Levels of the Form
Level 1
- Rigid
- A bunch of sticks
- Machine-like movement
- With structure
Kelvin Ho
Ground Dragon
How to pull up the right leg?
- Lock the left kua, and rotate the right kua around and underneath the left kua.
Twist
Need to break a seal, e.g. how to open a stuck jar lid.
- Lock the two hands, use the front elbow to break the line between the two hands.
- Lock the two hands, use the front kua to break the line between the two hands.
- Break using an action on the outside going in.
- Break using an action on the inside going out.
We need to twist ourselves in the setup, we unwind ourselves in the action.
Imagine that you separate our body into top half and bottom half. At the beginning, they are not twisted such that the front of the top lines up with the front of the bottom. You use your top to match the opponent. You change the bottom to face the other way (180 degrees opposite) while the top continues the same. Now that the top half and bottom half are twisted. There is potential energy built up, as you unwind, power is released, and there will be rotational power.
Lean with Back (背折靠)
Right fist and rear kua line up.
Elbow as a handle goes around that line.
Shoulder goes down to the kua.
Kua comes up to the shoulder.
The two lines must be maintained, and they must interact with each other.
The freer the rest of the body with those two lines maintained, the more power there is.
Pattern of practice
We focus on training one part (X). When we get that X right, Y may become wrong. We fix Y, X may become wrong again. We go and back forth until both X and Y are correct. Then we add Z on top of them.
3 parts: Fix two parts, move one part.
In the exercise of rotating horizontal, we must fix the middle (dantian). How to fix the dantian?
Use two parts (head and rear foot) to fix the dantian, move the front foot which is free to a new position.
Use head and front foot to fix the dantian, move the rear foot to a new position.
Switch between the two feet repeatedly.
The rotation is made of a series of little increments.
If we make the two side of a chest like two touching gears, we are using the central axis as the gap/space between them. it is the one of the 3 major choices for the gap. The other 2 choices will be the two shoulder-kua axes. The chest/torso can be one piece or two pieces.
Lock the right elbow-shoulder-kua triangle, but place it horizontally.
Rotate to the right horizontally using the kuas.
First make the line between the right elbow and left foot. The left foot is supported by the floor.
Later make the line between the right elbow and left knee, but we need to keep the knee up (i.e. the left knee cannot point to the floor).
As we rotate to the right, the right elbow and left knee must continue to expan
Implosion
- Line up the dot underneath the front buttock and front heel, and pull them together.
The dantian needs to adjust to allow the rear foot to be pulled up.
Lock the head.
New Exercise
- This is an exercise that Master Chen Zhonghua learned from Grandmaster Hong. They did it at the park on the gravel. After this, they would do foundations every morning.
- Lie on the stomach, use the hands to pull up.
- Lie on the stomach, use the elbows to pull up.
- Lie on the stomach, use the shoulders to pull up.
- Only use one part to pull up, the rest of the body is just like sandbag being dragged.
- Need 3 ways to do the same looking move to be versatile, so the opponent can’t figure it out.
Fist Drape Over Body
- Kua needs to turn over (tippie toe if needed to get maximum range of the kua turning over)
- Right hand-elbow-shoulder triangle must remain unchanged. This triangle plane must catch the opponent, like how an oar catches water one way but not the other.
- The right elbow going up is not just lifting the elbow. It is stretching the torso so much that it flips up the elbow. Shoulder must stay downwards.
- The right kua turns over as the right hand-elbow-shoulder triangle changes position.
- Left kua must open, and don’t let the left knee point to the ground. This is very difficult to do, so the instructor is likely not able to show this one.
- Central axis does not move.
- At the very last part of the movement, there is a stretch between the right elbow and the left elbow to catch the opponent, and then we rotate on the central axis, and this rotation being inside must be bigger than the outside movement to have power. This is an example of fajin when done quickly.
Back to the kua-to-hand exercise.
- Lock the hand, shoulder and kua as a triangle, which is a fixed plane.
- We fixed a dot on the plane, and we rotate on the dot without changing the plane itself.
- We put this dot just under the elbow.
- Kua becomes (就是) the hand. When the opponent touches our hand, it is the same as touching our kua. Ultimately, the opponent is touching the floor.
This plane is something that we maintain during push hands. When we have it, we can move this plane however we want. The plane itself is double heavy, but if we can make it a revolving door, it is not double heavy anymore. The axis can be put anywhere on the plane or through the plane (a dot on the plane).
Fist of Lifting and Blocking
- Elbow does not move.
- Rotate the shoulder to cause the fist to change the direction.
Turning Flower over from the Sea Bottom
Today, there is a big breakthrough.
The shoulders finally find the kuas in this movement. It was very possibly due to the exercise taught on Mar 30, 2021:
- Use the kua to push the hand out. Shoulder, kua and elbow are one piece. The hand stretches against the shoulder. This is a very practical push hand move.
REMEMBER THE PROCEDURE that gets me here, but DON’T FOLLOW THE FEELING.
Fist of Hitting and Lifting
The flip from one side to another needs to happen because of torso going down. More precisely, the two shoulder-to-kua axes go up and down against the central non-moving axis. Read more
Fist of Lifting and Blocking 搬拦肘
- Lock the two elbows as if they are on a table
- The two fists only go up to go around. They also have to stretch against the two elbows. Imagine that you have a wall parallel to the chest right in front.
Generally,
- The kuas control the rotation on the central vertical axis.
