Knowledge : Workshop and Class Notes

Iowa 2024 Workshop notes

Thursday Morning (pre-class)

Match the movement (one of a couple main themes this workshop)

Do the extension that they would have to do

Turn the corner, do the extension at an angle.

isolation is key

Pen and Cap example

take cap off of pen, move them the same amount, though separated

opponent —>       you (match and extend) —>

                                                                                                               ^

opponent —>    you  (match and extend different direction) –|

can’t move the same direction as them, perpendicular only

Match in yourself, can redirect in yourself

Illusion:

we often see what is or isn’t real.

A lot of what we see is irrelevant.  If it’s irrelevant, don’t pay attention to it.

Matching / redirection

Don’t use strength

Redirect with very small circle

Create a return

Thursday morning class:

The opponent can only power up if you move together

Isolate the matching move, then add one (isolated from matching move).

The center cannot move (the center can be anywhere; in a given movement of the form, there’s one place that doesn’t move)

If you cannot isolate the moves are linked.  And then there is really only one move.

You want to be able to make 2+ separations / isolations.  keep adding them as you learn how to make them.

Do something to an opponent, have a 3rd person hold your waist so it doesn’t move.

Lock ends, rotate the middle (in this case lock shoulder and foot; move elbow).

If you move the shoulder , the forehead moves.

Better not to move than to toss.

Taiji: One part moving, but not all moving

At beginner levels only move arms, not kua.  Looks bad, but is effective.

Face has to be like leather

(means if you laugh at me, I don’t care)

Let’s do something weird, only move arms.

Twisting towel, only move arms as if they’re on a track

6 sealing, 4 closing: only move arms as if they’re on a track

Repeat the following out loud: My legs are not moving, only my hands are moving

Impossible to do in real life

Legs blocked, cannot move

they stop the arm / hand from moving

you can always move something else,

just ignore them

Exercise:

Move how you want

can’t move bicep; move the forearm

can’t move forearm; move the fingers

this will become a rotation

Ting – feels like a stick (don’t move with them)

Impale:

Set the opponent up so that they impale themselves on you

Entice them into doing the wrong move

Find the feeling in a non-useful posture, then find it in the useful postures.

Find the Ting (the stick feel) reproduce it complex structures

Some exercises, move only foot (heel to the back) and fingers (matching in opposite direction)

Stretch has to go over

Switching (another recurring theme in this workshop)

Fight from inside the city wall

Switch from the back (elbow, shoulder, kua) to the front (hand)

Don’t change the shape

Done as a spear as well (push from back  -> pull from front)

Grab the front end from the back of the spear.  Requires really precise control.

Get 3 points on the opponent

where you touch, you can manipulate

Close range, the more points you’re touching the better

get as many as you can.  Don’t fight them, just add a touch

You have 1 – I have five (get the fingers on the opponet)

Real – power that works, but you feel nothing (how you know it works)

Gravity – the Earth wants you to touch it at all points.

Exercise:

Match size, use fingers not fist

Match power elsewhere (with knee)

Add a very small touch (like moving head)

Chen Fa Ke

How it goes out

(is) how it comes back

In practice, do it slow; make every move work; then add a step.

Not on, not off

Only be where they are not

Push into the ground; slide

Never fighting, no power in what’s touching the opponent

Hollow (outside stronger than the inside, e.g. fingers stronger than the arm)

It’s difficult because you don’t trust it.

If you trusted it, it wouldn’t be difficult

We don’t like the feeling of power in the feet, so we change / move to avoid it

Crash (on an axis) with body into joint

Switch:

Everything in the arm must be sent into the hand

Outside is strong, inside cannot be trapped

Seed grows from the inside, it grows outside.

Only move on the outside

Power is like spitting; has to come outside from the inside

Matching exercise 2:

arm break position (arm bar)

power goes to the hand

hand goes around (switch)

Go in strong underneath

flip power to the top

Very difficult stretch

Find the limit of something with a stretch

train the muscles until that limit is passed (until there is no limit)

Inifinite forearm – practice stretching

Match, go with, rotate

Track (keep hold) then rotate

Don’t move (especially don’t flinch)

If the move doesn’t bite; try moving in.

Like a stationary rotary saw.

