Here is a brief summary of the notes I made in Hunyuan World. I hope I was able to have some understanding from Master Chen´s teachings in the seminar. I am open to any corrections on these notes.
Positive circle corrections Upper Body:
The arm stretches out more than the lower body moves while maintaining structure (elbow lower than the hand and shoulder, and no horizontal arm movements).
Elbow in on the first half of the circle. As the first half of the positive is completed the shoulder goes down and causes the elbow to flex more. As the lower body rotates into the second half of the positive circle, the shoulder continues to go down and pushes the elbow out. The elbow in turn pushes the wrist and hand out.
Not moving the hand includes not rotating at the wrist. Body rotation makes the arm spiral. Middle Body: The waist rotation is not the same as the kua rotation. I must understand the separate rotations before I can have body unity in rotating. Lower Body: Front kua goes down, but never below the knee. Front kua becomes fixed Back kua rotates.
Rotation of the back kua is as if the bottom part of the femur bone is trying to rotate to the top. It only rotates 1/8 of a turn. This movement should connect to the opposite arm. Which kua is front or back kua is relative to the direction you are rotating. Push Hands: Use the upper body less. More emphasis on the lower body Never give your opponent a surface.
Only have a dot as the contact point. Rotate around that dot and never let your opponent find the center. Push (with your feet) on the point where the opponents stance is double heavy. When you or your opponent are strong in one direction, all points surrounding that direction are weak. Qi Gong: Qi gong is a catalyst for health and martial abilities. Emphasize belt meridian qi gong for my personal health Concept of expanding in many directions when I do Zhan Zhuang in order to develop Peng. I must feel as if my entire body fills up like a balloon expanding in all directions. Other notes: The importance of watching first before doing. Watching advanced concepts, even if I don’t understand them at the moment, will be important later down the road to develop the different skills in Taijiquan.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Master Chen,
As I have been practicing the 1/8th turn of the rear kua, I?ve been aware of not moving the knee side to side or twisting it. What I have noticed is that when I try to do the 1/8th turn with the rear kua without doing incorrect knee movements, my rear hip is actually being pushed by the kua. At the same time I keep in mind that the front kua moves down.
Is the rear hip being pushed by the rear kua due to the 1/8th rotation what is supposed to be happening?
Thank you in advanced.
At this point I would say your movement is correct. It is correct in the sense that the Kua is moved by something else. That is a correct principle. It is being that everything must be moved by something else. In the end, everything is moving but is moved by something else. The whole thing becomes difficult to determine exactly which moves which.