Sōng and Qì

James Drewe
Dec 1, 2025
5 min read

Updated: Dec 3, 2025

"The relationship between sōng (松, release/relaxation) and qì (氣, vital energy) is one of the most fundamental principles in Taijiquan.

They aren’t separate—sōng is the condition that allows qì to manifest, circulate, and be directed." (Courtesy of AI).

To put it into more tangible terms, if you are tense either physically, mentally, or emotionally, or all three, your tissues contract.

When you've been outside in very cold weather and you come indoors. Your body shivers - a natural reflex to loosen the muscles, enhance blood flow, and reduce contraction in the body.

When the tissues are squeezed, they either fully or partially stagnate; the body fluids and the qi (call it energy if you prefer) have more trouble moving through the body.

It isn't a very different to waking up one morning feeling rather stiff and creaky; there is a tightness there, a lack of flexibility... everything is a bit condensed.

How do we get out of it?

Continuing the 'first thing in the morning' analogy, you might not do anything other than stand up and walk around, and if you haven't stiffened up a lot, it will probably do the job.

But what we have temporarily lost is 'Sōng'.

Now I know that using a translation of a Chinese word doesn't help westerners a great deal, in fact, it's almost like putting another barrier in the way, but 'sōng' cannot really be translated easily in English as it's almost conceptual.

Translating it as 'relaxation' doesn't really work, nor 'letting go', nor 'releasing', and yet all these translations are a part of 'sōng'.

Someone once said to me that a Chinese teacher they knew had compared sōng to someone whose long hair is piled up on top of their head, held in place with hair sticks, and, when the sticks are pulled out, the hair is released and just tumbles downwards; it doesn't try to fall, it simply follows the laws of gravity, and plays no part in the actual 'tumbling' itself.

So yes, it is relaxing, releasing, undoing, freeing, letting go, and probably many other definitions, but by themselves those words are not enough, partly because, being a verb, they describe the action prior to the result, and partly because it is the feeling or quality of the hair that changes upon its unpinning, and the hair itself alters both its function (in the sense that it now hangs), and therefore also the 'quality' of the hair (in that it now has a greater springiness caused by its undoing).

I know it's all semantics, but both zen and taoism have a lot to say about how language actually stagnates the very thing you are trying to describe... but it's all we have!

How Sōng Creates the Conditions for Qì Flow

Releasing Physical Tension
1. Muscle stiffness blocks qì flow by creating compression in joints, fascia, and meridians.
2. Sōng removes unnecessary effort and lets the body open, creating space.
3. With that openness, qì naturally fills and circulates—just like water running through a clear channel.
Opening the Joints (Kai Guan, 開關)
1. Sōng isn’t limpness; it’s relaxed expansion.
2. When joints are open, connective tissue (fascia) is elastic and spring-like, not collapsed.
3. This “open but not slack” quality is the physical underlying layer for qì to move.
Dropping Into Gravity (Chen, 沉)
1. When you release tension downward into the dantian, your centre stabilises.
2. Qì then gathers and sinks, giving the body both weight and rootedness.
3. From this stability, qì can rise, spiral, or issue outward without scattering.

This very succinct summary, courtesy of AI, is what we attempt to work on constantly in both tai chi and qigong classes, and is one of the main reasons for doing 2-person tai chi practices.

In 2-person exercises, you can test yourself and your ability to "sōng" more easily because you have a force acting against you, which enables you to feel your own body's tensions and its relaxations. In solo tai chi forms, this is more difficult.

When you read the above description, the brain goes through various 'I agree with that' (or not) processes, and we also use our memories to remember times that we have felt relaxed, applying those to the above descriptions.

Speaking from experience, every single one of the above descriptions is using the brain to attempt to decipher the message. What you really need to do is to use the heart (in Chinese this is synonymous with the mind) to feel what is described above, and you need 2-person exercises to do that.

How Qì Responds to Sōng

Where you release, qì goes.
If you soften the shoulders, qì can reach the elbows and hands. If you soften the kua (inguinal creases where the legs join the pelvis), qì can connect the torso with the legs. [In other words, the 'gates' to the limbs are opened. Many people are locked in these areas].

The subtler the song, the subtler the qi flow.
At first, you feel it as warmth, heaviness, tingling. Later, it becomes a quiet fullness and a responsive “presence” in every fibre. [Generally I have found that people try to do relaxation; they try to do it with the brain. However, it needs to be an undoing, and instead arise from feeling. It is a sensory experience, and not a cerebral one].

Qi is not forced—it is revealed.
When the body stops resisting itself, qì naturally permeates. The classics say: “Where there is sōng, there is qì; where there is qì, there is power (jin).”

[If you think in terms of a plumbing system in the house, everything is slow when the pipes are furred up; there is resistance in the system and the water cannot flow so easily. If you de-fur the pipes (sōng), the water (qì) flows more easily, and is more connected (jin) to produce a result].

Martial Implications

Absorbing Force (Hua Jin, 化勁)
Sōng lets you neutralize incoming strength by dissolving it through the body into the ground. Without sōng, the qì can’t spread, and you end up resisting (i.e. furring up your pipes). [cf. A lightning conductor].
Issuing Power (Fa Jin, 發勁)
When qì is full and connected, sōng allows it to discharge through the whole structure instantly—like a whip snapping. [cf. A ball bouncing; a recoil].
Sensitivity (Ting Jin, 聽勁)
Sōng heightens perception. By releasing surface tension, qì extends outward, and you can “listen” to an opponent’s intention before they even apply force. [cf. An opening of your internal awareness; the opponent's intention is instantly reflected in their energy pattern before they even move].

In Simple Terms

Sōng is the method.
Qì is the result.
Jin (refined power) is the application.

If you’re tense → qì stagnates.

If you collapse → qì scatters.

If you cultivate sōng → qì unifies, fills, and responds.

James Drewe teaches Tai Chi and Qigong in both London and in Kent and online.

Details of weekly classes both live and online can be found on the website, and there are classes for 2-person Tai Chi on one Saturday a month.