Not many Taichi masters teach this. At least not on UA-cam. Thank you for sharing your interpretation. Valuable content. It's a foundational framework along with the note fundamental "Ting, Hua, Na, Fa" (listen, transform, control, emit) and "Zhan, Nian, Lian, Sui" (stick, adhere, join/connect, follow). Most practitioners don't understand those 3 frameworks.
Here is the original text of the Four Secret Words, when it was finally published: [原文]敷：敷者，运气于己身，敷布彼劲之上，使不得动也。盖：盖者，以气盖彼来处也。对：对者，以气对彼来处，认定准头而去也。呑：吞者，以气全吞而入于化也。此四字无形无声，非懂劲后，练到极精地位者，不能知全。是以气言，能直养其气而无害，始能施于四体，四体不言而喻矣！
Sifu that was a great explanation and interpretation - voiced so elequently. We talk about it in terms of bubbles but your version has helped me understand it further.
Sometimes I look back at how I had been before and it feels like another life lived by another person. And how I am now might be probably far from what the past me had imagined for myself. So I wonder how my life will continue to change, in ways I have never imagined yet! 😃🙏
great explanation and great concepts! I can talk for experience saying that this apply well beyond TaiChi, to real life issues. didn't known the 4 secrets of wu, but I actually used the accept and transform (and thus covering before, even if I was not aware of that stage) principles to change a strong and bad habit. fighting it never worked. accepting it made me feel easier on me, but still didn't solved the problem, but I started to see the problem from a DIFFERENT PROSPECTIVE, and that was key. now I'm EFFORTLESSLY transforming it and solving it for good or at least EFFORTLESSLY (this is key, NO FORCE of will required!) reduce it a lot! this video gives me insight on what I actually intuitively used! thanks sifu Lin! 😁 F. B.
That is super awesome and beautiful! You really show how much capacity we humans have to freely live, change, and grow. I like combative martial arts for building our inner strength, courage, resilience. And beyond those virtues I love Tai Chi as a process to help us realize that when we seem stuck, above all else we have freedom and still more options. Because when your awareness takes you to a new perspective, to a higher altitude or to the future where you’ve made it through the obstacle and are just reminiscing back about it, what will you realize that’s different, and liberating? And is it really beyond Tai Chi, if it’s still Tai Chi? 😃 Good job and thank you for sharing! Really enjoyed hearing about your success! 😃🙌
@@peterrustdeye-cooke6306I’m happy to answer your questions! Are you asking if we practice stationary standing? The only exercise we do that is relatively stationary is this one, ua-cam.com/video/J0RRN0bDxf4/v-deo.html and it does not have to be done for very long. Try it and see what you notice that’s different and helpful for you! 😃🙏
Thank you again for explaining how things work. You can also extend your space once the other is in it. If you expand it further backwards, you can suck your opponent in. If you expand it on the back of your opponent it will also effect him. Your video's are very helpfull!
If you imagine that your opponent is standing on your carpet or floor, you can also move or twist that carpet. You have to have contact with your opponent.
"When your Qi covers theirs, their energy cannot affect yours. They can't ruin your vibe." This seems to have tremendous implications well beyond Tai Chi and fighting !!
Totally! To me Tai Chi is a fantastic way to refine our spirit and forge our inner resilience, so that we can be true to ourselves and move freely through life’s obstacle. Because the partner practice we do reminds us of how we can be above any resistance. And the form practice, especially the Old Six Roads, is a really fun yet profound way to experience the harmony of body and spirit. Thanks for pointing it out! 😃🙏
How does this fit into the hierarchy of the internal aspects of T'ai Chi Ch'uan? Fascia/Song/Qi/Neijin/Yi? Is it a part of Yi? Something separate? All this new information has my mind spinning.
