How Low Should You Go? The Role of Stance in Tai Chi

William C. Phillips

One of our readers this week asked, "How deep should my stance be while practicing Tai Chi?" Of course, there is no single answer for this that fits everyone, as some people may need to take a higher stance than others, if say, they have knee trouble, for example. However, many teachers answer this question with "as deep as you can comfortably go," implying that most people should take a very deep stance. This view is one that I respectfully disagree with.

Taking a low stance is a good way to strengthen the legs, but a mid-stance can provide even greater benefit, as it teaches some important lessons that are otherwise a challenge to learn and provides unique benefits beyond merely strengthening the legs, which a mid-level stance can do quite well.

Here are 4 benefits of a mid-level stance:

1) Easier to attain a true 70/30 stance. We all know of the importance of standing in a 70/30 stance. After all, the vast majority of the postures in Tai Chi use it. But attaining a true 70/30 stance is not that easy. Think you have attained it? Try this simple test: while standing in the posture in question, lift the leg which you believe to be carrying just 30% of your weight cleanly off the floor for a moment with minimal movement of your head. Can you do it? If you can, that's great! If not, it means you're not quite 70/30 yet. If you practice with a mid-level stance instead of a deep stance, you will be able to achieve this much quicker, and your Tai Chi form will be better overall.

2) The development of strong, yet relaxed legs. When strength is developed gradually over time, the muscles have time to adapt. They maintain their flexibility and softness as they get stronger. Taking a low stance can hinder this process, as the muscles fatigue much more quickly and can get injured, even slightly, which then causes them to tighten as they heal. A mid-level stance helps to guard against this problem.

3) Easier to attain proper alignment. In the Cheng Man-Ch'ing form, a lot of emphasis is placed on not only keeping the spine straight, but also keeping it vertical instead of tilted. This is only possible if one is in a proper 70/30 stance and is also relaxed, as this will create a straight line down the side of the body from the armpit to the knee pit.

4) The cultivation of ch'i. This last benefit also assumes the success of the other three. Once a relaxed, 70/30 stance has been attained, with a straight line down the side of the body, the ch'i is able to rise much more easily. This is not to say that it cannot flow in other positions, but this type of stance creates an optimal flow.

Are you still wondering if a mid-stance can effectively strengthen the legs? Try standing in the posture Play Guitar for a while. Just about everyone who has held this posture for a short while can attest to the incredible leg fatigue that sets in when you do it long enough! That was the posture recommended to us by Professor Cheng at his school for leg strengthening. In order to get the maximum benefit from standing in this posture, it is helpful if you relax the front leg while hanging back on the body to strengthen the rear leg.

So, in summary, if leg strength is your main or only goal in Tai Chi, using a low stance is fine. You will probably achieve it faster that way. But if you wish to develop proper structure and alignment, leg muscles that are strong yet relaxed, and greater ch'i flow, a mid-level stance is the way to go.

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Tai Chi vs. Yoga

The postures of hatha yoga provide many of the same health benefits as tai chi chuan. Unfortunately, most of the yoga positions are held for three minutes or longer, which can be very taxing on the body. Brief rest periods are therefore needed. Tai chi practice, on the other hand, does not require any rest period because the postures change too quickly to tire the body.

Yogic inverted postures, such as the headstand and shoulderstand, offer two advantages not found in tai chi chuan. First, they relieve the gravitational pressure on the internal organs and glands. And second, they ease the strain on the heart caused by having to pump blood against the force of gravity. Yoga exercises, however, do little to promote cardiovascular endurance.

Moreover, many people cannot perform certain yoga exercises because of health problems. Tai chi chuan, in contrast, may be practiced in virtually any state of health.

The yoga breathing techniques, known as pranayama, have many health benefits. They increase energy levels within the body, strengthen the immune system as well as the internal organs and glands, reduce stress, purify the body and improve memory. They also enhance the cellular expulsion of carbon dioxide, increase arterial circulation to the brain, reduce levels of lactic acid in the muscles, and stimulate intestinal peristalsis.

Unfortunately, if these exercises are practiced incorrectly, they can cause serious mental disturbances. Tai chi chuan does not present these problems. In tai chi, deep breathing is never imposed on the student; it is developed step by step. The student learns to gradually coordinate his breathing with the movements. This is perhaps the greatest advantage tai chi has over yoga.

In 1978, noted tai chi instructor Lawrence Galante and an associate conducted an experiment to determine whether tai chi chuan is effective in stimulating cardiovascular development. They used 25 tai chi students, ranging in age from 20 to 60 years old, as their models. The students had been studying the yang-style tai chi short form for a period of one to seven years. Galante and his assistant monitored the pulse rate, blood pressure and heart rate of all the students before and after they practiced the form. In all cases, the researchers found that if the form was practiced in a low stance, great cardiovascular stimulation occurred-between 60-80 percent of the maximum heart rate established by the American Heart Association (AHA). On the other hand, if the tai chi movements were performed in a high stance, there was very little heart stimulation (less than 60 percent of the maximum heart rate). However, for people who suffer from high blood pressure, or those recovering from heart attacks or heart surgery, the high stance is a better option. According to Galante, a person can easily meet the standards set by the AHA by practicing tai chi chuan three times a day.

Dr. John Painter, a Fort Worth, Texas based teacher of internal Chinese martial arts, claims that "When the movements of tai chi chuan are performed quickly or in a lower formed stance, they have the same beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system as jogging or high-impact aerobics, but without the stress and strain."

http://web.utah.edu/stc/tai-chi/articles.html