Application Demonstration
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 20 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10+10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Brennan Toh at the Vienna Workshop 2017
Within Chen Style Taijiquan, an important aspect is that all our movements must be our own movements. We never move as a result of an external stimuli. This requires we bring extreme awareness to every body part – those which are moving and especially those which are non-moving. When we go out with the hand, we must not forget about the elbow; as the torso closes the distance, the hands can’t also be moving forward, etc. As soon as we engage with our opponent, we naturally want to fight power with power. This immediate response is something we must eliminate through our training. Learning to create a stretch within our body in the form and foundations, is to learn how to move past the point of contact.
To never lose control of our body, even when engaging with an opponent, is to change our responses from a reactionary response to an active response.
A reactionary response is to retreat back, and then move in; or to match their push directly with your own push. A push from the opponent does not result in a fight, or a retreat backwards. An active response it to decide where to move, and to go their of your own choice – not from the initiation of the opponent. If we are pushed and the shoulder moves back, we move not because we are pushed, but because we decide to move there.
Brennan Toh with Shawn Lee
We must change from following the pace of the opponent, to leading our own movements. Within the rhythm of a fight, when you are able to dictate your own moves, the opponent will then follow (fall into rhythm). Movement is not a non-pressured release, but a pressured release like a hydraulic press where it must be evenly matched and paced (led). The intent of the movement is therefore only indirectly related to the opponent, and the decided movement is not at all resultant from what the opponent chooses to do – they are only an obstacle in place to overcome. This is a change from passive control over our body to active movement.
To train this, we must train to never close, and to continue to stretch and expand in every movement of the form. As our understanding of Yilu deepens, body mechanics and details that we were previously unaware of become more and more important. But before we can focus on the small details, our understanding of positioning of the ‘big pieces’ must be precise – which is why consistent training of the full form is required. As we continue to train to open our joints, positions and movements that we were previously incapable of will allow us to improve our structure and power.
Video references:
http://practicalmethod.com/2011/07/shoulder-movements-in-positive-circle-online-video-trailer/
http://practicalmethod.com/2014/11/pressure-and-release-indirect-power-online-video-trailer/
Vienna Workshop Group Photo 2017 Day One
Vienna, June 3-4, 2017
Host: Pawel Muller.
Assistant: Brennan Toh Read more
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
The Fist of Covering Hand (Yan Shou Gong Chui) Toronto North York Taiji Class April 27, 2017
Double half negative circle open stretch. Over the top full double negative
Left hand palm up stretch forward. Right palm protect face
Right hand fist. Slide on top of left arm while pulling left arm in a fist position on side of torso
Buddha’s Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar (Jin Gang Dao Dui) Toronto North York Taiji Class on April 20, 2017 i
Buddha’s Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar (Jin Gang Dao Dui) Toronto North York Taiji Class on April 20, 2017
Right turn palm motor. Positive and negative circle at the same time. Close left feet. Finish with left turn palm motor
Wade Forward in Twist Steps (Qian Tang Ao Bu) Toronto North York Taiji Class on April 13, 2017
Open left leg stretch arms open as if going through a canal. Left arm cross the right arm while left leg pull up.
Lean left leg on toes and rest ->
Land left leg on the heel with toes up. Rotate the left fixed knee-heel-toes triangle on the heel to land the toes.
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Aim at the floor
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Move Separation
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:2/5
City Date More Details contact Organizer Vienna June 3,4 pawel.mueller@gmail.com Prague June 10,11 pavel@practicalmethod.cz http://practicalmethod.cz Berlin June 17,18 http://www.practicalmethod.de/angebote/anmeldung-czh-in-berlin/ Gdynia June 24,25 chentaiji@wp.pl http://www.practicalmethod.pl/
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:2/5
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Helly everybody, 
here my notes of our class today. There was no title, so I would name it: Sequence to complete an action.
