This is Roy Croucher’s first private lesson in this series. In this video, he is corrected on the foundational exercise of Twisting the Towel. Many important aspects of the Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method are covered. A particular point in this video is how to stretch the vertical line in order to stabilize the kua. One of the kuas must be stable while the other does an opening move. Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 54 min. In: English Year: 2020 Difficulty:1/5 At:Edmonton Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy
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– D. Gauld observations of lesson detail
– GM asked me to post some of my notes from my observations of Roy’s 1st private lesson in this time period
– Roy really likes point form notes, so this is for you elder brother, hope it helps
– GM praised Roy for good basics, but needs work, need to be able to add a 2nd track to body via Kua manipulation, have to procees in step by step manner, vertical posture is very central (clever pun? ahh give me a break)
– when trying to move/manipulate a person or object students usually only deal with the surface, with contact (‘bite’) often we revert to struggling/fighting, via imagination and intention must use whole body to move objects/persons
– lock and rotate, Kua locks and body rotates creating power, GM demo’d this using Roy’s body by setting his various body parts into the correct inter-relationships, GM gave Roy experience of moving correctly and incorrectly to establish feeling of being more correct
– idea & somaticized experience of moving more correctly, GM touching Roy’s Kua and lower back, then getting Roy to just move/open Kua while everything else is locked but not stiff or tense
– important feature of vertical column in PM is to have energy, physical upward force with chin tucked, spine expanding upwards so top of head pressed into GM’s finger, as straight up and down as possible
– GM molded Roy’s body into increasingly challenging and more correct inter-relationships between parts
– main physical focus seemed to be on opening, stretching out the entire shoulder joint, whole joint should move away from body core to open more correctly
– students must be able to make ongoing macro & micro adjustments to all body parts, eventually working to correct alignments, then gradual increase in speed of moves up to engagement speed
– GM shared that “…it’s hard to do without external touch to make the specific body reference points clear…”
– another reinforcement to only move what GM says in the way he says it, no adding in or leaving out specifics
– in twist towel do not bend wrist at all
– GM used a rubber cord to exemplify how much the Kua needs to stretch to have proper PM push hands rotation; just enough to take the slack out of the cord
– in making contact with person, contact must focus on 1 point, intention and physical connection must not waver or wobble
– all errors are, of course mine
…learning to live a breath at a time…