If you’ve spent some time training Chinese martial arts, especially the inner styles, you’ve definitely already heard your teacher saying:

“More song.”

“Your shoulders need to be song.”

“Song the kua.” … …

When I started with Taijiquan, it meant to me that I shouldn’t lift up the shoulders, I should get softer in my movement. When I was told to song my kua (=hip crease), I was really confused as I wasn’t really able to control this part of my body much. The problem is that 松 sōng is usually translated as “relax.” While that isn’t entirely wrong, it doesn’t tell the whole story. In fact, it can be quite misleading. Before we look at what song means in Taijiquan, let’s start with the character itself.

The Character 松

松 (sōng) originally means pine tree.

The character consists of:

• 木 (mù) – tree, wood
• 公 (gōng) – public, open, shared

Historically, 松 referred to the pine tree. In Chinese culture, the pine has long been admired for its ability to withstand harsh weather while remaining flexible and alive. Deeply rooted yet able to bend with the wind, it became a symbol of resilience, longevity, and strength without stiffness. It is not difficult to see why the same character later came to describe a state of relaxed openness rather than rigid tension. This symbolism mirrors the martial meaning of song perfectly.

In modern Chinese, 松 can mean:

• loose, relaxed, slack, untightened

Examples:

• 松开 (sōngkāi) — loosen, release
• 放松 (fàngsōng) — relax
• 轻松 (qīngsōng) — easy, relaxed
• 松弛 (sōngchí) — relaxed, loosened

When Western practitioners hear “relax,” they often imagine a posture that is:

• collapsing, becoming limp, losing structure, reducing power

This is not what Taijiquan means by song. So let’s rather translate is as:

• released, unblocked, free of unnecessary tension, elastic, alive

The body should be free from excess muscular effort while maintaining structural integrity.

Imagine:

• a steel cable under light tension, a bow ready to shoot, a cat preparing to jump

Nothing is stiff. Nothing is collapsed. Everything is ready. That is much closer to song.

My Taijiquan teacher liked to use this old Chinese saying a lot:

“柔能克刚” Róu néng kè gāng.

“Softness can overcome hardness.”

This idea appears throughout Chinese philosophy and martial arts. True strength does not come from stiffness but from adaptability. Something rigid can break. Something flexible can bend and recover.