While the Yin segment of Tai Chi Nei Kung (Internal Strength) focuses on conditioning the body to absorb impacts, the Yang segment (陽段) is explicitly designed to develop and emit martial power, known as Jing (勁). The Yang training chart lists specific exercises designed to cultivate various expressions of this power, such as waist power (腰勁), leg power for issuing force (腿力發勁), and arm strength.
The Yang segment exercises develop striking power through several specific biomechanical and mental methods:
Targeted Energy Focus: During these exercises, mental intent must be used to focus the energy specifically into the hands (or the striking surface) rather than dispersing it through a tense body.
Relaxation Over Muscular Tension: Because Yang exercises involve striking motions (like Tiger’s Paw or Planting a Fence), there is a temptation to use heavy muscular tension. However, practitioners are instructed to keep the body—especially the upper arms, shoulders, and chest—completely relaxed until the moment of the strike. Tensing the upper body “holds back” the energy that should be flowing into the hands.
The muscles are simply taken to a point of “natural tension” to hold the posture, which “switches off” the antagonistic muscles (the body’s “brakes”) and maximizes neural excitation.
Natural Focus at the End of the Movement: In exercises involving downward or outward strikes (such as Elephant Shakes its Head or White Horse Pounds its Hooves), the strikes should not be forced or deliberate. Instead, the practitioner allows the arms to relax so that the focus or “snap” happens naturally as the outcome of the movement’s completion. This encourages focus to express itself naturally at the end of a technique, which generates significantly more power.
Whole-Body Sequencing: True Tai Chi power relies on getting all the muscles to sequence together efficiently in one direction. The Yang exercises train this exact kinetic chain, teaching the practitioner to drive the movement from the feet, up through the legs, direct it with the waist, and finally express the accumulated force in the hands.