Good question! You are right to realize that this primarily occurs at Neijin and Yi, because those are the stages in which students learn to journey outside of their physical body, to be aware of what is more than their physical shell. Part of the reason I wanted to share this topic is because people who view the principles from the first 3 stages of internal aspects will have a partial view, that as they journey further, expands the vista to reveal aspects of Tai Chi that is both vaster and deeper. That journey can indeed be mind spinning! And that is good because when you spin for a bit you will come to a new sense of balance as you incorporate the new perspective and awareness. And the spin itself is the sign that you are changing. So enjoy your spin as you wonder, where will you end up, that is anywhere but where you started?? 😃🙏
Those refer to the directions of Qi or Neijin in terms of how they move your body and how they move another person’s body. Wu Yuxiang’s four word secrets, although the original script literally says Qi, to me it seems to be more about Yi, about how your awareness interacts with their awareness and thereby transform their force. And that can be entirely consistent because where your Yi goes, your Qi goes, right? 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi oh so that one is more related to peng-lu-ji-an maybe? and about qi in the text and yi in the interpretation, is it possible to do the drape-cover-align-swallow in fascia level too?
@@outerlastyes you are right that Peng Lu Ji An are more directional and comparable to float sink draw and expel. You can apply the Four Secret Words principles to fascia mastery as well, in terms of extending your awareness, finding the connection and controlling their body. Tai Chi does have though a lot of words associated with sticking and contact techniques: zhan, nian, na, and many more. So that means the “Secret Words” probably differ from the words that are not secret, both in terminology and usage. Does that make sense? 😃🙏
Thank you very much for sharing. Would it be possible to elaborate how/whether this aligns with Ba Gua and Xing Yi? I've heard someone call these 3 arts "the 3 sisters", so I am wondering how they are interconnected at this deeper level.
Interesting question! The founder of Bagua, Dong Haitian, was said to have said that the highest level of skill, above crossing arms, is to deceive someone and defeat them by using footwork and disappearing like a shadow. That is generally understood as being about ability but I sometimes wonder if he meant more than that. Xingyi talks about three levels of Jin force. Mingjin Apparent force. A Jin Hidden force. And Huajin transparent or dissolved force. That’s another example of describing something invisible or even harder to perceive than the Anjin hidden force. It’s interesting to wonder how deep these arts go and how vast was the knowledge of the old masters! Thank you for asking these interesting questions! 😃🙏
This is amazing Sifu. The concept of feeling my own chi field let alone somebody elses chi field seems mind boggling. I can put my lao-gong together during open/close or kai/he movements and feel magnetic sensations but thats about it, I cant imagine how one would go about feeling anothers', is there a method to it?
Yes you can certainly learn to do it and it’s not actually complicated. 😃 What happens is that you have certain thoughts and you are experiencing certain feelings. And underneath those thoughts and inside of those feelings is something else that you really feel. That something else, beyond the narrative of your thoughts and feelings, is your true experience. As you get to know this experience, you are beginning to perceive the experience carried by your Qi. To the extent you feel this then you are aware of and in control of your Qi. When you enter a domain that causes you to shift, like around a person that gets on your nerve, you can notice your mood and experience changing. As you journey in and out of maintaining your quality of experience, you will get to know this process of mastering your Qi field and feeling it interacting with the persons and places of the world! Does that make sense? 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thanks Sifu, it does make sense although still somewhat abstract to me. But the closest I can say I have come, if its at all relatable, is when experiencing any type of emotion I ponder to myself how that feeling arose and explain it away in a philosphical or even technical sense, and to just let it be. Your knowledge in incredibly deep though Sifu wish you had been around online around 10 or 15 years ago.
@@robertjordon1984that’s exactly right! When you are aware of what’s underneath your emotions and just let it be, you can then begin to experience reality directly aside from any influence. This is an experiential process, meaning, as you experience it, it naturally begins to make more sense and become a part of you. It’s not something you figure out. Like riding a bike, it’s something you don’t succeed at, and then accidentally succeed at, and then become natural. Because you don’t remember how you figured out how to ride a bike but you know a part of you helped you to become able to ride a bike in the way that you’ve always been able to. And that part of you will help you succeed in this too, while you are confused, until you start to notice that you’re doing it. And that’ll be fun, to learn and grow without realizing it, will it not? 😃🙌
Good demonstration of skill, but just curious who you say obtained the 4 character secret from WYX? Seems like you are suggesting only Li Qixuan "got it" and not Hao Weizhen?
