Edward Liaw

Reflections on my 2025 trip to Daqingshan i

It’s been 10 years since I first visited Daqingshan and began my journey into Practical Method. This year, I had the opportunity to return so I took it. Daqingshan remains an amazing place to train and refine your taijiquan. The daily schedule maintains your focus and takes away distractions from learning. The coaches provide finer detail, guidance, and are a source of inspiration for the results they have developed from years of dedicated training. While my grasp of Chinese is still poor, it improved a lot in the last 10 years from listening to shifu’s Chinese lectures; I think I can understand about 80% of the taiji lectures versus 30% of the stories.

Some of my own learnings from this trip:

Details in the positive circle to connect the power to my feet:
1. The line is along the front inner thigh 45 degrees upward from the dantian. At the start of the first move, the tip of the hand (finger) is on the line. The elbow is on the outside at about a 45 degree angle to the hand, to allow the arm to rotate into the line. At the end of the first move, the hand and the elbow (the front forearm), the front kua, and the rear foot are all on the line. Overall, the action pulls into the dantian while the outer points are pinned. The front kua is high, the rear kua is low to line up with the rear foot. The rear leg acts as a prop and the front leg maintains the angle of the prop.
2. When turning the waist, the power is on opening the kua via the front foot such that both the thighs rotate. The rotation must catch the elbow, and there should not be anything added by the arm or rear shoulder. When it catches the elbow, the finger will be thrown outward by the rotation of the forearm, much like twisting towel. Be sure to not turn the torso away from the line. This error is most easily caught by looking for a toss of the rear shoulder.
3. When sending out the hand, ensure the front kua does not move horizontally (typically caused by turning the torso) and that the rear knee does not move forward towards the hand. The power is on the rear knee opening backwards. The chest concaves and presses down to open the armpit, which presses down to open the elbow, which aims at the finger. Overall, this keeps the shoulder capped so it doesn’t rise up.
How I’m currently doing the negative circle (have yet to verify these points):
1. Again the line is along the front inner thigh. Starting hand position is the same as positive circle. The rotation of the arm is opposite the positive circle. Stretch the back of the front knee to bring up the front kua and concave the chest. Stretch the body down and backwards to open the armpit and pull the elbow in from the top. I believe the elbow will end up at the same point as the end of the second move of the positive circle. The hand must not leave the line, or else you lose your pivot point for the rest of the move.
2. The rotation of the waist catches the elbow and causes it to open to the hand, causing the arm to rotate, with the front hand and the rear foot on the axis. Compared to step 2 of the positive circle, the thighs rotate in the opposite direction, by action of the rear kua opening.
3. I believe the action on the legs is much like in step 3 of the positive circle, being on the rear knee. Like in the positive circle, do not let the front kua escape sideways. The front hand keeps its bearing on the 45 degree line. The chest concaves, the armpit opens, and the elbow opens so that the shoulder does not rise.
Proportional movements: Movements are proportional to a center. Relative to the center of the entire revolution, the rotation, the expansion or contraction must all proportional, or else the center will be lost.
Direction is incredibly important. It is tricky too, because I have a tendency to toss towards the direction I am thinking of rather than stretch proportionally.
Fist covering punch partner exercise:
- Partner stands with belly on the fist, feet perpendicular to the person performing the action. The partner puts one arm on the elbow of the punching hand and one arm on the back. The outside points for this exercise are the two hands vs the belly. The space within needs to expand by the action.
- First, fill up the space to the fist with the chest, armpit, and elbow opening, enough to connect the foot to the hand. The partner can add tension by squeezing the back and the elbow against the fist to the belly.
- Rear knee opens backwards. Power is on the knee, not added by anywhere else. This should cause the hands of the partner to not move and the belly to get stretched back. One error is a toss (both the partner’s arms and belly move in the same direction / equivalent to the actor’s shoulder or back moving forward with the fist). Another error is to fight with the arm, which will feel like a fight against the points held by the partner.
Finer points on turning flowers out the bottom of the sea (hai di fan hua):
- Fix the head on the axis.
- Point on the dantian over the raising leg does not move (neither vertically or horizontally).
- Start with counter rotation of the waist, bringing the raising leg’s arm across the chest and the other arm down.
- The standing leg’s knee is opening, as if standing up, but the torso has to squeeze down so that it doesn’t rise up. It causes the dantian to rotate, throwing out the fists and bringing the knee up.
We worked on a push hands move with Linda, but I don’t know if there’s a name of the move:
- Step behind the partner’s front foot; you’ll be aiming along the line of the this leg, so it should position behind the partner’s tailbone. One hand over the shoulder, the other closing up the front. One side controls the front, the other controls the back. Pull into the dantian.
- Open the chest from the tanzhong point to the opponent’s weak point, aiming 45 degrees downwards.
- It felt like one of the starting moves in the Hunyuan form to me.

