Chen Style Taijiquan and Hunyuan Taiji email: practicalmethod@qq.com

Master Chen’s disciple Ping Wei will again teach Practical Method foundations and Yilu on March 26 (Sunday, 9:30am-1pm and 2-5pm) in Irvine, California. For location and other details, please contact Al Yu at 949-331-2735, or email: mralyu@yahoo.com.

Another year, another step up to see the grand vista of Tai chi. I was able to once again participate in Master Joseph Chen Zhonghua workshop organized by Nicholas Feng, K.T. Lin, Hong Kong Chen Style Taiji Practical Method (香港陳式太極實用拳法).

On a mild holiday weekend, more than thirty participants from Hong Kong, the Mainland, Canada and India gathered to train with Master Chen. A special thanks to Ling Zili who came from Daqinshan to help with the workshop. For two days, Master Chen started with the foundations, then continued with moving, the first thirteen moves of Yilu and occasional bouts of applications training. Master Chen clearly explain how each type of training is directly related to theory of Chen Taijiquan.

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Fetch water – the opposite vectors are at the front kua.  Six sealing four closing/seven inch knife – separates at the shoulder.

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We continued the topic about the triangle in today’s class. To apply the triangle during push hand or Yilu we need to realize the following keys:

1. How many triangles are needed
   • The more the better as long as it can contribute the indirect force to the final result.
   • My understanding is we need at least two: the first one is formed in upper body. It involves contact points. The triangle can be two hands + one shoulder or one hand + elbow + shoulder or one hand + two shoulders; the second one is formed in lower body. It can be one foot + kua + shoulder or two feet + kua. This perfectly explains the theory of “rooted in the feet, initiated from the legs, controlled by the waist, ended in the fingers”(其根在脚,发于腿,主宰于腰,形于手指).
2. Apply one triangle on top of another
   • Keep this in mind: fix one and then apply next. This is required by the rule of “Don’t move”.
3. Build a solid structure
   • A solid structure will be like a rod or chair. Opponent’s power will be directed to ground and bounced back to them easily.
   • The solid structure will also support forming triangles.
   • We always look for opponent’s weak point in their structure, so we can apply our triangles accordingly.

Asking the difference between external and internal martial arts, today Master Chen Zhonghua put it this way:

“External styles use brute force, internal styles use manipulation.”

Another exciting two hours today in Richmond Hill class. Two notes to share with audients:

1. Amazing triangle

• Actually using triangle to apply indirect power is not a new topic, but today our practice really impressed me. I started to understand how important it is and how to apply it to all forms.
• How to form a triangle: hold two hands together as point A and two elbows are the other two points (point B and point C). Partner tries to hold the two elbows tightly using his two hands.
• Practice one: push two elbows out against partner’s two hands. It is very hard. Read more

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Daqinghan on 2017-01-27 / 28

We had the honor to spend the last days together with Master Chen Zhonghua and a small group of other dedicated students. Chinese New Year, people also call it “The Spring Festival”,  is the most important Chinese festival. Usually people spend it with the closest members of their families. But as our Masters family is Canadian we had the great opportunity to be together with him for this special day. Read more

I have two notes about today’s exercise:

1. I have new understanding about the three foundations. The following sample assumes right hand is front hand.
   • All of them are in different forms, but the requirements are same in terms of how to apply rules and principles.
   • The final result is also same: front arm and hand are squeezed and drilling out.
   • Common rules to remember:
     • Lock both knees
     • Lock hand, shoulder and kua on the back side
     • Head up to keep body up straight
     • Do not twist wrist
     • Ensure the whole body acts as one entity , and every part is connected and supporting each other. This is so called 整劲.
   • Apply two major triangles:
     • Triangle one: left hand, right hand and front kua. Bring front kua into the line connecting two hands.
     • Triangle two: left hand, right hand and front shoulder. Two actions are involved in order to bring front shoulder into the line connecting two hands: a) Sink the shoulder; b)bring front elbow towards body center line(vertical). This action will typically leads to drilling effect (顺缠).
2. Yilu correction by Kelvin Ho

• Turning during “Turn to double lotus” and “Turn left to pound mortar”
  • Form a rod from shoulder to kua to heel on the turning side
  • Turn front foot
  • Turn front kua. This can be easily forgotten
  • Head up to keep body up straight
• Dragon on the ground
  • First step: move weight to left, keep body up straight (I was leaning toward) when close two arms
  • Second step: apply fetch water to open arms