The culmination of the Spiritual Dimension of Song (神鬆, shen song) is the return to Wuji (無極) — the primordial state of undifferentiated stillness before the emergence of Yin and Yang (yin yang, 陰陽). Unlike collapse (tan, 癱) or vacancy (kong, 空), Wuji is not emptiness without structure, but fullness without form — a living potential (yuan qi, 元氣) that contains all movement in seed form. In advanced Taijiquan practice, this means releasing even the most refined traces of effort, intention, and separation, returning to pure naturalness (zi ran, 自然).

The Classical Ideal

• “Taiji comes from Wuji, and returns to Wuji” (太極生於無極, 復歸於無極, taiji sheng yu wuji, fu gui yu wuji) – All movement arises from stillness and resolves back into stillness.

• “The highest emptiness is not empty” (虛極而不空, xu ji er bu kong) – True emptiness is dynamic, filled with latent force.

These teachings point to Wuji as both origin and return, a state beyond striving, where Song has dissolved all obstruction.

Manifestations in Practice

• Stillness within Motion (動中有靜, dong zhong you jing): Even when techniques are expressed, the practitioner’s inner state remains tranquil, like a mirror unstirred by reflections.

• Natural Spontaneity (自然, zi ran): Movement no longer feels “applied” but arises without deliberation, as if nature itself acts through the body.

• Effortless Neutralization: Encounters dissolve without trace; yielding, entering, and issuing (hua, jin, fa, 化勁, 進, 發) are not choices but inevitabilities.

Practical Training

1. Standing Wuji Posture (無極樁, wuji zhuang): Upright stance before or after form practice, allowing all residual intention and tension to settle into undifferentiated stillness.

2. Form Resolution: After completing a sequence, return to stillness, releasing technique and pattern back into Wuji.

3. Advanced Tui Shou (推手): Practice yielding and issuing until distinctions blur — no longer “my force vs. yours,” but one field resolving naturally.

Modern Perspective

From a contemporary lens, Wuji can be understood as the baseline reset of the nervous system: a state where sympathetic activation is quieted and parasympathetic regulation predominates. It parallels the “zero point” in systems theory — the neutral state from which all oscillations emerge. In sports science, it resembles the flow cycle recovery phase — a necessary return to stillness that enables new peaks of performance.

Unlike simple relaxation, Wuji embodies dynamic readiness: the musculoskeletal frame remains aligned, fascia maintains elastic potential, and the nervous system is primed for spontaneous adaptation.

Return to Wuji is not the end of practice but the renewal of it. Each cycle of Song leads to Wuji, and from Wuji arises fresh Taiji. In this way, Wuji is both origin and culmination — the living ground from which all movement emerges and to which all dissolves.

Conclusion of The Spiritual Dimension of Song

The Spiritual Dimension of Song (神鬆, shen song) represents the highest maturation of Taijiquan practice. If physical release (shen song, 身鬆) refines the body, and mental release (xin song, 心鬆) unifies body and mind, then spiritual release (shen song, 神鬆) dissolves even the subtlest divisions of being.

In Illumination of Spirit (神明, shen ming), the practitioner transcends personal limitation, allowing awareness to shine without obstruction. In Union with Dao (與道合一, yu dao he yi), the individual sense of self merges seamlessly with the great flow of nature (Dao, 道), no longer acting against it but as an expression of it. Finally, in Return to Wuji (復無極, fu wuji), even the polarity of self and Dao dissolves — the practice returns to the undifferentiated stillness that is both origin and culmination.

From a modern perspective, this progression mirrors a deepening of nervous system regulation, cognitive quieting, and integration of embodied awareness — culminating in states of effortless flow, timeless presence, and profound adaptability. Yet in the traditional framework, these states are not merely psychological, but ontological: they point to the ultimate realization of Taijiquan as Dao embodied.

At this stage, there is no longer “practicing Taijiquan.” There is only Taiji itself, arising from Wuji, endlessly returning to Wuji. The practitioner becomes both the process and the source — form and formlessness, movement and stillness, Dao and Wuji — indivisible.