In China, there are three martial arts that together are known as Nia Jia, the internal arts. These are Bagua, Xing-Yi and Tai Chi. While other martial arts focus more on things like physical strength or specific fighting techniques, the internal arts focus on what happens inside the practitioner.
This internal focus includes elements such as relaxation, breathing, structural connectivity, the flow of energy within the individual, the individual’s sensitivity to what is happening within their own body, and their ability to manipulate it. In the external arts, the point is to practice a specific movement. On the contrary, in the internal arts only the movement necessary to develop the internal skill is used.
As an art, Tai Chi develops great power in its students. The full name of the art is Tai Chi Chuan, which translates as Grand Ultimate Fist. Clearly, to those who named it, Tai Chi seemed like an incredibly powerful fighting system. However, Tai Chi training takes a different route to power than most other martial arts.
A skill that Tai Chi uses to develop serious power through internal skill is called a root. The ability to root involves the ability to use mental intent to drop your center of gravity below the ground.
Some athletes have learned skills that are comparable to what Tai Chi performers do. For example, some boxers have the ability to use the body connection where the weight of the entire body goes into a punch. However, most athletes have not developed the ability to root or anything like that.
Although rooting involves the intention of the mind, it is more than just visualization. If you practice rooting, you can actually feel the weight of your body falling below the surface of the ground. When you practice exercises with partners, they should be able to feel it too. This way, if you use the root in a combat situation, an attacker will also be able to sense your root so it feels like a concrete slab driven deep into the ground. In other words, it will be very difficult to push it.
When you first learn root, you start by practicing standing in one place. However, you can learn to keep your roots in the ground while walking or in a combat situation. It is possible to learn to drop your root deeper and deeper even while you are struggling.
Rooting is not just being well anchored to the ground either. Root can also help Combat Tai Chi artists to deliver more powerful blows. The most advanced Tai Chi involves Jings or expressions of energy. Thesis
Allow practitioners to direct energy in specific ways. One of these is called Fa Jing, which translates to explosive energy. Fa Jing involves the ability to unleash powerful kicks and hand strikes that send
energy to an opponent. Rooting is a prerequisite for learning Fa Jing. Also, a deeper and stronger root will allow for even stronger and more powerful energetic expressions.
Over time, it can develop its root to go deeper into the soil and hold more and more of its compressed body weight. Some Tai Chi masters may have a root that is 50 feet or more underground. To an attacker, getting hit by someone with a really deep and strong root can feel like getting hit by a 300 pound gorilla.