No, not like this.
Something else entirely.
This week in class, a student asked a question about breathing. I forget what the exact nature of the question was, but she read a passage in a book by a highly-respected master and it puzzled her because it seemed to conflict with what I’ve been saying all along.
It’s always rewarding to get questions like these from students. It means they’re thinking about the art, taking ownership of it – they’re doing more than just coming to class and doing what they’re told. It’s very gratifying.
I’ll have to follow up with her next week. But what I said in response – whether it answered her question or not – is that breathing in tai chi is contextual. In the solo form and in push-hands, we breathe normally, the deep “abdominal breathing” I went on about at length here. When applying tai chi as a martial art, however, our breathing is different, and based on our intention.
If you’ve ever seen a karate player shout when they punch, you may have understood why; and if you have any knowledge of tai chi, you may have imagined such vocalization to be as far from what you know of tai chi as it’s possible to get. Tai chi doesn’t look like karate, we don’t have the “comfy loungewear,” we don’t have belts, we don’t have all the rigid ceremonies you see in any dojo. They’re not wrong, they’re just not a part of tai chi. And most people who take up tai chi have no intention of applying it as a martial art. So it’s reasonable to be surprised when we see it applied as such, and hear a tai chi player “shouting” when they do powerful moves. Then again, most people, whether they know anything about tai chi or not, would be surprised to know tai chi is a martial art at all, and that we indeed have powerful moves. Well, we do, and the “different breathing” is related to generating the power in the movement. The post I just linked to will help understand this relationship.
In applying fajin to tai chi, we use two vocalizations, roughly approximated to “hen” and “ha.” They relate, generally speaking, to the range and style of the movement, and the intent of the player.
For example, an elbow strike is short-ranged, and our hand strikes (blade/tiger’s mouth/punch/hook) don’t tend to go very far. We have tools for dealing with a “haymaker” punch, and we have things that look kind of like it, but they’re not the full-body, roundhouse punches you’ll see a boxer deliver. Our kicks are short, low and sharp. Our “press” is done at elbow-range. Our “shoulder strike/check” is at “entangled” range. For short, sharp movements like this, the power we generate is short and sharp, and the vocalization “hen” (sounds more like "HNH!") focuses our energy in generally the same way as a karate player, but at a shorter range.
By contrast, our throws take longer, relatively speaking, to execute than a punch. Consider the difference between, for example, the punch in "Step Forward, Parry & Punch," versus the longer sweeping motion at the end of "Single Whip." The energy for the throw is generated more like moving furniture or throwing a frisbee than delivering a blow, built up from the root. The vocalization “ha” is therefore more like “hhhHHHHHA,” but it would be tedious to write it out like that all the time.
These vocalizations are for those times when we intend to issue energy, rather than “borrow,” neutralize or redirect it. They’re for when we’ve “found our opponent’s center” and feel him or her to be double-weighted or “floating,” a concept we’ll discuss in the future. As such, they’re not used in ordinary form practice.
This is not to say you can’t use “active” breath control during form work. If you feel like you want to express issuing energy in a movement (or in a specific part of a movement), there’s nothing wrong with coordinating your breathing so as to fit your intention. For example, when we do “Flying Diagonal,” I’m almost always exhaling in a silent “ha” manner, for no better reason than it feels appropriate for me. But as a rule, the breathing is “normal” during the solo form and in push-hands, the better to relax and be in a contemplative, inquisitive state of mind.
