Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 29, 2020

Chinese Class

Separation of Yin and Yang

• 先合后开 xian he hou kai - Together at first, separate later.
• How it separates, the rate it separates can be regulated later.
• e.g. Six Sealing Four Closing, Punch covering hand

English Class

We need both horizontal stretch and vertical stretch in the form. We focussed on using the kuas in the movements.

Cloud Hands

• Push the foot into the kua to kick start it.  Movements need to be initiated by the kua.

High Pad on Horse

• Pull down with the kua, but don't allow the arm to go down. The armpit will open up and cause the arm to go up.

Rub right foot/Rub left foot

• Use the kua to initiate the turn. The torso must stay within the cylinder.

Buddha's Warriot Attendant Pound Mortar

• Initiate the rotation from the heel.

Kick left heel

• Make sure that there is a veritical rod, before we stretch the two arms and kick with left heel.

Punch to the ground

• Rotate the two kuas to cause the fist and torso to go down. The fist does not move.

Cross Hands

• Use the kua to transition to Fist Drape Over Body

Train the form with the arms at all. Focus on using only the kua to do the entire form.

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 28, 2020

Going Over - We focus on this concept in several moves today.

Flash the back

• After elbow-in, we use the kua to cause the elbow to go over, so that we can grab the opponent's wrist on the other side.
• The other elbow moves in this move also requires going over to break the opponent's arm at the elbow.
• Before turning backwards, we just lock the left hand, and bring the right foot over to the other side.

Brush Knee in Oblique Stance

• Notice how the elbow needs to go over.
• Right hand Negative Circle - Going over with elbow-in
• Left hand Negative Circle - Going over with elbow-in
• Right hand Positive Circle - Going over with hand-out
• We can also think of it as 3 lines that we need to go over.

Left turn to double push hands

• Use the rotation to bring the right foot up. Don't just walk up.

How to train the form?

1. Normal - We learn the form.

2. Break - We train the form with a focus and ignore other restrictions (break the rules).

3. Normal - We do the form like normal again (but after stage 2, it's not normal as in stage 1)

Armpits and kuas were left behind meaning they were not trained.

Six Sealing Four Closing

Push hard with the front hand (which can be like an initial punch) until it is locked, pull back to propel the front hand further.

后发制人 hou fa zhi ren

后 can be the back as in front and back.

It can also be later as in first and later.

For PM, the saying 后发制人 means to control the opponent from the back.

Notes for 外定内动：提水动作 video

https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/7132

2020年10月31日星期六上午8:00 (中国时间），何家伟教练带领我们来学习《外定内动：提水动作》这个视频。 

陈老师在这个短视频中强调里面跟外面是怎样较劲的。自己是怎样可以练出这个劲来。

Notes:

提水这动作我们要定住外面。具体是定住膝盖、胯、肩、头。然后，从胯开始顶出来。外面不能松。里面要出来，外面不让它。两个你较劲。我们不能松着练。前膝盖到后肩要保持一条直线，从里面把这条线加长。

Notes for 间接力收肘 video

https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/7127

2020年10月30日星期五上午8:00 (中国时间），何家伟教练带领我们来学习《间接力收肘》这个视频。 

陈老师示范了简单的双人练习学习间接力，并谈到怎样在推手中实践这练习中的要领。

Notes:

陈老师示范了一个练间接力的双人练习。对方稳定地握着我们的手，关系是螺丝钻在木头上不动。然后，什么都不动，只收肘。普遍的错误是手使上劲，那是直接力。

在这练习中，把自己调整到一个合适的位置，例如跟对方的距离多少、能不能把力放在肘上。

我们是在定式中学习、体会、明白到哪一个是最佳位置。将来，对方实际是不会停下来让你做动作，我们因为知道最佳位置，就可以等对方碰到那一点，我们到时收肘就行了，或者是把自己配合到那一个位置。

11:29 陈老师示范了闪通背最后的动作。第一部分动作力量不够，换点后，在不动中，加了另外一间接力。

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct. 26, 2020

Correction on my form

• Need to have 3 solids
• There is a line at the shoulder level between the front hand and rear shoulder (first 2 solids)
• I need to stretch the kua down to create the 3rd solid.
• The first 2 solids form the horizontal bar of a T-bar, while the kua stretching down creates the rod of the T-bar.
• Master Chen Zhonghua demonstrated six sealing four closing with that rod not moving. Without this part, I will not be able to rotate. With it, things start to become 3-dimensional. It was really like that there was an auger in him.
• This may seem like a contradiction while we need to push the front kua up, we also need to stretch it down to create a solid.
• Don't cross at the same spot
  • Need to cross with distance in between.
  • Imagine that there is a rod, put the two hands on either side of the rod, and the two hands are apart from each other along the rod.
  • In Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pound Mortar, in the first count when the hands are raised, the two hands are on either side of the opponent's arm.
  • When we put one arm in front of opponent's chest, and put the leg behind of the opponent's leg, we have placed something on either side of the opponent's body. However, it also means that the opponent is also on either of ourselves. Whoever that is longer will win.

Learning

We need to do one thing right. The teacher needs to show us the first thing, like where the first step of the staircase is, and put our foot on the first step.  Most of us can never find get on the first step, but we believe that we are walking up the staircase while we are really not going anywhere.

