Power generation in 24 styles Tai-chi Nei-gong

This is a post for tai-chi enthusiasts. There are some styles in 24 styles Tai-chi Nei-gong (ref: Wang DiXian: 太極内功陰陽24式) meant for power training. I shall use the 10th Yin style as an example. The style is called "Smoothly pull away the sheep" (顺[手]牵羊). Incidentally it is one of the stratagems of the famous Thirty-Six Stratagems (三十六計).

Actually there is nothing mythical about this style (if my readers are pondering in this direction). Its swinging action aims at opening one's shoulder blade joints and, more importantly, to train oneself to generate or originate upper body power (e.g. in doing punching or pushing) from a point in the shoulder blade. In classical tai-chi lingo, it is called activation of one's Back-power (or Back-jing: 背勁).

With a sound foundation in chi-generation and meditative-point-sensitivity, a practitioner can proceed to train himself to activate this power. This foundation is primarily through the practice of Zhan zhuang. Those without such foundation will likely to be quite unsuccessful through just imitating the form. A coach will be beneficial - not so much on teaching the form, but on directing a practitioner through the necessary foundation steps, and understand when a practitioner can begin the style practice for good results. 

As I said previously, there is no mysticism in this Back-Jing activation. A good discus thrower knows best how to use this power. And needless to say, the athlete will be trained in quite different way.  As the old saying goes: Every road leads to Rome. 

From the perspective of a eager tai-chi Nei-Gong practitioner, he can certainly understand this style a lot better by studying the actions of a good discus thrower.

Discus thrower in action