Knowledge : Workshop and Class Notes

Notes for Ottawa Workshop Nov. 12-13, 2016 1

by Kelvin Ho on 2016/11/20

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This is the first time I attended the Ottawa Workshop. Great group! Thanks Rachelle, James, and Daniel for organizing the workshop, and Rachelle for my stay at her place. Here are my notes:

Move the feet. When we train, we fix the feet. When you push hands, we move the feet. Our feet are often not mobile enough, we must force ourselves to move them, e.g. getting in changes the pivot.
The only way to connect is not to connect. Connection means moving and non-moving parts have a relationship. Read more

Winston’s notes for Master Chen’s 2016/10/1-2 Phoenix workshop 2

by Winston Wang on 2016/10/07

I don’t know if it’s accurate, but I tried my best to record all I’ve heard and saw in the two-day workshop.

Change “一” shape structure to ” V ” shape to get a 3D structure

If there’s a V shape structure with ABC points as joints. A Taiji movement would be:
A as a hinge. It doesn’t move at all, but able to rotate.
B as a connection between two arms. Its track will not change because A and C are restricted. And will move towards the different direction of A.
C as the only free moving part. But its track must be pre-defined before it moves, and need to be related to A.

Practical Method Phoenix, AZ Workshop Oct 1- 2, 2016, Review by Chris Liu i

by Ping Wei on 2016/10/04

Practical Method Phoenix, AZ Workshop October 1, 2016 – October 2, 2016
by Chris Liu on 10/4/2016

When I discovered the Practical Method, I started watching a lot of Master Chen’s videos. This led me to read more in depth about Taiji and its rooted philosophy in Taoism. I watched, and read, and thought about it every day for over a year then one day, I finally believed I was ready to meet Master Chen. Read more

To control of both Kua, rotate, move in, press the shoulders down, correct at different level i

by Winston Wang on 2016/09/22

Master Chen’s disciple Ping Wei recently wrote an article regarding how to rotate the Kua and create a stable center (pivot point). The idea is simple: the center will never be stable if you try to control it by only one Kua, you have to have good control of both Kua, and move them both at the same time.

Such a simple idea doesn’t take a genius to understand. So that I read the article, got the idea, and I thought I got it.

Review on Ping Wei’s Practical Method Workshop in Irvine on August 21 i

by Ping Wei on 2016/09/02

By Winston Wang

Read more

Chabar C. Private Lesson Notes 4

by Chabar Chandramohan on 2016/07/19

Part I (13 corrections)

deeper and wider stance in general
always think of elbows first in general
Opening move
- Keep the left hand fixed in space
  - Turn the left elbow as much as you can
  - Keep right hand higher than its elbow
- Imagine holding someone’s arm at two points
Buddha’s warrior attendant pounds mortar
- right-hand comes up straight
- do not move centre or body
- Read more

2016 Iowa Workshop Notes – Day 2 4

by Todd Elihu on 2016/07/17

Chen Zhonghua correcting Todd Elihu at the 2016 Iowa Workshop.

When the elbow comes in, the finger must aim onto person. Actually, every move must aim onto person.
When locked at one or two points, utilize another set of points beyond the initial set of points to go over/break out.
Isolation exercise #1: partner holds your arm at the wrist and shoulder. You squeeze the muscles on the body-side of the where he has his hand on your shoulder, then extend the fingers. Each move must be independent from one another. Switch back and forth. Read more

2016 Iowa Workshop Notes – Day 1 i

by Todd Elihu on 2016/07/16

Six sealing four closing: Must be like inside a round cylinder. Muscle must rotate around bone. Don’t move. Hand must be like inside tube and body must adjust to be aimed correctly. Hand out, elbow in can only be done if front lat goes down to the rear arch and front kua rotates to curve up to connect to the rear shoulder. Pull elbow back to be in alignment. Step in a little bit with just the lower body to fill space. Don’t push. If one part is off it throws the entire body out of alignment.
18 posts in the body… they cannot collapse into each other. Read more

Iowa 2016 Private Lesson Notes i

by charlie wishon on 2016/07/16

Iowa 2016 day 1;

Align backward , never fight forward… feet are too close together, arms are as well. Shoulder needs to stay in the kua.

Full front kua in the line, align the arm . Then open the rear kua… the front kua,is always the filler, the rear kua is always the stretcher…
The end of every move must be totally straight. ” stay on the line”
Day two.

Workshop Practical Method 26-27 april 2014, The Netherlands (by Master Chen) i

by Vincent Den Hengst on 2016/07/05

Workshop Practical Method Chen Style Taichi Quan push hands by Grandmaster Joseph Chen Zhonghua

De Glind 26-27april 2014, Netherlands

These notes are partly chronological and based on how I percieved them. I kept as close as I could to Master Chen’s exact words.