Foundation

Based on Twisting the Towel

• We want to first create a large size in the out-with-hand action without restriction.
• Now we put in a restriction at the knee by not allowing it to move.
• By putting such a restriction in, it is like having a pivot in the lever. When one side of the pivot goes forward, the other side of the pivot will go backward.  If the pivot is closer to the one side being moved, the other area that the other side cover will be bigger than the area covered by the action arm.
• What we want in this exercise is to create a stretch between the right knee and the left shoulder.
• Procedure:
• Put up the hand to start in the Twisting the Towel position. Do not move the hand.
• Lock the right knee, create a stretch between the right kua and the right knee by stick the right kua out.
• Extend the stretch from the right kua to dantian, from dantian to left chest, from left chest to the left shoulder.
• Do not rotate for this. At minimum, we must see that the stretch is bigger (more dominant) than the rotation.
• Common problem, we rotate in this exercise or the left shoulder moves backwards and gets off the line.
• There are times that we rotate to create a stretch, and there are times that we stretch to create a rotation. We need to be able to do both at the end.  This exercise is meant to train the stretch, and not focus on the rotation.
• How to stretch?  Put two restrictions on the ends of a straight line, to stretch is to extend from the middle until you touch the two end restrictions.

Master Chen is the only person who can do this kind of stretches.

Three types of not moving

Not Moving is one of the most important concepts in Practical Method. There are 3 types of Not Moving. 

Absolutely Not Moving

• Also known as: Truely Not Moving
• This point is simply not allowed to move in any way.
• Example: A nail on the wall. The nail is not moving in any direction.

Relatively Not Moving

• Also known as: Structurally Not Moving
• Between two points, a constant relationshiop is maintained.
• Example: A passenger seating on the car going from place to place. The passenger is not moving relative to the car.

Restrictively Not Moving

• Also known as: Staying on the track
• This point is only allowed to move in a very specific way.
• Example: A train can only move along the track.  It works properly only when it does not derail.

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 22, 2020

Chinese Class

We do our form in a low stance to train gong.  When we use it, we don't go so low, because it is not agile enough.

Movements need to be big and long.

The kuas need to be just a bit higher than the knees.

Just before Second Closing

• After Fetch Water, front hand and rear elbow must maintain a line/rod when we poke it through the hole at the knee.

Energy can only go straight. Just like water will go only straight, but when the tube bends, the water will follow the tube's shape and bend.  Optical fiber works in the same way. Laser only goes straight, but through refraction, it bounces off the inner wall of the optical fiber. Through multiple refractions, laser can go from one end to the other end even when the optical fiber bends.

English Class

Don't crunch together.  We have stretch outwards all the time. Big has 3 solids, small still  has 3 solids. 舒展大方。Bud (flower not open) is fine at that state.  Full blossom is also beautiful. In between those two states, things are not done yet, something is not right.

Punch to the ground

• Only rotate inside a cylinder, and use the kuas to rotate, the punch goes down because of the knees.

Germany/Japanese cars vs other-country made cars

• Precision made the difference. Things that are well made will not fall apart after many years.

As an example, after knowing the choreography, if you are doing 10 yilus, do 9 of them without thinking, do 1 with a focus to tune a particular aspect of the form.  Then add that aspect to rest of the form.

Lock 99% of the body, and only 1% comes out.  We must train to move one thing at a time, and not allow other unnecessary parts to move.

White Crane Spreads Its Wings

• Replace the right arm with the left arm on top of the left thigh
• Keep the left hand not moving during the step forward

Flash the back

• Lock the hand, move the body to the other side, and then lock the body, and move the hand.

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 21, 2020

High Pad on Horse

• Rub the torso
• Only rotate the two shoulders and two kuas

Rub Left Foot

• The left hand and the left foot are said to suck, like the two flaps of a door-hinge going to together.
• If we only move one flap towards the other flap, it is called to stick.

Punch to the Ground

• Don't allow the fist to reach outward, it should go towards the ground.
• The waist stays inside the cylinder as we do the elbow strike and turn to the back.

Lotus Kick

• Swing from the kua

Focus yilu training on the three things:

1. Size
2. Clarity (Thjnk of a slide show instead of a movie)
3. Rotation

Overall, train the core power of the kua to achieve the things above.

The constipation story.  Others don't even have poo. We have to go through a threshold.  We are getting stuck, when we can come out without breaking the rules.

Rotation is parallel to being an immortal. There is no immortal, i.e. there is no rotation.  Rotation is a result.  Immortal is someone who conquers all human things, but you need to dead to really do that.

There is no rotation, we only work towards rotation. Rotation is an aspiration.

Stretch is there all the time, and stretch leads to rotation.

Rotation is a result of a series of stretches.

Positive Circle is explained with 3 stretches.

1. In-with-elbow: The anchor is at the point that the hand is pointing at.
2. Turn-with-waist: The anchor is behind the back.
3. Out-with-hand: The anchor is at the rear foot.

The full Positive Circle has 9 stretches, 9 joints in 9 dimensions (this dimension is not the dimension in physics).

