of maintaining peng throughout every movement. It's part of the fun, and the depth, of tai chi.

--by Ken Gullette

Try Two Weeks Free and Get Step-by-Step Training in Taiji, Xingyi and Bagua from Basic to Advanced Skills with No Mystical Mumbo-Jumbo

More than 850 Video Lessons and Downloadable pdf documents -- and You Get It All During Your Free Trial!

Click this Button to Learn More and Watch a Video!

Okay! Let Me See More!

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

Peng is the Most Important Concept in Tai Chi

Try Two Weeks Free and Get Step-by-Step Training in Taiji, Xingyi and Bagua from Basic to Advanced Skills with No Mystical Mumbo-Jumbo

Author - Instructor

Stay connected with news and updates!

Two Step