Going Back to Zero

Pamela Hultgren / 2023.07

In 2014 and again in 2016 we were gifted with Grandmaster Wu’s 13 Points–a comprehensive list of the guiding principles for our practice. The subtitle instructs us to train the principles to they become habitual actions.

Traditional Taoist Taiji Quan – its special characteristics
Training so they become habitual actions

A habitual action is something we do by habit; it is what we usually do; it is something that is built into the way we move.

If you look up “habit” online you will find countless websites that focus on habits. There are books, videos, podcasts, worksheets, there are apps, and even songs devoted to habits, all created to help us develop or change a habit. Habits and habitual actions are a good thing, it’s what we strive for in our lives and in our practices if it’s a good habit – but what if it’s a bad habit?

After receiving the translation of the 13 Points from Brother Wah Chuan Low in 2014 and reading and discussing them many times over the years, most of them started to sound familiar. I understood them well enough to have a beginning point to work from. . .all but #6. Over the years that one continued to confuse me. What did it mean?

Substantiality and insubstantiality (legs)
(from 50/50%, 40/60%, 30/70%, 20/80%, 10/90%, to. . . )

I’ve tried to work on #6 several times but found that I really didn’t understand it well enough to continue. Professor Wang has helped me via email but it wasn’t until he tested my Bear Sway in 2019 that I really understood there was something wrong with the way I was moving. I was shifting and turning, inhaling and exhaling exactly as I was taught so many years ago, so what was it? So, again and again I worked on my Bear Sway. It turned out that Bear Sway was not the problem. The problem was a bad habit imbedded in my Bear Sway.

We have been asked by Grandmaster Wu and Professor Wang to go back to zero, but it wasn’t until 8 months ago and after many failed attempts to find the “problem” that I did just that–I went back to zero. And going back to zero lead me back to the 13 Points. I needed these guiding principles and again found #6.

Professor Wang suggested that I use Bear Sway as my training partner and to start by NOT shifting, just work on the turning. So there I was in my 50/50% stance finding it very difficult to practice without the shift. My body just would not cooperate with me and neither would my brain. I had to stop thinking, to stop hearing the words I had said 10,000 times, “shift and turn” and “inhale as you shift, exhale as you turn.” The first thing I had to do was to put my teacher brain aside.

It took several weeks before I could stop that “teacher in my head” and just turn. With only one thing to do it was easier to feel that I was not turning correctly. I was moving WAY too much so that each time I turned I was moving out of my alignment. I was all over my foot which made it obvious that I was turning my hips and that was wrong. That was external. It was wrong in Bear Sway, and it was wrong in every move I made.

As I practiced, I began to focus on my Kua rather than the turn itself. I started to turn my Kua but that felt too familiar. It was too much! Was I correcting a bad habit? No! Turning my Kua was just another way to turn my hips. And again, back to zero.

I started to feel my Kua opening and closing, and as that happened, I found “40/60%!” I had stayed so focused my Kua and had almost completely forgotten about the shift and those percentages in #6. It’s funny to think about them now and my struggle of trying to get to this or that percentage of stability, shifting just so to get to that magic number.

Once I was comfortable at 40/60% and understood why 50/50% was the starting point, I started to shift to 30/70%. Shifting slightly and continuing to listen. Was I able to maintain my alignment? Could I feel my substantial and insubstantial legs? Was I comfortable? Was I swaying all over my foot or was I centered over the Yong Quan?

Am I done? No! Am I anxious to get to the next conference? Absolutely, but in the meantime, I will continue play with #6 and the rest of the Points and wondering what other habits are imbedded and need to change. What habits do I need to create? But what I understand now is that I cannot simply layer new habits on top of old habits, the good on top of the bad. That just makes a bigger mess. I have to find zero before I can find the good habits–so, it’s back to zero!!

A footnote: I have introduced Non-Shifting-Bear-Sway-Training in classes which, frankly, has not gone over very well. The students have, however, stuck with the new training and are starting to make discoveries of their own about their Kua and about substantial and insubstantial! And, our beginning students are now learning Bear Sway without a shift and we are already seeing that it makes a difference in the way they move and turn!