Good question! I can not say for sure what Hao got or did not, as many things are passed in secret and his skill is certainly incredibly high. What I recall from researching the recorded history was that Li Yiyu was permitted to copy the Wu family manuscript, and that he did pass it to Li Qixuan. It’s possible that Hao received it as well in secrecy or otherwise. What we do know is that in 1935 the writing about the 4 words were published publicly and that was quite a big deal at a time, and a very fortunate event for all of us who love Tai Chi. 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thanks, I am studying Hao style now (starting afresh), the 4 characters are definitely part of the 'classics' / books now, but hard to know if it was added later
Wu Yuxiang probably didn't learn Tai Chi in Beijing. He and Yang Luchan were from the same town Yongnian, so he most likely learned from Yang Luchan BEFORE Yang Luchan went to Beijing.
Not many Taichi masters teach this. At least not on UA-cam. Thank you for sharing your interpretation. Valuable content.
It's a foundational framework along with the note fundamental "Ting, Hua, Na, Fa" (listen, transform, control, emit) and "Zhan, Nian, Lian, Sui" (stick, adhere, join/connect, follow).
Most practitioners don't understand those 3 frameworks.
Thank you for the kind comment and expanding with the other essential keywords too! 😃🙏
Here is the original text of the Four Secret Words, when it was finally published:
[原文]敷：敷者，运气于己身，敷布彼劲之上，使不得动也。盖：盖者，以气盖彼来处也。对：对者，以气对彼来处，认定准头而去也。呑：吞者，以气全吞而入于化也。此四字无形无声，非懂劲后，练到极精地位者，不能知全。是以气言，能直养其气而无害，始能施于四体，四体不言而喻矣！
thankful for the Google Translate feature; seems like a very powerful hidden gem of information
@@DrEricRobinsoh yes! And the LLM do a good job of translating this kind of archaic grammar. Give that a try. 😃
Sifu that was a great explanation and interpretation - voiced so elequently. We talk about it in terms of bubbles but your version has helped me understand it further.
Yes bubbles! I’m happy to hear that you are understanding it further. 😃🙏
Amazing information ! Thank you for sharing ! For me maybe in another life I will practice .
Sometimes I look back at how I had been before and it feels like another life lived by another person. And how I am now might be probably far from what the past me had imagined for myself. So I wonder how my life will continue to change, in ways I have never imagined yet! 😃🙏
Great info, thanks a lot for sharing this hidden gem 💎
Thank you for your kind comment! 😃🙏
great explanation and great concepts!
I can talk for experience saying that this apply well beyond TaiChi, to real life issues.
didn't known the 4 secrets of wu, but I actually used the accept and transform (and thus covering before, even if I was not aware of that stage) principles to change a strong and bad habit.
fighting it never worked.
accepting it made me feel easier on me, but still didn't solved the problem, but I started to see the problem from a DIFFERENT PROSPECTIVE, and that was key.
now I'm EFFORTLESSLY transforming it and solving it for good or at least EFFORTLESSLY (this is key, NO FORCE of will required!) reduce it a lot!
this video gives me insight on what I actually intuitively used!
