Sinking the Qi & Rooting for Power

In the internal arts you often see folks talk about “Sinking the Qi.”

This is a very effective skill that will add a lot of power to everything you do.

Unfortunately it’s often referred to in a quasi-mystical way and students are rarely given any
practical instruction on what this means or how to use it.

We’re going to fix that in this lesson.

There are a few different things that can be called “Sinking the Qi.” In this chapter we’ll focus
on one of those. A skill called Rooting.

What Is Rooting?
Rooting is a skill that adds a lot of power to everything you do.

Your hits become a lot heavier and your body becomes a lot more solid. When someone tries
to throw you it feels like you gained a bunch of weight and are immovable and when you get
hit the hits just glance off the surface and don’t penetrate.

Training this skill will take a lot of work. Using this skill is effortless once you’ve build it.

How to Begin Building Root Without a Partner.

First we’re going to start with a simple exercise that will begin building root and let you feel a
little of what should be happening inside your body.

Work with this everyday for the next couple weeks so that you’ll be ready when we really
start building deep root.

1) First, get in a solid, relaxed Wu Chi position.

Make sure that you are standing very straight and make sure the alignment you’ve been
working on is as correct as possible. Maintain correct alignment through this entire exercise.

2) Now Breathe In..

…fill, expand and tense your arms and upper body as you breath in.
3) Now Relax and Let Go

Relax and melt the upper body as you breath out. Feel the melting sinking feeling in your
upper body as you relax and let go. Let that sensation pour down into the legs.

Getting this melting / sinking feeling inside your body is the key to this exercise.

4) Now Breathe in Again

Relax and melt extra as you breath in. DO NOT tense up. Do not bring the emphasis back up
into your upper body in any way.

5) Relax and Let Go

Breathe out. Relax. Melt, pour and let the inside of your body sink down through your legs
and out the bottoms of your feet.

You will need to let your feet relax. Feel them spread out on the floor from the weight of your
body pressing down.

6) Repeat

Continue to sink and relax deeper and deeper and deeper. During this exercise it will feel like
you dropped in height by several feet. However you should physically have only dropped a
couple of inches or less.

If this is done right, your legs will feel a lot of pressure and weight as you relax more and
more. Make sure not to overdo this in the beginning and over time your legs will get stronger
and stronger.

7) Finish

When you’re done spend a couple minutes walking around the room without rooting.

Rooting is this sensation inside your body of sinking down into the ground.

In Tai Chi we would say you are using mind intent to send your energy down into the ground.
How Do I Judge the Depth of My Root?
When we’re talking about root depth you’ll often see us measure it in feet or body lengths.
This is, of course, an approximation. Whether something is actually sinking down into the
ground is a matter for some debate.

However, we are working on building this skill and learning to use it. And for that we need a
way to measure. So, when it feels like you are relaxing and sinking down into the ground pay
attention to how deep it feels.

Use your own body height as a reference.

So if it feels like you are as deep as you are tall then if you’re six feet tall you are also six feet
deep.

Now at first this will be very fuzzy and difficult to determine with any accuracy.

However as you practice your ability to perceive root will get better.

…and later you’ll learn a very tangible way to test root depth with a partner.

How Much Root Do I Need?

Imagine a 30 foot pole with 2 feet stuck in the ground. It wouldn’t be that difficult to push
over, would it? It might even fall over all on it’s own.

Now image the same 30 foot pole with 25 feet stuck in the ground. This pole would be a lot
more of a challenge to knock down.

A person who has solid Tai Chi structure and a strong and deep root will feel this way to
someone who tries to push them over. A skilled Tai Chi student can sense how deep and how
thick an opponents’ root is.

To someone who isn’t trained in Tai Chi sensitivity, pushing over a well-rooted person will
just feel like trying to push over a solid wall.

To really begin to see some root applications a person must have a root of at least their own
body height. And you should work to get to about 20 feet or 3 times your height as quickly as
possible.
To be effective, your root must also be at least as wide as the widest part of your body. If you
have a size 40 waist, then this is your first goal.

This is your starting point. You’ll learn more about how to get to this point in the coming
weeks.

After that there are three important qualities to work on.

The 3 most important qualities of Tai Chi Root.

1. Depth

In the beginning 20 feet may seem really deep. For many people, dropping a root of 20 feet
would be quite a challenge, but in reality, this is only a good starting point.

You can develop a 50, 500, 1,000 feet or deeper and you should continually work on
developing a deeper root.

However root depth alone isn’t enough.

2. Thickness

Once you’ve made sure your root is as wide as your body. Then work on expanding your root
and building as much width as you can.

A good goal to aim for is the ability to stand in a room full of people and drop your root
below them and then expand it to the width of the room. This will make it difficult for anyone
in the room to root below you. You can see the effects of this in some of the videos of Ma
Yeuh Liang pushing hands.

