Let It Go

"To study Tai Chi Chuan means to learn to relax," were his first words to my beginners' class, and it was his constant message.  "Relax.  Let go of all tension, all hardness.  Be soft.  Hardness is the discipline of death; softness is the discipline of life.  So, wherever you identify tension or hardness, let it go.  Relax completely.  This is what it means to study Tai Chi Chuan."

- The words of the Tai Chi Chuan Master Cheng Man-ch'ing, 1967.  Gateway to the Miraculous: Further Explorations in the Tao of Cheng Man-ch'ing.  By Wolfe Lowenthal, p. 41.  


Gateway to the Miraculous: Further Explorations in the Tao of Cheng Man-ch'ing.  By Wolfe Lowenthal.  Berkeley, California, North Atlantic Books, Frog Ltd., 1994.  124 pages.  ISBN: 1883319137.  Wolfe Lowenthal was a student of Cheng Man-ch'ing from 1967-1975; and later taught Taijiquan at the Long River Tai Chi Circle.  VSCL. 

Relax (Sung) in Tai Chi Chuan
Relaxed, Loosened, Soft, Released
Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Notes, Resources, Instructions.
A hypertext notebook by Michael P. Garofalo.

Valley Spirit Taijiquan, Vancouver, Washington

Cloud Hands Taijiquan



"If we want to fold something up, we must first spread it out.
If we want to weaken something, we must first strengthen it.
If we want to get rid of something, we must first encourage it.
If we want to have something, we must first let it go.

This is called The Secret Wisdom:
That the soft and the weak shall overcome the hard and the strong."

- Dao De Jing, Chapter 36
  Translated by Roderic and Amy Sorrell, 2003