Step 1
– is totally free; there is no system
– ex.: go upstairs: one can step with the left foot our right foot first, any position thinkable
– taiji example: making contact with the hand, however and wherever
– learning this step normally takes 3 years
Step 2
– is free, as long as step no. 1 is not affected
– ex.: foot on the steps has to stay, cannot move anymore, but how you are getting the rest of the body on the stairs too, is totally free
– taiji ex.: you can move every point of the body, to come in as long as no. 1 is not moving
– learning this step normally takes 10 years
Step 3
– is free, as long as the centre of no. 2 is not destroyed
– centre can be everywhere
– centre results from size, weight, angles, speed, power etc.
– to learn this step takes normally 30 years
Chen Laoshi: “You have to put this into your yilu”, what for me is very difficult, as I am not sure about the no. 2 in every position, before going to the next one. I hope this knowledge will come to me 😉
Redirect Opponent Power
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Inside / Outside separation
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 10 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5
Foundation practice and correction
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 20 min. In: English Year: 2015 Difficulty:1/5 At:Italy
This year we were scheduled to receive master Chen at march, but due to a few issues beyond all of us it wasn’t possible.
The problem for us locally was that by then we had already confirmed with a lot of people, teachers of other taiji styles and other arts who were attending the workshop.
Faced with having to make a decision, me and my partner Flavio Prado decided simply to conduct the workshop ourselves, best we could, and introduce everyone to Practical Method, so when Master Chen comes at a later date, everyone would be more prepared to learn taiji from him.
This is a little bit of how it went down:
We had a lot of fun and everyone was very hard working, interested and pleasant. We finally have an interested group being created which is a great step for us. Everyone in Brazil is dead serious about the martial aspect of the art, which I think benefits the practice.
Taiji is a very interesting art that has different challenges for everyone.
We covered topics ranging from basic foundations, yilu and push hands. Flavio also conducted some lessons on qigong and other general aspects of martial art. Everyone came out feeling they won something, and all of them are very excited with the prospect of being face to face with Master Chen in the future.
Hope you guys enjoy the video, all the best and keep training!
Name: Mark Hanley
Class: Richmond Hill
Practical Method Start Date: Oct. 15, 2016
Martial Art Experience: Karate Black Belt, and practiced Yang Taiji previously
Name: Bruce Robinson
Class: Richmond Hill
Practical Method Start Date: May 23, 2015
Martial Art Experience: Practiced Aikido and Yang Taiji previously.
Name: Kewei Sun
Class: Richmond Hill
Practical Method Start Date: May 23, 2015
Martial Art Experience: Practiced Iron Shirt when he was young.
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 7 min. In: English Year: 2014 Difficulty:1/5
Application
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 7 min. In: English Year: 2016 Difficulty:1/5
introduction: balance, yilu
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 20 min. In: English Year: 2016 Difficulty:1/5
introduction: lever, alignment
Presenter: Chen Zhonghua Length: 20 min. In: English Year: 2016 Difficulty:1/5
The first European Practical Method meeting took place in Vienna in late winter 2017. On 17. – 19. February, people from Göttingen, Berlin and Vienna convened in this wonderful city to practice and exchange experiences.
On Saturday and Sunday, we dedicated a lot of time to practice the Yilu. Also, we worked on basic foundations and put special emphasis on progressions in partner work. Special thanks to Rick, who instructed us in these progressions in the most precise and knowledgeable way.
Altogether, it was a great meeting. I am sure that everyone had her or his very personal insights and “aha!”-moments. I myself, being relatively new to Taiji, surely learned a mountain of things. It has been really motivating to see other people with more experience practicing Taiji.
Many of us already knew each other, having met before on workshops or at Daqingshan, now having the chance to catch up on what happen since then. But many also could get to know each other for the first time. Being able to practice with many enthusiastic and committed people made the days in Vienna an invaluable experience.
Many thanks to Carlotta, Pawel, Fabian and Rick, who made the meeting possible. Thanks to your commitment, it has been a wonderful and enriching weekend. Hope to see all of you again and many more on the next meeting, which will probably be hosted in Berlin in 2018.
Best wishes, Jann
Left to Right:Dominic Lo, Ken Fong, Eric Foo, Kevin Sun, Lucas Lu, Kelvin Ho, Bruce Robinson, Peter Li, Mark Hanley, Patrick Kuo
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