Foundation Class Notes – Master Chen Zhonghua’s Online Lesson on 3rd Nov. 2020

• At the beginning we repeated the move we were training on 2.11.2020: Lock hand and shoulder on the same line. Move the elbow upward toward the hand/shoulder line
• This move is the foundation. The power comes indirectly. Only this way we can cause a bounce
•  Problem. We are making a move. The result is something which is totally unrelated to the move we are making, but the brain sees the result and immediately wants to do the linking. Everybody was stretching the hand instead of moving the elbow upward
• Captive bolt stunner/ Captive bolt pistol. This is exactly how our moves function
• We did the exercise once again: This time imagine the arm is totally restricted. A wall under the elbow, a wall on the hand/shoulder line and on the sides of the arm. The arm is inside a tube. Lock the shoulder, move the elbow. The hand will shoot out (wrist and fingers must be straight)
• Generate a clear transfer of power from the elbow through the forearm toward the hand
• With a ceiling on the top (head) the power will go from the foot to the hand

• We changed exercise: Knees up and down (Xi Zou Shang Xia) and in with the elbow. We want two moves combined creating a third one which is an illusion
• Later on we will add the turning of the waist
• Since the combined moves were too difficult and we skipped one step, we “went back” and concentrated on the knees
• Knees: From half horse stance the front knee goes down, the rear knee goes up. The body will go down and rotate as result of the knees action
• No downward move from the body itself. The body is totally released, not involved
• We always want to move the torso. Not doing anything is the most difficult thing. Nothing here, nothing on the torso. The body is only there. The lead is the knee
• The tension is there to maintain the structure, not to let us feel strong
• When the attention is 100% on the knees, the body does not exist. In push hands the opponent cannot catch us if the body does not exist
• Master Chen holding a stick in the middle. He only moved one end, the other one was being moved
• Master Chen letting go of the middle point, grabbing the two ends of the stick trying to do something: “Whenever you try to manoeuvre it, you loose that dot”
• Only the knees. No turn. The body will turn, but if you do it correctly you should not know that you are turning
• 3 vertical lines on the body (half horse stance): 1) up from the front knee,  2) shoulder/kua line, 3) nose/dantian line. These three lines cannot merge
• Eventually your body will feel very heavy
• Look at Hong’s knees
• In front of the knee there is a wall. Because of that while doing the move the front knee will slide down. We were all going forward with the knee (no wall was blocking it)
• Restrict with help of a partner the leg‘s section between the knee and the ankle. One hand in front of the knee, one hand behind the ankle. Now there is a Tunnel. Movements are along a vertical line, up and down. The same thing happens between shoulder and hip and between hip and knee
• Intention and result

Elbow: the intention is upward. The result is forward

Knee: the intention is forward. The result is downward

In both cases conversion happens