Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Dec. 31, 2021

Increase speed in the same direction.

Six Sealing Four Closing - First break the elbow, if that fails, yank the whole arm off the shoulder.

Machine gun exercise - Twisting the towel

Do first 13 with speed, one move at a time.

Practical Method Beginner's Class Outline

1. Moving the bottom forward to make the body 45 degrees vs moving the head backward to make the body 45 degrees.
• When the hand and body come closer together, it can be the hand moving back to the body or the body moving forward to the hand. From the perspective of the hand and body distance, it is the same, but from the perspective of the body postition, it is not the same.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Nov. 25, 2021

Lu is converted to Cai.

In order for that conversion to be successful, we must DECEIVE the opponent. The opponent thinks that we are doing lu, but in fact, we are doing cai.

Lu is achieved by hand.

Cai is achieved by elbow.

Only when we use elbow to do the movement, we can accelerate. We can accelerate with hand alone.

A bicycle can't never outrun a car because our legs can't get the wheels to turn faster than an engine. There are limitations that the legs can't overcome. It was simply made that way.  

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Nov. 24, 2021

3 Dantians:

Upper Dantian: Head, area above the chest

Middle Dantian: Belly

Lower Dantian: Lower Abdomen

They represent 3 states: From bottom to top, solid substance -> power -> non-substsance (idea)

Simialr to 精->气->神

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Nov. 18, 2021

Breathing in Practical Method is actually no active breathing.

Master Chen Zhonghua talked about that breath from his father lying down in the last days of his life.

He observed that the lung rose up, and then it went down while the abdomen rose up. The air went back and forth. The bottom line was that it was not like a normal breathing. The frequency of the exchange became longer and longer.

Eventually, the last breath came out. There was some blue liquid at the bottom at the end.  This was the burst of the original qi that was given to you at birth by your parents.  If at the end, it comes out, one is said to have died in a natural death, and it is very rare.

Breathing from the heaven. Heaven is outside of our body.

e.g. For a partially filled balloon, if you squeeze the air on one side of the balloon, it will go to the other side of the balloon.

Fajin exercise with White Crane Spreads Its Wings. Stretch from the side, no popping of shoulders, no movement on the arms.

For my Cloud Hands, I need to engage the gears (elbow, shoulder, kua). Each does its own thing.

My shoulder was following my elbow at first.

There was no enough activity in the kua. I moved from my ribcage. I should move from the kua, and engage the shoulder and the kua.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Nov. 11, 2021

水功 （慢） vs 火功 （快）

20 趟拳是水功 。慢慢改变身体，不用用力太猛。

用力练一路是火功。

动肘到拳肩线，但拳肩线不能改变方向和位置，只能变长。

Water vs Fire

Water is slow and steady.

Fire is rapid and fluctuating.

Doing 20 yilus is like water. No need to use a lot of power, just let yilu transform your body slowly and gradually.

Training yilu with power is like fire.

Open chest exercise:  Lock the middle of the chest, stretch the two shoulders around. Lock the two shoulders, and push the middle of the chest out.

Breakthrough: The front hand finds the  rearelbow on a straight line. The key is that the striaght line remains the same initial position and direction, except it becomes longer at the end. If we look at the first fists, they only travel on the same straight line throughout the move.

Now I need to the things in between the front hand and rear elbow to line up, e.g. the two shouldlers, through rotation and stretching.

Milestone: Bouncing a person whom I met for the first time

于广洋 came from Shandong Province. He contacted Msster Chen Zhonghua to find out more about Practical Method in Toronto. I made an arrangement to meet with him, although I am not certain of his real intention of such meeting. In order to represent Practical Method, I went ahead anyways. We met at King Square Food Court. We introduced ourselves. He currently lives near Niagara Falls, and works in an Orchid farm. He came up to Canada in 2016/17, and is now Canadian Permanent Resident. Before he came to Canada, he learned Hong Style Taijiquan from 宫志伟 in Shandong for about 8 months. I talked about how clases were run locally and online. Once I figured out that he did not have bad intentions, we touched hands so I could show him a bit what Practical Method was like. He is a bit taller than me, but is of the skinny type. We started out with a single-hand four-corner push hands, so I could see what he was like. The hands went through the four corners, and I didn't feel any threat, and my hand went into his chest, and he was bounced. After that, we did the push hands we normally would do. I asked to push with more power and in whatever way. I found myself bouncing him very easily. I did not need to move at all, and I just needed to poke at his centre to bounce him both feet off the ground to a metre or two. I would sometimes hold his hand, so he couldn't go very far, and I would pull him back. I might work as a resolving door, and let him pass me by. He was very happy to experience this, and his eyes lit up. He said he was always wondering how the bouncing was like in taiji videos he saw.

He was curious how to learn this. We furthered discussed the various ways. He was about to go back to China for several months. He planned to go to Daqingshan to learn, and at the mean time, I introduced him to purchase the 零基础 Chiinese video package to get him started. This is the first time I was able to bounce someone whom I met for the first time easily. According to Master Chen Zhonghua, this is a major milestone. It takes a long time to have the first time, and once we experience 3 times, it would start to become normal, and I won't consider it a big deal anyomre. 

The previous experience about bouncing was:

1) In one of Toronto workshops around 2015, I was practicing taking space with Ernie Aleong. During this experience, I found that I bounced Ernie. It was a by-product of the exercise. This is the first time ever bouncing someone.

2) I practiced with Ernie once a week at that time. Ernie has been a very good partner, as he was able to lock himself really well and was very eager to help me so that I could practice the same move over and over again only concerning to see how I should adjust myself. I appreciated him very much. I started practicing bouncing with him. From him, I learn what it was really like. A very strong impression and a set of procedure were laid down.

3) At first, I was only able to bounce him with his cooperation. Later, I could do it easily with him, but not with anyone else.

4) Later, I started to able to bounce my students in a demo situation, and the time it took to set up each time became less and less.

5) On Nov 1, 2021, I was able to bounce this person whom I met for the first time easily. Although it was not like he came to attack very fiercely, there was no cooperation nonetheless.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Oct 29, 2021

Positive Circle:

1. There are 3 sections: Arm, Torso, Leg
2. 1st action: 1 part - arm
3. 2nd action: 2 parts - arm and torso
4. 3rd action: 3 parts - arm, torso and leg
5. Arm - Steer Wheel
6. Torso - Transmission
7. Leg - Engine
8. 1st action: Stick Man (Simple)
9. 2nd action: Robot
10. 3rd action: Human-like (Complex)
11. The actions are like the evolution of robots.

Six Sealing Four Closing:

1. Horizontal Egg with the arm movement.
2. Vertical Egg with kua and knee movement.
3. Rotation on the right shoulder-kua axis. Need to stretch the left shoulder/elbow outside during the spin.  Must spin fast. Must spin like a board. Spin fast that you vomit and lose balance. We must get over this threshold.

Dantian exercise:

1. Put the hand on the dantian.
2. Lock the knees and move the dantian.
3. This is what is needed in 2nd move in Golden Warrior Attendant Pound Mortar.
4. I don't have enough separation between the dantian and arms.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Oct 28, 2021

Exercise: Open/split the armpit. The rear portion needs to crash into a wall behind my back, so that it will slide downwards.

The crashing part is what causes a change in direction.  The power comes from this horizontal force changed into a vertical force. The vertical force in turns powers the horizontal force.  From the horizontal perspective, there is no movement for the vertical movement.\

2nd Count of the circle:  The armpit needs to split. The upper arm can't go down with the torso. The hand does not come back.

When I want to not move my hand, it actually comes back. When it does not move, I actually think that it goes out, but the camera shows that it does not move. I actually felt a stretch when I thought the hand went out.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Oct 27, 2021

Fajin with Six Sealing Four Closing

• Don't move the hand
• The movements are indirect.
• Move front kua, lock rear kua
• Front kua splits the two hands. Only allow the front hand to move forward.
• Inside must move more than outside.
• Use bie to create the power

3 Gears - System of Levers - Minimum requirement to be useful

Grandmaster Hong said ji is the most important.

Following the opponent means to do so without allowing the opponent to go back.

Stand on one foot for make that side not moving.

Bo 拨 - To prevent something from reaching its destination There is a different name for a specific action.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Oct 22, 2021

Exercise 1:

Rubber between the hand and the foot. Bend down first. Lock the upper body. Push the kua forward towards the rubber.  The focus of this exercise is to train the kua, the use of power in the kua to extend the rubber. This is converting a horizontal movement to a vertical one. We want to train a great range of kua movement. Gradually, increase the tension of the rubber.

The above exercise trains a vertical movement. This is a precursor to the movement needed to do Six Sealing Four Closing.

