2014年五月24-26日大青山国际太极拳大赛
May 24-26, 2014 Daqingshan International Taiji Competition
2014年五月24-26日大青山国际太极拳大赛 
May 24-26, 2014 Daqingshan International Taiji Competition
2014年五月24-26日大青山国际太极拳大赛
Day 1
- The kua has to come out (draw a line forward with the kua). Don’t move anything but the kua.
- Partner exercise: partner sets a dot a few inches in front of the kua; you have to get your kua to touch it.
- Add speed – do it 5 times fast. Add power – have someone hold onto your kua from the rear. Add stepping – connect it to your elbow and don’t let the elbow move.
- Learning – have to make ideas based on physical reality, not on ideas.
- It has to never be off – there has to be a line to the foot (toe). The power has to split at the kua.
- The opponent’s power has to dissipate: it splits at the point of contact: 50/50.
- Structure is like a ball in that the volume doesn’t change – the air doesn’t escape. The structural tension stays there. When we “go down” we lose that structure.
- Learning – micro and macro. Consider the specific example. Consider it outside of this specific example. Have to be able to change perspectives. Master Chen often gives different perspectives but we miss it because we’re too focused on one thing.
- Gun (滾?) – everything goes backward except the tip that goes forward
- There’s only one way to know your progress: your opponent falls down and you don’t know how or why he fell down. It’s accidental. In 8 years of practice this might only happen a few times.
- Rotate. Stretch linearly. These two actions must be distinct. If you turn while you stretch, you will miss your mark. Rotate is like aiming; stretch is like firing the gun.
- The kua rotation has to be on the foot. No knee. There has to be a line from the kua to the heel.
- Copy the teacher physically. The exact position when he demonstrates is the right position.
- Only when the structure does not move, energy moves. When the structure moves, energy does not move.
- The dantien works as a third hand: you can settle the elbow and/or kua on it and it will free up the other hand / foot
- No power = no engagement. When gears are not engaged, they are just coasting / not physically connected. The connection is a directional hook. Aka meridians / energy path
- 3 ways to not move hand: really does not move in space, doesnt move relative to another position that isn’t moving, stays in line (stretch)
I moved out of Vienna and I‘ve been thinking how I could offer Practical Method classes here in Lower Austria. In Vienna I started a group from scratch, together with Fabian. But with three kids now and a full time job I simply have no resources to start a group this way. “There must be a better method” I thought. And, as is often the case at the country side, my neighbor helped me out.
I do practice directly on the street in front of my house. One neighbor saw me practicing — at night usually — and asked me what I’m doing. After I explained to her a little bit of what Taijiquan is, she asked me whether I‘m interested in teaching it. ”Sure!” I said. And so she gave me the contact information of the head of the local “Sport Union”, a local branch of a nation wide organization offering lot’s of sport activities.
Long story short: I’m happy to announce, that there will be a regular class every thursday starting in September 2019 until June 2020. I’ll teach Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method in Böheimkirchen, Austria.
You‘ll find more info about this class here (in German language).
Regular class for Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method in Böheimkirchen, Austria
Courses in Vienna, Austria continue, of course. If you are interested in experiencing Practical Method, just comment this post or write me on WeChat at the international group.
You can also find me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/beipawel
It’s the third year since we started the European Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method Meet-Up Series. It continues this year in Toulouse, France in August 24/25th at the Main Garden Square or at the 3 rue du Gorp 31 400, depending on weather.
This years meetup is in Toulouse, France at the Weekend August, 24/25th
Everyone interested in Taijiquan is welcome. There will be enough instructors to lead beginners classes as well as more advanced training. Through practicing together, many questions we have can be answered.
In Hong Junshengs Book, Translated by Master Chen Zhonghua there is this poem:
…You also need
To have good friends
With friends
You can help each other
Hong Junsheng, from Learning
This is basically what this meetup is about.
So let’s practice together!
For more info and registration drop us an email at: practicalmethod.europe@gmail.com or contact us in the english WeChat group (Contact Pawel Müller there)
Rough Schedule
Friday evening:
Meetup in Toulouse for supper
Saturday:
Daqing Shan training schedule:
6:30am Early morning training: 10 Yilus; Foundation set; Partner exercises
7:30am Breakfast
9:00am Morning training: Yilus; specific exercises (kua opening)
12:00pm Lunch
3:00pm Afternoon training: Yilus; free training; possibility to push with each other
6:00pm Supper
7:30pm Evening training: Pushing hands
Sunday:
Early morning training like on saturday, breakfast and then free training, talking, trying, experimenting. Some might need to leave after lunch. For those who don’t we can do more Yilus and all that other stuff in the afternoon as well or go to the city and do touristic things.
We are pretty sure that such a get-together will boost our understanding by lightyears.
There is no fee for this event, but we will share the costs among all participants equally. If we are 30 people the costs per person will drop below EUR 10,-
Registration is done simply by emailing us to practicalmethod.europe@gmail.com.
If you are not from Europe you can join anyway, of course 
During a workshop earlier this year, Master Chen recommended that we utilize the “Yilu Record” tab to track our practice. As a result of starting this, I have found that it motivates me to basically do more, and to practice more consistently. Recording progress provides definitive feedback on effort and accomplishment. I have found it to be a very positive tool and extremely easy to use.
How to engage the waist
1) Move the waist first.
a. What it looks like: Have it move broadly right or left prior any movements with the arms or hands. This creates a ‘foundation’ for the move to base itself off of.
b. Result: Less movement of the arms. More solid arm movement. Starting to anchor upper body movement from the waist.
2) Make sure your move is represented on the bottom.
a. What it looks like: When your upper body moves, there is expansion in the bottom. Typically both knees expanding outwards.
b. Result: Body becomes more even, action is created from the waist (and lower) rather than entirely from the top.
3) Lock one kua, in order to turn the joint. Continuing to open through multiple movements. Creates an ‘S’ curve.
a. What it looks like: The kua acts exactly like the shoulder joint, it starts to turn then locks so the other can move.
b. Result: All movement starts from the waist, and is proportionally represented on the top and bottom.
For more than a year now, Sven Gusowski from Practical Method-Berlin visits us each monday at our office at Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin) to do fifteen minutes of basic foundations exercises. We basically do variations of the positive circle and learn movements that can be easily repeated at home or anywhere.
Read more
Taken in June 2019
Taken in June, 2019
Taken in June 2019
Push Hands was demonstrated at 2019 Canadian Cultural and Martial Arts Festival
I am 64 years old and have been on long-term disability for over 10 years due to a form of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). I previously studied and practiced several external martial arts and they all eventually made my AS symptoms worse. I have had the disease my whole life but only diagnosed in the ’80′s. It became so bad at one point I was bed ridden for almost 2 years. It causes difficult symptoms in multiple body systems. I have had to get steroids injected into my eyes a few times to bring down inflammation. The disease primarily fuses the spinal vertebrae together, which of course reduces, restricts and eventually collapses the vertebral separations so they cannot move normally, or at all. I have tried physio, multiple drug therapies, meditation and exercise all with no or next to no improvement in my symptoms.
Read more
For this year’s Edmonton workshop we worked a lot on positive circle concepts and stretching.
Read more
Yilu Performance at 2019 Canadian Cultural and Martial Arts Festival
Kelvin Ho performed Taiji sword at 2019 Canadian Cultural and Martial Arts Festival on June 8, 2019.