Edward Liaw Yilu Nov 1, 2021 i

Some geometry (a torus) i

This Thursday in the Zoom class, Master Chen talked about two Taoist ideas 玄关 xuan guan and 设窍 she qiao. We translated xuan guan as mysterious location, where 关 historically meant a fortress, like a strategic control point; and she qiao as an empty spot/hole/orifice.

These seem like pretty abstract ideas, so I wanted to relate these two ideas to a physical example: a torus. The hole in the middle of the torus is the she qiao. The axis of revolution (i.e. the center of the ring) is the xuan guan.

(https://www.horntorus.com/)

If you cut a cross section of it down the middle, in 2D it is indistinguishable from the cross section of two cylinders (or two of any complementary, intermeshed rotations). This might call to mind some other examples that Master Chen often uses, such as two water bottles or two meshed gears.

You might also notice this phenomenon in other places, such as in magnetic fields, turbulent water, hurricanes, and more!

Online class notes with Master Chen Dec 14, 2020 i

General corrections

In general, moves are not deep enough, too loose. Don’t feel the bottom.
Not stretched out enough. Yin-yang distinction and stability comes from having that bottom.
Torso must feel the floor.
Not enough intention of power. e.g. Punch covering hand needs that extra stretch at the end to finish it.

Power moves – six sealing four closing

Horizontal egg: Power up in with elbow until you hit your ribs. Rotate, don’t lose the line / move your hand. The body/shoulder gets under the hand. Go out straight, along the top of the egg (don’t go out with the hand under the shoulder).
Vertical egg: More vertical than horizontal. Then two hands push out from the top down.
Digging analogy: Like scooping up water with a spoon. Put the spoon in water. Turn it to pick up the water. Lift. The rotation is like carving out a scoop of jello.

Yilu online class notes with Kelvin Dec 1, 2020 – Edward Liaw 1

Kelvin covered details of Buddha’s Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar in class today. Read more

Yilu Class Notes October 22, 2020 – Edward Liaw i

Mark

Rub foot

In between the two rub foot, make a pit stop. 90 degrees to your initial position.
Chest parallel to back wall when you kick with heel.

Fist protecting heart

Feet 45 degrees to back wall.
Don’t rush it.

Language

Using Westernized vocabulary for taiji concepts.
No difference. Even if you don’t know any language. Some students found they learned more when turning off the sound. The language is an interference until the language is recalibrated. Same thing applies when teaching in Chinese.

Twisting towel

Must be clear with “in with elbow”. Appear to be going back and forth with the squeezing of the elbow.

Fetch water

Same thing, two squeezes on both elbows.

To grind

搓 cuō, to grind. Pole, rubbing on both sides like starting a fire.
Other way, stretching. You force the two elbows in to prevent the stretch from forcing them out. Can also say the rubbing of the elbows creates the rotation.
And the rotation of the rod separates the two hands.
For this practice, minimize the size of the stretch to emphasize the rubbing.

Get one thing right

Figure out one thing and do it right. As an anchor point for further learning. Can’t say you are walking up stairs but never found the stairs.
Once you have the method, then you can repeat the same until the method exhausts you.

Gerry

Cloud hands

Need to rotate torso to give the appearance of the hands moving.

Getting stuck

Issue is that you were able to “do” things since the beginning. Able to mix instructions with something you were already able to do.
Need to be stuck unable to do it, so that it forces you to do something totally new. Never went through a time where you couldn’t do it. If there is no difficulty why would there be change?

Knowing

Daoist idea, Humans made correctly but the abilities we have deter us from learning.
Gained the ability to make things up in our heads.
Everything Master Chen learned are afterthoughts / accidental.
Don’t know when you get it, and when you think you get it, you don’t.
A dog is just what it is, but we make up this view of what they should look like.
Whatever it is, you don’t know it. And whatever you know it isn’t what it is.

Going over

Going over the shoulder: have to go around the shoulder.
Like the gear shifter, has to actually change gear.
One movement that continues to the other side (normal).
Go halfway and change to the other side to go down (switching).
(腰裆转换 Yao dang zhuan huan). Waist and dang (half circle, horseshoe) switching. That half circle has to be locked – the shape locks.