thanks sifu Lin! 😁
F. B.
That is super awesome and beautiful! You really show how much capacity we humans have to freely live, change, and grow. I like combative martial arts for building our inner strength, courage, resilience. And beyond those virtues I love Tai Chi as a process to help us realize that when we seem stuck, above all else we have freedom and still more options. Because when your awareness takes you to a new perspective, to a higher altitude or to the future where you’ve made it through the obstacle and are just reminiscing back about it, what will you realize that’s different, and liberating? And is it really beyond Tai Chi, if it’s still Tai Chi? 😃 Good job and thank you for sharing! Really enjoyed hearing about your success! 😃🙌
@phoenixmountaintaichi thank you to always come up with excellent explanations about the inner world, when one is ready, they really clicks
As always, so insightful and pushing the mind to go deeper. Thankyou ☯️🙏
I think that’s the fun of all of this, going deeper and discovering richer, unexpected treasures as you go. 😃🙌
Just a question please? Do you place any emphasis on time taken in standing postures or continuous movement? ☯️🙏
@@peterrustdeye-cooke6306I’m happy to answer your questions! Are you asking if we practice stationary standing? The only exercise we do that is relatively stationary is this one,
ua-cam.com/video/J0RRN0bDxf4/v-deo.html
and it does not have to be done for very long. Try it and see what you notice that’s different and helpful for you! 😃🙏
Thank you again for explaining how things work. You can also extend your space once the other is in it. If you expand it further backwards, you can suck your opponent in. If you expand it on the back of your opponent it will also effect him. Your video's are very helpfull!
That’s a really cool way of looking at it! I will play with that. Thank you for sharing! 😃🙏
If you imagine that your opponent is standing on your carpet or floor, you can also move or twist that carpet. You have to have contact with your opponent.
"When your Qi covers theirs, their energy cannot affect yours. They can't ruin your vibe."
This seems to have tremendous implications well beyond Tai Chi and fighting !!
Totally! To me Tai Chi is a fantastic way to refine our spirit and forge our inner resilience, so that we can be true to ourselves and move freely through life’s obstacle. Because the partner practice we do reminds us of how we can be above any resistance. And the form practice, especially the Old Six Roads, is a really fun yet profound way to experience the harmony of body and spirit. Thanks for pointing it out! 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi 🙏❤
How does this fit into the hierarchy of the internal aspects of T'ai Chi Ch'uan? Fascia/Song/Qi/Neijin/Yi? Is it a part of Yi? Something separate? All this new information has my mind spinning.
Good question! You are right to realize that this primarily occurs at Neijin and Yi, because those are the stages in which students learn to journey outside of their physical body, to be aware of what is more than their physical shell.
Part of the reason I wanted to share this topic is because people who view the principles from the first 3 stages of internal aspects will have a partial view, that as they journey further, expands the vista to reveal aspects of Tai Chi that is both vaster and deeper. That journey can indeed be mind spinning! And that is good because when you spin for a bit you will come to a new sense of balance as you incorporate the new perspective and awareness. And the spin itself is the sign that you are changing. So enjoy your spin as you wonder, where will you end up, that is anywhere but where you started?? 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi Lol..! ;)
Very profound and interesting.
Thank you for the comment; glad you enjoyed it! 😃🙏
do they have any relation with the swallow-spit-float-sink principle? although i think that one is not from taiji...
Those refer to the directions of Qi or Neijin in terms of how they move your body and how they move another person’s body. Wu Yuxiang’s four word secrets, although the original script literally says Qi, to me it seems to be more about Yi, about how your awareness interacts with their awareness and thereby transform their force. And that can be entirely consistent because where your Yi goes, your Qi goes, right? 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi oh so that one is more related to peng-lu-ji-an maybe?
and about qi in the text and yi in the interpretation, is it possible to do the drape-cover-align-swallow in fascia level too?
@@outerlastyes you are right that Peng Lu Ji An are more directional and comparable to float sink draw and expel.
You can apply the Four Secret Words principles to fascia mastery as well, in terms of extending your awareness, finding the connection and controlling their body. Tai Chi does have though a lot of words associated with sticking and contact techniques: zhan, nian, na, and many more. So that means the “Secret Words” probably differ from the words that are not secret, both in terminology and usage. Does that make sense? 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi yes, thank you for the answers :)
Thank you very much for sharing. Would it be possible to elaborate how/whether this aligns with Ba Gua and Xing Yi? I've heard someone call these 3 arts "the 3 sisters", so I am wondering how they are interconnected at this deeper level.
