Friday PM session – Form instruction
Repetitions must be done to make the form go into the body. This can be done with 10 yilus/day for 3+ years, 25/day for 1 year or 60/day in 3 months.
Don’t move means don’t move. Only one thing adjusts at a time. When we are comfortable with this the sequence of one thing moving at a time gives the illusion of continuous movement of all parts together.
Jingang Pounds Mortar
Diagram
Near (left) hand creates a triangle and locks inside
Far (right) hand stays outside and guides the turn of the opponent’s arm
To step out is called to shovel.
To step in is called to drag.
Taijiquan is big without outside and small without inside. This is like ink dropped in water. The outside gets larger and inside gets smaller and diminishes.
There are 9 counts (gates?) to all movements, but this is impossible to start with. Start with 3 counts, for example hand, elbow, shoulder.
With 3 counts, 1 moves; 2 and 3 don’t move. With 9 counts, 1 moves and 2-8 are stable.
Once a finger ( or any body part) is fixed on a point, it never moves.
Discussion taking instructions
CZH, “No matter what I tell you, do that. Don’t worry about making a mistake or prior instructions. With many students, I say. ‘Drop your elbow.’ They ask, ‘What about my hip or some other body part.’ This is a common pattern. It shows that they are thinking about other things and not listening.”
Friday Evening
I was breaking up an ice dam which had formed on my roof and was leaking water into the wall and flooding a room. Perhaps an attendee that night could contribute notes from this session in the comments.
Richard Johnson
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Here are the Friday notes