Notes for 怎样进去 video

https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/10939

2020年10月25日星期六上午8:00 (中国时间），何家伟教练带领我们来学习《怎样进去》这个视频。 

在这视频中，陈老师跟很多同学做了示范，让他们感受一下这进去是怎么样的。讲出了跟对方试手至关重要的是什么。

Notes:

要能进去，说到最后，就是你比对方功力高。对方推你的地方不理它，况且对方也不能对你怎样。你到时就能不动对方推你的地方，动别的地方进去。进去其实不是一个单一的动作，是一连串往前的动作。如你能进去，对方就会不知所措。

一个练习的方法是对方推你，他碰到你的地方往后，相对的另外一个地方往前。例如：上身往后，下身往前。下身进去时，上身不能一起往前。定住下身以后，上身才能进去。

Notes for 怎样过去 video

https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/10935

2020年10月24日星期五上午8:00 (中国时间），何家伟教练带领我们来学习《怎样过去》这个视频。 

陈老师常常说要过去，你明白他在说什么吗？他在这个视频做了清楚的示范。能做到别人就以为你有内功了。

Notes:

过去就是要把力放到分界线的另外一边。第一个重点是要知道分界线在哪里。是你跟对方的力堵住或是完成对上的地方。第二个重点是要保持这个分界线不动。如果想过去的时候，这分界线一直在动，就像粤语的【阿崩叫狗，越叫越走】。分界线永远在你的前面，过不了。能过去，对方就顶不住。第二个重点是要真真实实的过去。你可以的活，走到对方的后面，或把自己的手放在他的背后，也可以把自己拉开伸展倒分界线的另外一边。如果分界线的这边是一个维，另外一边就是另外一个维。我们要到那一个维，也就是要加一点。

2:38 这里老师近镜头让大家看什么是过去。

2:42 我们一般就想过去，就一直推这分界线。

3:05 老师让对方碰的地方不动，就是支点。老师示范杠杆力臂长度不同的地方。这是调位。

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 20, 2020

Chinese Class

Negative Circle

• In-with-elbow, Zhuan Guan, Out-with-hand
• We have get the proper ideal image in our mind, even though we can't do it properly at this point.
• We must be expressive in our movement during training, so the teacher/instructor can see your intent.

Rotation is when there is movement without displacement.

Every movement needs to be like a tidder todder.

Fetch Water

• The front elbow needs to go in towards the dantian.

English Class

Twisting the Towel

• In-with-elbow towards the line coming out of the belly button to squeeze the hand forward. Alternate between the two elbows.

Fetch Water

• Use the two elbows to rub (搓 cuo) the rod (front shoulder-kua axis).  This is the same as to rotate a rattle drum.

Six Sealing Four Closing

• Use the two elbows to rub a cylinder in front of the chest
• We need to make sure that the front hand and the rear elbow are on the same line.
• We want to be like the hour hand and minute hand of the clock at 6 o'clock, where the tips of the hand are fartheest apart. At other times, they will not be at 180 degrees, and i.e. the distance between the tips will be shorter than the maximum.

Positive Circle

• Out-with-hand: The hand leads to go out, then it pulls the elbow, shoulder, and then the waist.
• In the 3rd count, we need to go over. Going over what? Going over the line between the front hand and front shoulder.
• Going over is also synonym of being able to separate.
• Our actions must be switching between going together, and separating.  If we are always separating, there is no movement.  Think about how a worm moves.  In the positive cirlce, in-with-elbow will bring the upper arm to the torso, and then out-with-hand will separate the upper arm from the torso.
• This is also the concept of 物极必反 wu ji bi fan, when things get to the extreme, they will reverse themselves. Other examples include:
• A slinky running down the stairs.
• In computing, client/server vs  centralized computing.
• Companies merging and splitting
• Countries separating and uniting
• In every one of these examples, the cycle keeps going, and the object just switches between the two states repeatedly over time.

Negative Circle

• In-with-elbow: Use the waist turn to initiate the move, it then pulls the shoulder, the elbow and lastly the hand.  (Opposite to the out-with-hand sequence)
• Every part that is pulled is reluctant to be moved.
• Think of how to lift a long rope off the floor from one end. Each section of the rope will be lifted sequentially.

Double Positive Circle

• Not enough in-with-elbow for all of us.
• Out-with-hand is responsible for stretching the horizontal line.
• In-with-elbow is responsible for stretching the veritial line. Without the body going down, elbow is stretched against the head.

Q & A

Front kua is always higher than the rear kua.

The front kua can be the pivot. Getting the rear kua down brings up the hand like a lever.

We can never change direction actively. However, the direction can be changed by putting a restriction there, e.g. the water flows inside the tube, and it is really only going forward, However,  its flow will follow the direction change of the tube.  The wall of the tube is the restriction that forces the water to change from its intented course.

For the knee to go down, it does not really go down. We need to put a restriction in front of the knee in concept. However, what we actually do is to not allow the ankle to bend forward. This is known as erecting the ankle 竖踝. This will also cause the calf to elongate.

Threshold, peak, inflecting point, and demarcation are names that mean the same thing in different situations, scenarios or usages.  It is a point which marks the place behond which things are not the same as before.

Power Conversion

The main principle of Practical Method is:

• Separation of yin and yang

on which all cencepts and actions are based.

The major concept of Practical Method is:

• Indirect power

There are two categories of actions:

1. Lock the two ends, move the middle.
2. Lock the middle, move the two ends.

In order to have indirect power, actions go through two classes of power conversions:

1. T class
2. Y class

These classes can be further broken down into four types:

1. TR2L - When an action is rotational, the result is linear.
   • In Fig. 1, when rotating on the AC line, energy goes out from A to B and D. The result is tangential to the AC rotation at B (going into the page).
   • The direction of the rotation on the AC line can be reversed, causing the tangential move at B to be reversed (coming out of the page).
   • Category: Lock the two ends, move the middle.
   • Example: Spinning a rattle drum.
     