Move the table

Move the saw into the wood

Cloud hands does this

If they don’t move the wood into the saw, move the table to take the saw to them.

Thursday afternoon class

Buckling

Exercise:

Same side, opponent in front; your arm in front

drop the kua, bring the knee up (it’s in between their legs, behind them)

Put a stick behind, stick propped between their legs, caught and he’ll fall down.

First 13

do yilu with hydrolics, rather than pneumatics.

Peng, add pressure, then add a twist (like a finger snap)

At each corner (joint) different snaps at different angles.

Has to be tense / stiff like a 2×4.

Hand snapping exercise: place hands horizontal, one on top of the other; palms togethre

snap hands like you’d snap fingers; reversing which hand is on top.

make the arms stiff;  the kua is needed to make the turn

like automatic transition; it only gears up when under load

A wood drill won’t engage / bite on a steel plate.

Loose hit, tight rotate

Go in with no power, Rotate when you meet resistence

Bie –

combination of moves that in conjunction provides a lock

equal and opposite

make it stiff

Do not push; in taiji that will nullify whatever you’re trying to do.

18 locations on the body that can move independently

unlimited potential for stretches

why are we still stick figting

Find one pair of points to stretch against each other

Take out all the slack – alignment hange

adjust hand, wrist, elbow, kua, foot, etc.

Real exercise:

pull a smooth stick with a string

unless it’s in the exact center, it will slip around a lot.

pull in the exact center

it only works when it’s exactly on center; otherwise it’s off

Precision, not power

Anytime you deviate, your opponent regains power

Head on wall exercise

Put head on wall (with sheet of paper between head and wall)

spin around with your head on the wall.

keep the line

Friday morning pre-class

Each move in the form has a  very small action (like the hand snap)

The rest of the move is transition

In push hands be very light, otherwise you’ll push yourself out

3 pieces: arm, body, legs

Be soft to touch people, and be ready

then move in

everything comes from the joints

Now do yilu like that.

(switch to fingers)

My (front) finger aims (past you) at your foot

Front foot -> front finger

control the line with the kua / elbow

Not with the chest

strech should feel like a heavy blankt on the opponent

Every move reduces power.  Don’t move.

Think of a bullet / artillary.  Any deviation / curve in the barrel reduces the power.

make the bottom triangle (feet , kuas) only the top dot rotates

Be screwed to a board (arms mentioned as example)

(side note, Mentioned an arm brace that stops the elbow and arm from moving)

Find one point that can rotate when you’re screwed to the board.

Its going to be a joint.

Do not move; find that point and rotate on it (inside elbow twist in the example of the arm)

Lock into one piece (top/bottom or left/right separation)

Lock one set, use the other set to move the locked set

Do not destroy the board

Hard to train because these (joints) are places that have no power

Switch to the outside (wrist, fingers, feet)

practice yilu outside the torso space

expand, get outside

when you get stuck look beyound / outside the opponent

Don’t wiggle (chinese word for feeble strugglings of a newborn)

Learn something in the morning

Show as many people as you can

repeat it 7 times in a day and its yours

Friday morning class:

Recorded summaries of the pre-class session

Fist draping body

The bottom is carrying a table while someone is sleeping on it

Takes power is to make sure the bottom doesn’t move

Later on it’s precise algnment rather than power.

One piece

Power isn’t in the point of contact

The action doesn’t stop; the body stops

and at the right time becomes totally stiff

Speed, alignment, total rigidity

Quality of taiji – How often the action is done just right; repeatable

Proverb: There’s opportunity only when there’s danger

Pick a posture

use small steps

knees control the up and down

Rotate the center

the two feet should move proportionally

to turn the front, stretch the back (down to floor)

front foot becomes action, back foot adjustment when front is lightly engaged

Rigity:

State where you don’t lose anything

motion, balance, power – difficult to have all 3 at the same time

Too much balance, no power

too much motion, you’ll lose balance

too much power, lose motion

Twist on the waist that goes around.

fortress portal lcoked, with a way to unlock

Stand over bottle exercise

stretch from left hand to right foot

right foot stretches as if to touch a non-existant wall behind you

like ice is on the floor

left foot is light and compensates

have to pivot left foot so you don’t fall

often had 3 catches to avoid a fall

reminiscent of Grandmaster Melon Rind

Jumping

never hop, only jump

not at same time, one after the other

hit a rod with a hammer, there’s many small impacts inside

Turn a horizontal move into a vertical move

lazer beam condensed from all power in chest

shoot shoulders into finger

all energy from above exercise goes into finger

lock, restrain everywhere but that point

Rigid

The body must be rigid.

