Feb 1, 20243 min read

'Full' and 'Empty'

Updated: 4 days ago

'Full' & 'Empty'

When we walk, we need to create 'full' and 'empty' in the legs.

Most of the time we do it without thinking; it just happens. But in both tai chi and in qigong, this is very much a conscious process involving good timing as well as being in exactly the right place at the right time.

What's it All About?

When you are about to step, consciously place all of your weight on to one foot, not only feeling the foot being pressed into the ground, but also dropping the body mass into the foot. You can bend the knee as little or as much as you like, but 'dropping the body mass' is not achieved by bending the knee as such; it is a feeling inside you.

The Body Mass

This means that you need to feel the weight of your own body passing downwards through the supporting leg.

This 'weight' is everything from your shoulders downwards, but doesn't include the neck and head, and strangely also doesn't include much of the spine. So you release the shoulders, feeling their weight; the arms, the upper body (chest), and in particular the pelvis (hips) all need to settle into the leg on to which you are putting your weight.

What Happens to Your Neck?

As you press your weight on to your left or right foot in order to step, feel gravity (your body weight) passing downwards into the stepping foot. As it does so, let your neck soften and 'undo'; in other words, the muscles in the neck release and therefore lengthen, and in effect, the neck gets minutely longer.

If you are able to allow this happen (you can't exactly make it happen), you will start to notice that the lengthening isn't confined to the neck; the entire spine, from the top vertebrae inside your head (roughly between your ears) to the top of the pelvis (5th lumbar) becomes involved.

It's as though the spine takes on a springy quality - which is exactly what it should be... your suspension.

The Builder's Bucket Effect.

It is this pressing down which releases the 'up' on the other side of the body, i.e. the foot with which you intend to step.

Many actions that you do have a 'rotational' aspect to them; this isn't unlike Newton's 3rd Law of Motion where 'every action has an equal and opposite reaction'.

At its most basic level, a rocket has to exert a downward force to achieve an upward lift, and when we operate one side of our body, we often counterbalance with a release on the other side.

An example of this is walking; in order to move we put the pressure on one side of the body and the other side is released. The key when doing tai chi or qigong is to be aware of this taking place.

Once you are aware of this happening, you gain more control over your movements.

James Drewe teaches Tai Chi and Qigong in both London and in Kent and online.

Details of weekly classes both live and online can be found on the website, and there are classes for 2-person Tai Chi on one Saturday a month.