Has anyone viewed the Eo Omwake “Balance and Rooting” video?
I am curious on the quality before I spend $40.00 on it.
Are there other videos that you would recommend for rooting?
Thanks
rooting
for the board, do you think its easier to get rooting on one leg or two in the begining? how long do you think after starting chen style, you should gain a root and lets say after two years of hard training and you dont have a root, should you quit chen, because you have failed the style?do you think maybe one day after training hard, not really goin for the root, that it will come to you? jus some thoughts…
simpleangle
Technical having 2 roots in tc would be called double weighting and is a very bad mistake as it leads to the inablility for change. The practice that I have seen and do is to practice relaxing everything into one leg while maintain good structure.
The rooting idea is really basic yet very hard idea IMHO to really grasp. I have had to reevaluate my own thinking based on some recent experiences on this. I too would like to hear other people’s ideas.
Another thread “mantis 108â€
“About the Wu Style lean body structure, it is still under the same principles. There are 2 main reasons to have the “leaning”. One is stylized which I am not about to disclose. The other is technical. It is physically impossible for a small physique (wieghting 100 - 115 lbs person) to “root” and sustains a hard push from a large person (250 - 300 lbs range). Those who said it’s possible are boostering a myth.â€
I thought this might be a good intro on the subject of rooting and what our experiences are.
A couple of questions: is rooting the ability to route an applied force to the ground or is it the ability to be able to sink your center into the ground denying a point to push or apply pressure against?
Is rooting the ability to resist an applied force in one direction or is it the ability to have an axis to move from?
Peng or pung dose this depend on having a good root? or is it the ability to expand and contract the body much like a balloon or is this something else?
In another thread we are talking about different TC styles, we bought up the idea of principles or keys. It might be interesting to contrast the way the common ideas are used and thought of based on our training, experience and stylistic out looks.
bamboo leaf
Instead of rooting, you should try focusing on how to manipulate the ground path. Mike Sigman’s (although I never seen them) videos at Neijia.com are pretty good I hear.
I have neer heard of the ground path. is it similar to the concept of rooting?
I guess
I guess it is similiar. I am also a beginner at this, and I am still trying to practice it so I can use it well.
Anyway, all ground path is directing force to the ground. For example, as you’re standing and someone pushes on the side of your right shoulder, the force of the push should direct to the ground under your left foot. Of course, you should be relaxed and have no tension at all. This is also the basis of peng jing.
I first encountered this from some taiji guys and later at one of Mike Sigman’s seminars.
You can contact Mike Sigman at mikesigman@earthlink.net for more information.
It’s a different way to describe rooting and related things, the mechanics are no different. I’m sure you didn’t intend it this way, but you can create a ground path ipsilaterally too.
Rooting Scenarios
How do you generate power from your root if you are standing on a tricky surface like ice or loose heavy sand?
Get her to lie down? 
Guns don’t kill people, I kill people
I walked right into that one. :rolleyes:
Sorry. The opening was there and I had to take it
Guns don’t kill people, I kill people
On a serious note, I practise an external art, and I have never really tried using my stances on tricky surfaces, but wouldn’t sinking into your stance still be the way to do it? Or am I talking crap?
Guns don’t kill people, I kill people
Instinctively, I would want to get lower too. My concern is that any attempt to generate power on ice may lead to my feet sliding and any attempt in heavy sand may leave my feet stuck/buried. I don’t know the answer, and it keeps me up at nights. 
I recommend Goodyear snow tires.
Power on Ice
Remember that power isn’t always issued horizontally.
CTJ: watch out for those Goodyear’s, especially if you are built like an SUV.ˇ
[This message was edited by count on 03-27-01 at 07:24 AM.]
The problem arises because the coefficent of friction is greatly reduced (for the case with ice) and hence any lateral movement runs the risk of losing grip. The answer then is to reduce the amount of force applied, at contact with surface in a lateral direction. In other words all the force that is generated against the ground should be perpendicular hence elliminating the risk of slipping. The alternative is to counteract the opposing latereal forces so that they are neutralised and this will leave you with perpendicular (vertical) force only.
I have no idea how you would do this practically though.
practice
Get the feel for doing the movements on the surfaces mentioned above by practicing- experiment. Get closer to the opponent so as not to reach(thus keeping more balanced.) Punch more, kick less.
Sand or mud- keep moving so as not to be bogged down. Land your strikes with your steps. (throw/kick sand in opponents eyes then attack.)
Practice some more- maybe your school would consider a “field trip”.
'The opening was there had to take it ", ha good one, you would wouldn’t you!? Can’t blame you for it. Though I thought this might be a porn thread, couldn’t be so lucky!
Biu Ji
As FT said, I’m the sick man of Australia
Guns don’t kill people, I kill people
Rooting vs. not rooting (side track from the Yin/Yang thread)
Hello everyone,
What would be your opinion on stable stances and rooting?
Logically, if the stance is strong and well rooted while soft on top one becomes harder to be pushed over.
But lately I have been experimenting on keeping the stance/structure unstable during push hands, often standing on one leg; yet overall opponents find it more difficult to overpower me than when I try to get into a properly rooted stance. Even fajin on the one leg.
Would this be an example of extreme softness leads to hardness, or extreme yin leads to yang? Would this be what the Taichi classics refer to as the “sickness of the waist and legs”?
Any opinions?
Cheers,
John
p.s. special thanks to Bamboo Leaf for this new method I’m working on. Your help had given me many break-throughs.