Living From the Root

The jin should be

rooted in the feet,

generated from the legs,

controlled by the waist, and

expressed through the fingers.

— Tai Chi Classics

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The “Jin” is the explosive energy, the “whip” power that results when each segment of the body is accelerated in proper sequence. With a whip, this starts with the body conveying momentum to the handle, the “wave” accelerating down the length until the tip actually breaks the sound barrier. CRACK!

The same is true in the martial arts, but different arts take different routes to generating it, the simplest being simply aiming to accelerate the entire body with more of a SMASH! End point. Sophistication comes with understanding, and time.

The same thing is true in every aspect of life. In writing, I’ve noticed that Tananarive talks about THE KEEPER, our new graphic novel. The story, about a grandmother who makes a deal with a demon to protect her daughter, is rooted in a night Tananarive spent with her great grandmother’s bedroom. Great-gramma was dying of emphysema and on oxygen. That hissing sound haunted Tananarive with feelings of loss and fear: what would she do if Great Gramma stopped breathing? What did death mean? Was the aged woman on the bed just another version of Tananarive herself, in years to come?

If you can step back and look at that emotion, you will see personal survival, family, love…