The Tai Chi Art of "Effortless Action"

One of the more mysterious aspects of Taoism, and Tai Chi for that matter, is the idea of Wu Wei, usually translated as “Non-Action.” The Taoist is said to be someone who practices, “Non Action.” That conjures up the image of someone who lives a pretty uneventful, boring life—maybe meditating all day long, or simply sitting on a rock contemplating existence.

But the Taoists were in reality extremely dynamic people. They were tireless experimenters, observers of Nature, and in a sense the “scientists” of their time. They developed herbology, alchemy, martial arts, Qigong techniques, Chinese medical practices, and meditation methods. The Taoists were anything but passive!  The 108 temples on the Mt. WuDang complex were not built with "non-action."

Above all, Taoists were great observers, carefully studying the innate tendencies of things and the natural flow of energy. Wu Wei, far from implying passivity, actually means “not forcing,” or “not acting contrary to the natural tendencies of things, people, or events.” By acting WITH the flow rather than against it, the Taoists could produce big effects with little energy input.

There is a great illustration of this in Chapter Three of Lao Tse’s Tao Te Ching. The common translation in English usually runs something like this:

The Sage rules
By emptying their minds
Filling their bellies.
Weakening their wills,
And strengthening their bones.

So in the typical translation we get the image of a “ruler” who seems to make the people as doltish as possible, empty-headed and weak-willed. Of course in Taoist literature there are not the hard definitions of English, so the passage could also mean that this is the way a Taoist (Sage) rules him or herself. The translation above would correspond to the common way in which Wu Wei is interpreted as “non-action.”

But wait a minute…bearing in mind that 99% of translators of the Taoist writings into English were scholars who never had any actual Taoist TRAINING, let’s take a look at how a trained Taoist might have read those same four lines.

In Chinese, “mind” really means “heart-mind,” and the location of the “heart-mind” is in the solar plexus/heart area. So emptying the mind is really emptying energy from the solar plexus/heart area.

Did you ever feel stressed and “uptight?” Almost invariably, the tightness you felt would have been centered in your solar plexus area. A proliferation of chaotic thoughts will essentially BLOCK and congest energy in your heart/solar plexus area. So the Taoist, empties this area by releasing extraneous, stressful thoughts, usually through meditation.

The energy, however, is not just dissipated. Once the heart-mind is cleared, the energy and intention is directed toward the tan tian, or area just below the navel. The Taoist (or Tai Chi Player) releases excessive thought energy and instead gathers energy in their lower abdomen, the reservoir of QI, or bio-electrical vital energy.

So now, by applying just the first two lines of the poem above, the Taoist Tai Chi Player has succeeded in quieting stressful thoughts, releasing energy from a tense heart-solar plexus area, and gathering energy into its natural reservoir for abundant vitality and longer life.

Then the Taoist “weakens the will.” In Chinese medicine the Kidneys, or what we would call Adrenals provide energy for the “will.” So always trying to impose your will on events to make sure they turn out your way will deplete your Adrenals, and later your immune system. The Taoist Tai Chi Player “weakens the will” by practicing Wu Wei . S/he always works WITH the natural tendencies of people and events. So life seems to flow effortlessly, but everything gets handled with the greatest possible ease and effectiveness.

Finally, the Taoist Tai Chi Player “strengthens the bones.” In Chinese medicine, an accumulation of Kidney energy is said to enter the bones and make them resilient, but indestructible. The Tai Chi Chuan Classic says, “Let the Qi sink deeply and permeate the bones...” When the Qi has sunk to the bones, it is a sign that the entire body energy has been concentrated to its core for personal power and long life.

A quick recap for Taoist Tai Chi Players:


Release stressful, chaotic thoughts from your heart area;
Concentrate your intention on your lower abdomen to accumulate QI;
Lessen your “willfulness” in trying to control events
(Follow Wu Wei instead)
Relax all that formerly pent up energy deeply into your bones.


Who knows, you might even become a long-lived “Tai Chi Immortal!”

Yin, Yang, and "Total Tai Chi"

Do you think of Tai Chi as merely a slow-motion form of exercise? What if it could be so much more than that? No, not the martial art, but the PRINCIPLE of Tai Chi itself. What IS Tai Chi, anyway?

