There have been countless works published on the species of martial art, their variety of incarnations and attitudes. It seems pointless to tear a single page from the encyclopaedia of combatives in order to repeat what a hundred authors have repeated before. Often, a lesson hard-learned in life is that what is not the highest question, but rather, why. Why, then, study the martial arts, taijiquan specifically? Read more
Knowledge : Workshop and Class Notes
What does it mean by not moving the hand?
Here is my understanding:
If I would like change the location of the hand relative to my body, e.g. the current location of the right hand is at the level of my belly button, and the destination is at my eye level in front of the right shoulder, how can I achieve that without moving the hand?
- Don’t move the hand, but I can move any other part of the body to achieve the same result.
- Keep the hand at the same coordinates in this three-dimensional space, and sink my body down, which in turn causes my elbow to go from above the hand to below the hand. Then perform the 2nd half of the positive circle.
2010-1-2
1、（腰胯）拉直后，无腰、无跨，此时可以保持腰不断劲。（沉肩、坠纣、头顶、双腿与丹田形成中轴——中正？）。 Read more
As every time I receive instructions from my Shifu, Chen Zhonghua, I understand more that what he has always talked about is one principle that is applied in countless ways. Read more
Originally written by: Ian Macrae
Maple Ridge Workshop July 25th and 26th, 2009
(A loose transcription of notes, not an organized article)
This month our workshop was in Pitt Meadows Heritage Hall. Our regular use of Thornhill Hall was preempted by the Disabled Games. What a nice big clean beautiful hall this was, notwithstanding that the A/C wasn’t working and it was almost too hot to do YiLu. Well, actually, it was too hot, so we didn’t work quite as hard as we usually do. Read more
1. 出手不出肘；收肘不收手。 Read more
Originally written by: Richard Johnson
I just spent a long time posting my notes from the workshop. They disappered into cyberspace when I tried to save them. I’ll have to re-post later.
Most of the following relate to Tai Chi principles and form, but some are just general comments. All the comments below were either heard directly from Master Chen, or conveyed from another person who heard the lesson directly from him, or is based on my personal observation or experience. – Marvin Glotfelty Read more
Originally written by: Chen Zhonghua and Ian Macrae
Based on Ian Macrae’s
Notes from the April 12th & 13th, 2008,
Workshop at Thornhill Hall, Maple Ridge Read more
Main Points: Read more
Here is a brief summary of the notes I made in Hunyuan World. I hope I was able to have some understanding from Master Chen´s teachings in the seminar. I am open to any corrections on these notes. Read more
These are notes from a recent trip to Edmonton learning from Master Chen Zhonghua. Question based off torso movements I was shown
To recap:
My understanding of the “2 points” motion within the torso. Read more
Date: 11/26/2005 0:00
Title: Chen Zhonghua Workshop in Ottawa Nov 26, 2005
Reviewer: Daniel Mroz
Organizer: James Chan
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
On November 26 and 27, 2005, I took part in a two-day workshop on Hong Junsheng’s Practical Method of Chen style taijiquan, offered by Mr. Chen Zhong Hua in Ottawa, Canada. The workshop was arranged by Mr. Chen’s students and attracted about a dozen participants. Read more
Originally written by: Ed Zolpis
Date: 11/26/2005 0:00
Title: Return to the Basics: Stepping in Chen Style Taijiquan
Reviewer: Ed Zolpis
Organizer: James Chan
Location: Ottawa
Comments: Notes: Master Joseph Chen’s Workshop –
Ottawa – November 26-27, 2005
Ed Zolpis
Points to remember re: Circle exercise-
-position of feet is so that when step to the side the feet are approximately 4.5 foot lengths apart with the back of the forward heel on the same line as the front of the toes of the back foot.
-the back foot is slightly turned out from being perpendicular while the front foot is at approximately 45 degrees outwardly
-kua is open with knees stretched out and body low
-open the body so that it feels as if the energy of the body on the inside is struggling against the form of the body
-the energy of the knees go in opposite directions to each other, i.e. front knee energy goes upward while back knee energy goes downward, without the knee actually moving
-try to keep movements inside the body not allowing them to become predominantly outward, i.e. involving body peripherals(limbs) dominating the movement – another demonstration of this is using upper limbs to hold opponent while move him with lower limbs
-to increase stability, everytime you move, drop body by 5%
-“Double Heavy” is when 2 body section lines are on the same line (parallel). This is unstable. Instead one should try to have these body lines at an angle to each other to increase stability.
-bounce energy in body from foot to foot to top of head
-when stepping use a slipping action so as to insure energy is going outwards
-3 concepts to remember are: 1)withdraw elbow, push hand
2)sink the “dang” (groin)
3)hand grinds out
-training check method – if want to check if a particular move/technique is following principles of body dynamics, multiply its force by 10 to see if it works without overstraining the body
Embedded Pdf document below.
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