Tai Chi - the power of dāng jìn (Master George Xu)
I saw this video that may be interesting or beneficial to beginner to intermediate TJQ practitioners. It may not be too useful for advanced practitioners as I would imagine these principles are already dialed in.
Once the separations and resulting polarity are achieved as elucidated in u/DjinnBlossom’s commentary on YCF’s ten points, one can connect to, control, and issue force to the opponent/partner using dangjin. The dang is the region of the inner thighs/pelvic floor/crotch — sorry if this is not the most perfect translation. To me, dangjin represents the internal connection between this region and the opponent and also between this region and the earth and the utilization of this region as a fulcrum when moving oneself and one’s opponent, manifesting itself as a very solid connection between one and their opponent through the point(s) of contact and also within oneself and to the earth. This contributes to a rooted stability and enables the rooted control of one’s opponent.
This is often more effective than thinking about “doing” other jin as a means to achieve a desired outcome (not to say one can not derive benefit from intentionally focusing on the utilization or maintenance of other jin).
It is important to achieve and maintain the polarity to enable the effective utilization of dangjin, though. And once these internal separations are achieved and automatic it is not really necessary to think of dangjin as such as you will be utilizing it as a result of satisfying the required mechanical conditions in the body regardless of whether you are thinking about it. As an aside, I guess maybe that’s what jin is — an emergent mechanical quality that is the result of achieving specific physical conditions. And while visualizations can help us develop these physical conditions, jin aren’t really achieved by visualizations or by having the right mental concept but by achieving these physical conditions through the training and transformation of the body and by maintaining these conditions in practical contexts. The achievement of these conditions is gong fu definitionally.
Note: I think George Xu is saying at the beginning of the video that though his arm may feel heavy to the opponent, it is light to him — not that his opponent is literally heavy. Not sure though. This lightness is achieved through proper internal separation/differentiation.
I also assume that when he says “if you give the trunk” at the beginning he essentially means “if you have a good root” (in the internal martial arts sense). Again an assumption, though 😅