Positive and Negative Circles

The positive and negative circles are two foundational exercises that practice a full revolution of the body. They are circles in the sense that they loop; however the path that the hand takes when performing the exercise is intentionally egg-shaped. The rear curvature is thick, and the front is thin.

While the exercises are fixed routines, they can also be generalized to the two directions of Revolution of the body (正旋 zhèng xuán and 反旋 fǎn xuàn). In this sense, every movement in Taijiquan can be considered to be part of a positive or negative circle.

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  • Revolution

    公转 gōngzhuàn is achieved through the coordinated Rotation of different segments of the body. The revolution of the hand is performed in the Positive and Negative Circles. The analogy is to the Earth revolving around the Sun: It rotates once every day and revolves once every year.

  • GEB Introduction

    The last canon he describes is an endlessly rising canon, where 3 voices create a cycle that sounds as though it rises without end. It’s not simply a spiral, but maybe like a toroidal spiral? In taiji, it’s like the path power takes in the Positive and Negative Circles. He calls this a Strange Loop: where an upwards traversal of the levels in a hierarchical system takes one back to one’s starting point.

#taijiquan/principle #revolution