When doing the bare-hand form and pushing hands with an opponent, one must keep the power constant. This is one of the characteristics of Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method. By keeping to this principle, one will gradually gain more internal abilities.
Movements or techniques without the power being constant is nothing short of external technique. No matter how strong, fast and accurate, this type of actions will never change quality to be internal.
Grandmaster Hong Junsheng said that in doing Yilu, one must feel that he is holding a heavy object throughout the entire Yilu. When one can successfully do so, pretend to be holding a heavier object. This is how internal power is trained and increased.
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 8 min. In: English Year: 2012 Difficulty:3/5 At: Brazil.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Extremely Helpful! Thank you Master Chen.
This video lecture answered Andre’s question “How to train Yilu with power?” precisely.
Not quite so, i was there as the credit says.And I cant say how grateful I am for Master Chen’s teachings. It was just an incredible number of days.
Because of it, I tried putting what i thought i got from it in action, and did exactly as, in my understanding, he instructed: Very heavy, very steady. At first i felt like my arms were going to break, but after about a week or so of daily attempts it got smother, then i thought: how do i increase it?
Got to use my legs a lot more, and understand the mechanics. Only the upper and lower body coordination video, coupled with Master Chen’s response, And a few other details really cleared that one for me.
Thought honestly, in the end the most important thing I learned, to me, was ‘don’t think too much.’ The body finds ways to do things, just stay in the format and keeeeep pushhing. It’ll get there.
Cheers Mr. Ping,
And thanks for noting me and my questions. 🙂
Highly recommended. Training is to have a fixed axis inside while outside rotate around it.
Thanks so much for the video; it was insightful and something to continually be mindful of while doing the Yilu.
It seems like Master Chen is really giving us two methods of power training here (or two layers). One is the power that is created from establishing a “hinge pin” (to borrow his “hinge” analogy) that everything slides around, which establishes true separation of yin and yang in the body. The second layer seems to me, that it trains power by separation of “energy and shape”?