Relaxation in T'ai Chi, by Waysun Liao

(image credit)

Relaxation in T'ai Chi comes with many names.  Song.  Sung.  Shoong.

I imagine it is as difficult to translate the Chinese character into an English word, as it is to define what it actually means.  What I remembered most, from my early studies, was its apparent literal translation:  "hairy pine tree."

Shoong means "to relax, "to loose, "to give up," "to yield." It is a term that has been adapted and incorporated into the specialized terminology traditionally used by T'ai Chi masters. It is said that when the famous T'ai Chi master Yang, Chen-fu was training the late master Cheng Man-c'hing, Master Yang reminded his student daily to "be shoong, be really, really shoong." "If you are not shoong, " Master Yang would say, "even just a little bit not shoong, you are not in the stage of shoong.

Reference:  "The Essence of T'ai Chi," by Waysun Liao.

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Michael Garofalo culled information, quotes and references on relaxation - Relaxed - and I am grateful for his effort.  Over several days in July 2011, I meditated over each one of these quotes and made notes in my T'ai Chi journal:

Not just to be really, really, but truly to be completely and absolutely shoong.  I would like to imagine that in the future, I can be completely impervious to some people's craziness and shenanigans, by being absolutely shoong.

Going forward I will post regularly on relaxation, with more quotes and notes.