Joints must not be rigid

For non-joints the more rigid the better

Arm: rigid.

Elbow, shoulder joints – smooth

If the joints aren’t smooth, strengthen the muscles to control the joints so they become smooth

Faking ridigity leads to tapping

Lift a rock and throw it at them.  There is no action in the punch, only velocity

Cao

Power of motion – impact / collision / slam

place arm, whole body fights that in one peace

spreads, moves entire body, one piece

(similar to spitting)

Like hitting with the entire stick

A snowplow is angled. the truck is driving straight, with an angled blade

Cannon Fist penetrating punch is similar

Lots of stretch, never change the angle

Cao with elbow is very high level

Cao is a snowplw vs. captive bolt-driver (impale)

Structure on wheels, the body doesn’t move

lots of power in legs, squeezing together

you only feel the outside

joints (kua, shoulder, knee) are the engine

Hard and soft creates a differential, that we call speed

Lock on stomach and back

Lock on both hips / kua

Moving the top doesn’t move the bottom

Pour concrete in the bottom, only move top, not bottom.

Exercise:

Isolate kuas, don’t move them

stomach should be able to rotate freely

Friday afternoon session

When you watch and follow for a long time you begin to see.

Only then can you be an instructor

Both practice and pointers (corrections) are required

Taiji moves are awkward.  Find the right instrctor

You have to find the door and go through it

It sounds weird and awkward until you’ve gone to the other side.

Like platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter

People will check the door and just see a wall.  There is no door for them

The gate / door / threshold is an idea, a mental block.

Story:

Daoist immortals had a method.  They took you to a cliff edge and gave their followers a final test.  To jump.

Before there was only external alchemy (drinking a lot of poisonous materials)

The first internal daoist called the standing posture “setting up the furnace”

He gave this test to his disciples.  The first two turned it down.

The third one said: Can we have the dog do it?

The dog died, and the disciple went away.  The dog then came back as a human.

Daoist will give you a false test, its valid for you, but the only test is whether or not you will take the test.

Taiji is like finding something imaginary that used to be real, without a point of reference.

E.g. position of Edward Liaw’s knee (at a specific point in time in the class)

Reference point in the air.  If you had his reference points in the room, you could maybe find that spot again.

Reference points with a coordinate system -> science

A system is a consistent approach (not necessarily correct)

Train until you make the point real

Hand is “heaven” (unsupported)

shoulder is “earth” (very supported)

Yin-Yang Reversal

Make the hand supported, and the shoulder unsupported.

If they are both supported, that’s double-heavy.

If they are both unsupported, there’s no power, it doesn’t exist.

Taiji is seeing what other people cannot see

But it has to be real.

Master Chen remembers spaces.

Some training methods:

1. Make a triangular arm brace, let people push on you.  Use it for at least 2 weeks.

2. Make an artificial horse back to sit on.  Should fit you exactly that won’t move under you.  Practice twisting on it and you won’t fall.

Partner training is hard.  Everyone trained with the instructor.

Too strong, won’t be beneficial

Too weak will be wobbly.

Exercise

Arm bent at elbow.

Fingers pointed to opponent’s sternum

thumb extended.  opponent provides ~20% resistance

walk  forward without the arm wobbling

Wheels and door hinges rotate

Agility is one dot touching, no difference when it moves, no deviation

Exercise:

1. Have your elbow hit your stomach at 45 degrees, and bounce off.

2. Turn (at the waist) when the elbow touches torso

Can be replicated with kua coming forward or fist raised & rubbing

Go sideways, backwards, whatever’s needed to have power go back to the opponent

Rotation has to go to the foot; otherwise it’s just wobbling

Make long short, short long

if my arms are short when I reach you, I will push you long

if my arms are long when I reach you, I will only push you short

Yin-Yang shift (like the weighted bag)

wuji – already full and there

mysterious positions

door (from earlier)

—————-

——————

people don’t see it, refuse to enter

Maintain shape

lighter & faster, not power

stability & speed

Punch a ball, depending on how you hit it you’ll get one of the 8 energies

(peng, liu, ji, ahn, etc)

have to be very precise.

if you spin the ball, it becomes unknown.

