{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-blog-post-mdx-js","path":"/blog/two-bows","result":{"data":{"blogPost":{"title":"Two Bows","content":"function _extends() { _extends = Object.assign || function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n\n/* @jsx mdx */\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"title\": \"Two Bows\",\n  \"date\": \"2020-05-05T00:00:00.000Z\",\n  \"tags\": [\"ten essentials\", \"body shape\", \"relax\"],\n  \"keywords\": [\"blog\"],\n  \"slug\": \"two-bows\",\n  \"author\": \"Cat\"\n};\n\nvar makeShortcode = function makeShortcode(name) {\n  return function MDXDefaultShortcode(props) {\n    console.warn(\"Component \" + name + \" was not imported, exported, or provided by MDXProvider as global scope\");\n    return mdx(\"div\", props);\n  };\n};\n\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n      props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, [\"components\"]);\n\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Yang Chengfu\\u2019s \", mdx(\"a\", _extends({\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, {\n    \"href\": \"/essential-principles\"\n  }), \"Ten Essential Principles\"), \" are a guide to the correct way to practice Tai Chi.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"As usual in Tai Chi, it\\u2019s not so simple. There is a lot of room for differences of interpretation and translation, and the lessons can be understood differently at different places in your Tai Chi journey.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Lately Grandmaster Yang Jun has distilled the language down for some of these into a primary focus for students to use to understand these Principles. I\\u2019m going to attempt to describe my understanding of his teachings here, over the next few blog posts, to help our students better use the principles as a guide in their journey. Of course this is a simplification of a simplification, and any mistakes are mine.\"), mdx(\"h2\", {\n    \"id\": \"principle-1-5-body-shape\"\n  }, \"Principle 1-5: Body Shape\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The first 5 principles primarily describe how to create the body shape that gives good Tai Chi structure.  This can be understood as two \\u201Cbows\\u201D  in the body (bow as in bow-and-arrow) that intersect between your shoulder blades.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Bows are made of flexible material that store energy when the opposite ends are pulled by a string, and spring back when the string is released.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, mdx(\"span\", _extends({\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, {\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-wrapper\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"display\": \"block\",\n      \"marginLeft\": \"auto\",\n      \"marginRight\": \"auto\",\n      \"maxWidth\": \"600px\"\n    }\n  }), \"\\n      \", mdx(\"span\", _extends({\n    parentName: \"span\"\n  }, {\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-background-image\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"paddingBottom\": \"65.59775840597759%\",\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"bottom\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\",\n      \"backgroundImage\": \"url('data:image/jpeg;base64,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')\",\n      \"backgroundSize\": \"cover\",\n      \"display\": \"block\"\n    }\n  })), \"\\n  \", mdx(\"img\", _extends({\n    parentName: \"span\"\n  }, {\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-image\",\n    \"alt\": \"Two Bows\",\n    \"title\": \"Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash\",\n    \"src\": \"/static/573277b45a885486d5a65df43b5d19a2/73963/bow-and-arrow.jpg\",\n    \"srcSet\": [\"/static/573277b45a885486d5a65df43b5d19a2/6a596/bow-and-arrow.jpg 150w\", \"/static/573277b45a885486d5a65df43b5d19a2/56b05/bow-and-arrow.jpg 300w\", \"/static/573277b45a885486d5a65df43b5d19a2/73963/bow-and-arrow.jpg 600w\", \"/static/573277b45a885486d5a65df43b5d19a2/7288a/bow-and-arrow.jpg 900w\", \"/static/573277b45a885486d5a65df43b5d19a2/6e525/bow-and-arrow.jpg 1200w\", \"/static/573277b45a885486d5a65df43b5d19a2/95f9b/bow-and-arrow.jpg 3212w\"],\n    \"sizes\": \"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"width\": \"100%\",\n      \"height\": \"100%\",\n      \"margin\": \"0\",\n      \"verticalAlign\": \"middle\",\n      \"position\": \"absolute\",\n      \"top\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\"\n    },\n    \"loading\": \"lazy\"\n  })), \"\\n    \")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"In Tai Chi, one \\u201Cbow\\u201D runs vertically from the top of your head to your tailbone, which pull gently away from each other, giving a sense that the spine elongates and stretches. This tends to make you stand taller and raise your spirit.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The other \\u201Cbow\\u201D runs horizontally from one elbow, across the back, to the other elbow. Pull each elbow gently away from the other, causing the shoulder blades to stretch and the back to round.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Notice that these two bows somewhat oppose each other. If you put too much effort into pulling your head and tailbone apart, the chest will puff out and collapse the horizontal bow. If you put too much energy into pulling the elbows apart, your head will be pulled down and your vertical bow will start to lose stretch.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"So, try to find a balance between the two bows\\u2026 keeping a steady stretch between the shoulder blades in all four directions.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"How much tension should there be? There\\u2019s no specific correct amount, but one way to explore this is to put too much tension into both bows, and notice that you aren\\u2019t able to breathe deeply into your abdomen. Then slowly back off the tension until you can breathe freely. That\\u2019s the upper bound.\"));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","date":"May 5th 2020","author":"Cat","excerpt":"Yang Chengfu’s  Ten Essential Principles  are a guide to the correct way to practice Tai Chi. As usual in Tai Chi, it’s not so simple. There…"}},"pageContext":{"id":"cc4b9f12-d11f-50ea-9bb2-84337f28bc70","slug":"two-bows","prev":{"link":"blog/relax-song","title":"Relax"},"next":{"link":"blog/root-supple-agility","title":"Root + Suppleness = Agility"}}}}