Wang Xiangzhai’s “Relaxation Within Tension” and Li Yaxuan’s “Great Softness”: Should Tai Chi Be Relaxed or Tense?

Editorial note: This article discusses relaxation and tension in the vocabulary of Chinese internal martial arts. Terminology varies among styles and lineages. The discussion is educational and does not replace in-person coaching or medical advice. Loaded practice, prolonged standing and partner pressure should be introduced progressively.

A false choice

Wang Xiangzhai’s training approach is often summarized by Yiquan practitioners as seeking relaxation within tension. Li Yaxuan, by contrast, became famous for describing Yang-style Tai Chi through “great relaxation and great softness.” Placed side by side, the two statements appear contradictory.

The useful question, however, is not whether relaxation or tension should win. It is where support is needed, which tension is unnecessary, how quickly the body can change between the two, and whether the task is solo form, conditioning, partner training or application.

Relaxation without structure becomes collapse. Tension without adaptability becomes stiffness. Internal martial arts require a relationship that can be regulated.

Relaxation is not the absence of effort

In traditional practice, song is better understood as the release of unnecessary muscular conflict and local holding. The neck and shoulders do not seize the task, breathing is not trapped, the joints retain room to change, and force can travel through the body rather than stopping in one area.

Tension, meanwhile, should not mean permanent whole-body contraction. It means creating purposeful support and directional force where the task requires it: the wrist maintains a line, the elbow and shoulder preserve a pathway, the legs carry the center, and the trunk organizes the limbs.

Relaxation removes useless force; tension organizes necessary force.

Five yin and five yang

In Illustrated Explanations of Chen Family Taijiquan, Chen Xin warns that pure yin produces a soft, unusable hand, while pure yang produces a hard hand. The verse culminates in “five yin together with five yang,” describing a skilled state without bias toward either side.

The passage should not be reduced to literal percentages. Its training message is that softness and support depend on each other. Great softness should not empty the frame; seeking relaxation within tension should not turn the whole body into a rigid block.

Why relaxed practice can become tense under pressure

Many practitioners look relaxed during solo form but stiffen as soon as a partner touches them. The cause is usually a gap between training conditions and application conditions. Solo movement contains little external force, speed or threat to balance. Under unfamiliar pressure, the body uses global stiffness as an emergency solution.

The answer is neither permanent softness nor maximal tension. Practice should progressively add structure, light directional pressure, movement under load, changing angles and timely release. The goal is to preserve necessary support without losing breath, mobility or perception.

Understanding Li Yaxuan’s “great softness”

Li Yaxuan emphasized great relaxation and softness, but his writings also acknowledge that Tai Chi requires basic strength—strength of a pliable quality rather than rigid force. Great softness is therefore a statement about the quality of strength, not its disappearance.

Experienced practitioners may have ample structure yet remain slow to change; for them, a stronger emphasis on softness can improve sensitivity and transformation. Beginners also need to remove unnecessary tension from the first day, but they must learn to do so without abandoning alignment and support.

Every stage needs relaxation; every stage has a different standard for remaining relaxed without becoming disconnected.

What “train tense, apply relaxed” can usefully mean

The phrase is valuable when it reminds us that training must contain enough load to create capacity. Standing practice, low stances, weapons, resistance, stepping drills and partner pressure can develop leg strength, trunk control, grip and whole-body connection.

Yet “training tense” should mean purposeful load with appropriate dosage and recovery. It should not mean breath-holding, locked joints or treating pain as proof of progress. A body that has developed capacity under controlled pressure is less likely to panic and recruit every muscle during application.

Stretching the sinews and opening the frame

The traditional phrase often translated as “stretching the sinews and pulling the bones” is a training image, not a license to force ligaments or pry joints apart. Useful progress can be observed as improved range of motion, better alignment under load, clearer force pathways, and the ability to breathe and change while receiving pressure.

Sharp pain, numbness or joint instability are warning signs, not milestones.

Health requires more than one quality

Health is not produced by relaxation alone, nor by exhaustion alone. Public-health guidance combines regular aerobic activity with muscle-strengthening work, while balance, mobility and recovery also matter. Slow Tai Chi practice can develop coordination, balance and attention; standing, low postures, weapons and sensible resistance can add strength and load tolerance.

The correct dose depends on age, training history, injury status and recovery. Martial-arts slogans should never replace individual judgment.

A practical sequence

1. Establish structure: organize the feet, joints, limbs and breathing.
2. Remove crude effort: reduce unnecessary tension in the neck, shoulders, face and local muscles.
3. Add progressive load: introduce stance work, equipment or partner pressure gradually.
4. Seek relaxation under load: continue breathing, turning and shifting while support remains.
5. Preserve unity during change: keep the hands connected to the ground as speed and direction vary.
6. Release after the task: remove tension that is no longer needed so the next change remains available.

Conclusion

Wang Xiangzhai and Li Yaxuan do not need to represent opposite camps. One perspective reminds us that relaxation cannot abandon structure and capacity; the other reminds us that strength must not become rigidity and delay.

The aim is not to look as relaxed as possible or to train as tightly as possible. It is to support when support is needed, change when change is required, issue force without leakage, and release immediately afterward.

Unity within relaxation; adaptability within tension. The real skill is not choosing one side, but regulating both.

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