Exercise 2:

Push the kua up and out towards the line between the two hands to cause the front hand to go forward.
We can do it in 3 stages:

1. Push the kua up to change the front hand pointing direction from down to horizontal.
2. Push the rear shoulder down at 45 degrees to cause the front hand to go forward horizontally.
3. Open the front armpit to cause the front hand to go forward horizontally even further.

At all times, the front hand is moving forward. In order to prevent the body and the front kua from going backward, we need the front foot to take a shovel step forward.  The stretch should be at back of the front knee by pressing the front kua down to reach the front heal, then we can move the front knee forward. This is a negative circle on the front leg.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Oct 15, 2021

Today's exercise is to practice 别开. Get stuck with the opponent at the top, use the kua to rotate the waist. The energy through the middle of the chest must get to the hand.

Set up my hands on something that is totally locked.

标准 is 认可。

Yilu is the first standard when we first learn taiji.

He talked about the story of the storyteller from the native people.

The story words went with the rhythm of music.  If they are wrong, they can't continue.

Form and Applications were separate before.

2nd Cloud Hand - 衬 - To bring out/support the main thing

3rd Cloud Hand - 盖 - To cover

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Oct 7, 2021

Bie 别

Lock one side and move the other

Exercise: Put my forearm on the opponent's chest. Lock the hand, move the elbow. The elbow needs to move along the line of the upper arm.  This is the tangent to the circle. The forearm has a stretch.

Trained power moves using Yilu from first move.

Block Touch Coat: Right hand block

When the person appears to be big and strong, do a bigger circle.

When the person appears to be small and weak, do a smaller circle, more like a direct hit.

We have to train enough to put ourselves in the position of power.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Oct 1, 2021

肩和膝管上下。

肘管上身。

胸中间管中线。

胯管左右。

功夫 - 指哪打哪。要一个部位动，就只有这一个部位动。

功夫 - 对方预测不到的。超出了自然。

两种难：

1. 吃苦(累) - 难
2. 挑战(不容易) - 难

要进步：强逼（不做就罚你）、自愿（给引诱的）、被欺骗的（自己不知道）

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Sep 30, 2021

Positive Circle:

In with Elbow: Lock the rear kua.

Out with Hand: Lock the front kua.

Lock the rear kua allows the front kua to grind (碾).

To rotate: 碾, then 搓，顺着出去.

We need to pass it on. We can't worry about who can really do it or not.

Passing it on means the receiver remembers what you said, and can repeat the saying.

Story Telling

We use stories to pass on information.

Plains of Abraham: This battle was won by British army. From here, Britian eventually gain control of North America when French Revolution took place, and France gave up North America.

Wuji is there is nothing within an area. You draw a circle to mark an area. Wuji is having a restriction.

1+4 = 2+3 = 5 + 0 = 1.1 + 3.9  Wuji is saything that the sum needs to be 5.

Taiji is to say from 0 to 5.

To say 10, it's because there are 5 on each side.

Yi (intent) is based on a real experience. Yi is not plain imagination without real experience.

We want the core to control the movements, so we can see the limbs but not the dantian itself. Training: Kick with heel as an exercise.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Sep 24, 2021

Lever: one side goes down, but it actually needs to move, so the pivot keeps moving backward within the rod.

Book exercise: Not allowing the book to fall down with your hand and opponent's hand on it. One person pushs and pulls, the opponent matches the action with the elbow, shoulder, kua, feet.

Leader in 3-count circle

Six Sealing Four Closing: While the two knees are going up and down, they are restricted within a cylinder.

Master Chen Zhonghua's knee was not moving

I don't know how many Master Chen Zhonghua has said not to move the knee.

Although I am well aware of the requirement, and tried to implement during the yilu form.

I saw today on the online class that even when he was very causually demonstrating an action, which involves bending the knee, his knee was not moving!!!

I realized that the image that I throught I saw before was actually made up.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Sep 17, 2021

First step in the first move:
After the right turn, my left hand is on the opponent's elbow not moving, while my right hand holds the opponent's wrist. Lock my outside, shrink the distance between my right elbow and right kua. This is to fali 发力.

3-count positive circle:

1. Imagine a fixed point beyond the right hand on the straight line between the right hand and right elbow. Pull in the elbow along this line.
2. Imagine a fixed point behind the right kua on the straight line between the right kua and right elbow. Open the kua to stretch and extend the distance along this line.
3. Imagine a fixed point behind the right elbow on the straight line between the right elbow and the right hand. Stretch the right hand out along this line.

Hand-out:

1. Turn the elbow while keeping the hand-elbow line.
2. Turn the shoulder while keeping the shoulder-elbow line.
3. Open the kua while keeping the kua-knee line.

Bottom-line is everything stays within its cylinder and only rotates.

Gong is important, Fa is useful.

Gong can't be trained, fa can be trained. Over a long time, gong will come out.

We need 3 dimensions to adjust, and 2 dimensions to fight.

A bullet going through the barrel is 2-dimensional.

Kua-knee-ankle is a triangle, i.e. 2-dimensional.  We push up the kua, the energy goes into the knee, it stretches the calf. The problem is that when we move the kua up, it is not stretch up.

To cut with a paper cutter, the lever stretches out and down on the vertical plane.

Gun powder explosion is a rotation, the bullet travelling inside the gun barrel is a linear action.

The sound made is stifled during fajin.  It is like the stifled sneeze. If it is right, the sound is always the same.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Sep 14, 2021

变硬 - 拉长定住

抓对方的手腕 - 拇指与中指扣着对方的手腕

拦擦衣 - 第三动 - 右胯要顶出到左边来 - 是一个动作让三个部位动起来。

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Sep 13, 2021

不丢不顶

顶 - 胳膊的事

不顶 - 不用胳膊推

死 - 外形不变

练成一个木头版在躯干上

丢 - 自己的脚跟对方的距离大

不丢 - 脚跟上了

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Sep 8, 2021

Fixed two dots are static power. Add one more dot between the two is dynamic power.  As long as you can stretch this third dot against the fixed two dots, you have power, e.g.

1. Lock the head and knee, push the kua out.
2. Lock the back of the head and the front shoulder, push the bottom of the neck close to the front shoulder out.

The wrist should be stretch on the same line. The ankle should be stretched at the right angle.

Master Chen explained the difference in the following: 开步、合步、跟步、开脚。

Size of the two gears determines the direction of the resulting power.

Dao - Everything exists as it is.  There is no right or wrong.  The sequence matters. An individual piece is fine as it is.  If you disrupt the flow (the sequence), it becomes problematic.

Elbow (in), Kua (rotate), Hand,(out).  It is wrong when the sequence is messed up.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Sep 3, 2021

3 hats:

1. Head to shoulder
2. Chest to kua
3. Kua to foot

松沉 - Vertical plum line, the line has no power itself. The line is a relationship. Taiji needs the relationship to be virtual.

Between the sun and earth, there is gravity, which is the relationship. It is real, but you can't touch it.

You have learning something once you can paraphrase it.

If you can see it, you have learned it.

If you can really see it, what you see does not change.

To be a student, always collect data/information. Over time, patterns will be formed from such information.

Figure 8 positive circle - A big positive circle in the front, and a small negative circle at the back

Figure 8 negative circle - A small positive circle in the front, and a big negative circle at the back

Use the kua to draw the circle.

太极劲

这是两点成一线。这个一线是一点的伸开。然后保持不动（不变）再加一点，这样只加不减。这个模版不变，继续加。这就是伸开、拉开，没有推。严格的说没有用力（但是里面造出来只有对方知道的力）。当然我们的身体是有极限的，不可能永远这样【加】！

这就牵扯到间接力了。如果已经加到三点，可以用偷梁换柱的方法，同时再加一点/减掉原始的第一点。这样保证了任何时候有三点！

能做到以上，就是开始有太极劲了。这是最基本的入门劲。 

上面的劲是定住（不动）两点，交换1和四。最终保证有三。

二级功夫是能保证定住三点，交换一和五。

三级功夫是能保证定住四点，交换一和六。

以此类推。

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Aug 6, 2021

All joints between the two ends must be open.  Only the hand against the opponent, and the foot against the floor compress.

At the beginning, when opening one joint, it forces a compression to the next joint. We must continue to open each of them until it reaches the end.

When doing fajin, only go to 80% extension.

The kua goes up to the inside towards the elbow.

Elbow, shoulder, kua are 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.

First half of the circle, push into the front foot, but the foot does not move.

Compass: one needle does not move at all, the 2nd needle is pinned to the paper but to the table. When moving the compass, the 2nd needle will move around the first needle dragging the paper.  The 2nd needle moves on a track (specifically around the first needle).

