If mental tension (精神緊, jing shen jin) clouds clarity, then emotional tension (情緊, qing jin) distorts stability. Emotions in Taijiquan are not obstacles in themselves — joy, fear, anger, and sorrow (喜怒哀懼, xi, nu, ai, ju) are natural human responses — but when they harden into reactivity, they immediately register in the body as contraction, stiffness, or collapse.

Thus, without qing song (情鬆), physical and mental release remain incomplete.

Manifestations of Emotional Tension

• Fear (懼, ju): Shoulders rise, breath shortens, kua (胯) locks.

• Anger (怒, nu): Chest tightens, fists clench, intention (意, yi) becomes forceful and brittle.

• Anxiety/Worry (慮, lü): Weight floats upward, structure loses rooting (gen, 根).

• Excitement (喜, xi): Movements become rushed, dispersing awareness (shen, 神).

These responses are autonomic — the nervous system instantaneously translates emotion into somatic patterns, interrupting song.

Modern Perspective

From a modern lens, qing song relates to emotional regulation and interoceptive awareness: the capacity to sense internal states without being overwhelmed by them. It corresponds to vagal tone modulation, resilience against amygdala-driven reactivity, and the transformation of affect into adaptive response.

When emotional reactivity is released, the practitioner is no longer enslaved by impulses. Fear does not freeze, anger does not stiffen, joy does not scatter. Instead, emotions become fluid currents within the larger river of awareness. This is the mark of qing song — the emotional system relaxed yet alive, integrated into the wholeness of Taijiquan practice.

Practices for Qing Song

• Breath Regulation (調息, tiao xi)
  Emotional states ride on the breath. By deepening, lengthening, and sinking respiration into the dantian (丹田), practitioners down-regulate sympathetic arousal and restore parasympathetic calm.

• Push-hands (推手, tui shou) as Emotional Mirror
  Partner work reliably surfaces hidden emotional habits: fear of loss, anger at pressure, competitiveness. By remaining song under incoming force, one learns to release emotional reactions into adaptability (ying bian, 應變).

• Cultivation of Equanimity (平淡, ping dan)
  Not dullness, but a calm neutrality of the heart-mind (xin, 心). In Daoist and Confucian writings, ping dan is the balanced flavor of life, where no single emotion overpowers clarity. In practice, it means maintaining evenness whether advancing or yielding, winning or losing.

• Integration with Yi and Shen
  When emotions are released, yi (intention) remains precise without aggression, and shen (awareness) remains open without scattering. This ensures the unity of cognitive and affective Song.