When I first studied practical method in Nov. 2009, there were a few things that made a long lasting impression. They were:
- In with elbow no hand, out with hand no elbow.
- Don’t move
- Yilu, which is made up of only positive and negative circles.
Many beginners including myself usually ask the following questions:
- How did you (Master Chen) know to do that?
- How can I not move?
- What can I do that myself?
- How do I train that?
We had 19 people attending the Toronto workshop this time. 5 of them were first timers. We started off with Master Chen talking about the positive circle, and continuously focusing on its various aspects.
Here are my notes:
- Only move your foot forward towards the opponent, everything else does not go towards the opponent. Read more
Kewei Sun has started learning Practical Method since May 23, 2015.
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I attended the Practical Method Iowa Workshop 2015. Officially, the workshop was on Sep 12-13, 2015. I spent a total of 6 days there from Sep 10-15, 2015. It was the best workshop I had ever attended. We had a lot of dedicated Practical Method people there. Thanks to Levi and Christina who let a number of us stay at their place the whole time, and gave us the opportunity to immerse in taiji with Master Chen Zhonghua. Thanks to Levi and John for taking care and arranging food, as well as driving us around. We woke up early at 4:20 am to start doing yilus before breakfast, and we often pushed hands till 10:30 pm at night. It was just wonderful being around my taiji brothers.
The following are the notes I took:
Day 1
– Keeping the back straight at all times
– Always have an aim at the centre, every movement should result back to the centre (don’t deviate from it)
– Keep the movement small, otherwise it is wasteful, and there won’t be any left.
-Separation: When the hands have power, move in the waist. Have power in the waist, the hands can become free. Nudge in bit by bit.
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This following diagram explains what is demonstrated in the video:
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Bruce started learning Practical Method on Jan 5, 2015.
Master Chen Zhonghua gave a challenge to perform 20 yilus a day from end of Nov 2014 to May 8, 2015, which amounted to 3200+ yilus in total. Congratulations to Aaron Bartholomew, Charlie Wishon and Kelvin Ho, who have successfully completed the challenge. Patrick Dickson has also completed 80% of the days despite of his injury and surgery. Thanks to all who have participated in the challenge. It has been great fun.
From left to right: Chuck, Kelvin, Peggy Simone, Ted Sparr, Dave Cedarholm, Claire Gauthier, Rita, Ben Low, Dianne Ramey
I visited the Practical Method group in New Hampshire in the evening on April 28, 2015. Dianne Ramey organized the gathering. It was great meeting everyone. We had a lot of fun. We covered basic requirements for positive circle, negative circle, fetch water, and six sealing four closing. We also emphasized the need to have one part not moving in each action of the form. Thanks to everyone for coming out.
1) Shovel out the front heel
2) Land the front toes and knee together
3) Extend the hands out
Note: Don’t push the opponent in step 1 and 2.
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Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method Toronto |
1) Foundations and 5 Yilus
2) 2-Person Drill: Find the dot on the opponent, add one to break the dot
3) 2-Person Drill: Step in to get closer to the opponent without him knowing (no change in pressure on the contact point)
4) 1-Person Drill: Similar to 3), but use the column or corner wall as the opponent. Push with one hand against the column, step to the side of the column without changing the pressure on the hand.
Video on Adding One:
Read more
Practical Method in Toronto is expanding as Steve Man, Master Chen’s Disciple, introduced Practical Method to the Toronto Oriental Centre Taiji Group. In the opening weekend, the 20 new students learned positive circle and the first move of yilu, and there was a lot of excitement as they were exposed to the Steve’s detailed step-by-step instructions.
For more information, please visit http://taijinuts.wordpress.com/ or contact Steve Man at taijinuts@gmail.com.
More pictures can be found here.
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Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method Toronto |
| Guest Speaker: | Master Chen Zhonghua |
| Topic: | The Eight Methods of Taijiquan |
| Date: | Wednesday, Sep. 24, 2014 |
| Time: | 8:15 pm to 9:45 pm |
| Place: | German Mills Public School 61 Simonston Blvd., Thornhill, Ontario L3T 4R5 |
| Fee: | Free |
Thank you for the overwhelming response, this seminar is now FULL.
Photos of this event can be viewed on Facebook.
Due to limited space, pre-registration is required with:
Kelvin Ho
kelvin.ho@practicalmethod.ca
416-903-3751
Related Event:
Practical Method Toronto Workshop Sep 25-28, 2014
In today’s Practical Method practice in Toronto, we focused on Step Back to Double Shake Feet, and broke it down to 9 steps as seen in this video:
Here are some points to remember:
- Right hand does positive circle, while left hand does negative circle as one steps backwards.
- Don’t let the right elbow come out first, and the right hand leads the stretch.
- The left hand stretches to the back, and the left elbow pulls the hand over the left shoulder to bring it to the front.
- Just before the jump, convert the horizontal force to vertical force. Line up the left kua on top of the left heel, like you are sitting on it. The left kua, left knee, and left heel form a triangle. There is an invisible line between the left kua and left heel, and it is the rod/stick.
In today’s Practical Method practice in Toronto, we covered the triangle, double lock and single lock. Ketong Lin wrote an excellent article on this topic: http://dqstaiji.cn/archives/11907. Read more
Sean Lowry has been training in Practical Method since Dec. 2012.
Dominic Lo has been training in Practical Method since Feb. 2012.
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Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method Toronto |
Participants, please leave comments.