Those are the 3 kinds of not moving:

1. 1st needle - absolutely not moving
2. 2nd needle - restrictively not moving (moving on a track)
3. 2nd needle and the paper - structurely not moving (between them they didn't move)

First move of yilu: Vertical rotation inside a cylinder

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Aug 3, 2021

Fist drape over body: I need to use the kua. Too much action at the top. Stretch the left kua, and deng the left leg.

Lean with back: Shoulder and torso needs to separate. The torso needs to slide under. Ka-deng (sound).

Use two high-back chairs to lock my shoulders and lock the arms, and let the torso drop.

Exercise:

1. Forehead, hands, knees on the same vertical.
2. Let the torso drop without moving the hands.
3. Hands go out.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 29, 2021

玄关设窍

xuan guan she qiao  (Level 9)

Mysterious Spot (Gate/Fortress) Setup Hole/Orifice

Orifice, e.g. pressure points in the body, middle of a tornado

Guan, e.g. physical, pivot of a lever

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 27, 2021

曲中求直

老架是直。新架是曲。

我们要的是直到卡住，绕过去。收肘整体式弯的，由很多直做成。

曲是两个直的。直是一个直的。

无极生太极，太极是两仪。

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 24, 2021

Three ways of talking about our actions:

1. Separation of Yin and Yang
2. In and Out
3. Lead

Other analogies:

1. Thread, fabric, needle
1. Needle is outside leading.  
2. Fabric is the barrier.
3. Thread is inside being pulled.
2. Leading thing must be hard, what is being led is soft.
3. Head must be hard, arm must be soft.
4. Bone is hard, skin/muscle is soft.
5. Top of the head must be hard, whatever below must be soft.
6. This is the training for reversal of yin and yang.
7. Soft means always going around.
8. Stiff is strong.

3 focuses on training yilu:

1. Heavy cloak on the shoulder to focus on stretching the head up.
2. Tie rubber band at the elbow to keep them from going out.
3. Put a spring-loaded rod between the two knees to keep from collapsing.

Any thing free is a catalyst.

Your existing things are 2-dimensional.  Our taiji trains us to be 3-dimensional.

Hand is 3-dimensional while the torso is 2-dimensional.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 23, 2021

Going down - It needs to be led by the bottom.

Going left - It needs to be led by the left side

Going right - It needs to be led by the right side.

Going up - It needs to be led by the top.

Every move is a pull.

Exercise:

1. Use hands to hook on to the opponent. Let your bum free fall down, like letting your body weight hang down.
2. Wiggle the kuas to continuously take the space going downwards.
3. Don't let your feet hold you up.
4. The opponent will be dragged down by you eventually this way.

To peel the other person off, my movement must be perpendicular to the opponent's movement.

Exercise 1:

1. Stick the kua into the opponent (like to pry) with the front leg out.
2. Lock the front foot, move the kua forward to the opponent like pry.
3. At the same time, stretch the front hand out and around your opponent and eventually let you hand touch your own mingmen (spine). The shoulder can't not lean towards the opponent.

Exercise 2:

1. Stay a bit farther away from the opponent.
2. Put your front foot behind the opponent's front foot.
3. Your front hand grabs the opponent's front wrist.
4. There is a vertical line between your front hand and front foot.
5. We need to turn that vertical line horitonal on a plane.
6. If the hand is at 12 o'clock, make it 3 o'clock while the foot goes from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock.

Exercise 3:

1. Like in Exercise 2, we stretch the hand around the opponent, however, the opponent is resisting strongly. At that instant, we switch this rotational movement to a linear movement, the front elbow goes back, while the front knee goes to the front. The elbow and knee are going in opposite directions on the same plane.
2. If we start with a linear movement, we can switch to a rotational movement.
3. Eventually, we can interchange the two ways multiple times very quickly. It's the same idea as wiggling to get in.  If a statue is sitting on a sandy beach, we can dig away the sand underneath the statue to let it sink down. To avoid any tilting of the statue, we dig evenly around underneath.

Breakthrough: Going down

Tonight through zoom at the North American Practical Method Training Camp 2021, Master Chen Zhonghua was teaching people push hands. The two people engaged with one hugging the other. I experienced knowing the move that Master Chen would want in that situation.  I practiced it on my own thinking about how I would do it. It was the step-back-and-go-down move. Master Chen later instructed the students the same way. When I actually face an opponent, I may not be able to do it, but at least the thought was the same, and it would guide my training on this move.

Master Chen's comment: Makes one wonder why people can’t see it, can’t understand it and can’t do it.

I believe I can see it because there is the space in between the kuas that I can go into. When I get to the normal stuck position, there is such option available to me. However, if I can't move the kua in a certain way, that option of going down is simply not available, and I wouldn't be able to make the association of the words "going down" to it. This is a matter of 火候.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 22, 2021

 3 types

1. 田秀臣、陈照奎  

2. 冯志强、陈小旺  Hitting

3. 洪均生、李经悟  Boucing

相由心生

The fact that you see something, it is because you make a connection. That something has always been there, but unless you make a connection, you don't notice it.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 21, 2021

 五雷轰顶 wu lei hong ding

- God is talking to you. Out of body experience.

Six Sealing Four Closing

As we do the waist turn, the top goes to the left, the back of the knee stretches.  It needs to go under the thigh.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 20, 2021

 天、人、地

Human is in the middle between Heaven and Earth.

Human is the relationship.

Chinese emphasizes on relationship.

Taiji is being the catalyst, and create a relationship between two things.

Positive Circle:

1. Incoming (from Heaven)
2. Action from gap/joint (from Human)
3. Push with Foot (from Earth)

Brain is 3 dimensional.

Human is 2 dimension.

To make it 3 dimensional, we need to use something outside of the 2 dimensions, i.e. outside of the human body.

Going up is live.  Going down is dead.

Growing a beard is towards death.

Up to age of 18, it is going up. After that, it is starting to downhill.

Rotate needs to stay with in a frame 格. 要不出格.

长劲、短劲、抖劲。

长劲、短劲都有动作。抖劲不是打人的，只是把人弹起来。

 能转的话，东西就会往外飞出去。

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 16, 2021

Story Time

In Phoenix, there was a person who was named Scott, aged 32, a lawyer, and had learned for 4 years from a famous Chen Village master.  He came to visit a morning training session at North Mountain during the Master Chen Zhongua's workshop weekend. After the training session was done, he asked to try with Master Chen.  Master Chen bounced Scott 3 times.  Ping Wei was so excited to see, and was sure that Scott would come to learn. After a while, Scott didn't come to ask, it turned out that his thought was that Master Chen had proved to Scott that Scott's own teacher from Chen Village must have been even better since that teacher was more famous. Scott decided to learn more diliegently from this teacher.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 8, 2021

Turning Flower from the Bottom of the Sea

• Start by standing on one foot, and practice rotation.
• The right elbow goes sideways while the left arm comes up.
• The right fist continues to go horizontal, the left fist goes up vertically.
• One side horizontal, one size vertical. The middle is in the middle of the chest.
• The fists don't move, they are stretched from the middle of the chest.

Ball Launcher Mechanism

Everything moving to towards a common goal.

This is how the kuas rotate into the huiyin. This is also how the top of the head goes down the back into huiyin, everything shoots up the head.

Exercise 1:

Fingers/Hand do not move. The two elbows squeeze from the side into the center line towards the middle finger tip. The two kuas also open and squeeze towards the finger tip.

Exercise 2:

Two hands up after double downard squeeze, and before Punch to the Ground. Keep the two hands high up. Lock the hands, and knees. Let the kuas drop vertically towards the ground. This must create a stretch internally.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 2, 2021

Kua physically can only go up and down.

Knee physically can only go sideways.

We need to produce the splitting energys all the time.

Turning Flower From the Sea Bottom

• We need to di a sudden stop in the middle to produce penetrating energy, and then let the motion continue on the same trajectory, as in 心口碎大石。

Six Sealing Four Closing

• Lock the middle of the chest, elbow-in with power, and let the shoulder stretch and rotate a lot to go to the other side to throw it back out.
• The same needs to be maintained during moving-step.

Do yilu with fajin for a month, so I am ready to do really do cannon fist.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on July 1, 2021

0 - Wuji 无极

1 - Something comes out of Wuji

2 - Taiji 太极

3 - Trinity/Three Treasures/三才/Heaven-Earth-Men/Triangle/精气神

4 - Four shapes Sixiong/四象/东西南北/青龍、白虎、朱雀和玄

5 - Wuxing 五行 (cycle)

6 - Harmonies/3 Sets of 2

    External Set:

    Hand-Foot

    Elbow-Knee

    Shoulder-Kua

    Internal Set:

    Shape/Xing 形 is harmonized with Force/Li 力   (Structural Power)

    Force/Li 力 is harmonized with Qi 气

    Qi 气 is harmonized with Intent/Yi 意

    Intent 意 needs to come out of no intent (intent by nature, nature is not part of human/us).