Push hands – learn straightness when wobbling

If you can find the center, nobody can find it on you.

Proverb: They will never know me.  I only know them.

You will become a ghost

A rotating ball cannot be penetrated

Find center

keep center

maintain center

8 energies on a ball:

Peng: 9-12 going up on the ball uses energy

Liu: 12-3 downhill is easy, going with it

Ji: 3-6 filling empty spot

Ahn: 6 (only at the bottom) falling  into emptiness

Sai – twist on the spin

Lihr – swap to the other side to break

ends don’t move, the middle breaks

Jo – two twists to break

Cao – collide, snowplow energy

Saturday morning pre-class

Stepping circles

be a jerk

be a double-jerk

(in is a jerk, out is a hit)

need to be firm, relaxed, NOT limp

Yilu:

Elbow supports hand going out

Kua supports elbow

Kua is a natural hole, level (raise) kua

top (shoulder) goes down, bottom (kua)  goes up

Cloud hands:

You’re a rod on center, twist.

Hands should just be in the right spot

Kua connected to elbow, twist goes to elbow; release foot

transmission one move -> all moves

add more moves

subtract – slugging, less moves

When he says “you’re doing it”, that means you’re faking it, copying his move

don’t do it.

become a teeter-totter, where it happens automatically

Robot game: Partner moves you in circle patterns (positive, negative)

Saturday Morning class

Shoulder exercise:

Stiff arm out to side

loose arm bar making the shoulder circle

shoulder at natural height

up to the back, down to the front

gradually increases size of circles

smoothly add separation to the shoulder

make the shoulder into a matched, engaged set of gears

don’t fight at the contact point, energy should go into the shoulder

elbow down (elbow rub) drives shoulder up.

hand extend drives shoulder down (hand on, stretch and turn)

center line goes down, kua to arms goes up.

advanced version, the person who’s arm is being moved in a circle extends into the line

The idea of a circle is wrong

The fake and correct move start the same

Fake move is like a Chinese grandmother, wants to make it easier for the grandson

Circle comes back to the same spot

Real move is like an English grandfather, wants to make sure the kid will survive

Circle keeps moving on, making half-circles one after the other, making odd half-circles that are linked together.  Knot that forms a spider’s web.

Even

Keep it Even, Even Steven.

pressure, direction, all of it

Stretch to points, control the space

“Every move you think you’re doing, I’ve already set it up”

Take out the slack

fill space by changing your angles.

Whoever does it first has the advantage

whoever tries it second has to work twice as hard to equalize

The key to “I’m always longer than you” is in the foot.

Grandmaster Hong: The size of your foot moving on the floor equals 9x above

Vector: Add a little bit from each joint.

Compounding doubles per joint.

Put them on the skewer

lock the dantien

make them stiff (with a rotation, using arm)

1. all the joints must be trained to be open to be able to do the next move

2. use every part, though training make many tools.  The more tools (body parts) you have trained, the better

Keep the center in rotation (use speed, fingers come back like a whip)

If it moves after they’re already out, for them it didn’t move

It doesn’t look like what it is.  Elbow in, hand out both do this.

If you remove the top from a suspension, then it’s all gone.

As long as the words are the same (if the transmission doesn’t change), maybe in 500 years someone will get it.

Matching at 90 degrees (any 90 degrees) will lock / equalize.

No need to fight if you do this.

If we don’t touch, you can’t see what I’m doing.

Circles:

Make a circle with your hands.

Any two lines are different, all the others are variations (two lines define a circle).

Arm extension move:

Tripod with locks on legs.

When each lock is unlocked that portion moves freely.

When locked, that portion won’t move at all.

Can lock or unlock any of those at will.

Open / close instantly (on the joint)

Lengthen / shorten the tripod legs as needed to hit or avoid getting hit

Cheating:

9 year old Samantha.  You moved, you cheated.

If the coyote eats the rabbit, that’s normal, no cheating.

If the coyote eats the rabbit’s grass, that’s cheating.

