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De-mystifying the 8 Gates of Tai Chi (or, "You tai chi guys really like Symbolism!") One of the principal concepts of Tai Chi that I regularly use in my own practice and is historically a central idea to the art is that of the "8 gates/8 energies/8 bamen." When I first got into the art, I found many references in the classical books to "mobilize your peng" and "relax into Lu" and this had literally no meaning to me at all. Even context clues are pretty much useless when 90% of the references are in pinyin or some other kind of Romanized Mandarin. So, to hopefully help someone else get past this, let's see if I can't make a "Supreme Ultimate Fist Symbolism for Dummies" post that makes this a lot more approachable for the home scholar or new student. Important Things you HAVE to know first Tai Chi and the concepts of Yin-Yang are pretty much indivisible. The main thing to understand here is that in the way that I'm going to be using references to them is about their principal energies. Traditionally, and in the figure that I'm going to use as a reference here, yin and yang are represented as a black 1/2 and white 1/2 of a circle drawing. Yin is the black side with the white dot in it, and Yang is the white side with the black dot in it. Yin (literally the "shady side") is characterized as slow, yielding, soft, cold, nighttime, and feminine energy. Yang (the "sunny side") is fast, hard, direct, hot, daytime, and masculine. These two interplay in almost all Taoist concepts and neither can exist without the other. In most Chinese Medicine, the central idea is to correct imbalances of the yin and yang energies within the body. Tai Chi strives for the same goal, to restore balance to opposing forces. Also, to make sense of our diagram, we need to understand how these two energies are represented in the I-ching ("Book of Changes"), which is an ancient Chinese classic on divination originally written somewhere around 1000 BC, supposedly. This book itself isn't too important for our discussion, but the WAY to read the trigrams (or "gates") is. The trigrams are a set of 3 lines that explain how Yin and Yang energies work with each other. The lines themselves are either solid (Yang) or dashed (Yin.) I'm going to use that notation below as well, because it's tradition and looks cooler as a tattoo. -------- Yang line --- --- Yin line. Simple enough, right? Big Diagrams that Look Cool and are Good Tools for Memorizing. Dude, that is awesome looking. If I was trying to market my martial art style, this looks like the kind of symbol that I'd have made into a big poster and we'd hang it on one wall to look like there was some kind of awesome kung fu secret to it. Also, if you were trying to teach someone who was illiterate, like a farmer from 100 AD because you were a Taoist hermit, then those lines would probably really help....but wait, there are all those confusing words I'd talked about above, "Peng, Pan, Kao, An, Lieh...." these don't mean anything to me because my knowledge of the Chinese language is only slightly above "Kung Pao Shrimp." Let's do it like this: Ohh, that's a lot simpler looking now. We've got our big circle with Yin and Yang in it, and now those words actually have not only easier to understand replacements, but actually look like some of the movements in the Tai Chi form. Wait, though, trigrams and I-ching and gates and such, how does that work? Well, that's actually pretty easy to understand. Those 3 solid lines make up the symbol for the "Peng" or "Ward Off" energy. The energies are related highly to how you should think about the corresponding postures (or "dem moves") in Tai Chi. When you do "Ward off to the Right", then thinking a little about the trigram can help to remember how it should "feel," and what energies were normally attributed to it from a Yin or Yang perspective. Breaking them Down, piece by piece: This section is going to be a bit mystical still, as some of the attributes to each energy are so closely tied to Chinese medicine and mysticism that without the cultural background, it almost sounds magical. Just roll with it, as it's something that just makes sense once you've been practicing for a length of time. One of the greatest things about Tai Chi is that it's something that you MUST learn by doing, and no amount of reading theory will ever take the place of that. -------- -------- -------- Peng/Ward off: This is a gate symbolized by 3 Yang lines. It is normally attributed to an energy that occupies space and bounces off things that it come into contact with. It is expansive, penetrating, and forceful. It's spirit is confidence and assertive. To make this as Western as I can, this energy is normally related to trying to break in a door. It's a high amount of commitment to outward force that my have you thinking "Gotcha, now, sucker!" in a round of push-hands. --- --- --- --- --- --- Lu/Luo/Roll-back: