24/11/2023
In Tai Chi practice we often hear the word ‘Fangsong’ often shortened to ‘Song’ thrown about.
The word ‘fang’ means ‘doing or to release’ and ‘sung’ means ‘relax or relaxation’. When we say relax in english we generally think of eliminating all tension, becoming almost limp. However, fangsong in tai chi refers to having alertness, springiness and aliveness. We can simply say fangsong is the act of releasing unnecessary tension in the practice of Tai Chi. It is the method of becoming aware of how you move, hold your self (posture) and to be able to inhibit any habitual contraction of muscles due to emotional stresses, bad posture, movement and breathing. Simply put we can think of fangsong in tai chi to be ‘active relaxation’ - a method of learning how to let go, release and build awareness!
As all things in tai chi the concept of fangsong isn't achieved easily, it has to be developed, trained and unpacked in stages. You can imagine the concept of fangsong in Tai Chi to be like a zip file where there's loads of information compressed and when you click on it, it all opens up. Sung in Tai Chi is just the same; it contains lots of different components to understand and to achieve song.
To learn more about how to develop and train the concept of fangsong you can join me at this year's Tai Chi Space Winter Weekend - ‘Putting the Internal into Practice’. Where we will explore all things related to developing fangsong in Tai Chi. As the saying goes ‘No song no tai chi’.