     
2. TL2R- When an action is linear, the result is rotational.
   • In Fig. 2, when moving B around A while A is not moving, the energy goes from B to A. The result is rotation on the AC line.
   • The direction of how B moves around A can be reversed, causing the direction of the rotation on the AC line to be reversed.
   • Category: Lock the middle, move the two ends..
   • Example: Turning an auger
     
     
3. YH2V - When an action is horizontal, the result is vertical.
   • In Fig. 3, when B and D move towards each other, the energy will go torwards A. The result is the AC line moving downwards.
   • B and D can move away from each other instead, causing the the AC line to move upwards.
   • Category: Lock the middle, move the two ends.
   • Example: Squeezing a tooth paste
     
     
4. YV2H - When an action is vertical, the result is horizontal.
   • In Fig. 4, when AC line moves upwards, the energy will go from A to B and D. The result is B and D will move away from each other.
   • The AC line can move downwards instead, causing B and D to come together from each other.
   • Category: Lock the two ends, move the middle.
   • Example: Open and closing an umbrella

Actions as described in T and Y classes of power conversions can be combined.

1. Rotating one gear that is attached to another is TR2L + TL2R.
2. Opening an umbrella while turning it is TR2L + YV2H.
3. Unscrewing a cork from a wine bottle is TL2R + YV2H.

Looking the T bar from the top is a simple lever between B and D with A being the pivot.

DAB in the Y bar form a triangle as described in:
http://practicalmethod.com/2014/07/triangle_double_lock_single_lock/.

Requirements for Rotation

Humans are not built to rotate. The following conditions must be fulfilled to allow rotation to happen:

1. There is a rod to act as an axis.
2. There is no obstruction that prevents rotation.
3. There is an external trigger to initiate the rotation.

Inflection Point

Inflection points in differential geometry are the points of the curve where the curvature changes its sign. In the illustration below, it is when the tangent turns red or when the curve intersects with the X axis in this case.

The 2nd illustration shows how a rotation of circle can be represented as a sine curve. In this case, the tracing of a dot on the circle starts at 3 o'clock and goes counterclockwise. The inflection point is at 9 o'clock, at which the dot starts the 2nd half of the circle, and is on its way back to the starting point.

Simply put, it is the midpoint of an S-curve, which actually represents a taiji circle as described in http://practicalmethod.com/2016/12/s-curve-is-really-the-circle/.

Master Chen Zhonghua always emphasizes the need to go over or to the other side. What are we going over? It is the inflection point that we need to go over. The other side lies beyond the inflection point.

Rotation - Changing direction without changing direction

"Rotation is changing direction without changing direction"

What kind of confusing statement is that?

Learning taijiquan is a feat in resolving conflicts.

Let's take at a look at how we can understand the above statement. Figure 1 shows a circle with four tangents (A,B,C and D) at those specific points. A tangent is a straight line that touches the curve at a single point. For any circle, there are an infiinte number of tangents, and each will be perpendicular to the radius (R) of the circle.

Consider that the circle rotates counterclockwise 90 degrees with A moved to A1 position, B to B1 position, and so forth. as depicted in Figure 2. Figure 1 and Figure 2 are actually exactly the same picture. For each of the depicted tangents, there is a 90 degree change in direction. However, overall with the circle itself, there is no change as every tangent still exists in the same way. In other words, every tangent is replaced by another tangent that is exactly the same after any degree of rotation.

Another way of looking at this is that, as rotation happens, if you are sitting on the circumference of the circle, the direction you will be looking at changes all the time, but yet the rotation is continuous in the counterclockwise direction without any interruption nor retreat.

As we extend this concept, we can see other examples in science. For example, there is convervation of energy. Hydroelectricity is setup based on this principle. Water runs down a waterfall. Potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, which drives the turbines with huge magnets wrapped with wires to generate electricity. Through this setup, there is a conversion in energy types, but the total amount of energy remains the same.

Replacing parts in repairs following the same principle. The parts though may be made by different manufacturers must comply with the specification, so that it can be used to produce the same function. So when a new part is put in, the overall function remains the same.

In software development, interfaces are defined so that different implementations can be made in dividual components. These components can be swapped in and out without the callers of the interface noticing any functional change.

In taiji, we are taught to keep contact point(s) fixed. That's the interface that must remain constant, while we move other body parts not involved in the interface to avoid detection by the opponent. This is the concept of "steal 偷“，e.g. as in stealing a step.

If the opponent is touching the 12 o'clock position of the circle, a counterclockwise rotation will bring him/her to the 10 o'clock position. At this time, he/she will be at the edge of a cliff, and gravity can take over to pull him/her down. The rotation allows no sense of change in him/her, but the relative position is now changed.

http://practicalmethod.com/2020/10/chen-zhonghuas-online-lesson-20201013-online-video-purchase/

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct. 15, 2020

Chinese Class

Our movements must have a horizontal one and a vertical one intersecting/interacting at the same time.

Three parallel planes

1. Top plane at the shoulder (including extending the arms)
2. Middle plane at the waist
3. Bottom plane at the knees

The integrity of each plane must be maintained. There is a vertical rod that goes through the middle to connect all three planes to fix them in a particular way, but yet they are free to move any other way. Each plane is like a trampoline. This is how we convert opponent's incoming kinetic energy into potential energy stored in the trampoline, and eventually back to kinetic energy aimed at the opponent. You can also lock any of the planes, and move a different one to create a vertical stretch.  With these 3 planes, you can create a lot of variations and configurations.

For the top plane, it can expand by the hand going out, and can contract by the elbow coming in. The top plane can become tilted indirectly because the middle and bottom planes actively change their orientation, and the top plane is tied to them, e.g. your arms are tied to the kuas, it's the kua that goes down, and not the arm directly.

