My last post was a YouTube video clip from Stone River Kung Fu, an old favorite website of mine that’s still going strong. Nice chance to get a little Long Fist material on my blog. Shaolin Kung Fu is what got my mind and spirit excited about the traditional Asian martial arts, when I was still young. (Now with taijiquan I hope to be young again, ha-ha.)
But I have an ulterior motive for posting his clip here. (Besides always being glad to spread the word about SRKF.) At the beginning of the clip he performs a movement posture subtitled “Yin and Yang Palms Encircle the Ten Thousand Things”. I know that there is a deep philosophical background to that phrase; those are things I’m learning about little by little. But what interests me foremost is that in my Yang Taiji class in the session I just finished, we do this move twice (right hand top, left hand top) after Wuji and Begin Taiji. It’s named “Hold Nothing” and that’s how my teacher has always described it. We do it in a more rounded, taiji way… just like holding a beach ball in front of the chest, then turning the ball over. Then we do “petting a bird’s tail” to north and to east.
I was fascinated to see this “hold nothing” posture at the opening of a kung fu set. My teacher doesn’t stress martial applications and to me, our “hold nothing” is the least martial thing we do in a Yang set otherwise filled with typical fighting moves. I’d be grateful if anyone could shed some light on this “nothing” posture which undoubtedly “holds” a lot more meaning than I realized. 
Another thing that’s puzzled me is that I don’t think this bit appears in traditional Yang style taiji. But my teacher has told us that the 108 form he teaches, has some alterations. Probably in the future when I’m not a total newbie, I’ll find opportunity to ask him more about his form’s deeper side.
August 10, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Hey CQ. Was trying to find the video clip and/or post you referenced with the video, but unable. Please advise
August 11, 2007 at 12:56 am
Hi WM, thanks and sorry about that, for all my talking I’m not always real clear. In the post previous to this; video clip titled “LBC_individual movements” one of the first movements he does (at 7:34) is “Yin and Yang Palms Encircle the Ten Thousand Things” and we do a softer version of this in my teacher’s form; he calls it “Hold Nothing”. Thanks for checking this out and for any thoughts about it being in a “Yang 108″ routine.
August 11, 2007 at 6:04 pm
The ‘hold nothing’ aka ‘hold the ball’ posture is a common element in most yang movements at the learning phase.
When I used to teach the 24-form in college, I would often have students do this in transitions. For example, do a line of ‘horse parts mane’ or ‘brush knee push’ down a room. You could easily transition to and from the ‘hold nothing’ posture in between each repetition as it’s a common connecting movement.
I’ve never seen it done in the beginning of a set before the form, but have often seen it used as a training transitional posture (described above) or done in a qigong manner.
August 13, 2007 at 12:37 am
I think I have my answer, thanks Wujimon for sharing your knowledge. Based on what you say here and on my perception of the class I’m in, I’d say my teacher has installed this move right after “begin taiji”, because it covers so many bases:
The concept of Nothing or Emptiness
Universal transition movement
“Holding the Ball” concept
Taoist, yin-yang teachings
Roundness
etc.
It keeps a qigong-exercise emphasis within our form practice which otherwise could seem oriented primarily towards punching, kicking, and other fighting moves. So I think he wants it there at the beginning to remind us of the foundations. I’ll bet our friend at Stone River Kung Fu has the same thing in mind by performing “Open the Lotus” and “Yin and Yang Palms Encircle the Ten Thousand Things” before moving on to his exposition of strikes.
August 18, 2007 at 3:04 am
[...] calls “Hold Nothing” two times. This is the posture I posted about recently at http://chenquestion.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/question-from-taijiquestion/. Basically, it’s “holding the ball” with one hand at dantian and the other hand [...]