“Chen Zhonghua Italy Workshop 2011 4” Online Video Trailer

After multiple viewings and a lot of enjoyment watching Master Chen teach in this video, I wanted to add a couple of observations on what I got out of it. I feel so grateful for the opportunity to learn from this series of videos in Italy and i wanted to try to contribute something to show appreciation. One of the things that struck is the relationship between “transfer of power” and manipulation of “space and time”. I can’t help but be reminded of the martial adage “if my opponent doesn’t move, i do not move…..when my opponent moves, i arrive first.” What I believe this means is that by waiting for our opponent to launch an attack, they must initiate a power transfer of some sort to get from point A ( where they are ) to point B ( where we are ). This is a chain of events which involves a push off the ground, a hip rotation, and a thrusting of an arm ( to take a straigtforward example ). It also takes an intention to land on an intended target which we can say is a point which can be viewed as a demarcation line (where the “fight” will be focused). Regardless of how strong or fast our opponent is we can borrow his speed and power and ultimately be stronger and faster using less strength and speed and only a small movement. This is accomplished by developing “special” Taiji skills ( which by the way can only be developed with cooperative partners ) which Master Chen kindly demonstrates procedures to begin the process. Essentially this is a manipulation of Time (or timing) in this case and Space (the desired point of impact) meaning that as the punch travels towards us ( say it needs to move three feet to reach us) we may only need to move several inches towards it to disrupt the transfer of power jamming it back towards our opponent getting inside the demarcation line just before the impact point is reached, which bounces the power back at the opponent. The keys are timing (with practice it becomes easier to anticipate using a combination of reading body language and sensitivity …it can be done if already touching by feeling the opponent “power up” …which, incedentally, i believe is why PM never powers the point of contact )…… and a willingness to move directly towards an attack (taking up the space the opponent needed to fully get off his attack) which is a difficult hurdle that has to be overcome gradually. Although I think these basic observation are only the tip of a very big iceberg related to manipulation of ” Time and Space ” in Taiji, it’s always good to start with fundamental understanding. Hopefully I’m understanding correctly.

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