Note that out-with-hand is not about moving the hand, it is using rear-end power to drive the hand out on a line (or in other words, inside a tube).

Rhythm is clear in the yilu when you can do movements one by one.

The movements are clear when you can separate yin and yang, e.g. elbow-in vs hand-out.

Red Fist 红拳 vs Forearm Fist 肱拳 as in Punch covering hand 掩手肱拳: Red fist is called as such because your punch should cause blood to be spilled.

The most important secret is something that even the teacher is unable to do.

Traditionally, a teacher does not tell you the requirements, but only shows you the move. If he tells you the requirement, you can then tell that he can't do them either.

The real gongfu is never wrong in the most basic things.

Cross Hands

• Lock the hands, push the shoulders and kuas down to bring the elbows to the cross hands position.

English Class

Rub Right Foot

• Don't move the elbow or hand, just rotate the kua.
• Forearm only rotates longitudinally
• Waist turns to the right
• Knees go down to cause the arm to go down (Think of the 3 planes above).

Kick with left foot

• Maintain the central vertical rod
• Both fists need to open from inside to outside.

Fist Protecting Heart

• Don't involve the central vertical axis
• Use the lower body up and down and horizontal turn to drive the fist down

When we try to change one particular body part, all other parts must be adjusted/changed to allow that initial change to happen.

Every move must be indirect. (Symtom: No, I didn't do it, it's something else that does it. "Always in denial")

No one remembers the strikes in the form, people only care about the dance now.

Being smooth is a symtom of having no separation of yin and yang.

Think about how to put an Ikea table together:

1. Open the box
2. Sort out the pieces
3. Follow the instructions to put the table together

This is a procedure that we must follow, but others just open the box, throws the pieces out all over the place, and try to put the table together in however they see fit.

There is no table unless we follow the procedure.

When you can switch dimensions, the opponent will think that you are not here.

Master Chen Zhonghua mentioned the following squaring effect for every split:
No Split: 1
Split in 1 dimension: (1)^2 = 2
Split in 2 dimensions: (2)^2 = 4
Split in 3 dimensions: (4)^2 = 16
Split in 4 dimensions: (16)^2 = 256

When Master Chen wanted to add one row of tiles to each side of the taiji square at Daqingshan, the following illustrates the number of additional tiles needed.

Size (Addtitional Tiles)
1x1 = 1^2 = 1    (1)
2x2 = 2^2 = 4    (3)
3x3 = 3^2 = 9    (5)
4x4 = 4^2 = 16  (7)
5x5 = 5^2 = 25  (9)

The following illustrate how the volume changes by adding one unit in each of the three dimensions:
1^3 = 1
2^3 = 8
3^3 = 27
4^3 = 64
5^3 = 125

Notes for 拦擦衣的收肘 video

https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/7064 

2020年10月17日星期六上午8:00 (中国时间），何家伟教练带领我们来学习《拦擦衣的收肘》这个视频。

陈老师教用拦擦衣收肘作为一个双人练习。练的是不动，是转，是旋转门。

Notes: 

陈老师教用拦擦衣收肘作为一个双人练习。一个人推另外对方的前肘。被推的一方肘顺着被推的方向收肘，但同时前臂有一点不动，身体其他地方调整。在这个情况下，横着一个圈（腰），竖着一个圈（手臂）。这两个力是对拉，把对方的来力分开。前肩与前跨的一根轴不能晃，肩跟胯都要开，称为上下相随。

我们做双人练习要注意的是要做对方的好搭档，用力的要恰档，让对方能练上动作，之后才加力加速度提高难度。做过分了，对方就没法练。

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 14, 2020

Whatever it is that you know, the truth is not like that. Whatever you don't realize, accidentally it is the correct thing.

Step back with whirling arms

Accentuate the stretch to squeeze the front hand out

物极必反 - When something goes to the extreme, it reverses itself.  When yin gets to the extreme, it becomes yang, or vice versa.

Buddha's Warrior Attendant Pounds Mortar

The 3 solids

1. Move the right hand out and lock it.
2. Move the left shoulder back and lock it
3. Move the right elbow down and lock it

Last count:

1. Turn the waist to the left to cause the right hand to go out.
2. The inflection point is at the right shoulder.

Single Whip

1. Use the shoulder to open the elbow in small change palms three times.
2. After the left heel shovels out, the two kuas need to move in a way that they are opposites to each other, and there is an inflection point between them. If we touch the two hands at the middle fingers, and the two palms face different directions, we need to make them each of them change to face the opposite direction, so at the end they are still opposite to each other.

White Crane

Left elbow needs to go over the shoulder vertically between two walls.

Inflection Point

This is what we need to go over in a 3D manner.

Old Train - Crank Shaft, getting stuck and unstuck. This is what out real moves need to be like.

Dantian Neizhuan 丹田内转  is what allows it to go to the other side.

Getting stuck and just need to add a little bit to go over.

Brian Chung has precise movements and is missing just a little bit (catalyst) to give it life.

To go from 50% on the one side to 50% on the other side, there is less than one to make it go over.

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Less on Oct 13, 2020

Positive Circle

• Focus on the use of front kua in Positive Circle to increase the size of the circle.
• When going down, step the rear foot backward.
• When coming up, step the rear foot forward.
• Do the same on both sides.