7 - Seven Starts/Big Dipper/七星

8 - Bagua 八卦  64e+64 (governs human life/body), 128e+128 (governs human intelligence/mind)

9 - Jiugong/Nine Squares  (9 is highest)

Philiosopy (traditional) vs Religion (new)

Taiji's cycle is 3: Yin, Yang, and rooted in each other

3D is created by spinning a plane. 3D is created by an action.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on June 25, 2021

Two scales (levers) in the body

Master Chen indicated if we truly understand how to make a lever in the body, then having two of them simply means creating two levers using two different set of body parts.

The 2nd levers must be created separately from the first one. However, they must be related somehow or can be said to share a common point.

Each lever is a gear.  Engaging two gears together creates a common point at their teeth, and that is how they relate to each other.

Now consider three gears engaged together.  We can rotate only one gear, the two gears will rotate accordingly. Taiji is that we do one action, multiple seemingly separate results are created.  If two people are touching the two passive gears, they may feel different directions, but there is only one active gear creating the action, that is the source of power.

Now consider two active gears and one passive gear. If we rotate two gears but in the opposite directions, we can jam the whole system.  However, if we can figure a way to coordinate those two gears, it can increase power/speed/freedom of movement for the passive gear.  This is like how a 4-cylinder engine work with a timing belt. Each piston action adds something on top of each other, so that they work in a harmonous way.

The real high level of taiji creates a special effect that it breaks the limitation of time. The result is something that cannot be achieved in a normal way, like you want to get 5 things through a doorway that is too small for all of them to go through together, and yet they all went through at the same time somehow.

Empty force is created with a lever, which is the attached to the first lever that the opponent is in contact with.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on June 18, 2021

"Three" represents a loop, means to repeat things endlessly.

There is really only two main things in Chinese martical arts: horizontal and vertical.

We need to determine horizontal and vertical, one of them is more dominant.

However, you need both of them to be present to say that there is either horizontal or vertical. We need to both to make the distinction.

We need to determine the opponent's primary move, and use the opposite to deal with it.

The vertical motion will cause a very weird feeling to the opponent when done correctly. It is like the opponent will fall into the hole.  In our normal life, we try to escape from the vertical motion, and only do the horizontal motion, which becomes much more familar to us.  With Practical Method, we train to have the vertical motion, and also to get use to it, so that we are not afraid of it ourselves.

Yao 摇 - horizontal
Bai 摆 - vertical

Exercise:

1. Raise the elbow above the shoulder, press it down to scoop/dig.
2. Vertical movement is controlled by kua and knee (bottom half of the body).
3. Hand/arm movement is always considered to be in the horizontal dimension.
4. The waist rotation is used to coordinate/integrate the upper body horizontal and the lower body vertical movements together.
5. Ultimately, we need to use the kua to drive the overall movement. The other parts are just adjustments or adaptations.

Bie (别)

You need one pair of yin-yang to bie zhu (别住)/twist-and-lock. This pair is typically on the upper body, e.g. with arms and chest. The 2nd pair of yin-yang is by the lower body, e.g. with front kua and rear knee, to bie kai (别开)/twist-and-open.  The two pairs intersect and share the same non-moving dot, like the rivot in a pair of scissors.

Exercise:

1. Use a stick with a heavy load at the outer end (heavy end).
2. Use the forward wrist under the stick as a pivot.
3. Use the backward hand to the inner end of the stick (handle end). Pump down this end of the stick to tilt up the heavy end.
4. Start the pivot in the middle of the stick, and gradually move it closer to the handle end. This will increase the difficulty as the pivot gets closer to the handle end.
5. The key is to keep the pivot not moving.
6. We can only really train the bie power with a load that is just heavy enough to not allow us to tilt it at first. The result of the training is an ability to transmit power from one end of the stick to the other end. It's best to training with the white wax wood, which is bendable.

Weapon Training

In sword and broadsword training, we need to move the weapson with a non-moving dot on the blade.

In 风卷残云 of broadsword, the blade does not move, the body moves forward.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on June 10, 2021

Bie 别 is to twist and change direction without losing engagement with your opponent.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on June 8, 2021

Back to the Mar 30, 2021 exercise, there is one part that goes out, and one part that goes up. Eventually, there is a force that goes out and around.

3 types of moves in Taiji: horizontal (rope), vertical (stick), rotational (rock).

动静、上下、左右、内外、伸缩、推拉

If we talk about force,  we need to stay on topic. There is positive force, and there is negative force.

When we sit on a chair, there is gravity that pulls you down, but the fact that you didn't fall down, it is because the chair has force as well that simply matches the gravity in opposite direction.

Chen Style Taiji originally has 6 hand forms, and jian 剑, dao 刀, guan dao 关刀, qiang 枪.

Chen Changxing has passed down yilu, erlu, jian and dao.

Master Chen Zhonghua learned the jian form from Chen Fake's daughter Chen Yuxia.

Grandmaster Feng Ziqiang originally put together shi san kan 十三砍.

Grandmaster Hong himeself does not know jian and dao. His disciple Xu Gueicheng 许贵成 went to Beijing and learned 十三砍 from Grandmaster Feng. 十三砍 is very practical, and it relaxes between moves, and only uses power with the real move when attacking the opponent.  Later on, Master Li Enjiu, and Master Xu Gueicheng together created Practical Method Dao from 十三砍, as 十三砍 was too short, and not suitable for dao form competition.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on June 4, 2021

How to become famous?

1. You need to build stories and talks around you.
2. People around you need to talk about you.
3. We need to have a niche.
4. If I did something, but no one knows or remembers, then this thing comes fake.

We use the kua to initate and drive our moves.  When that is done, we will see other body parts move, and not the driver itself.

We need to understand the difference between power source and leader. They can coincide to be the same, but they can also be separate.

James shared his breakthough about his understanding through a lever, and how lever ties everything together.

Master Chen's comment: "James persisted to reach this level". Persistence is a very important quality.

Natural Growth vs Exponential Growth

Natrual Growth - Continuous growth in small increments

Exponential Growth - No or very little growth for a long time, and a sudden large jump

How to make videos?

We have to show what is desired to be said, and we can't make assumption/implication as people can only see the obvious.

We have to make it so that the video is a big hit. It needs to be entertaining (not boring).

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on June 2, 2021

The energy has to come out.

We use the kua to bring a 360 degree turn, it's like the foot sweep.

We did some fajin exercises.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on May 28, 2021

 
Today, Master Chen Zhonghua talked about 别过去 (bie guo qu). The diagram above shows how fiber optics work. The light bounces off the walls on each side, and keeps going forward. Every reflection is 别 (bie) because there is a restriction (the wall) that prevents the light from going straight. If the tube was straight, and the light shines straight through the tube, there is no 别 (bie) . Our taiji action is that we need to 别 (bie). For example, in six sealing four closing, the two elbows go into the line formed by the two hands, and the two hands keep staying on that line.

There are other real-life examples:

1. Dribbling in basketball, we must adjust the angle we bounce the ball as we walk or run, so that the ball can travel forward with us.
2. How we hit a golf ball off the ground in order for it to fly high and forward requires the club to hit the ball towards the ground at a specific angle, it is not to scoop the ball (which is what a beginner typically does). The correct swing makes the ball compressed and bounce off the ground.

We need to have both a shield and a spear, they go equally against each other, and that is 掤 (peng). We need to find the specific spot to break the stalemate situation. We aim the spear at 45 degree angle at the shield.  I actually had an experience of this in the first year of studying Practical Method. I was shovelling dirt in the yard. I found that it was easier to get the shovel into the ground at 45 degree angle.  At the time, I remembered the lesson from Master Chen was about double negative circles. We need to establish two walls coming up from the thighs to provide restrictions. The 3rd count of the negative circle makes the hands look like going up at the end, but the hands do not go up by themselves, they need to press against the two walls, and somehow they go up.

When a ball rotates, every part of the ball behave the same way. We use intention to create a function, such as using a specific part of the ball with its rotation to hit something, but every part of the ball still behaves the same way.

If there are two men, one is rich and one is poor.  When the poor one becomes richer, it does not make the rich man any poorer from an absolute perspective.

Wuji is that one big thing. Taiji is to have polarities. While we have taiji, there is still wuji.