Attack

when your opponent is about to move (structure has changed)

when they’ve finished his move (not completed, overextended)

Don’t attack when they’re doing so.  That will get you hurt.

Training exercise (for the above):

Hands out at arms length with someone else.

Try to hit their palms with yours to get them to fall

Only hit when they’ve fully extended, or when they are about to extend

Very quickly becomes a game of deception.

Saturday Afternoon class:

Yilu corrections

Pole Shaking

1. Run staff on floor to full extension to get a feel for it

Start with a single finger and thumb making a ring at the end of the staff

2. produce a dot on the staff, no deviations, and you can lift and shake it in the air

find the balance point, when it shakes and stays in the air you have it.

3. Once you’re able to do that repeatedly, then use a single hand to shake it while you change your position to the other side of the staff (looks like elbow in, but it’s a side-change)

Staff should be heavy enough that you can’t hold it (same with sword for this specific exercise)

Rubbing

Hold staff at end, left arm holding the middle up, right arm in grip above shoulder

never hold it normally, always be short or long.

Roll staff up and down on rear chest with someone holding the tip on the other end (preventing it from moving)

Front hand can’t move.  It’s the pivot / anchor.

Bending the staff is no good

Impaling / Penetrating – elbow to hand (rotate) on end of staff

When rotation matches the push, then the staff won’t bend.

Restrict the end of the staff so it won’t move, then practice this.

Waist Exercise:

Frame your end of the staff, lock it in all directions (pull on both sides into the stomach)

Only the feet direct the (very strong) swings.

Very hard to control.

Stick it to your stomach, move the hips and legs

make your hold on the end of the stick as long as you can

Restrain the end of the staff with another staff or something.

Hit the grass / deck (without adding anything to the motion with the front arm)

Every touch must cut into bone

Places to make immobile: foot, head.

When locked the back elbow can power the front elbow.

(any part of the body can power any other if locked right)

Bounce back (directional reversals in many parts of form)

High pat on horse

the bottom can be switched to be anywhere.

Like a deer, it appears to float when running.

Body should go out and come back

no part should go into orbit

Suck then spit.

Taiji feeling: Everything should feel perfect until it’s too late

Because the other person is holding you up

Nullify the part of the body they will use to go away (escape)

every body part must be either silk or steel

steel – so hard it won’t hurt

silk – so soft it won’t hurt.

Look for blockages, stoppages, overextensions

Punch to ground is actually an escape from a punch & returning an elbow

Fist protecting heart is a conveyer belt (continuously going out and coming back)

Hold head to embrace tiger is a very low stance, keep it very low.

Flowers at the sea bottom:

breaks opponent’s integrity

tornado blade that destroys everything in its path

High pat on horse, move like you’re not landing

Push hands exercise:

1. Plant foot between & behind legs

step left foot around behind them

spin like a top

2. Plant food, create axis to top of head when leaned back

3. spin on axis without head leaving its spot (head rotates)

4. They should spin like a top too.

Like a screwdriver,

Twist

Tension

Step

Twist (repeat)

Sunday morning (pre-class)

Compass

The difference between the inside and outside part is so great that the center (pinned)part doesn’t move relative to the drawing part.

The center may move 1, but if the drawing part of  the compass moves 500, its as if it didn’t move.  (relatively still)

You should only train one body part, and the training will map to the others.

Only train one part.

You have to be in the position you don’t want in order to get to the position you do want.

Reversal of strength from large circle (claw at the bottom)

Weight lifting.  The weight is heavier than you.

Push the feet down rather than lift the arms.

Push the feet into the floor in foundations and forms

Whole body dynamic comes from feet pushing into floor

Block touching coat

Lock shoulder, back, and elbow.

Turn forearm only engaging gear teeth on midpoint of forearm.

Don’t leak out shoulder, head, or elbow.

Switching

If they’re on bicep, switch to the hand

like a balloon animal, move the air to where they aren’t.  to the other end of the balloon

this is like the weighted bag, suspend the sand in bag, then hit it.

External – if the punch misses, go back and try again.

Internal – if it misses, resolve what’s causing the problem, without going back (or coming back into it).  If you leave the problem will follow you.

Where you touch me is real.  Where my empty hand is is not real.

Reverse this, such that where you touch me is not real, and where my empty hand is becomes real.

Once you can do this you don’t need to react to physical touch.

