Sep 1, 20234 min read

How to Lift the Knee Higher in Taiji and Qigong

Updated: 4 days ago

In both in taiji and in qigong there is often the need to raise the knee, either to kick, or perhaps as an exercise for the pelvis, or perhaps just to take a step.As in raising your arm efficiently, there is a similar method with the leg.

Try the following...

Whilst standing, lightly place the knuckles of one hand on the small of your back.By flexing your spine beneath your knuckles, see if you can use your spine to push your knuckles backwards. You can let your knees bend a little if necessary, but your body shouldn't lean backwards.

The point of this is explained below.

What happens when you lift your knee?

There are several muscles involved in lifting the leg, but the most important ones are a group of muscles collectively known as the quads (quadriceps, in particular the Rectus Femoris), the Iliacus, and the Psoas (Iliopsoas). The bulk of the Rectus Femoris lies on the top of the thigh, you can feel it easily; the Iliacus and Psoas are deeper. By contracting all of these muscles, the thigh/knee will lift.

If all you want to know is which of the main muscles are involved, then they are:

The Rectus Femoris

..................and the Iliacus & Iliopsoas:

Attachments & Contraction.

'Contracting' a muscle means bringing the two ends (attachments) closer together.

I know that's obvious, but to use the muscle efficiently it helps if you know roughly where those ends (attachments) are, otherwise there's a good chance that you're either using only part of the muscle, or you are unwittingly letting the 'attachments' of the muscle (i.e. the bones to which the ends of each muscle attach) collapse or 'give', rather than becoming part of the lifting process.

The attachments to think about.

When lifting the knee, we are most concerned with the muscular attachments to the ; the attachments to the knee (quads) or to the thigh bone (iliac & psoas) pretty much take care of themselves.

If you can the following rather than just it, it will make a big difference to your taiji and qigong, as you will work more from the centre.

The Rectus Femoris & the Pelvis.

The 'mechanics' are that the Rectus Femoris attaches to the side of the Pelvis.

If you shorten (contract/tighten) that muscle, it's going to pull the lower part of the pelvis forward... .

[You can see the arrow shaped bone (the sacrum) which is part of the spine and in the middle between the two halves of the pelvis; the tip of the arrow, which points down, moves forwards slightly towards the front of the body when the bottom of the pelvis is pulled forward, but because it's a part of the spine, it makes the rest of the spine flex also].

This is good as it makes your pelvis tuck under, exactly as it would do if you were going to sit down.

The attachments of the Iliacus & Psoas.

This is where the exercise that I began with becomes relevant.

The Psoas attaches at the top to the lower spine - the Lumbars, which are the lower part of the 'S' bend of your back.

When lifting the leg, you do not want this part of your spine to be pulled forwards (towards the abdomen/front of body); if this happens, you are in effect collapsing one of the main supports. The incorrect use of this muscle is not unlike tying a hammock to an 80 year old oak tree on one side (in this case the lower attachments), and a 2 year old willow on the other (the spinal attachments); the willow will bend, providing no support on that side.

So if the spine is allowed to bend towards the front of the body, the body starts fighting itself. The Rectus Femoris is making the Pelvis do one thing (tuck under with the spine trying to push backwards), and the spine which is attached to the Pelvis (by not very flexible ligaments) is doing another thing (rotating the opposite way - i.e. bottom sticking out backwards).

And practically?

When you sit down, your knee lifts... or to be more precise, you take your chest towards your knees. What happened to the small of your back, and what did you do with your pelvis? After all, you never sit down with your bottom sticking out; if you did you'd jar your spine.

So when you lift the knee forwards, be conscious of the lower spine gently pushing backwards.

Behave like a horse.

Our buttocks and thighs are no different to the haunches of a horse; in other words, on a horse you think of the whole haunch as being a part of the leg.In a human, we tend to think of the buttock as being separate to the thigh, whereas in reality, the crease of the buttock defines the shape of the upper part of the leg.

The leg is therefore formed of foot, calf, thigh, and buttock to the top of the pelvis, then around the front of the body to the inguinal groove which divides the thigh from the groin.

One other small point, wearing very high heels, which throw the pelvis and bottom backwards, will make it more difficult to lift the knee high as they throw the pelvis in completely the wrong direction.

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.