Phoenix Practical Method Seminar Notes 2019

Day 1

• Double negative has to be more vertical – open below, closes up top.
• Buttocks cannot protrude.  Kua is not open enough.  It will hurt.

• Two sets of stretches.  The hand/shoulder and the head/kua.   The top has to stay on top, cannot go down.  Bottom must stay on bottom.  They can only stretch.
• One dot splits into two (stretch).  On the other side they must be coming back in.  Diagram here of two circles/gears.  The dot is where they touch, and it splits as they rotate.
• Independent – each move must be independent.  Hand moves body doesn’t move.  Delinked.
• Withdrawing the elbow must match the kua going forward / out.  Whether big or small, the problem is still present if we make this mistake. The shoulder cannot be in front of the kua.
• (Additional notes after correction of positive circle 1 to 2) The shoulder has to get out of the way.  The elbow has to sink.  The kua has to go forward.  The hand cannot retreat, it has to go forward.  The kua and elbow have to meet – they have to aim at each other on the same line.  The back kua and knee line up with the elbow and hand.
• The center of mass can’t leave the dantian.  (Your) Kua to (opponent’s) kua.  Everything else has to give way.  This keeps balance.  The hand and shoulder are the attachment (disconnected).  The body has to touch.  The longest part of the body is the kua.  The dantian is the constant (it doesn’t change regardless of the attachment).  The attachments are just to adjust angles.  Engagement makes them one.  Gradually through training, this is (becomes) that.
• The hand, head, feet are outside (5 heads).  They cannot move.  They can only move outwards.  Everything else must only move inward.  The five outsides can change depending on contact.  Where you are touched becomes the hand, and you must find the other outsides.  The insides are variables, their movement depends on the outsides; the outside not moving is constant.  Until something else becomes the hand.  At the beginning find the solid spot.
• Size and direction.  They are what matters.  Force and energy are byproducts (forgot the word used here).
• The adjusting movements are like waves.  Slightly off but comes back.  Totally on is a jam/conflict.  Totally off is lost.
• Feel the direction of the push.  Lead that direction to your rear foot.  Every touch must go into your rear foot.  Energy alignment.
• Dead – doesn’t move –  when it’s dead it can be used as a weapon.
• Rotation is neutralization.  Only when you are linear you are caught.
• 99% does not move, one part moves (合 he). When the ratio is very high, it is clear.  The movement has to be against something that does not move to have power.  Power produced by net gain.
• Line that goes through.  Find the line in the circle.  The last part is straight.  Produce that straight line.
• 99% moves, one part does not move (opponent cannot find you).
• 8 energies in rotation.  Feels like pushing, going with, pulling, sticking, separating, yanking, breaking, twisting, slamming.  360 degrees separation from opponent creates a hole.
• What does Master Chen think?  Don’t ask questions about what you think.
• All the joints are open.  Separate.  One way valve: your power can transmit, his cannot.  Become a device.  (Examples of training devices to enforce don’t move to the head, shoulders, kua) Pegged in.  Half wall.  Pillar.  To force you to not move.  Then you can have power.
• Catch it – hold/maintain it – only use the feet.
• Stepping back.  Go down, power foot out.  Doorjam.  The back foot supports, jams the power.  When the front foot comes in after this, it’s on your terms.  Never get pushed back, move back by setting the foot back (going down) then switching onto that foot.  (My observation) There is a timing component, too, to resolve the jam by bringing the front foot in.
• 轉關 Zhuan guan.  When it can rotate, the direction changes without any movement.  The two legs stay still and the two kuas rotate, the center doesn’t move.

Day 2

• Practice device: use a narrow wall/side of door and put the inside of the shoulder against its end.
• Give a direction; when opponent is coming in, you just need to give it a direction to produce force.  Anticipate/predict the direction when doing it for real.  In demo, try it three times to feel the direction.
• It has to jam inside the opponent.  There is the sound of the opponent’s breath jamming.
• Every move must have two moves, perfectly coordinated to become one.  In fetch water, elbow goes in and hand goes out.
• Pay attention and repeat what he says, and eventually you will do it.  Otherwise you’re just doing your own thing.
• Stay on the line, the elbow cannot be off the dantian when the hand goes out.
• Creating on and off without on and off.  Fake on and off (revolving door) its closed and open state switch between each other.  Only one rod (only one beat).  Half with arm (upper body) and half with kua (lower body).  Connection between two actions until that connection is so smooth you can’t feel the gap.  The smoothness comes from that connection; taiji is not smooth, it just looks like it.  Rhythm, timing.  Learn the physical actions; when they are timed correctly it appears to be something else.  Need a fixed spot to create all of these (開拳 kai quan).
• The method of getting it is not the same for everyone.  Foundations are an approach to get to the point.
• When the two ends match, there is a dot.  When there are three lines it is suspended.
• When all the movements get neutralized, it stifles.
• Pole in body when the shoulder gets out of the way and elbow gets out of the way.
• Chopping block and knife, the arm chops toward the knee.  The knee is the chopping block.  Remember to close the space.  Rotate the arm, screw the opponent.  Peel off the opponent.
• One dimension/two dimensions/three dimensions.  Force you into a flat board then cut you.  Direction creates a dimension.
• Circle is 360.  In order to rotate there are two moves.  The first move is random, the second move must be a continuation of the first move.  There is a constant and a variable – the first is the variable, the completion is the constant.  The second move ends in the same plane as the first.
• Initial move is he, two become one.  Then add one (push) or take away one (pull).  Only move the part on him that isn’t solid.  Create a clear line and add a point not on the line to create 3 dimensions.
• Lie – to break the middle
• Cai – to break one end