Chinese Class
Master Chen Zhonghua introduced Wild Horse Parts Its Mane as a foundation exercise. If space is available, we can do it as a line drill.
Procedure:
- Put the hands in a half horse stance.
- Rotate with the central vertical axis until you are so twisted that you can’t go any further
- Lift up on the rear foot, and stand on the front foot only without any wobbling.
- Shovel out with the foot that was lifted.
- Shift forward into a half horse stance.
- Stretch the arms into position as needed.
We must turn very quickly. It’s like how to spin a top. The spin must be fast enough for the top to stay rotating in balance. For us, we rotate quickly, and we are on the other side already.
Master Chen said that the secret was in the procedure. A chef’s skill came from knowing what ingredients to put in, how much of them to put in, and when to put each of them in.
For us, it’s about what to train and how to train.
English Class
We started with the various foundations. The emphasis was to train a vertical rod through foundations. We used Twisting the Towel, Six Sealing Four Closing, and Fetch Water.
We used the kua to generate power. We wanted to do 3 moves very quickly. Left, right, left. Right, left, Right. The use of 3 counts is to allow us eventually create a vertical rod. We don’t move the arms.
Master Chen showed how to lock one kua, and move the other kua over and go back and forth to create size without the movement of the arm. He mentioned 折叠 zhe die (open and close). This size creates power. The size must be bigger than the size that an external stylist would move the arm. This is the first time that I actually experience how to throw a punch. Master Chen mentioned that it was a good thing that I moved from one side of the screen to another side in this action.