The name Tai Chi refers to the two Universal Forces of Yin and Yang, in a constantly changing state of dynamic balance. You have probably seen the Tai Chi Symbol numerous times

Many sciences and technologies of old China were based upon this principle.

Now why should this be of any importance to you? Well, the Yin/Yang principle forms the basis for a consistent system of health practices for lifelong health and vitality. If you have been confused by the multitude of claims regarding widely differing nutrition and exercise systems, the Yin/Yang Principle can act as a set of “magic lenses” to let you see clearly and make sense of it all.

In a couple of weeks, I will have a set of audio MP3’s available at http://www.totaltaichi. com

which will explain the “magic lenses” in detail.

For now, let’s just look at a few of the lifestyle areas that are included in the “Total Tai Chi” approach to lifelong health and wellbeing. Many of them embrace the Yin/Yang Principle.

Overall, there are Nine Lifearts which I have dubbed the “Nine Taoist Lifearts,” since many of them were influenced by Taoists. The Taoists might be called the “scientists” of old China. They were tireless experimenters in diverse areas such as herbs, Qi-development movement systems, meditation systems, Feng Shui, and even alchemy.

The Nine “Taoist” Lifearts are:

Meditation. This is the most important of all. It provides a way to calm the physical body and focus the mind, so your energy body, the source of your health and vitality, can be restored to coherence and stability after the disturbances of daily life. It is very easy to learn a practical and very effective form of Meditation.

Nutritional Science (which is much more elegantly called the art of Yang Sheng, or “Nurturing Life” in Chinese) is the study of the properties of foods, and their exact appropriateness for varying body types and physical conditions. This Lifeart categorizes foods into Warm and Building and Cooling and Cleansing. So depending on whether you are a “hot” person or a “cold” person—and depending on whether you are congested or depleted, you can find the right spectrum of foods for your exact needs.

Learning the basic of Nutritional Science is very easy, and takes just an hour or so. After that, you will be able to critique ANY recommended "diet" and see whether it is right for you.

Movement is the study of QI-developing movement systems (Qigong), whether purely therapeutic or therapeutic and martial, like Tai Chi, Xing I and Ba Kua. Meditation, Nutrition, and Movement are your Top Three daily health disciplines. The remaining six Lifearts are supplementary, and can be used occasionally, as necessary. I will describe each of them only briefly.

Herbology embraces the thorough study of herbs and in the Total Tai Chi context, often the use of tonic herbs for long-term health. Herbs should only be used in conjunction with proper Nutrition and Movement.

Acupuncture is the adjustment of the body’s bio-electrical flow through the insertion of fine needles at nodal points in the energy channels where the flow can be most easily adjusted for very specific effects.

Sexual Science is the study of male and female energies and how to best bring them into perfect harmony. It also includes regimens for healthy pregnancy and after birth.

Feng Shui aims to create a perfect flow of life energy within a space, or even on a piece of land. Sometimes a person experiences difficulties in creating good health, even after they have applied the Top Three Lifearts mentioned before. That can sometimes be traced to a bad energy flow in or around their dwelling or workplace. Feng Shui can address this discrepancy.

Divination deals with deriving information from sources beyond the physical. Now this sounds very far out, but today, we would use the term ”channeling.” In ancient China there were no data banks or computer models! So the rulers would consult specially-trained “Diviners” for their intuitive read on whether crops would succeed, whether it was the right time to engage in battle, whether the Great River would flood, etc.

Finally, Bodywork includes the numerous massage techniques of China and also includes the Chinese unique traditional approach to bonesetting, and external injuries. There is an entire branch of medicine for treating injuries incurred in martial arts training and real combat. This medicine is now extended to any kind of external injury.

I hope that has given you an interesting overview. Thorough mastery of any one Lifeart might well be a life-long endeavor, but some knowledge of a few of them is a good way to preserve your health and vitality for a long time.

As T.T. Liang, my main Tai Chi teacher said, “You should know something about everything—and everything about one thing.”

There is no need to try to master all nine; just remember to practice the “Top Three” Lifearts consistently and you can live a long and QI-ful life.

[I use the spelling "Tai Chi" in these blogs, rather than the older T'ai Chi or the modern pinyin Taiji. "Tai Chi" has the greatest name recognition at the present time.]