Going Over

• Imagine that there is a line between the front hand and the shoulder
• In-with-elbow comes in below that line
• Out-with-hand goes out above that line
• The critical distinction is at the shoulder joint. Going over means have a rotation from the bottom to the top at the joint.
• Use a rod to illustrate the idea of going over.
• We can swing really fast, so that with one end of the rod fixed, the other end can just go around 360 degrees.
• However, we can also do it in two halves. The rod goes up only half way (now, it is horiztonal). Lock the original moving end, and let the original fixed end drop and go under the new fixed end. This also completes the circle, and is achieved through switching 换点.
• In terms of the positive circle, the shoulder needs to go down between the hand goes out.

Switching

• Switching is a general term. More specifically, we call it yao dang zhuan huan 腰裆转换 - the switching of waist and dang.
• Dang refers to the triangle formed by the mingmen and two knees.
• In order to switch, push the mingmen towards both knees, and lock it. Further push mingmen to right knee, this causes the kua to tear open. The stretch will extend from the right knee to the left shoulder. Repeat the same on the left side.  This causes the triangle to turn. This is what Grandmaster Hong referred as the knees go up and down.

Notes for 领劲 video

https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/7086

2020年10月16日星期五上午8:00 (中国时间），何家伟教练带领我们来学习《领劲》这个视频。

何为领劲？在动作上，实际是怎样的？

Notes :

领劲是个带领其他地方动一点。如有一个篮子，一根手指勾着把手把整个篮子拿起来，这个就是领劲。篮子本身被拿起来时结构不变就是掤劲。一定要在保持掤劲的情况下，我们才可以有领劲。如不是，那结构散了（没掤劲），也就没有领劲，因为其他地方不会相应跟随。

篮子里面没东西的时候，怎样拿一般也可以把他拿起来，拿个边也可以。但多一点东西是，用把手就容易很多。这个是效率的问题。

我们跟对方交手，有方法的话也就能做得比较轻松。 我们做动作时，跟对方合住以后，一个点要清晰地出来，它就可以领劲。如有两个点就变成双重。

10:50 陈老师示范掤劲不丢下领劲。

请大家参阅这篇《动作的领导者-领劲》文章：https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/121039

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 12, 2020

Master Chen Zhonghua started with a story about the history of China and Chen Style Taijiquan. Before the first Qin emperor defeated 6 other kings and united China, there was the period of Spring and Autumn 春秋 (which has nothing to do with the two seasons). Back then, there were 800 states, each had their own cultures, and they all flourished. Today, there are different levels of governments in China: Federal, Provincial, and County. The Chinese government wanted to get rid of the county level government, but they couldn't done. Each county turned out to map back to the old states. The Chinese government had full election for village officials, but there are large families at the county levels, with full election, these large families will gain control at the county level goverments.  These families managed to get around the one-child policy themselves.

At around late 1600s and early 1700s, Chen Wangting worked in the army, he defeated the Japanese Wandering Bandits. He was awarded a retirement fund, and went to back to Chen Village, and didn't need to work like others. Before him, the martial art in the Chen Village was just a family art, neither internal nor external.  During his retirement, Chen Wangting read the book Huang Di Jing 《黄庭经》又名《老子黄庭经》，是道教养生修仙专著；内容包括《黄庭外景玉经》和《黄庭内景玉经》。作者为老子，由天师道魏华存自创门户而普传于世。He modified the family art into taijiquan. This is direct information. As we know it, Chen Style Taijiquan didn't come from alchemy.

Master Chen brought a group of students from Ottawa and Edmonton to China. Susan Holland was left in charge of the group to learn from Li Enjiu for a week while Master Chen went off to complete other business.  Master Chen left a videocorder (Sony Handycam) to Susan with the instruction to record everything the group would learn from Master Li Enjiu. Upon his return, there was no recording and Master Chen asked for the reason. Susan said that every foundation that Master Li Enjiu taught was exactly the same as what Master Chen previously taught the group and there wasn't anything to record.  Master Chen was puzzled as to how that was possible. Master Chen came up with a series of exercises which he called foundations. The particular set of exercises were not taught as a set by Grandmaster Hong originally.  Master Chen then asked Master Li to show his teaching, and it turned out to be exactly the same. Unfortunately, there was no recording of it, and only Master Chen, Master Li and Susan Holland could verify the story.

Speaking of the history of the positive and negative circles, it was Grandmaster Hong who originally suggested to Grandmaster Chen Fake the positive circle that since Grandmaster Chen was old, and he couldn't do yilu all day, but he still wanted to train throughout the day. Grandmaster Chen further asked if there was anything else, Grandmatser Hong're reply was the negative circle.  Therefore, only Practical Method had the positive and negative circles.

We were using the shoulder to draw the positive circle before. Today, we advanced into Positive Circle Version 2.0. The emphasis is on the movement of the kua. We need to create a huge range of motion at the front kua. It has to be so big that your part of your sole may be off the floor, and you may even fall backwards. When going backward, the kua goes down, keep your back straight, and don't bend forward and cause the butt to protrude. When going forward, it must be led by the kua, and don't lean forward. The biggest action must be at the kua, and our attention must be at the kua.  Don't move the top, keep it locked. Use the kua to draw a three-dimensional circle at the front finger tip. 

Taijiquan is about movement, but we use the non-movement dot to create real movement.

In moving-step positive circle, also use the feet to create the size of the circle. The action must be led by the kua, and the connection to the ground can be maintained.

How to write Taiji article?

