NOTE: PM = Practical Method
Recently, I developed myself a sum up for PM. That is "Opposite Forces, Opposite Faces and Opposite Spins." It is based on the yin yang theory that I learned from PM. Let me draw my summary out.
If I am handling a rectangular volume, I have to at least act a pair of opposite forces on the opposite faces of the volume.
If there is an eccentricity between the pair of forces, this pair will create a spin, a rotation, a toppling or an overturning, whatever the term you prefer, on the rectangular volume. Human bodies with just two legs to support themselves are inherently instable and prone to toppling or overturning. Think of turning tripods into "bipods". Can the camera stay stable in place? So, to my understanding, many basic techniques in PM are based on your one leg on one face of the opponent and you one hand on the opposite face of the opponent. The two opposite forces act at the same time, then the opponent topples and falls.
So what is "opposite spins"? That is the engine that drives our techniques in PM: opening the kua. It also includes fixing the two ends and moving middle (on the other hand, fixing the middle and moving two ends). When you open, the two adjacent sides of the middle spin oppositely.
After revisiting Master Chen's 5 Dimensions Videos, I derived further my understanding of PM. We are living in a 3-dimensional space. If you want to fix a rectangular volume in space, you have to use 6 opposite translational forces acting on the 6 faces of the rectangular volume to prevent it from moving translationally and perhaps also spinning about the 3 axes (if you act the 6 forces with appropriate eccentricities between them).
But, we are living on Earth and not in the space. We have the solid ground (green brush) and the gravitational force to do 1 pair of the opposite forces for us. Thus, we only have to deal with the 4 other contacting points or horizontal opposite forces. The traditional saying that 1 contacting point forming a dot, 2 dots forming a line, 3 dots forming an area and 4 dots forming a volume can be seen as fixing the opponent in our 3-dimensional space.
Master Chen teaches us that 5th dimension is the motion. It is usually the spin or sinking. You may also see that from the drawing, after you fix your opponent in the horizontal plan and sink, you actually enhance the gravitational force and help yourself fixing your opponent in place. If the opponent's diantian is off from the line drawing between his/her two legs. The sinking action can actually collapse him/her.
A chart on the relationships between total, active and passive tensions of muscles vs muslce elongation is extracted from researchgate for illustration. Maximum tension generated by muscles is through pulling the muscle apart rather than by active contraction of muscles.
Master Chen also urges us just to touch and not actively acting any force on your opponent. I find it really conforms to the essence traditionally described in Taiji doctrines, i.e. elastic motions and silk reeling. Silks cannot actively compress things and yet they can passively compress and tie things up when they are pulled and under tension. By not acting forces actively, our passive tension of muscles can be passively activated by the opponents. When the opponents want to move and we maintain our structure and keep tying them up, muscles will behave like rubber bands in this way. Moreover, passive tension of muscles can be far larger than active tension that muscles can produce proactively.
While 4 passive contacting points can fix your opponent in place, they are also ready for you to pull the trigger. With appropriate eccentricities between the 4 contacting points, you can actually impose a vertical spin and a horizontal spin on your opponent at the same time when you do your motion in 5th dimension. Your heads and legs create the vertical spin. Your two hands create the horizontal spin.
In the traditional teaching of Taiji, we always say we have to behave as if we are a ball. After learning from Master Chen's 5 dimensions theory, I find myself having a deeper understanding on the traditional teaching and PM's doctrine. You can fix a sphere and prevent it from moving translationally by providing 3 pairs of opposite forces pointing towards the centre (in human's case, diantian) of the sphere. However, these 3 pairs of opposite forces are not efficient to prevent the sphere from spinning. They can only resist the spinning by frictions. This leads back to Master Chen's teaching, "don't move, only rotate". You don't move translationally and spin your diantian. You can turn yourself to an angle which is inefficient for the opponent to hold you. Then, you expand yourself and prison break.
I was lucky to be in the 2018 workshop held in Hong Kong. At the last Q&A session, a classmate asked what is internal martial art. I remember that Master Chen drew a square and a dot at the centre of the square on the white board. At that time, I could not understand what he was implying. Now, I may be getting closer to what Master Chen wanted to tell us?
PS: Actually, you can fix a sphere in the space with just 4nos. of contacting points which are forming a equilateral tetrahedron. But for that to be effective, they shall be acting along specific angles, i.e. pointing at the same centre and making 120 degrees with each other in the 3D space. However, for practicality and easiler understanding, giving up a certain degree of accuracy in science and mathematics, the information above should be good enough to explain PM's principles, concepts and techniques.
PS2: My brain is certainly better than my kung fu. Hopefully, I can convince you on paper theoretically. But, do not test with me. My body cannot demonstrate any real taiji. If you wanna try, please visit:-
if you are English speaker:
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