This is a gate that is the polar opposite of Peng. It's symbolized by 3 Yin lines, and is attributed to contracting, yielding. You're creating a vacuum or absence to draw the opponent into the space you wish for them to occupy with their energy. It's a minimal effort parry, or evacuation from an opponent's attack. It dissipates incoming energy, letting them burn out their own momentum without harming you. Spiritually, it's the power of peace, silence, or space. If you remember in the "Peanuts" comics where Lucy would pull the football away from Charlie Brown at the last second before he could kick it, that's "Lu" energy in action. He flipped himself over, she just wasn't there anymore. --- --- -------- --- --- Ji/Press: This is a gate that is used to create space with its energy. It is symbolized by a Yang ling sandwiched between 2 Yin lines. The movement is an evasion or escape where you turn an opponent's joint lock into an advantageous position for yourself before they finish. It is the subtle use of expansive energy that can spiritually be thought of as turning a bad situation in our favor by simply changing our position or perspective. -------- --- --- -------- An/Push: This gate is the reflection of Ji, and is drawn as a Yin line between two Yang lines. It's used to tease an opponent by using Peng energy to create a bit of space, allowing them to feel like you've withdrawn, and then exploding using the bit of space you created by yielding. Spiritually, it teaches us to take a moment while under tension (either in push hands or in life) to relax and neutralize the negative, gain better footing, and then apply a final assault to our opponents. -------- -------- --- --- Tsai/Cai/Pull-Down: This gate is fun. It's 2 Yangs atop a Yin, which really is a cool way to symbolize "snatching the rug out from under someone". It's energy is used to pluck the opponent's force downwards, utilizing speed and surprise. It's aggressive and avoids any hesitation in the action itself, but is not done with full-body commitment. Spiritually, it teaches us that a swift application of imperative force can be useful, but needs to be backed with a solid footing or backup plan. I think of this as the force used to snatch a tablecloth off of table without upsetting the dishes. --- --- --- --- -------- Lie/Split: This gate is also fun, as it's a drawing where it looks like our expanding Yang energy on the bottom would rise up through the Yin above it. That's the idea of Lie energy, as it expands upward when the time is right. This is used for whirring an opponent off you, throwing or tripping them. It's the essence of Judo. Lie is lifting with fulcrums or leverage advantages to upset even a firmly established target. It teaches us spiritually how to apply force properly to upset a good foundation, or that what comes around goes around. --- --- -------- -------- Chou/Zhou/Elbow: This is the most destructive of all the gates. It is the energy of allowing your opponent to build momentum only to be met with extreme force. It gives strength when the opponent is trying to suffocate your power by closing in, simply by yielding the first joints to meet with a solid object. Think of it as bending the arm as an opponent rushes us, and then meeting their forward momentum with an elbow strike. The Yin line is the reminder to allow our actual force to be concealed as the opponent will withdraw if they know it's coming. Spiritually, it teaches us to give a little up front if it allows us a stronger position in the future. -------- --- --- --- --- Kao, Shoulder: This gate is used in the tightest of spaces. It's where we use expansive energy even if we've allowed a breakdown in our own defense. The double Yin lines represent that an opponent can still be met with Peng energy after they are on the inside. Spiritually, it teaches us that no matter how close a threat has come, no matter how hopeless the situation looks, that we are never hopeless to fight a negative situation. Summary: Ok, I hope that helps to make sense out of some really confusing concepts that I personally ran into issues with when I started my journey into Tai Chi. It's not nearly as complicated as it first appears, and it's actually not some kind of magic. It's practical sense based on momentum, physics, footwork, and mechanics. Now, there's obviously some great depth to Chi training, but that shouldn't make the deeper principals of good Tai Chi Chuan practice so confusing to a new student. Let me know if this helped you, or if you have any questions. While I don't know everything, or even very much, I'll do what I can to help anyone who is truly interested in this magnificent art. *I've debated with myself a bit on starting some more in-depth articles and discussions here regarding Tai Chi. While I really like sharing what little bit I know with people and learning from others, I despise internet "arm-chair warrior" debates and arguments. Still, there's a lot of really great and wonderful things about the art of Tai Chi Chuan that I'd love to open a discourse on. As long as people are willing to be fluid and realize that there are no absolutes in any of these discussions, then I think that we might all be able to collectively learn from one another...so, let's try it. Probably the most important aspect of this is who I am, and I'm nobody special. I'm just a simple Yang stylist with a pretty demanding personal practice, but I'm no Zhang Sanfeng (and maybe he wasn't either)...so everything presented here is simply as "I understand it" and that it subject to change in the future as well.