- The knees control the height of the body/torso.
- The elbow control the horizontal movement.
得意忘形
为什么分门派？
过来多年为什么会变？
因为没有真正明白。
Common mistake in push hands:
- Shoulder tends to come up and have power (wrong).
- Kua tends to go down and not have power (wrong). Read more
Go over the threshold 过关: hand and shoulder
Get to the special spot 窍: tip of the elbow, inner spot of kua to come out, back of the knee to find alignment, spot at the bottom of the neck
Master Chen explained the switching of the kuas again, how they are like two credit cards touching each other in a T configuration. We need to create a gap and then do the switch.
Read more
Exercise 1: Use the kua to push the hand out. Shoulder, kua and elbow are one piece. The hand stretches against the shoulder. This is a very practical push hand move.
Exercise 2: Elbow Strike (the elbow has to come out)
Exercise 3: Double Push Hands: Pull the opponent in, Front foot goes forward, rear foot follows. Two hands go out from the dantian with a trajectory. We use the back foot to push.
We started with forearm lever exercise. Aim at a dot to create a pivot. The distance the elbows goes down is the same as the distance the finger tip goes up (assuming the pivot is right in the middle).
Ratio 1:1
The meaning is that nothing is left in the middle. Every in-coming thing must go out. This is also called neutralization.
When we eat rice, ideally, we just want the energy, and other physical things should come out of the body. However, there is always some small amount of material, e.g. mineral that remains in the body. This is what causes us to be sick and become old.
Resolving door: One side comes in, the other side goes out. The key is that the door is very solid.
In our movement, redirect the incoming force to the rear foot without moving.
To be soft, it must be solid plus rotation.
Train with the rear foot at the corner, and a big enough stance to lock the body (especially upper body).
Taiji is only realized with speed.
Read more
Exercise 1: Use the left hand to grab the right wrist, stretch the right fingers. This is not just a demonstration, it is the method to train. People often ask Master Chen how to train, in fact, he just showed us. We only need to do it 60 times in each session. Doing it 60 times means to not use too much power, or using the right amount such that you can do it 60 times. When you use the left hand to grab the right, squeeze the armpit to lock the left hand, so that the left hand itself does not move. In order to stretch, we must lock something.
Read more
When the body action is correct, the energy is wrong.
When the energy is correct, the body action is wrong.
Read more
Maintain two lines (This exercise came from Twisting the towel.)
- Head to foot
- Front finger tip to the central vertical line on the back
We want to first stretch things out, and then add something in the middle to further stretch a little bit. We must constantly add that little bit of stretch in our training. This is neigong training.
Read more
Fetch Water
Application: Shoulder strike (kao), power comes from dantian
Read more
On Mar 12, 2021, Master Chen was instructing on an exercise, in which, I put up my left forearm in front of and parallel to my chest. I need to push the elbow downwards with a pivot in the middle of my forearm, with the load on the hand. The desired outcome requires me to create an independent setup of a lever, and then press down on one side of the lever (elbow). This is separation of yin and yang because the downward force is independent of the lever setup. The lever setup cannot break or change its integrity when the downward force is applied. The outcome of the lever action is predetermined by the setup. The downward force when applied in a specific way simply makes it happen. If the downward force is not applied correctly or the lever setup breaks down, the desired outcome will not happen.
Read more
What is success? It’s to never give up.
Why would one give up? He had a change of heart.
中文两字词语是阴阳的。信念 – 信往外，念往内。
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Think about the rods/bars that link the old kind of train’s wheels together. Those rods only ever go forward even those each wheel only rotates. This is yin-yang reversal. There is a joint in the middle of the wheel, there is another joint at the place where the rod is attached to the wheel. If there is no such joint and the rod is totally glued to the wheel, as the wheel rotates, the rod will also turn around with the wheel.
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Put the elbow on the table.
Shoulders goes down to the elbow.
Read more
Hold a rod not by grabing it with the whole palm, but split the span into two dots. One dot on the index finger underneath the rod acts as the pivot, and another one at the root of the palm placed above the rod acts as the balancing arm. We can tilt the rod the other end of the rod this way without lifting the rod itself.
This is what allows the power to go along the rod to the other end, and it is said to go over.
Read more
During training (when we are not yet successful), we use extra effort and focus to get it. It is tiring.
Once you are successful, the body gets used to it and will not be tiring anymore. The hair has been combed. The effort has gone through a filter. Read more
This lesson is about staying on topic, and then categorization within a topic.
There are only 3 types of movements in Practical Method:
- Elbow-in (Pull)
- Hand-out (Push)
- Rotate Read more
The axis in real usage exists only functionally. 滚珠轴承 Ball Bearing.
We create a shell (restriction) on the outside, then the axis inside must exist, but you can’t touch it unlike a real rod in a globe.
Read more
Key things, e.g.
- Forward is to push.
- Backward is to pull.
- Middle is to rotate.
- Separation of yin and yang
We must remember the key things even if we don’t understand it. Read more
When we do the correct taiji actions, your opponent will always feel your actions are awkward to him. We just do what we train to do.
对手对不上。
Negative Circle
- First adjust, lock the middle finger tip, elbow-in over the top
- 3-way split
- right elbow-in to the left rear
- shoulder down
- right kua and knee point forward but not moving Read more
If you ever wonder how lessons are taught in Practical Method Online Classes, here is an opportunity to experience for free from Feb 22 to 25, 2021. People at different levels are participating in these classes.
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