You have something stronger to hold on to.

Get it even a little right, and you’re better than most.

Hand on post –

lock shoulder, upper arm, forearm,

pull with elbow,

make the post real

use a real post or horizontal bar

Personal thought:

You can read a recipe as much as you want.

You’re not a cook until you try to make it.

You’re not a good cook until you can make it correctly repeatedly.

You must be rooted, push your feet down.

Taiji is based on interaction with the ground

If you have a soft cushion between you and the ground, you don’t have power.

Spring-load yourself

Sunday morning class

Every movement goes to the foot.

Gears interlock, rations are exact  / proportional

Hand going forward comes from the torso going back

Neck goes back, head up (using the platesmus muscles) – when issuing

Put the head on a wall, top back up until it gets rid of neck indentation

Put back on wall, get rid of lower-back indentation

Turn into three horizontal plates (top, middle, bottom)

connected like railroad car couplers

There’s a repeated cycle of learning hard, then learning soft, then learning hard, then learning soft.  ~9 times.

Exercise:

Get flat on a wall

Small steps away so you’re only inches away from the wall

partner pushes you back flat onto the wall

You just return the force along the same line

don’t add / redirect, first accept it

then send it back along the same line (matching)

Sunday afternoon class:

Do the first 13 as if you’re held / secured on the wrists.  Body must pull arms in.

Door hinge exercise

hand flat on partially open door

partner pushes on the back of the door (using the open edge)

partner should be able to move you easily with that leverage

Most of body rotates backwards from the point of contact

One dot goes out to the other side, there are then two of him, one back, one forward.

Large means there’s nothing outside of it.

Small means there’s nothing inside of it.

Fist draping the body is a sequence of pulling motions.

Fist under elbow, don’t shortcut the large left-hand circle.

Hands do alignment, kua provides power

same with big circle before brush knee

Right hand in brush knee wraps punch without moving it. Then pulls it along line.

“Punch” before first cloud hands is “tearing towel”.

Practice this step and punch while trying to tear a towel with the hands.

Everyone has a size and proportion

Do enough of this exercise to find yours

4 cardinal wrist-elbow arm switching

push hands warmup

Look this up in video and practice with partner

2 types of openings

leather – must be seasoned with oil.  Like a blade-strop used for years

1 drop of oil per use, over the course of years will cause the leather to stretch.

This is called opening the leather

joint – on pressure that pushes, the joint should roll open (both sides)

Jade that looks like lard

hard, smooth like butter

is 100% consistent

2 types of training

Fire training – qualitative change

Smelting raw iron ore into refined steel

taking inconsistent raw materials into a consistent

in the end you aren’t the same anymore

Silk training – changing something that’s already good into something better

better quality of the same thing

same stuff afterwards, though better quality of the same thing

Smelting training

exhaustive training

will change the configuration of the body

like reformatting a hard drive, what was there is gone

If you train yilu right, you’re exhausted afterwards

If you’re just tired, you’re probably hurting yourself

If the opponent uses the arm to lock the torse,

tear your shoulder blade away (forward) to release that lock

Isolate / separate the torso and shoulder blade

Train until your scapula can move a lot

with power and tension

This training hurts, removes adhesions

eventually the kua will get into it

To start with the context: I’m in my 10th month of training and recently learned the choreography of yilu. In other words, 100% of what I do in taiji is wrong so the insights that I got will not be news to anyone reading this.

I had been to Master Chen’s Toronto workshop earlier this year and wanted to go to the Iowa camp because prior practice in a different martial art taught me two things. First, it’s essential to experience the art at the highest level of skill, as often as possible. It gives life to the words of the art principles and “it has to be felt”. Master Chen embodies those principles and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to feel them.

The second reason was immersion. Living a few days with only taiji in mind and both formal and informal practice allows the mind to pick up knowledge that may not register yet at a conscious level.

Having attended, now I can say there should be a third reason: community. More about this later.

The first surprise was on arrival at the airport, when John Upshaw was waiting to give us a lift. I did not know nor expect this. Throughout the day, John made many back-and-forth trips to the airport to bring attendees as their flights came and this extended past midnight. Hats off, sir.