The taiji illusion of being soft is the rubber pencil illusion:

折叠 (zhe die) - Folding

• Training with arms going from left to right.
• Right shoulder going down, right kua coming up.
• Right fist lines up with the left foot on the ground.
• If we are sitting on a chair. the right fist lines up with the left buttock.
• The forearm does not move, we use the right elbow to drive the right fist.
• We need to create a snap at the shoulder, like snapping the fingers. The torso goes down, the arm goes out.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on May 21, 2021

憋  Twist

• 杠杆的动作。
• 扭。
• 搓。
• 外头两点动作相对，中间一点不动。

憋住  Twist to a threshold and get stuck

• 用憋的方法给对方卡住的意思。
• 两个齿轮交合后，卡住不能动。
• 力量相等。

憋开 Twist to a point that breaks the threshold

• 在憋住后，力量加大或是加上另外一个东西让对方抵抗不住。

练习

• 左手在对方右上臂前面。
• 右手在对方左上臂后面。
• 对方反抗。这就憋住了。
• 用力憋住，双方都不能动。
• 保持上身不动，要卡住对方。用右胯往下、往外走，把对方往外抛。
• 自己变成木板，木板转起来。在木板上面的东西就会往外给抛出去。

马步  Horse Stance

We use the knees squeeze into the belly of the horse, to create an empty space under the crutch. The empty space acts as a shock absorber for the ride. We can train by squeezing a ball between the knees, and walk around.

Conversion of linear action to rotation

Keep a cylinder around our torse, and a larger one outside of the knees. We rub the knees back and forth to create a rotation on the central axis to allow the energy to travel up and down.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on May 20, 2021

Levels of the Form

Level 1

1. Rigid
2. A bunch of sticks
3. Machine-like movement
4. With structure

Level 2

1. Soft
2. Rubber band
3. Like kneeding dough
4. There is something in it

Level 3

1. Fajin
2. It can be to break a line quickly. Hold the two ends, break the middle.
3. It can be to expand from the middle quickly. Hold the two ends, expand from the middle.
4. It requires us to have rubber band (level 2), otherwise, if we only have sticks, the sticks will be broken.
5. We want to break the opponent, and not ourselves.

Level 4

• Not discussed

Level 5

• Not discussed

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on May 19, 2021

Ground Dragon

How to pull up the right leg?

• Lock the left kua, and rotate the right kua around and underneath the left kua.

Twist

Need to break a seal, e.g. how to open a stuck jar lid.

1. Lock the two hands, use the front elbow to break the line between the two hands.
2. Lock the two hands, use the front kua to break the line between the two hands.

Break using an action on the outside going in.

Break using an action on the inside going out.

We need to twist ourselves in the setup, we unwind ourselves in the action.

Imagine that you separate our body into top half and bottom half. At the beginning, they are not twisted such that the front of the top lines up with the front of the bottom.  You use your top to match the opponent. You change the bottom to face the other way (180 degrees opposite) while the top continues the same.  Now that the top half and bottom half are twisted.  There is potential energy built up, as you unwind, power is released, and there will be rotational power.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on May 11, 2021

Lean with Back (背折靠)

1. Right fist and rear kua line up.
2. Elbow as a handle goes around that line.
3. Shoulder goes down to the kua.
4. Kua comes up to the shoulder.

The two lines must be maintained, and they must interact with each other.

The freer the rest of the body with those two lines maintained, the more power there is.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on May 7, 2021

Pattern of practice

We focus on training one part (X). When we get that X right, Y may become wrong. We fix Y, X may become wrong again. We go and back forth until both X and Y are correct. Then we add Z on top of them.

3 parts: Fix two parts, move one part.

In the exercise of rotating horizontal, we must fix the middle (dantian). How to fix the dantian?

1. Use two parts (head and rear foot) to fix the dantian, move the front foot which is free to a new position.
2. Use head and front foot to fix the dantian, move the rear foot to a new position.
3. Switch between the two feet repeatedly.
4. The rotation is made of a series of little increments.

If we make the two side of a chest like two touching gears, we are using the central axis as the gap/space between them. it is the one of the 3 major choices for the gap. The other 2 choices will be the two shoulder-kua axes.  The chest/torso can be one piece or two pieces.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on May 4, 2021

Lock the right elbow-shoulder-kua triangle, but place it horizontally.

Rotate to the right horizontally using the kuas.

First make the line between the right elbow and left foot. The left foot is supported by the floor.

Later make the line between the right elbow and left knee, but we need to keep the knee up (i.e. the left knee cannot point to the floor).

As we rotate to the right, the right elbow and left knee must continue to expand/stretch.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 30, 2021

Implosion

• Line up the dot underneath the front buttock and front heel, and pull them together.
• The dantian needs to adjust to allow the rear foot to be pulled up.
• Lock the head.

New Exercise

• This is an exercise that Master Chen Zhonghua learned from Grandmaster Hong. They did it at the park on the gravel. After this, they would do foundations every morning.
• Lie on the stomach, use the hands to pull up.
• Lie on the stomach, use the elbows to pull up.
• Lie on the stomach, use the shoulders to pull up.
• Only use one part to pull up, the rest of the body is just like sandbag being dragged.
• Need 3 ways to do the same looking move to be versatile, so the opponent can't figure it out.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 28, 2021

今天中文课中，我们练了怎样把胯放到手里。用了一根棍定住手、肩、胯的三角形。把胯顶到手上（或是棍的外头）。这个三角形平面中间有一个不动点，胯顶的时候是把这三角形绕着这不动点转了一下。如果对方在棍的外头堵住你，你要把这三角形转时最长、离自己最远的一点转到对方的中心，就可以把对方蹦出去。练习时，对方一定要固定住、不化你的力，才可以让你慢慢练会。

Fist Drape Over Body

• Kua needs to turn over (tippie toe if needed to get maximum range of the kua turning over)
• Right hand-elbow-shoulder triangle must remain unchanged. This triangle plane must catch the opponent, like how an oar catches water one way but not the other.
• The right elbow going up is not just lifting the elbow. It is stretching the torso so much that it flips up the elbow. Shoulder must stay downwards.
• The right kua turns over as the right hand-elbow-shoulder triangle changes position.
• Left kua must open, and don't let the left knee point to the ground. This is very difficult to do, so the instructor is likely not able to show this one.
• Central axis does not move.
• At the very last part of the movement, there is a stretch between the right elbow and the left elbow to catch the opponent, and then we rotate on the central axis, and this rotation being inside must be bigger than the outside movement to have power.  This is an example of fajin when done quickly.

Six Sealing Four Closing

• It has a similar catch with right forearm going down, right kua coming up.
• If the opponent is strong, we can get him down. If he retreats, this move while going down also drives the right fist foreward. He is caught 22. He can't be strong, he can't be loose.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 27, 2021

Back to the kua-to-hand exercise.

1. Lock the hand, shoulder and kua as a triangle, which is a fixed plane.
2. We fixed a dot on the plane, and we rotate on the dot without changing the plane itself.
3. We put this dot just under the elbow.
4. Kua becomes (就是) the hand. When the opponent touches our hand, it is the same as touching our kua. Ultimately, the opponent is touching the floor.

This plane is something that we maintain during push hands. When we have it, we can move this plane however we want.  The plane itself is double heavy, but if we can make it a revolving door, it is not double heavy anymore. The axis can be put anywhere on the plane or through the plane (a dot on the plane).

Fist of Lifting and Blocking

1. Elbow does not move.
2. Rotate the shoulder to cause the fist to change the direction.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 23, 2021

Turning Flower over from the Sea Bottom

Today, there is a big breakthrough.

The shoulders finally find the kuas in this movement. It was very possibly due to the exercise taught on Mar 30, 2021:

• Use the kua to push the hand out. Shoulder, kua and elbow are one piece. The hand stretches against the shoulder. This is a very practical push hand move.

REMEMBER THE PROCEDURE that gets me here, but DON'T FOLLOW THE FEELING.

This exercise was first taught to me in Iowa in 2018, but I didn't really practice it consistently. Since Mar. 30, 2021, I practiced it about 60 times on each side a day.

Shoulder goes down, elbow goes up and around the opponent, and the kua comes up. I need to catch the opponent between my upper arm and thigh, and then cut the opponent vertically to take out the space between shoulder and kua. Once it is over on the other side, the energy continues to flow along the arm to the fists through stretching. This stretching allows the rotation to cover more area, and results in more power.

We need to get to a point that we can totally be free to use power, speed, positioning.  All three must be done appropriately. If another one is missing or not done sufficiently, the overall look and effect will not be correct.

Fist of lifting and hitting: Torso goes down to make the fists go up and around the elbows.

Turning flower over from the sea bottom: Catch horizontally, then vertical to finish.