Action vs adaptation

Only worry about that particular action. We don’t care much about the adaptation. Once the screwdriver fits with the screw, there is only one thing you can do. You can get away with whatever for the adaptation, but the action must be what it is to have power. Must identify that action.

Today we worked on three foundational exercises: twisting towel, six sealing four closing, and fetch water. The concepts we practiced were to fire 3 at once and to fold and open.
Read more

Tuesday Foundations Online Lesson Notes September 15, 2020 – Edward Liaw i

Tuesday Foundations lesson included corrections on Twisting towel, Fetching water, and Six sealing four closing. Shifu emphasized the shoulder going down and also taught a chest opening exercise.

Positive Circle Online Lesson Notes August 31, 2020 – Edward Liaw i

Rear shoulder hold on the way out (controlled release)

5 points fighting outward, everything else fights inward

Lock shoulders head, only cave in the chest to drive hand out. Put hand on chest and move it down as hand goes out to train the right intent.

Clear – locked part must be locked, moving part must be moving

Front kua needs to rotate in turn with waist. It looks like it comes up towards the shoulder.

Raise of kua up when coming in, chest pushes down when coming out

Rear shoulder must not move when turning waist. Front kua and shoulder has a large move.

Rotate your spine not your head. Don’t move your eyes. Only a rotation, no movement.

Don’t move hand backwards.

Homework, 6 sealing 4 closing, face on to mirror, don’t let rear shoulder move, but it rotates. 1000x.

Dao shou – to change the orientation of the hand. Coming in, it’s pulling from elbow. Going out, the hand pulls the arm.

Every body part has a role, but which ones are primary and which ones are secondary (only getting out of the way).

Knee up knee down. Like a physically solid structure like a bike and the pedals are the knees. Feels like a foot and a half, but it looks like no move.

6 sealing 4 closing. First one is 70 rear, 30 front. Front becomes long back becomes short. Second one switches the pivot to the rear side of body (rear shoulder/kua axis).

Six Sealing Four Closing Notes August 27, 2020 – Edward Liaw 1

Zoom lecture with Master Chen and Kelvin Ho covering six sealing four closing.

Dao Shou 倒手 Notes August 25, 2020 – Edward Liaw i

Notes from the Zoom class on the concept of dao shou.
Read more

Double Negative Circle Notes August 21, 2020 – Edward Liaw i

Notes from the Zoom class on the double negative circle.
Read more

Negative Circle Procedure Notes August 18, 2020 i

My notes from the Negative Circle procedure lecture.
Read more

Use the Kua to Find the Solid Notes August 17, 2020 i

My notes from the “Use the Kua to Find the Solid” Zoom lecture.
Read more

Recalibration Online Lecture Notes August 11, 2020 4

Notes from August 11, 2020 Zoom class with Master Chen. Topic was http://practicalmethod.com/2015/01/recalibration/.

Form names for the yilu, erlu, and sword 5

I have put together some spreadsheets with the form names listed in English and Chinese, with pinyin annotations for those interested in learning Mandarin.

Phoenix Practical Method Seminar Notes 2019 2

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.

San Francisco Practical Method Seminar Notes 2019 9

Day 1

The kua has to come out (draw a line forward with the kua). Don’t move anything but the kua.
Partner exercise: partner sets a dot a few inches in front of the kua; you have to get your kua to touch it.
Add speed – do it 5 times fast. Add power – have someone hold onto your kua from the rear. Add stepping – connect it to your elbow and don’t let the elbow move.
Learning – have to make ideas based on physical reality, not on ideas.

Reference points: counting is to establish a standard for us to be able to teach and communicate
Direction: must not lose the aim. Don’t lose the 45 degree facing when practicing the foundational exercises
Positive circle 3 count: 1. in elbow; back shoulder to forward foot is the axis. 2. rotate waist don’t involve spine and don’t lose previous axis. 3. push foot, aim at hand. There is a split in the middle. Again don’t lose previous two axes

Edward Liaw – introduction and resume i

eliaw_disciple

My name is Edward Liaw; I currently reside in San Diego, California. I was accepted as Master Chen’s 283rd disciple during the 2018 North American Practical Method Training Camp in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, alongside Nathan Heintz and Spencer Jones. Every day, I am grateful for being a part of a passionate and supportive community of practitioners, students, and teachers. Read more

North American Practical Method Training Camp Notes 2018 – Edward Liaw 3

The body must separate into two. For example in the opening move, part of the body faces forward and part of it rotates 45 degrees
Read more