Days typically started at 6:30am (blessed be the early risers who made coffee) with disciple-led foundations and yilu outside (we were lucky with the weather). Apart from specific corrections, the main lesson was that the practicing the foundations is not a phase to graduate from, but rather a part of the practice for as long as we do taiji.

One takeaway from a morning session was about non-moving. As a beginner I have two main permanent questions. One: how should I move (and what not to move)? Two: how do I train to achieve that? This is hard, particular training for not moving. Master Chen explained during a morning how to do the latter, in particular for the second submove (the turn to the right) of the first move in the yilu. The left hand’s middle finger should stay fixed in space during the rotation, something that’s difficult when there is nothing holding it, particularly with resistance. Master Chen’s indication was to actually fix the finger against an object (we used the wooden poles lining the alley) and do the movement with the finger resting against it, then do it without contact, trying to replicate the body feeling. With and without contact, for a few months. I added this to the practice routine and realize (or so I think) it’s the same principle of training as fixing the knee against a wall with a yoga block. I had seen the articles but didn’t think of the alternation between supported and unsupported movements.

Before and after lunch we had the sessions taught by Master Chen, with the usual mix of teaching, practicing in pairs, experiencing Master Chen’s techniques performed on us or feeling his body movements and, last but not least, the stories, shared by Master Chen or by disciples. I’d like to make a special note about Levi: I hope someone collects his deadpan humour remarks. His comments and manner of delivery cracked me up many times.

• a rotation is not a true rotation if the rear part of the body does not move symmetrically to the front one, relative to the pivot point. I tend to forget about the rear part because my mind is too focused on the front and the pivot point. A different way the same idea was expressed: if the opponent pushes and we follow in the move with one part of our body, it’s useless unless we push forward correspondingly with the other half.
• in push hands, be flexible without pushing and wait for the moment when the opponent’s vertical axis tilts then we push him in the same direction, to further unbalance him (it takes about 3 years to develop the sensitivity). Thus, it’s important to keep our torso vertical.
• with a staff, the back hand only fakes the push. The real push comes from the front hand. No telegraphing.
• a rotation is like a conveyor belt: “as it comes in, so it goes out” (by Chen Fake if I recall correctly although I didn’t get the exact words). One more way to express the first idea above.
• a shuffle forward is done with a pull from the front leg through the arch of legs. Do not push with the rear leg, which is a mistake I make often.
• practice yilu with power like a pressurized release
• “taiji problem: we don’t have balance, power and motion all at the same time”

Master Chen also taught the proper position and stretch of the neck. I didn’t realize that a “suspended head” involved that much of a stretch, so much that the platysma muscle is very visibly stretched (I learned about this muscle at this workshop).

Kelvin explained that caving in the chest is independent of rounding the back. I was doing only the latter thinking it did the former as well. Need to practice this, I’m not doing it right.

A quick note about the meal: they are healthily cooked and have a good mix of carbs/fats/protein. The proportion of each varies throughout the day, but they balance out. The cooks can accommodate dietary restrictions, sometimes on the spot, but it’s best to communicate them ahead at registration time.

After the evening meal there the mats came out for push hand practice. As a newbie with no experience but with some injuries, I only did a bit this time but still learned a lot. Special thanks to Aaron for patiently explaining me some basics, to Brennan who indulged my attempts to move him and to Levi for showing me what a yank is (oh boy). I was glad the old breakfall reflex was still functioning. I also got to practice and received tips from Bill, Paddy and Lou, as well as the numerous other members (apologies if I missed anyone, I should write better notes). Also thanks to Kelvin (from whom I also take in-person classes in Toronto) for his corrections.

Rounding up the day were the late night chats and ever the introvert, I felt welcome and sensed the community spirit. This is what I found truly remarkable: that in a group of about 40 people, everyone was kind, generous and willing to help. Statistically, this is not the norm and I can say for sure there was something special about the group.

On the final day we had the disciple ceremony for Travis, the first I have attended. Congratulations, Travis.

One final takeaway: I need to improve my handwriting, not exercised much for many years, if I hope to understand my notes in the future. I need to transcribe them soon, while the memory is fresh.

I’ll end this post by thanking Master Chen for all the teaching and the tireless energy he puts into the workshop, again to John and Levi for organizing it and to every single participant that helped me in my training. I hope to meet many of you in the future and cannot wait for the next seminar.

Razvan