Hi fellow Assassins! I'm Godnattish. If you don’t know me, I’m the young, somewhat cocky guy with huge goals . Welcome! Here is a link to my previous challenge. I did some pretty awesome stuff, but nothing compared to what you’re about to witness! My Main Quest: "To Free My Body" Everything society and our environment tells us is making us less free, we are slaves, and it's getting worse every single second you're not actively doing something to prevent it. If you just go along like everyone else, work 9-5, get wife, achieve kids, buy what society tells you to buy, watch what you're told to watch, YOU ARE A SLAVE. You need to break free. This is my quest, and it's not something you ever reach, because the moment you think you achieved it and consider yourself "done" or "content", you are by definition a slave again. It's a process and the closest you can ever come towards the goal is to keep pursuing. Free your body. The practical application and pursuit of this is to improve myself every day, in every aspect. To do something that takes me towards my goal, and be done with it, wake up the next day without any worry about yesterday, do something that moves me towards my goal, and be done with it. A necessity for this is to be open-minded, there is NO progress or improvement if you're not open-minded. It's so easy to get stuck in comfort, in a routine, a lifestyle etc. If you ever find yourself doing the same thing every day, CHANGE IT COMPLETELY. There is nothing worse than being stagnant. I’m in a weird phase of my life. I worked as a (bloody) salesman for a couple of months last year, and earned way too much money (using skills, not lies, I might add). Luckily, I’m a clever young man, and I got out of the business before I got stuck. This has resulted in me not â€having†to work. I plan on studying (Sports Science) this fall. So for now, I train. That’s it. I invest all my time & energy into growing as a human being, physically & mentally. I’m happy to say that my previous challenge made me a full-on Assassin. I was the gym guy lifting weights, but somewhere during my last challenge I completely fell in love with training outdoors. I’ve been training outdoors 2x/day for weeks now, and I certainly won't stop! I also fell in love with using gymnastic rings, and I’ve seen great progress with them, so expect a lot of my challenges to be connected to the almighty rings ! I do, however, still fucking love lifting heavy shit. The more I fall in love with training outdoors, the more I love the feel of the barbell back at the gym. I believe I’ve found the perfect training recipe (for me). I use rings for upper body, and I use weight & plyometrics for lower body (for strength training, that is). As Ido Portal says: â€The upper body craves complexity, the lower body intensityâ€. I have found this to be very true. I will use weights for my lower body training, and I will have some goals for this, as-well! I’m following GMBs programs at the moment. Ring training, floor training (hand-balancing, tumbling etc), movement practice, stretching. All GMB. I love GMB:D. Well, I’ll stop ranting and get into my goals for this challenge. Brace yourselves. Yang:Goal 1 - 200kg (440lbs) Deadlift. (2 STR (+1 CHA if done beautifully, decided by you!))The deadlift is my favorite lift, which is convenient, since it’s also (by far) the most important. I’m a strong deadlifter. For a couple of months I’ve been working with sub-maximal weights to develop my deadlift speed (mostly because of my focus for the previous challenge). My all time PR for the deadlift is 190kg (418lbs), that was back in February when I weighted 86kg (190lbs). I weight around 78kg (172lbs) now. I don’t want to â€grind†a 200kg deadlift, I want it to look pretty, and FAST. That’s what I’ve been working on since February, and now it’s time to get back to lifting heavy & pushing my boundaries, while maintaining the explosiveness & speed. LET’S GET IT! Goal 2 - Rebalance myself using Front Squats. (2 CON, 1 STR, 1 CHA)I realized that I've been doing the low-bar squat exclusively for almost a year. The low-bar position works the posterior chain. This coupled with deadlifts (which also works the posterior chain mostly) has developed a pretty bad imbalance. I also realized that deadlifting & squatting