Sink the waist press the elbow: Catch vertically, then finish horizontally.

Arts and Science are also Yin and Yang.

Arts is breadth. More abstarct.

Science is depth. More specific.

Teaching

1. Preparation for an hour
• As you cover the same lesson over time, the preparation time will be significantly reduced.
2. Lesson for an hour
• Just think, but follow what was laid out in the prepared teaching plan.
3. Review for an hour
• Review how things were conveyed, and evaluate the effectiveness. Observe what you said and how you demonstrated, and check how the students were copying and following. Adjust the approach as appropriate for next time.

Besides the teaching time, we must practice ourselves in our own time. Teaching is not practice.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 22, 2021

Fist of Hitting and Lifting

The flip from one side to another needs to happen because of torso going down. More precisely, the two shoulder-to-kua axes go up and down against the central non-moving axis.

There are two sides on the forearm as well.

In general, it is the idea of rubber that causes moving in another area. There has to be power conversion all the time.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 21, 2021

Fist of Lifting and Blocking 搬拦肘

1. Lock the two elbows as if they are on a table
2. The two fists only go up to go around. They also have to stretch against the two elbows. Imagine that you have a wall parallel to the chest right in front.

Generally,

1. The kuas control the rotation on the central vertical axis.
2. The knees control the height of the body/torso.
3. The elbow control the horizontal movement.

得意忘形

为什么分门派？

过来多年为什么会变？

因为没有真正明白。

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 16, 2021

Common mistake in push hands:

1. Shoulder tends to come up and have power (wrong).
2. Kua tends to go down and not have power (wrong).

There are 2 kinds of movements:

1. Machine-like: When something is wrong, it can't continue.
2. Human-like: When something is wrong, compensation will be made to allow it continue incorrectly (in a way that is not part of the original design).

We want our actions to be machine-like.

Kao 靠

1. Concept: Two parallel boards separating from each other.
2. Lock the hand, open the armpit, so the hand goes out against the side ribs.
3. Don't move the kua here, as the movement there is 3 times that of the armpit. It will throw the torso off.
4. No rotation in this exersise. This stretch can only happen within a short distance, otherwise, our body will start to rotate.

Periodically, we have to revisit all we know about the taiji, and don't believe what we have. Use different ways to test and verify it.  In order to make progress, we have to believe that we are right.  In order to break the particiular level, we have to believe that we are wrong.  The theory is empty and never wrong. Whenever we materialize it, we make progress, but at the same time, we are wrong. It is like, we have to make something, and destroy it, make it again, and endlessly repeat this cycle, and refine our taiji. If we don't materialize it, it is not real.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 15, 2021

Lock the arms, torso goes down. Lock the torso, pull down the arms. Now there is power. This is increasing distance. This is switching. This is rotation.

Torso going down without the hands moving makes DF line longer than AC line. 

Put the hands on the opponent's chest. Put the rear foot further back. Now there is power. This is increasing distance.

 

The length between the hand and the rear foot increases.

Let all the corners be out.

If we have 3 points:

Lock one move two is creating compression.

Lock two move one is releasing power.

Three ways that will cause a student to quit after realizing how simple taiji is:

1. Why didn't the teacher tell me earlier that it is so simple?
2. It's so simple, I don't need to do it anymore.
3. I falsely believe what I do is correct because it also WORKS!

A few things that I held on to for years about taiji:

1. Rotation may not look like what I think. Rotation only needs a non-moving part, a moving part, and a relationshiop between them.
2. A lever.
3. Open triangle (triangle with one side missing) - Single Lock and Double Lock.
4. Stretch - it requires at least one non-moving dot.

正圈的小要点大关键

练正圈时，我们一般记得的是：收肘、转腰（胯）、出手。做梦也想着。但是练了一段时间后，进步不大，胯或其他关节没打开多少。

在这三大要领以外，还有一些往往没注意但其实一开始就学过的要点。

在做正圈的整过程中，概念上我们要把身体定住。

具体上我们要：

1. 前手中指永远指着同一点。
2. 前手腕要永远保持伸直（坐腕）。
3. 定住头。
4. 马步要开得够大（所谓够大就是要给自己一点难度，标准宽度是三只小腿的长度）。
5. 后脚跟地上的参照线保持90度（扣着它）。参照线是前脚跟和后脚指之间的线。
6. 后膝盖往上往后往后。

前三点能练开前肘肩胯，使动作幅度增加。后三点能练开后跨。若能把这些要点加上三大要领练上身（时刻保持），练正圈时就更有效率，更能把关节早日练开。

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 2, 2021

不在同一个维上意思是什么？

例： 开拉链，解鞋带

太极拳就是去找洞。 我们必须固定支架才能找到洞。 固定支架是掤。

我们必须在推手中固定对手，以便我们可以戳入洞中。 人身上其实有很多洞，但是如果对手不断移动，则看起来好像没洞一样，碰那里，那里都是实的。相反来说，我们能转起来，就没有洞了。

普通人只会横着的或是竖着的动。 我们训练能够同时做这两个种动作。 在一个简单的示例中，我们横着的跟对手对抗，然后加上竖的动作，就行了。

拥有不同的观点就是能够看到已知维之外的另一个维度。

从悬崖上掉下来是进入另一个维的一个例子。

悬崖在那儿，并没有改变。 有一天，我们突然看到悬崖上空无一物的部分，以及它们的用途。

What does it mean to be not in the same dimension?

Open zipper, untie shoe lace

Taiji is to find the holes. We must fix the lattice to find the holes. Fixing the lattice is peng.

In push hands, we must lock the opponnent up, so that we can poke into the empty space. There is a lot of empty space, but if the opponent keeps moving, it may look like there is no empty space.  Wherever we touch, it is still solid.  In the contrary, if we can rotate, we will have no holes.

Normal people only know either horizontal move or vertical move.  We train to be able to do both at the same time.  In a simple example, we lock up (match) the opponent's horizontal move using our horizontal move, then execute the veritcal move.

To have a different perspective is to be able to see another dimension besides the known ones..

Falling down the cliff is an example of going into another dimension.

The cliff is there and didn't change. One day we all of a sudden see the empty and solid part of the cliff, and what they can be used for.

To get it, we must be able to stick around long enough.  Different people may prefer different methods, but time is required to get there.

Exercise: Make the part from kua to hand a stick/board, push the kua outward on a striaght line.

I realize that I need to keep push it out, I tend to stop and push up half way.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Apr 1, 2021

开胯：功能 vs 功夫

功能:用方法达到开胯的目的。

内家拳：外边不变，内边变化。

外家拳：内边不变，外边变化。

拳不敌法，法不敌功，功不敌气，气不敌意，无意是真意。

用六封四闭的动作练前肩胯轴。

陈老师教用橡皮筋捆在腰上，试能不能用腰它飞起来。飞起来代表力能循着橡皮筋往外走。最后，能不能瞄准橡皮筋的外头。

概念：出一个  Something has to come out.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 31, 2021

Go over the threshold 过关: hand and shoulder

Get to the special spot 窍: tip of the elbow, inner spot of kua to come out, back of the knee to find alignment, spot at the bottom of the neck

Master Chen explained the switching of the kuas again, how they are like two credit cards touching each other in a T configuration.  We need to create a gap and then do the switch.

More on switching on the kua, the T needs to switch from one side to the other.

Another illusion is with the two hands with the middle finger tips touching each other with one palm facing inward, and one hand facing outward.  The switch is achieved by rotating at the finger tip touching point ending with each palm facing the opposite direction.

If you have a solid revolving door, you shine light on it to create a shadow on the wall on the other side. The width of the shadow will change as the door revolves.

We need to make the switch within an enclosed space. The kuas must be like ball bearings. Marking a dot on the surface of each kua, the distance between the two dots can change as the kuas rotates.

To actually move the kua, we need to create a small gap at the kua first. It's like two strong magnets stuck to each other. We need to pull them apart (detach them) a little bit first before we can change the way they attach to each other. Another way is to change add another perspective, which is like locking the inside, and moving the outside.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar. 30, 2021

Exercise 1: Use the kua to push the hand out. Shoulder, kua and elbow are one piece. The hand stretches against the shoulder. This is a very practical push hand move.

Exercise 2: Elbow Strike (the elbow has to come out)

Exercise 3: Double Push Hands: Pull the opponent in, Front foot goes forward, rear foot follows. Two hands go out from the dantian with a trajectory. We use the back foot to push.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 29, 2021

We started with forearm lever exercise. Aim at a dot to create a pivot.  The distance the elbows goes down is the same as the distance the finger tip goes up (assuming the pivot is right in the middle).

Ratio 1:1

The meaning is that nothing is left in the middle. Every in-coming thing must go out.  This is also called neutralization.