3. Responsiveness

People who first begin learning to drop root can, with a bit of practice, get to where they can
have a solid root when nobody is pushing them. But the moment they are touched by an
opponent, their root pops right back up to the surface.

Training your body and mind to keep your root down when an opponent is trying to bring it
up is one of the early exercises for learning to manipulate root. Then begin learning to move it
anywhere, learn to hide it, to dissolve it and much more.
Learning to manipulate your root is a critical internal skill and if you cannot manipulate your
own root you will never be able to manipulate someone else’s root.

Other Martial Uses for Root

Just having a deep solid root will add a lot of power to everything you do. However that’s
only the beginning.

Once you can drop root to at least 20 feet at a thickness as wide as your body, you can learn to
bring that energy up into your body. This creates a situation where your body can feel very
solid like iron to an opponent.

If someone runs into you or hits you, it feels like hitting a wall. To you, It will feel like other
people have no substance at all.

This also works on the offensive side as well. When you strike someone, it can feel to them
like you are hitting them with a crowbar. Even if you don’t hit them very hard. This leads to
some of the Dim Mak or death touch applications of Tai Chi.

Building and Emitting Energy

Rooting also builds energy for the practitioner. As you learn to root deeper and deeper you are
increasing the volume of energy that you have available and can manipulate.

Rooting is also a method of emitting energy. Tai Chi teaches many different ways of emitting
and using energy, but root is easiest to learn because it involves sending energy downward.
With rooting, gravity is completely on your side.

Because of this, rooting is the easiest form of energy emission to learn. The skills you learn
while rooting will be useful for emitting energy in other directions later on.

That’s enough for now.

Next week we’ll work on a method to refine your alignment more.

Tension and misalignment will limit your ability to root. So this will be very important.
“ Sinking the Qi” Part 2: Waterfall Rooting
This next exercise will help if you get stuck and feel like you just can’t get your root any
deeper than it already is.

It will increase your root depth and it has a number of other benefits if you work with it
regularly over time.

1) Stand in Wu Chi.

2) Let your root drop as you relax and melt from head to toe. This should feel like you are
pouring a liquid down through the inside of your body.

If you are having trouble getting this sensation go read: How to Relax, Melt & Pour

3) As your root reaches your current maximum depth focus on maintaining the continuous
pouring sensation through your entire body from head to toe and down through the bottom of
your root.

Imagine the way that a waterfall just drops and drops and drops water downward. This is how
you should feel.

It may feel like your weight is pouring out of you into the ground. This is good.

Intermediate Practice
Once you have gotten the basic feeling down in Wu Chi, practice your set with this pouring
motion turned on the whole time.

We recommend starting with a short set like our Big 8 move set before trying this with a
longer form.

You can learn our 8 & 13 move sets right now by joining Clear’s Tai Chi Online.

A word of warning:
If you are used to light and easy Tai Chi set, this kind of practice will be a real workout and
you will probably be sore the next day. However if you experience pain in the knees you
should stop this exercise and consult an expert. The most common cause of knee pain in Tai
Chi is improper alignment while doing the postures. This misalignment can cause injury if it
is not corrected. You should fix your structural alignment before continuing.

Once you are done with your set, you should do Carry the Cauldron and Grand Tai Chi three
times each.

You should also walk it off while not attempting to root. This will help balance your energy
and bring you back to a normal body state.

Root Like A Bear: An Exercise for Deepening Your Root

Have you ever seen a bear stomping its feet getting ready to charge?
Each foot in turn comes crashing down into the ground. This kind of movement can help you
to achieve a deeper root.

Before you do this exercise, make sure you have a good structure. You should already have
good Wu Chi posture and be able to root before you begin practicing with this kind of
exercise. This exercise won’t help you much unless you have the basics in place.

How To Do It
Lift up one leg and then let your body drop as you stomp your foot. Don’t stomp using your
muscles so much as let your entire body weight crush down into your foot. The purpose of
this motion is to get absolutely all the tension out of your body so that you are completely
relaxed.

Make sure your knees stay bent during this entire exercise. DO NOT straighten your leg. If
you have pre-existing knee issue then use a gentler exercise.

Go back and forth between your feet. Think of the lumbering, stomping motion of a bear or an
elephant and this will help you to understand the kind of movement you should be doing.

As you come down, exhale, and drop your weight into the floor. You should feel a crushing
motion down in to your feet.

With each drop let go more and more. So each one is heavier than the last.

As with the waterfall rooting technique, when you are done with the bear method of rooting,
you will want to do Carry the Cauldron and Grand Tai Chi and walk it off without trying to
root to restore your body to a normal state.

Your next lesson will be in two weeks. Make sure build the sensitivity and all the basics
we’ve worked on so far because you are going to need them…