The Torso Stick

by Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy on 2011/02/25

Arrived in Vancouver in the evening. Had supper with Gary, Jody and Wilkin. It was cold outside. We came to Wilkin’s for a practice. Showed how to create a “Stick” in the torso. This is a vertical stick that must be present at all times. It “awaits” the opportunity to act. It is half of the applications puzzle. The other half a similar “stick” in the arms. The arm stick works in the open while the torso stick works in the background. The two must meet in a special interaction to produce “application”. It turned out that the torso stick is harder to produce than I thought. I showed methods to help its production.

About Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy

Chen Style Taijiquan 19th generation disciple. International Standard Bearer of the Practical Method system of Hong Junsheng. Second generation master of Hunyuan Taiji. Been teaching internationally since 1985. Educated in the West with a Master's Degree in Education. Highly accomplished through the lineage of two great masters. Disciplined, precise and powerful. He teaches a complete system of taiji based on the principle of yin yang separation; indirect power as a core concept; movement and tranquility as the source of action. In both theory and practice, his taijiquan deals with the problems of double-heavy. He is a real treasure of the heritage of taijiquan.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Jay Smith February 25, 2011 at 10:09 pm

The “Torso Stick” would make a great video 🙂

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Wilkin Ng February 28, 2011 at 12:32 am

Master Chen told us that this is another way of expressing Yin/Yang separation. I added an image to the post to illustrate the sticks. Our problem is that we usually push only from the upper body, not having a stable base that root our position and also add another dimension to the push.

To train these separation, we can do circles with our back and rear foot close to the wall and having yoga blocks as a prop on the rear knee or rear shoulder, to reinforce the requirement that those spots shouldn’t move forward as the hand reach out.

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