When we eat rice, ideally, we just want the energy, and other physical things should come out of the body. However, there is always some small amount of material, e.g. mineral that remains in the body. This is what causes us to be sick and become old.

Resolving door: One side comes in, the other side goes out.  The key is that the door is very solid.

In our movement, redirect the incoming force to the rear foot without moving.

To be soft, it must be solid plus rotation.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 26, 2021

Train with the rear foot at the corner, and a big enough stance to lock the body (especially upper body).

Taiji is only realized with speed.

To connect between the shoulder and the hand, use rotation to make it happen.

Ultimately we want to create power, we use movement, time and accuracy to do so.

The true not moving only happens when there is rotation.  In outer space, we need to use gyroscope to fix things.

We want to go through (3-dimensional). We have been doing "go over" (1-dimensional).

Generate one experience, and permeate it through all other postures.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 25, 2021

Exercise 1: Use the left hand to grab the right wrist, stretch the right fingers.  This is not just a demonstration, it is the method to train.  People often ask Master Chen how to train, in fact, he just showed us.  We only need to do it 60 times in each session. Doing it 60 times means to not use too much power, or using the right amount such that you can do it 60 times. When you use the left hand to grab the right, squeeze the armpit to lock the left hand, so that the left hand itself does not move.  In order to stretch, we must lock something.

Exercise 2: Six Sealing Four Closing
Rub the front armpit, the left shoulder need to stretch backwards to cause the energy to squeeze towards the right chest.  The body action and energy are also opposite to each other.

Exercise 3: Daligong 大力功

Exercise 4: Squat down, feet shoulder width, stretch hand forward as we squat down. Stretch from dantian.  Stand up, dantian push against the feet, energy goes back to dantian, in with elbow to bring it back to dantian.

Exercise 5: Positive Circle
Front kua and front heel must be a rod.  Rear kua and rear heel must be a rod. First half of the circle, rotate the front rod. Second half of the circle, rotate the rear rod.

Small Frame vs Big Frame (Focus on small movements vs Focus on large movements so things flow)

Old Frame vs New Frame (Start from the inside causing the outside to move vs Start from the outside causing the inside to move)  Bottom line is the inside has to move.

Zhan Zhuang (Standing Meditation)

Pebble in the shoe
Step Forward to Ride the Whale: The punch at the end is like a pebble in the shoe. It sticks out with no action.

Martial Salute
Right Palm, Left Fist (Come in peace)
Right First, Left Palm (Come to fight/challenge)  Nowadays, this is the official Goverment way. The original meaning is lost.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 24, 2021

When the body action is correct, the energy is wrong.

When the energy is correct, the body action is wrong.

Body action and energy must have separation of yin and yang.

At the end, we need to use rotational movement to shoot out straight line energy.

Normally, body action and energy tend to go together.  Even if we begin with rotation, it very easily follows the energy path, and does not rotate anymore.

If we press the shoulder into the elbow, and the elbow is on the table, the energy will shoot towards the finger. As we push the shoulder more, the finger may shoot up and deviate from going outward. We need to control the finger navigation.  This is like controlling the rotational action.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 23, 2021

Maintain two lines (This exercise came from Twisting the towel.)

1. Head to foot
2. Front finger tip to the central vertical line on the back

We want to first stretch things out, and then add something in the middle to further stretch a little bit. We must constantly add that little bit of stretch in our training. This is neigong training.

Switching

Dantian in the middle, the two kuas are at the two ends. When one kua moves, and the other kua moves in opposite. They cancel each other out, so it's zero.  Zero is good for neutralization, but the sum is nothing. Switching makes the non-moving dot from middle to the rear end. This is also known as switching gear, 腰裆转换.. In reality, it is switching the pivot from dantian to the rear kua (in this example).

Using Six Sealing Four Closing as the exercise, elbow comes back (gear 1), switch to use the front kua (gear 2), then switch to use the rear kua (gear 3).  By locking the rear kua, the energy will go to the finger tip.

Using Twisting the Towel as the exercise:

1. Move the hand, then stop
2. Move the elbow, then stop
3. Move the kua, then stop

Double heavy is needed to hit someone, but at the same time, it is bad as it allows the opponent to control us. However, double heavy can only happen for a split second to create a hit.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 19, 2021

改拳

跨与脚跟有一根棍。转的时候，脚底只有一点落地。

怎样继续进步？

要找到模板。如有进步，要知道自己跟以前做了什么不同，把它全列出来。找不出进步的原因，就没法复制。 

刘育鑫为何有进步？
上课多了。一天十遍一路。看到碾与搓。碾是有压力的。搓是没那么大力的。把碾与搓放进一路中。

散手

必须要让对方打我，但不是任他打，让他打一个他也自己认为要打的地方，但真正打的时候，又差了一点点。让他以为他脸与肩在中间（脖子侧），但实际是让他碰到肩的外侧。 

接手

顺着对方的来力，用自己手往后接着对方，像有缓冲区。 缓冲区要有相对往前的地方。往前要比往后的多。

Fetch Water

Application: Shoulder strike (kao), power comes from dantian

Hit 打

1. Stick
2. Hammer attached to a soft stick

Grind 碾

Centre is always on the dantian.  Use other body part to find power.

Outside aim is the destination (heaven). The outside body has to lead.

Inside aim is the source (life on earth).

In between is called life (hardship)

There must be fixed spot to generate power.

"It's not like that" means there is more to it.

Application is very complex, many things have to come together.

If we use a microscope to look, there is a distinct part, and we can't see the other parts that are happening.

To learn something new, ask yourself: "Have I put myself in an uncomfortable position?"

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 15, 2021

What is success? It's to never give up.

Why would one give up? He had a change of heart. 

中文两字词语是阴阳的。信念 - 信往外，念往内。

Each person has many reasons why he/she chooses to do something or not to do something. They are all valid reasons to them. No one is unique is this regard.

When you want to quit, you will always be able to find a very compelling reason.

When you don't quit, you simply don't see any reason to do so.

We see what we want to see. If we want a reason, there will be a reason.

Master Chen mentioned a story about a student in Edmonton, who was very dedicated to learn Practical Method for 7 years. One day, she decided to pause for 6 weeks to go to Korea to attend someone's wedding. She saw that she must go because a friend from church wanted to go back to Korea to have a wedding, and if she did not go, the friend wouldn't have anyone from Canada attending that wedding.

Master Chen foresaw that she wouldn't be able to come back after the trip, and advised her not to go. The student didn't understand and so she went on her trip. Unfortunately, she got sick in Korea, and it was so serious that she couldn't train anymore after coming back to Edmonton. She insisted on coming to class, but she could only sit on the side to listen, and couldn't participate.  4 more years of sitting on the side, and she stopped coming eventually. The Edmonton studio moved to a new location, and unfortunately, Practical Method moved on, and she was not able to keep pace and continue.

During the class, there was another student who mentioned that she finally found Practical Method, and she believed that it was the real taiji. She believed that she wasted time in learning the previous thing.  Master Chen pointed out that saying "time was wasted" meant that she would likely find something else that was "better" in the future, and would resent spending time in Practical Method. This is a pattern that will likely repeat itself.

It is very normal for people to give up, to continue the existing habit, to stay trapped in the same cycle.

What is the difference between a son and a step-son?

A son has a natural relationship with you that exists not by his or your choice.  He can't sever it even if he wants to.  先天 is something pre-existing/pre-determined, and not something you choose to have or not to have. A parent will always be able to forgive his son. The son won't think about his parent intentionally hurting him.

To be extraordinatry, it is to break the norm, be able to do something that cannot be achieved by a common person.

Breakthrough: Pushing energy into the pivot to create a lever

On Mar 12, 2021, Master Chen was instructing on an exercise, in which, I put up my left forearm in front of and parallel to my chest. I need to push the elbow downwards with a pivot in the middle of my forearm, with the load on the hand.  The desired outcome requires me to create an independent setup of a lever, and then press down on one side of the lever (elbow).  This is separation of yin and yang because the downward force is independent of the lever setup.  The lever setup cannot break or change its integrity when the downward force is applied. The outcome of the lever action is predetermined by the setup. The downward force when applied in a specific way simply makes it happen. If the downward force is not applied correctly or the lever setup breaks down, the desired outcome will not happen.

If the forearm itself is considered as 1 (wuji), the downward force being the trigger creates the lever, which is 3 (taiji). There is actually no lever until there is a pivot, one side goes up, and the other side goes down.

The difficulty in this exercise is that there is only one forearm (by locking the wrist and stretching the finger, they become part of the forearm), the pivot is not realized until there is movement on the forearm, and the pivot only exists within the forearm.

