Chen Style Taijiquan and Hunyuan Taiji email: practicalmethod@qq.com
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:
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.
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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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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
Master Chen told students to be clear in yilu, either arm or body move, not both.
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Rachel, Daniel, and James did an excellent job organizing an Open House and Workshop for the Weekend of April 05-06, 2014. On a beautiful spring morning, more than 50 people gathered to learn about the Chen Style Practical Method and to meet one of its distinguished proponents, Master Joseph Chen Zhonghua. |
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
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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
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/
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The following are my raw notes from the workshop:
Bruce Schaub Push Hands Learning with Chen Zhonghua 2013 in Toronto, Canada.
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Name: Don’t Move The Original
The front graphic features Master Chen’s own calligraphy of 不動 meaning “Don’t Move”.
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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
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Master Chen Zhonghua’s Phoenix Workshop
October 15 (Tuesday) to 18 (Friday)
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Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/groups/practical.method.toronto/permalink/513006922096561
Feb. 9, 2014:
Agenda:
6:30 am – 10 Yilus
8:00 am – Examine our negative circles
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Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method Toronto |
I am very impressed with Steve’s demos, he is able to explain his actions exactly like Master Chen with no deviation. It’s like deja-vu. I have heard the same explanations from Master Chen in a different place at a different time. I can learn so much from him.
Ming’s post below captures most of the material Master Chen shared on the weekend. Here are a few things I wrote down or was told directly over the course of the weekend.
Main Theme: “Taiji movement must be Differentiated and Sequenced; in order to move like this, repetitive practice of Yi Lu is needed to habituate the body”, Read more
Below are the students authorized by Master Chen to teach Practical Method
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Breaking a move to separate body parts.
1) push (hand extend to make the lever long)
2) turn (waist rotate to catch)
3) drop (use leg to generate downward force to cut)
Learning taiji online is impossible, but not impractical. The key to getting the most benefit outside of the classroom involves understanding what can be achieved and what can not be achieved and through this understanding develop goals that are obtainable. Read more
1. “To occupy strategic position you must fight for the meridian”. Read more
Raw notes and review by Calvin Chow
1. Foundation
A. Posture Training
Static posture of first form in Positive Circle. Horse stance – about 2 shoulder wide, rear foot point straight to the front. Front foot pointing 45 degree out and front foot heel is on the horizontal line of the rear foot toes. Rear hand rests on waist. Keep both kuas open, front hand stretches out with elbow vertical line not exceeding the top of thigh. Elbows always kept inside between thighs. Only hands can reach outside. Read more