A taiji article should include all of the following components:

1. Provide a picture
2. Tell a story
3. Use a non-taiji (real-life) example to illustrate the principle/concept/idea
4. Apply the principle/concept/idea to an example movement
5. Discuss how to train

Leader of the movement

A leader is someone or something that others follow.  If a number of people have to go through a tunnel that is only large enough to fit a person through at a time, the first person who goes through it is the leader, whom the rest of the people just follow. If multiple people try to go through the tunnel at the same time, there will be a jam, and no one can come out the other end.

Let's apply this idea to the three-count positive circle. In the first count (in-with-elbow), the elbow is the leader, and everything else gives way. In the 2nd count (turn-with-waist), the waist (we will use the term kua at a higher level) is the leader. In the 3rd count (out-with-hand), the hand (middle finger later on) is the leader. There should never be the case that during in-with-elbow, the hand competes with the elbow and tries to lead. Similarly, during out-with-hand, the elbow should not compete with the hand.

There are cases where elbow is the leader at the beginning, the elbow stops and the hand takes over as the leader. At no time, there are two leaders.

The leader does not imply the location of power though there may be occasions that the leader happens to be the location of power.  Where power is generated can change as required by the situation.  Our power will be at a place where the opponent's power is not.

Out-with-hand is like threading through a needle, while in-with-elbow is like pulling a thread out of a needle. The elbow causes the hand, which is the tip of the thread, to move on a track while the hand itself does not move.

Also note that once we have threaded through a needle by a little bit, we would switch to hold the tip of the thread that has passed through the hole and pull in order to get more thread through easily.  The hole of the needle itself is a demarcation. The switching of the place that the hand is holding is related to the concept of "Dao Shou".  If somehow we are able to get to the other side, we will simply pull with respect to the demarcation. This is the idea of "making every push a pull".

When this concept is understood and the body achieves this ability to have "leaders", we say one has the ability to lingjin (领劲 - to lead the energy).

Note:

Something weird happend today. I wrote the above article, and shifu told me that the ability was called lingjin (领劲). For next week's video class, I happened to have picked the Chinese video 领劲, which I have not yet watched or studied:
https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/7086

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 8, 2020

Chinese Class

What does it mean to get something into the body?  You are able to do it without thinking about it, e.g. when you can complete a yilu talking to someone, this means the yilu movements become automatic, while your attention is in talking to that person.

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 7, 2020

 The following people received Yilu correction from Master Chen Zhonghua:

1. Josh Landau
2. Frederick Wong
3. Jack Scott 
4. Mark Hanley
5. Kevin Chen
6. Sven Gusowski
7. Kerstin Frotscher-Kummle

For positive circle, the hand is slightly above the shoulder, and is clearly above the elbow. The elbow and shoulder are responsible for the horizontal movement of the arm. The kua and knee are responsible for the vertical movement of the arm.

Notes for 里边和外边 video

 https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/7052

2020年10月10日星期六上午8:00 (中国时间），何家伟教练带领我们来学习《里边和外边》这个视频。 

陈老师在这视频中谈论了很多关于里外在实际动作与理论。

Notes:

规矩

1. 五点外挣：头、两手、两脚永远往外走。除此五点，所有地方往里走。
2. 里面的永远往里走，外面的永远往外走。不能相反的走。
3. 动作往外就是开，动作往里就是合。整个动作要有开合。开合是同时一起有的，不是一li时开，然后一时合。两手往外走时，胸往里走。如胸也往外走，就是双重。
4. 有出去，就要有回来。这才是完整，才是阴阳。能量没溜掉，就能长时间存在。
5. 在每个太极动作里面，有很多条线，力量来回的走，相互支撑。
6. 我们的圈就是一个闭路，没出口的。太极里面叫这做互为其根。
7. 往外的动作多少，往里的动作就做多少。外面做动作，力量就要留在里面。

例子

1. 煞腰压肘: 两手往外，肩、肘、胯、膝都是里面的东西。
2. 蹬左脚：头顶起来，两手、左脚往外，肩压下去。如果肩提起来就是往外走，错了，结构也没了。
3. 上后退时，前胯前膝盖不能动。

Notes for 均衡动作 video

 https://www.shiyongquanfa.cn/archives/7745

2020年10月9日星期五上午8:00 (中国时间），何家伟教练带领我们来学习《均衡动作》这个视频。 

要做出均衡的动作，就要有一个不动点。对方的来力从一方进来，自己的回力就要在相对的另一方回去。像推旋转门的一边，另外一边就回来了。前题是不能松，不能丢。

Notes:

要做出均衡的动作，就要有一个不动点。对方的来力从一方进来，自己的回力就要在相对的另一方回去。像推旋转门的一边，另外一边就回来了。前题是不能松，不能丢。

0:40 对方进来多少，我们就回多少。要对准，也要越过不动点去到对方的一边。

1:21 很多时候，对方是从上边来，因为他用上半身的力。这种情况，我们的前跨进去就行。

2:50 练习锁住上半身，无论怎么样，只能动/调节下半身。明白后，加力加速度练。

4:30  留意到陈老师如果他只动右脚绊对方，对方不会被翻。一定要左脚也上步，才能真正完成这旋转。

Master Chen Zhonghua's Online Lesson on Oct 6, 2020

Today, shifu emphasized on how to learn. The first thing about learning is to listen to instructions and then to copy.  Some people tried to copy without listening to the full instructions, and that won't be a success copy either.

To copy, it's to do everything exactly the same by definition.

In today's main exercise, shifu used a stick to represent a line between the right shoulder and the right hand.

