Yuxin Liu

Today we finished going through the first 13 moves of Yilu.

There are way more details than this, but here are some notes especially useful for myself.

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We practiced one knee up one knee down movement. The move after second Flash the back and before going into the jump.
It is the knee movements caused the kua to open, creating a hole which allows the torso to fall straight down.
The going down motion and the torso rotation are one move. The torso is passively dropping. The hands do not move, and the arms are adjusting accordingly.
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- To train the elbow. Lock the shoulder and hand completely, better to ask someone else to hold it, only move the elbow. The movement is very small, like the door hinge. The movement of the elbow is the same as the knee.

- To change the direction of the fingers, we lock the wrist and the hand, move the elbow and the rest part of the body. Once the body is well trained, the movements can be much bigger.
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Form 9 Walking obliquely on both sides.

Stay on the 45 degree line.

- The kick. Make sure the weight is fully on the R leg. The back is totally locked while doing the kick. Stretch from the back of the leg, push the knee into the kua-heel line. Use the middle part of the bottom of the foot targeting the knee. Heel lands without any moves in the upper body.
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- Correction on Six Sealing Four Closing.
My front kua was popping up, but need more horizontal stretch. Also need go bigger.
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- Negative Circle.
First count, shoulder needs to go down and the elbow needs to go over to come in. Hand does not move.
Turn with the waist. The torso is a cylinder and has three sections: shoulder, waist and kua. Only rotate the waist (the middle section of the cylinder), fix the top and bottom to create the stretch.
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- We use linear straight moves to create moves that are not linear. Example: How the crane works and how the airplane takes off.
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- Training method by restriction. In early stage, we separate the arms from the torso and train the arms only. Then we train the kua only by keeping other parts of the body not moving. Once the arms are in position, then it is locked. Only move the kua. Now the shoulder elbow and torso are called not moving. Otherwise the movements of the kua will be cancelled by the movements of other parts. We want the parts we don’t restrict to get all the training.
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Today everyone practiced some moves and Master Chen gave corrections.

- Three Hats.
Top hat is on top of the head. Imagine weighing 20 pounds so the neck will have to be stiff and straight. When you push up, it is too heavy, the body is actually pushed down. Read more

-Kelvin reviewed the details of Buddha’s warrior attendant pounds the mortar, here is some of the key points.
1. Mid fingers in line with the center of the chest. Read more

- Punch to the Ground. Before Chen Fake time, it was called 栽捶（zai chui）, means plant the hammer. It was changed to hit/punch later on.

- Kick with the Heels. There are three lines. The vertical line from the head to the standing heel. The line between two hands. And the line from the two kuas to the kicking heel. All three lines need to be fully stretched out, where there is a pause and it is a fixed posture. If you cannot fully stretch, at least make a stop. For older people it is more important to train the balance and stability. Read more

- Once you learn the choreography, your ability is highly dependent on the rhythm.

- Whenever you are doing a true rotation, there is no backward moves. It is like you are pushing a wheel barrel 45 degree up the hill. Every time you stop, you have to put a wedge to jam the wheel. So you can keep going. Whenever you let go or go back, you will roll down the hill. Example is Cloud Hands. You advance, jam and then advance and jam. We use the elbow to jam so the hand is free to do the next move.
My understanding is the jam is the anchor, every move there is an anchoring point. Elbow and kua are used to anchor. In this way you can keep coiling and never lose the power. It is like you have an anti-reversing lock. https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/118607
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- Positive Circle.
There are three sections. In each section, the lead needs to be clear. 1. In with elbow. Once the arm is in position, it does not move anymore. 2. Turn with the kua/waist. Only rotate the shoulder-kua line, do not move the arm on its own. Shoulder need stay in position without any displacement, no popping, no swaying sideways. 3. Out with hand. The power is on the back foot/kua. The kicking of the back foot into the ground propels the rest part of the body to go forward. Get onto your tippy toes to push, there will be a stretch through the inner thigh. The torso opens up. Read more

- Front trick and rear trick.
When you have movement, you have no power. Fight without movements. Arms are placed in position and locked. The waist causes horizontal movements and the knees cause up and down movements. Power from the waist and the feet.
The middle does not move, so the arms are powered by (react with) the back foot kicking into the ground. Same as the power points of White Crane Spreads Its Wings. Read more

- Clarity. At the beginning we learn the moves like following a printed instructional book. So we only learn the fixed posture, and the transition does not matter. This is called to trace the movements. No flow and as big as possible. Each move we pause like someone is taking a picture of your posture. Through years of practice the flow comes, without losing the frame.

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- First Cloud Hands. 1.Three counts. Follow the steps and procedure. 2. First count, in with elbow need to be very clear. 3. On the second count, open the front kua and turn with the waist. Do it big. 3. On the second count, lock the kua and two knees, only rotate. 4. On the third count, only back kua folds, pivoting on the front kua. 5. Open the front kua – Lock the front kua – Squeeze the back kua to the front kua. Master Chen used first form Pound the Mortar as example to explain how the front kua locked can create power. The sixth move, center of chest is locked, only step up from the kua.

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- Levels. On level one, we learn the choreography. On level two, we coordinate the moves. On level three, we learn the energy alignment and are able to manipulate.
If you are in level three, all the moves are from the core, the baihui to huiyin vertical line. Everything else is passive, they only adjust. It is the vertical line ties everything together. You can train exaggerating the moves of the torso, without compromising the structure.

- Moves go bigger so all the corners are open.
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The move is six sealing four closing like, but the training focus is different. Focusing on converting the power from the torso to the fingertip by rotation. Read more

-Movements come from the kua, not the shoulders.

-The learning stage. At the beginning, you trace the picture. That is playing/performing Taiji. Later, we need to implement Taiji principles. We have to actually do and practice Taiji. The moves need to fundamentally change.
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Cross hand
First only open the hands without any other movements. Then push the shoulders to open/propel the arms. Read more

Separation of Yin and Yang. Separate to 2 things. Yin and Yang is a relationship.
Three types to relationship:
1. Not related. A watermelon cut into two halves.
2. Positively related.
3. Negatively related. When the door is closed, it is part of the wall. When the door is open, it is separated but related. Read more

Find one point does not move to create the stretch.
In learning we have to find one thing as an anchor point. Repeat and exhaust yourself until you can move to the next anchor point. Read more