Day one

The workshop started with an introduction. Underlying the art of Practical Method Taiji Chen Style are thirteen dimensions. These thirteen dimensions are divided in two levels. Eight dimensions are related to the air; five are related to the floor.

Berlin Workshop 2016 – first notes i

by Sarah on 2016/06/16

Most Important: Nobody can see, what Chen Laoshi is doing (except Chen Xu), when he is throwing a stone in the water and waves are appearing, everyone is asking, how to make such waves (form of the waves, etc.), but he just throws the stone
first 13 moves: shovel out, waist cannot go forward, has to be zero, only can go down, to push out
shovel out means to bypass
your opponent is strong in different dimensions, you always wrapping around him
all forward moves you have to lock yourself down
movements must be led by the piece were I and you don`t touch, move as one piece, like one wall going at you, which part is leading is very different
Read more

2016 Berlin Workshop featured Master Zhonghua Chen and Michael Winkler 1

by Maxime on 2016/06/08

Maxime Fréchet·Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Author: Maxime Fréchet

Here is a little review of the workshop with Master Chen Zhonghua. I’m not in a position to explain anything so I’m just going to share my feelings and experience.

Great experience! Zhonghua Chen is a kind and humble person. He often shares but not too much either. His approach goes straight to the point. He makes you understand principles and concepts with clear words and demonstrations. There is always a bit of Dao in everything, which I really appreciate, it keeps your mind open. Great bunch of people from different countries, good atmosphere and workshop in English.

Vancouver Workshop April 2016 i

by Steven Cheng on 2016/04/27

Thanks to Bill Vanderhall and Steve Chan we had a great weekend of Taiji training and learning.

We worked on yilu practice and corrections with some applications examples to help with training. Some corrections were:
Read more

Notes for Practical Method Toronto Workshop Oct. 1-3, 2015 3

by Kelvin Ho on 2015/10/09

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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

Toronto October 2015 Workshop Notes 10

by Sandy Doeur on 2015/10/06

I just returned from a 3 day workshop in Toronto. I would like to thank Master Chen and all of the other participants for providing me with this learning experience. All of these notes are mental ones and I will make sure that I take down physical notes on subsequent trips. All errors and omissions are my own. I would like to thank Kelvin for calling me out on my note taking or lack thereof. I totally forgot how to be a good student. I believe that it is important to take notes as a) they will help you to remember what you have learned and b) some of the instructions are personal points of guidance that might apply only to you and as such will not appear in anybody else’s notes.

Puerto Rico Workshop Demonstration 2014 i

by admin2 on 2015/10/03

Notes for Practical Method Iowa Workshop 2015 5

by Kelvin Ho on 2015/09/19

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.
Read more

Vancouver May 2015 Workshop i

by Steven Cheng on 2015/07/22

The Vancouver workshop was taught by Steve Chan and Bill Vanderhall. Driving in from Calgary, I was able to get some good training in and meet up with the Vancouver practical method group again. Read more

“Look” to learn Taijiquan, video recordings and mirror neurons 10

by Richard Johnson on 2015/07/21

Shifu Chen Zhonghua often emphasizes how to learn Taijiquan. This web site has a great article called 6 Methods of Learning Tai Chi. (Read this if you have not already.) It expands and elaborates on Grandmaster Hong’s “Look, Listen, and Ask” practice method.

In motor control research, I found the neurological basis for this method of learning. There are neurological mechanisms called mirror neurons. The basic premise is when we see a person do something, mirror neurons fire off in our brain attempting to duplicate the pattern in our nervous system required to copy the movement. At first, it is an imperfect copy because it follows old neurological pathways. With repeated viewing of the action, our brains and nervous system do a really good job of creating new neurological pathways to accurately copy the movement. Read more

Past, Present, Future (class notes) 2

by Rion Swanson on 2015/02/24

June 20, 2014 (?)

I’m not entirely sure if the date for these notes is correct. I believe they were from an evening class, but they may have been from a workshop. I should have posted these right away, but better late than never I suppose. Read more

Report on the Second Workshop (1/31/2015) in Irvine, California 2

by Ping Wei on 2015/02/05

After two and half month passed since my first trip to Irvine, I went back on January 31. This time, Edward came to join the group. We worked briefly on foundations. Mostly, I focused on teaching Yilu.