very heavy each week is more detrimental than beneficial considering my other goals. My goal for this challenge will therefore be to work the Front Squat. The front squat is superior to the back squat for posture, flexibility and teaching proper form. It's impossible to do the Front Squat if you're imbalanced, it will highlight your weaknesses big-time! I want to become very good at front squats, because that will carry over greatly when I go back to heavy squats again, and will ensure I have proper form and no imbalances! The goal is not necessarily to increase the weight on Front Squats, but to learn absolutely perfect form, then increase the weight while maintaining that perfect form! Goal 3 - Bent Arm Stand. (2 STR, 1 DEX, 1 WIS)I’m a member of GMBs â€Alpha Posseâ€. They have monthly challenges with awesome prices. This months challenge was just released and I quickly decided that I’m going to win. The challenge is on the Bent Arm Stand. Most progress in 4 weeks wins. The challenge ends 30th June. Goal 4 - (Ring) Muscle-Up -> L-Sit -> Shoulder-Stand -> L-Sit. (2 STR, 1 DEX, 1 STA)This is the big one. I see little to no use in having a single skill if you can’t apply it probably. This is the basis of GMBs philosophy. The last phase of every GMB program they have a couple of weeks called â€flow masteryâ€. This means putting everything you learned from the program together into a â€flowâ€. This mini-flow starts at the bottom. You do a Muscle-Up to get above the rings, then go straight into a L-Sit, you immediately â€roll†back into a full shoulder stand, then back to the L-Sit. Very beautiful, very impressive, very hard. I look forward to being able to do this! Goal 5 - Improve overall conditioning & 60m time. (1-4 STA)I’ve been slacking on my conditioning lately. It’s still great, don’t get me wrong. 2 session daily with gymnastic style training goes a long way conditioning wise, but I want more. I’ll be combining sprints with longer distance running. I’ll measure my time before the challenge in a 60m (65yards) sprint. Stat points awarded depends on my progress! Sprint time. Before: 8.9s, After: Yin:Goal 6 - 30s Freestanding Handstand. (1 DEX, 1 STA, 2 WIS, 1 CHA)What’s strength if you can’t control your own body? I believe balance is the most underrated aspect in fitness. I follow GMBs â€Floor 1†which is all about motor control. Tumbling, jumps & hand-balancing to name a few aspects. I’ve seen great improvements in my handstands lately. I was very scared to do them a month ago, now I can kick-up against the wall with ease and â€float†of the wall for 5-10s. I’ve yet to nail the freestanding consistently, but with all the preparation work GMB focuses on (holding a perfect handstand 60s+ against the wall before progressing etc), I’m certain I will get good at a freestanding handstand once it's time for that progression, and all the drilling of the basic will pay off. Goal 7 - Pistol Squat. (1 DEX, 1 CON) My ankle flexibility sucks. It has improved lately, but it’s still my weakest link. Working towards the Pistol Squat forces me to get good ankle flexibility, hence, it's a great goal for me. Goal 8 - Front Split Progression. (1-3 CON)My previous flexibility oriented challenge was the Full Bridge, I nailed it. I feel like it's time to tackle them splits. It will be completely humiliating but I want to achieve both splits this year. For this challenge I'll start working on the Front Split. It's certainly nothing you achieve in 6 weeks, so I'll award stat points depending on my progress. Expect before & after photos! Goal 9 - Meditation. (2 WIS)I want to meditate more. For this challenge I'll meditate 2 times every day, preferably after each of my training sessions (as part of cool-down, after stretches). No set time, but aiming for above 10min per session! Side goals:Get & stay below 7% body-fatVery straight forward. I track my body-fat weekly & count my macros daily. I’m currently at 7.4% body-fat (not accurate numbers). My goal is to get below 7% (on my caliper) and stay below for the entire challenge. Find an apartment for this fallAs I mentioned above, I’m going to study this fall. I want to find my own apartment in the city where the school is located. I’ll know if I’m accepted to my program by June/July, and I’ll start looking for an apartment right away! Finish another round of ElementsElements was the first program I did from GMB. It's the foundation, the very basics that you then build upon. I've chose to restart this & really master & perfect the basics. The importance of having a bullet-proof foundation cannot be stressed enough! There it is friends! Same as last challenge, a video (of me) demonstrating every single goal must be uploaded on this thread prior to 19th July for me to pass this challenge. I'm honored if you choose to follow me for this challenge! I promise active updates with videos of me and my progress towards my goals. Let's smash this! Godnattish!