ABSTRACT

Taijiquan (TJQ) is a Chinese martial art, in the West known primarily as a stand-alone version of moving meditation, which was developed mainly on the experience of martial art. The main goal of TJQ as a martial art is to control the opponent's balance with as little force as possible and can be described with the well-known metaphor that "4 ounce can defeat 1000 ounce." This metaphor usually stands for a special effect in TJQ, called fajing. To understand the basic movement principles of TJQ we have to analyse the experience itself. On the basis of first- person analysis, we designed a number of pilot and one extensive study. In this article we will present an intervention method that uses TJQ movement principles to modulate motoric (MM) process and produces the fajing effect - which usually takes years of proper exercise - in just 15 to 20 minutes. A pilot study was designed to measure the influence of MM method on our movement. The participants had to use each arm to work on a different task. They used one arm to move the computer mouse and the cursor on the computer screen trying to catch the marker on the screen as fast and as accurately as possible. The other arm was interfered with constant steady movement forward-backward in the lateral direction. We measured the accuracy and speed of movement before and after the intervention. It turned out that the participants were more accurate in performing their task after the MM intervention than before it. Before the intervention the accuracy was 0,443 ± 0,058 and after the intervention it improved to 0,498 ± 0,053, p < 0,01. The participants could follow the disturbances much more easily after the MM intervention, they could concentrate more on their task and they were better in using their arms separately.

KEY WORDS

taijiquan, motoric processes, embodiment, intervention, learning

CLASSIFICATION

APA:	2221, 3312
JEL:	Z19
PACS:	87.19.Lv