1. Hook the loop created by the right index finger and right thumb on the link, and move along the stick.
2. Use the elbow to push the hand out, and use the elbow to pull the hand in.
• Some may think that this is a contradiction to "Out with hand no elbow, in with elbow no hand".  That statement indicates who the leader is.  In "out with hand no elbow", the hand is the leader, nothing can compete with it.  In "in with elbow no hand", the elbow is the leader, nothing can compete with it. What is a leader?  A leader is someone who does something first.  If a number of people have to go through a tunnel that is only large enough to fit a person through at a time, the first person who goes through it is the leader. If multiple people try to go through the tunnel at the same time, there will be a jam, and no one can come out the other end.
3. If we pull the elbow straight into the ribs, the direction of the palm will not change.  If we pull the elbow across (perpendicular to the stick), the palm will start to flip up or flip down.  It is a stick between the middle finger tip and the elbow. There is no bending or twisting at the wrist. The wrist is always straight called "sitting the wrist".

To copy, we must use a stick in this example today. Shifu always emphaizes on being physical in the training.  However, we are not shifu, we can't copy exactly. What is allowed to vary, what is not allowed to vary? Here are some examples below:

1. In this case, the stick can be a broom stick, a waxwood staff, or a long steel pipe. It can be in whatever color. It must be something that you can touch and follow, it serves for the purpose of being a track. At this point, since he used something that was straight, we should use something that is straight as well.  However, he was also demonstraing that there was a specific path that the hand follows. That path eventually may not be totally striaght, it can be a curve.
2. He showed us the right hand set up, we can also train the left hand set up.
3. If he said that he trained that for 3 years, we couldn't just say that I knew why you did it, so let me just jump to the real reason.  Unless we have actually replicated it, we don't understand the real reason, we would be just imagining. We may achieve that understanding in 2 years or 5 years, the length of time it takes may vary.

Edward Liaw had a bar, which was in the shape of a larget hand drill.  If we put it vertically down on the floor, and fix the two ends, we can rotate the middle part that bends out. The bigger the part that bends out in the shape, the more power there is because the distance of that part to the axis farther, it means the lever is bigger.

Shifu also used a rubber band to demonstrate how to lock the two ends denoted as shoulder and hand, and move the middle denoted as the elbow. The power comes from the ability to lock the two ends. The elbow completes a circle longitudinally.

Master Chen asked us to post a video on youtube, and paste a link as a separate post on http://practicalmethod.com. He would make comments. Repeat it once a month.  This is another great opportunity to improve quickly. Don't worry about how good or bad you look.

Turning Flowers and Playing With Sleeves

On Monday, Sep 28, 2020, Master Chen Zhonghua instructed on the move "Turning Flowers and Playing with Sleeves" from Cannon Fist during the online class. The requirement was to jump off the left foot, rotate 360 degrees in the air, and land on the right foot. I had so much difficulty doing it during class.  I was tossing all over the place. Master Chen said he would check on us again a week later. This was the benefit of having such a regular class. I had been practicing for four days with little consistency. I could only jump for about 10 mins before I got so tired. I tried to see what was wrong with my posture, and correct my posture. I found my lower back not straight. I was jumping up slantedly. I tried to keep my central vertical rod straight in the air, my head up, look forward during the rotation, and delay the head turn like a figure skater. I broke down the movement. I started to rotate only for 90 degrees a few times, then 180 degrees, and slowly increasing the amount. It helped a bit, and I was able to get to 360 degress sometimes, but not constantly, and the landing was still not stable.

Today, Oct 2, 2020, John Upshaw, Edward Liaw and I got together to focus on practicing just this move as our exam was coming up in a few days. We had a breakthrough this time. We started out practicing the move a bit, and watched each other. A question came up about what the non-pushing leg supposed to be like in the air. We then watched the following video from Master Chen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3HdUIfc4As&t=375s

The video was in slow motion, and it made the jump very clear. It reminded us a few things:

1. We must rotate in the air with a non-moving vertical rod.
2. For the first jump, the right foot pushes off, and the left foot lands on the same spot where the right foot was originally. Shift to right leg totally before pushing off the ground, and jump vertically up. I picked a square on the interlock as the designated spot for the pivoting foot for this practice session.
3. Lift the left knee, and open the left kua without pulling/moving the right knee or right foot.
4. The left knee helps kick start the horizontal rotation.
5. Master Chen reminded us that rotation should be to the left for 360 degrees although this particular video was not showing that.
6. As the left leg drops to prepare for the landing, the right knee will come up to create a vertical rotation.
7. When the left foot lands, the ball of the foot touches the ground first, the left knee and left ankle act as shock absorbers. This makes the landing much softer.
8. The movement never leaves the dantian.
9. For the 2nd jump, the left foot pushes off, and the right foot lands on the same spot where the left foot was originally.
10. Rotate to the right in the air for 135 degrees.
11. After the right foot lands, shovel the left foot out along the 45-degree line.
12. While the first jump is vertical in the landing, the 2nd jump is horizontal.
13. The arm movement also creates a vertical rotation.
14. The two jumps have the same veritcal rod in the air.

We then practiced a few jumps without the movement of the arms, and focused on the vertical rod, and the placement of the foot during the landing of the first jump. I tried to land on the same square on the ground. The idea of not letting the movement leave the dantian really helped. The slow motion video started playing in my head. The turn became quicker, and the land became softer and much more stable. We added the arms later, and they were also in more control, and not throwing the body off the vertical axis. We could also do a full 360 rotation.

This felt like working on moves at the Iowa camp. Totally awesome!