I’m writing this at about 30,000 feet on the plane from Munich, Germany to Toulouse, France. Master Chen Zhonghua is sitting next to me, it’s late evening and we are both tired from traveling shortly after noon.
On the last flight, from Danzig, Poland to Munich Master Chen gave me another lesson about rotation.
Some of those ideas I had already heard on a flight almost two years ago, but what Master Chen taught me a few hours ago goes much, much further, of course. Some questions were answered, especially regarding applying the theory on the body.
The application cannot be written down, really. It must be demonstrated and felt. Trying do write it down will never do justice to the physical experience felt in person. Read more
The 4th Poland Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method Workshop was held from May 28-30, 2018 in Gdynia. It was hosted by Tomek Raganowicz of Poland. Pawel Muller of Austria came to assist me in video-taping, etc. The workshop was attended by 21 people from Poland, Austria, Germany, and Lithuania. Read more
James Strider on Daqinshan Mountain, Shandong Province, China – May 2018
My name is James Strider and since meeting Master Chen in Holland way back in 2006 I have been pretty much obsessed with the Practical Method. Having started my journey with Chinese Martial Arts, in this case classical WuShu, in 1987 at the age of 14, I was envious of the few students who could go with our Sifu back then to China for up to 3 months at a time to study. They would return with colourful stories (mostly about the lack of toilet paper and milk!) and I would see their skills increase significantly each time. It was then that I promised myself that I would one day make it to China and stay for at least 3 months. Read more
During push hands practice, Master Chen Zhonghua often says, “Get out of the way”. The result is that the opponent falls right into a hole (to the ground). I had a recent understanding of this phrase. Whose way that I need to get out of? It’s opponent’s path to the ground, and I am right in the middle blocking it. In theory, if I can remove myself from that path, the opponent will happily (or not so happily) reach his/her destination (the ground).
In more practical terms, I need to lure the opponent into using me for support without him realizing it, I then put a lid above/behind him. Without losing the lid, I get out of the way to remove my support for him. With no further pushing, he will fall right into where my support was originally. A differential is created at that time. A related article on differential: Opening the trap door from below. Read more
The richness of Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method struck me in 2013 when I had my first encounter with Master Chen and his explanations. There is so much to learn for me. Master Chen told on several occasions, that if you think you know how to do practical method, you can stop to practice, cause you stop learning. There is always something that you don’t know, you can do better, you can improve, that takes time, that someone else knows or knows better … and so on.
More and more I find that the beauty of the Taijiquan lies in its simplicity. 大道至简 da dao zhi jian – the overarching theory is the simpliest. Read more
I’m writing this at about 30,000 feet on the plane from Munich, Germany to Toulouse, France. Master Chen Zhonghua is sitting next to me, it’s late evening and we are both tired from traveling shortly after noon.
