Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts Blog

What Does "Double-Weighted" Mean in Tai Chi?

push hands tai chi self-defense taijiquan Feb 12, 2020

You have heard people say that being "double-weighted" is bad in Taijiquan.

But if you ask 10 different Taiji folks what that means, you will get 10 different answers.

Some say it is when your weight is distributed 50-50 between the legs.

Some say it's a mental thing. Others say something completely different.

This video shows what I learned about double-weighting from training with Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing and their students and disciples.

Chen Xiaoxing One Year Later

chan style tai chi chen family taijiquan chen xiaoxing push hands May 15, 2007

It's been a year since Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing stayed in our home for a week. He came to Moline partially as a favor, because I sponsored his visa to visit the U.S. and teach seminars around the country. He held a 2-day seminar on Laojia Yilu at our school and I received some good private training in my basement. It was fascinating to host a man like this and to see a true master up close and personal.

Grandmaster Chen is in charge of all tai chi training in the Chen village. He has trained some talented young masters. We're about the same age. He's the younger brother of Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang. He's the uncle of Chen Bing.

It was difficult for us to communicate, since he doesn't speak English, but when he trains, no words need to be said. One day we did push hands in my basement for a while. Each time I tried to attack him, he relaxed and suddenly, I found myself on the floor. We were both laughing--I was laughing because it was amazing to feel what he was doing but still be un...

The Taiji Yin-Yang Formula

chen family taijiquan push hands tai chi chuan Dec 18, 2006

Tai Chi magazine had a good article recently called The Taiji Yin-Yang Formula. I especially enjoyed this quote: "If one wants to catch something, first it must be let go."

Naturally, I can't go into all of the principles included in this blog post, but one of the principles I'll practice with the class this week is "letting go" when force comes at you.

I practiced pushing hands with Master Chen Bing in Chicago last year. There was an exercise we did--he put his hand on my shoulder and I put my hand on his. When I pushed, he would relax and suddenly he wouldn't be there. His shoulder gave way under my push. Instead of greeting my push with force, he let go. He easily handled my force and before I knew it, I was off balance.

One of the things about Tai Chi that has always fascinated me is the idea of relaxing when force is coming at you. It's contrary to everything we've been taught to do our entire lives. And as the article in Tai Chi Magazine says, the very act of yielding create...

Ken Gullette's Internal Fighting Arts

What Does "Double-Weighted" Mean in Tai Chi?

Chen Xiaoxing One Year Later

The Taiji Yin-Yang Formula

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