Foundations are important. Yilu is the core. The more students know about Yilu, the more fun they can have while practicing alone. I was able to finish the first 30 forms to “Upper Cloud Hands” and “High Pat on Horse” in the morning. (We did the first 13 moves in last workshop.) Read more

First Practical Method workshop in Yishui, China i

by Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy on 2015/01/31

On the invitation of Mr. Lai Qingwen, two instructors from Daqingshan, Chen Xu and Li Xiaohui, went to Yishui, Shandong province to teach Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method as taught by Master Chen Zhonghua. They will be in Yishui from January 30, to February 3, 2015. Read more

Toronto Jan 2015 Workshop notes 4

by Brennan Toh on 2015/01/24

Notes from Toronto workshop:

-Make the dot longer to control where they fall. Must add 3rd dimension. Curved line automatically works in 3 dimensions.

-Change of position allows the length to be changed. Do not change the angle. Read more

Toronto Workshop 2015.01.15 Photos i

by Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy on 2015/01/15

These are some of the photos at the Toronto Workshop on Jan. 15, 2015. Worked on Foundations, Yilu, and applications. Push Hands techniques are mainly based on scissors power: two lines crossing with a fixed spot on them.

Sydney workshop day one: Oct. 18, 2014 4

by Paul Janssens on 2014/10/18

Today was the first day of the workshop in Sydney. After some adminstrative issues and handing out the t-shirts, Master Chen took control and started in quick sucession of static 3 count elbow in, turn waist, hand out. Soon this developed in stepping positive circles, and before everyone recovered the class was already twisting (wringing) the towel. We also explored the three way split, the effect of the resultant power (usually the other person on the ground).

We then continued with an extensive series of applications related to the movements of ‘Buddha’s Warrior’, and Master Chen demonstrated various variations to the applications with the foot kicking in the knee, the foot sliding behind the leg, the foot sliding behind the leg and kick the opponents leg from under them, the split of the kua at the front for higher moves and the back kua for lower hand moves, how the three way split applies to this, and much, much more. Read more

Greater Vancouver Workshop September 2014 i

by admin2 on 2014/09/08

Master Chen told students to be clear in yilu, either arm or body move, not both.

Highlights of DaQingShan 2014 Push Hand Competition 2

by Michael Koh on 2014/06/25

Ottawa Open House and Workshop Review April, 2014 8

by Ming on 2014/04/13

Rachel, Daniel and James did an excellent job organizing an Open House and Workshop for the Weekend of April 05-06, 2014. On a fine spring morning, more then 50 people showed up for an introduction to Chen Style Practical Method and to meet one of the system’s outstanding proponents, Master Joseph Chen Zhonghua. Read more

Feb 1 & 2 Greater Vancouver Workshop – Lines on the Body 3

by Gene Hess on 2014/02/04

On Sunday, Master Chen demonstrated how to set up multiple lines on an opponent’s body when pushing hands. The goal was to set up enough lines that the opponent finally felt like they had to jump out to escape, or they were bounced, or squeezed out. Read more

Some photos of the 2013 Singapore Private Lessons i

by admin on 2013/12/05

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Sydney Workshop Notes 19/11/2013 9

by Jyuken-nin on 2013/11/19

After almost two weeks since attending the Sydney Practical Method workshop. I cannot retain all the information I heard in my head. It’s just going to give me a headache. I’m going to empty out all of my thoughts and experiences on what I remember from the Workshop, not to be excited on how many comments I’ll get but for my benefit to continue training unimpeded, because if I don’t, then my energy will be wasted in thinking rather than practicing. Read more

London, UK Workshop Nov 21-22 4

by Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy on 2013/10/31

Michael Calandra will be teaching a workshop on Practical Method in London on the 21-22 of November. Anyone interested can contact Asad Habib via facebook , or email Michael Calandra at oikddojo@aol.com.

http://www.seishinkanonline.com/

2013 New York Workshop Day One Photos i

by Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy on 2013/10/05

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Notes for Toronto Workshop Sep 19-22, 2013 6

by Kelvin Ho on 2013/09/28

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The following are my raw notes from the workshop:

Create the arch in different segments of the body from hand to foot
Don’t move the hand, stretch the elbow from the hand.
Always aim at the largest part of the body since we shoot all over the place, and it’s useless. For now, the torso, later the spine, even later something smaller. Read more

Bruce Schaub Push Hands Learning with Chen Zhonghua 2013 2

by Chen Zhonghua Taiji Academy on 2013/09/22

Bruce Schaub Push Hands Learning with Chen Zhonghua 2013 in Toronto, Canada.

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Upper Midwest Practical Method Workshop 2

by Tim Duehring on 2013/07/31

We are pleased to announce the return of Master Chen Zhonghua to the Upper Midwest, specifically Iowa, for a weekend workshop. We will cover foundations, form corrections, applications and push hands. These workshops are for everyone interested in learning taijiquan. No experience is necessary, just a willingness to learn. Hope to see you there.
Iowa Pratical Method Poster 2013.ai