Wuji - An Important Principle of Balance and Harmony in Tai Chi

chen tai chi internal arts training philosophy tai chi training Apr 04, 2010

In Taoism and Chinese culture, the term wuji (pronounced "woo-zhee") means a state of harm ony and balance -- emptiness, stillness and peace. It is limitless, infinite.

It is when everything begins moving and you lose balance that you also lose wuji.

In the Taoist view of the universe, if we were to look at it from a modern scientific view, the universe was in a state of wuji just before the Big Bang. There was a state of perfect peace and then all hell broke loose. Things separated into yin and yang. Dogs and cats living together -- MASS HYSTERIA! (Sorry, I watched Ghostbusters a lot when my daughters were little)

In Tai Chi, the goal is to maintain a sort of wuji -- balance and harmony; to remain centered. When someone attacks, and you must adapt and change to accept this person's force, your goal is to return to wuji -- the state of balance you were in before the attack.

I enjoy working with people who have never studied the internal arts. Almost every time when a newbie is working on a self-defense technique, their bodies contort and twist and bend and go so off-balance that there's no way they could defend themselves in a real-life violent encounter.

One of the reasons Chen Tai Chi is so strict about body mechanics and structure is this quest for wuji. If you train yourself to recognize when you're in a state of balance, then practice the combat techniques that allow you to maintain balance while throwing your opponent off-balance, you will eventually achieve skill. In a state of balance, you can defend from all directions.

One of the things I've been working on with my students lately is the ability to relax when attacked. Our first reaction when force comes toward us is to tense up. We become stiff and unyielding (too "yang"), when the best course of action is almost always to relax, yield, and then overcome -- a combination of yin and yang.

This also applies to verbal and emotional attacks. At work, at home, even on the street or in traffic, some people will attempt to attack you with words or actions. Often, they are intentionally trying to push your buttons, or throw you off-balance either because of their own imbalance or for their own benefit. Your goal, then, is to regain wuji as quickly as possible and be at peace.

As you practice your Tai Chi (or Hsing-I or Bagua) or if you practice push hands, pay attention to the state of balance you start in, and when you are moving, attempt to remain in that state of balance -- or return to it as efficiently as possible.

I will be videotaping some lessons on this concept for the online school.

--by Ken Gullette

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Wuji - An Important Principle of Balance and Harmony 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

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