Interesting question! The founder of Bagua, Dong Haitian, was said to have said that the highest level of skill, above crossing arms, is to deceive someone and defeat them by using footwork and disappearing like a shadow. That is generally understood as being about ability but I sometimes wonder if he meant more than that.
Xingyi talks about three levels of Jin force. Mingjin Apparent force. A Jin Hidden force. And Huajin transparent or dissolved force. That’s another example of describing something invisible or even harder to perceive than the Anjin hidden force.
It’s interesting to wonder how deep these arts go and how vast was the knowledge of the old masters! Thank you for asking these interesting questions! 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thank you for taking the time to reply and for sharing your knowledge sifu!
This is amazing Sifu. The concept of feeling my own chi field let alone somebody elses chi field seems mind boggling. I can put my lao-gong together during open/close or kai/he movements and feel magnetic sensations but thats about it, I cant imagine how one would go about feeling anothers', is there a method to it?
Yes you can certainly learn to do it and it’s not actually complicated. 😃 What happens is that you have certain thoughts and you are experiencing certain feelings. And underneath those thoughts and inside of those feelings is something else that you really feel. That something else, beyond the narrative of your thoughts and feelings, is your true experience. As you get to know this experience, you are beginning to perceive the experience carried by your Qi. To the extent you feel this then you are aware of and in control of your Qi. When you enter a domain that causes you to shift, like around a person that gets on your nerve, you can notice your mood and experience changing. As you journey in and out of maintaining your quality of experience, you will get to know this process of mastering your Qi field and feeling it interacting with the persons and places of the world! Does that make sense? 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thanks Sifu, it does make sense although still somewhat abstract to me. But the closest I can say I have come, if its at all relatable, is when experiencing any type of emotion I ponder to myself how that feeling arose and explain it away in a philosphical or even technical sense, and to just let it be.
Your knowledge in incredibly deep though Sifu wish you had been around online around 10 or 15 years ago.
@@robertjordon1984that’s exactly right! When you are aware of what’s underneath your emotions and just let it be, you can then begin to experience reality directly aside from any influence. This is an experiential process, meaning, as you experience it, it naturally begins to make more sense and become a part of you. It’s not something you figure out. Like riding a bike, it’s something you don’t succeed at, and then accidentally succeed at, and then become natural. Because you don’t remember how you figured out how to ride a bike but you know a part of you helped you to become able to ride a bike in the way that you’ve always been able to. And that part of you will help you succeed in this too, while you are confused, until you start to notice that you’re doing it. And that’ll be fun, to learn and grow without realizing it, will it not? 😃🙌
Identity does not stop at the surface of the skin.
Good demonstration of skill, but just curious who you say obtained the 4 character secret from WYX? Seems like you are suggesting only Li Qixuan "got it" and not Hao Weizhen?
Good question! I can not say for sure what Hao got or did not, as many things are passed in secret and his skill is certainly incredibly high. What I recall from researching the recorded history was that Li Yiyu was permitted to copy the Wu family manuscript, and that he did pass it to Li Qixuan. It’s possible that Hao received it as well in secrecy or otherwise. What we do know is that in 1935 the writing about the 4 words were published publicly and that was quite a big deal at a time, and a very fortunate event for all of us who love Tai Chi. 😃🙏
@@phoenixmountaintaichi Thanks, I am studying Hao style now (starting afresh), the 4 characters are definitely part of the 'classics' / books now, but hard to know if it was added later
81st viewer
Hehe I had to write the first comment, but 81st is great too! Square number! 😃🙌
Wu Yuxiang probably didn't learn Tai Chi in Beijing. He and Yang Luchan were from the same town Yongnian, so he most likely learned from Yang Luchan BEFORE Yang Luchan went to Beijing.
Ohhhhh! Thank you for that information! I appreciate it. 😃🙏
Bubbles?
Your field of awareness. 😃🙏