How to do it then?

Aim/push the downward energy into the dot, only then the pivot can be realized, and only then the energy can actually pass through to the other side.

Being able to do this allows me to relate other drills together, such as pushing the shoulder into the elbow that is sitting on the table, the hands being on the track when the torso goes down during double downward squeeze. There was also another demonstration that Master Chen has done before using a staff with the opponent standing on the other side holding the staff. He could twist the staff in a way that controls the location of the non-moving dot where the power meets.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 12, 2021

Think about the rods/bars that link the old kind of train's wheels together.  Those rods only ever go forward even those each wheel only rotates. This is yin-yang reversal. There is a joint in the middle of the wheel, there is another joint at the place where the rod is attached to the wheel.  If there is no such joint and the rod is totally glued to the wheel, as the wheel rotates, the rod will also turn around with the wheel.

In reality, if we simply rotate a lever 360 degrees, the same side will go back.  We must never go backwards with rotation. That's why our circle is really an S curve.

The internal gongfu is to be able to convert rotation (wheel) into linear movement (rod), or linear movement into rotation (that's how each piston in an engine works).

Exercise 1:

• Place the forearm onto a wall in front of my body.
• The load is on the fingers.
• The pivot is in the middle of the forearm.
• Move the elbow downwards, and the load will go up on the other side as long as from the finger tip to elbow is one piece.
• The elbow downward movement is independent of the lever setup. Our training is to ensure that the lever set up properly and never changes/buckles.
• The downward power is actually pushed into the pivot in order to go to the other side.
• In actual usage, only speed will allow us to create the pivot.  In other words, the pivot will presents itself in speed.

Exercise 2:

• Just like firsts step of the first move for the left arm.
• Maintain the line between the finger tip and shoulder.
• Move the elbow underneath this line to go to the other side.
• This is a 3-dimensional move.

Dead object is even, and double heavy itself.

All movements must have a lead.

Drill bit

• The groove catches the outside, it makes a lever with drill bit as the pivot.  Look at it from the front view of the bit.
• Without the groove, we cannot drill a screw in because there is no catch.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 11, 2021

Put the elbow on the table.

Shoulders goes down to the elbow.

Elbow can't go down because of the table, and it will go to the hand.

Torso only goes down.

The line between the hand and the shoulder must be fixed. This means the triangle among hand, elbow, and shoulder must be fixed.

Practical Method Positive Circle is 3 dimensional.  We can see a circle in top view, length view, width view.

One Knee Up One Knee Down Exercise:

1. Fixed the torso
2. Make the torso go down without allowing the knee to move out (we used to allow that at first).
3. Lock the knees
4. Use the downward force to make the calf more stretchy/more rubbery.  This is equivalent to the example to the cow leather belt used by Chinese barbers to sharpen the razer.  (This looks to me like the idea of fix the two ends of a rubber band, grab two points in the middle, and twist them.)

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 10, 2021

 Shuttle 穿梭

1. 后脚不离地，托着脚掌走。
2. 出手时，手跟胸（背后一点）对拉，将来手跟后脚对拉。
3. 这是活步六封四闭。收肘，转腰，出手。出手时，手不动，躯干往下。

双推手不转腰，六封四闭要转腰。

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Mar 5, 2021

Hold a rod not by grabing it with the whole palm, but split the span into two dots. One dot on the index finger underneath the rod acts as the pivot, and another one at the root of the palm placed above the rod acts as the balancing arm.  We can tilt the rod the other end of the rod this way without lifting the rod itself.

This is what allows the power to go along the rod to the other end, and it is said to go over.

During push hands, we must hold the two sides of the opponent, and such two dots must have some distance between them so that we can create a lever. The shorter the distance, the easier to control, but less power.  The longer the distance, the harder to control, but more power.

The demonstration on locking the two ends of a rubber cord, and hold two points in the middle, and push in opposite directions but perpendicular to the stretched cord, and is the same idea of holding the two sides of a rod.

My left shoulder needs to open up more. It is at a lower stage relative to my right shoulder. My experience has been the left side of my body is about 2 years behind the right side.

Put my torso inside a vertical cylindrical shell, so my shoulder can't go outside.

Hong's Photos: https://www.pinterest.ca/harshilmeraiya/practicalmethod/

Master Chen said even if we were to take random pictures of Hong when he was doing yilu, 95% of the pictures would be good in terms of structure integrity. This speaks of the high precision of his moves, and this is what means to be always ready.  We normally have to get into a "mode", and we have to work hard to get into a good posture for a photo.

To me, this means Hong's yilu was made of many, many good postures, and in other words, he connected many good photos together to make a good movie.

Back to the same exercie of rotating the torso to cause the front arm (as a rod) out. First, the front fist is caused by the front shoulder movement, then we should connect the fist to the dantian, and later to the foot.

Imagine that we are unwinding a fire hose from a wheel and feed it through a pipe/tunnel, this is how thread something from behind and the power comes from converting a rotation to a linear move.

Imagine that we are winding up the reel on a fishing rod, the fishing line will come in along the fishing rod.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Feb. 26, 2021

During training (when we are not yet successful), we use extra effort and focus to get it. It is tiring.

Once you are successful, the body gets used to it and will not be tiring anymore. The hair has been combed. The effort has gone through a filter.

Exercise: Use rotation to move a rod (front arm) through a tube.

• Issue: My front shoulder is still going forward towards the fist.
• We must put the torso inside a cylinder, such as someone wraps his arms around me.
• The front armpit needs to be tied to the rear foot.
• The front armpit is fixed, and the front shoulder is moving.
• The non-moving part must be bigger than the moving part.
• At all time, there is something outside the fist and rear shoulder pressing in. The motion will cause a breakout.
• Push the front shoulder into the line between the front fist and rear shoulder.
• The front shoulder has both vertical and horizontal intentions.
• The Front shoulder joint is free, the rest of the body is very rigid.
• Focus on the front shoulder. When we help someone, we often lose the focus or we never capture the focus.
• Teaching: First direct the focus to the right place, such as by exaggerating the movement (even including the wrong movement (not the final way we want)). Once that is achieved, then funnel the large movement into the specific target, such as the front fist in this case.

At the end, the opponent is simply afraid of such power and will just go away by himself.

Sink - To pull down from underneath (Think how a heavy object sinks into water)

Cai - Peng is 0, Cai suddenly becomes 100. Differential is created.

Horse vs train competition. Although the horse wins that competition, at the end, it's the train that changed the world.  People didn't see the power of the train at first.

Bullet creates a hole in front of it to pull forward.

Jet engine pushs the air out so much and so fast as if it pushes a wall and bounces the plane forward (Newton 3rd law).

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Feb 25, 2021

This lesson is about staying on topic, and then categorization within a topic.

There are only 3 types of movements in Practical Method:

1. Elbow-in (Pull)
2. Hand-out (Push)
3. Rotate

Overall, this is a positive circle, or we can say that it is negative circle.

Push and Pull - Straight 直 - Issue 发

Rotate - Curve 曲 - Neutralize 化

Grandmaster Hong used to put the movements on cards, and then categorize them into groups.

Rotation is the hardest because we don't usually do it in everyday life.

If push is yang and pull is ying, then rotate is non-moving.

Is 【你好】good morning or hello? If you are learning Chinese, then just remember when to say 【你好】, don't try to find a translated word only and still say it in the English way? So to speak, think in Chinese, and not in English.

During push hands, we are like a table/wall (non-moving object) ourselves, we make the opponent move. The opponent just bounces off of us.  This is a Practical Method characteristic.

Na 拿 - Chen Zhaokui - Chen Yu - Good for demo, difficult in combat

Hua 化 - Tian Xiuchen 田秀臣 - 田猴子 

Da 打 - Feng Zhiqiang (San Shou Pao, 24 Zhou), Effective for fighting

Fa 发- Hong Junsheng (Peng Jin) - Very peaceful, does not hurt anyone

Learning to use the kua.

1. Bend down with a stiff torso to the top of the head, and a fixed kua to foot triangle.
2. When opening the kua, the power goes to the top of the head and the bogttom of the front foot. 
3. This is only an exercise, this is not for fighting.

He taught how to stiffen the neck (erected neck). Similarly, we must take out the curvature at the lower back. This opens up the Du meridian. Dragon back. This is silk reeling. Open up the back. We need to make the back flexible. This is the primal energy.

Chen Changxing - Mr. Stone Tablet 牌位先生

A different kind of categorization of movements:

1. Open
2. Rotate
3. Don't move

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Feb. 24, 2021

The axis in real usage exists only functionally. 滚珠轴承 Ball Bearing.

We create a shell (restriction) on the outside, then the axis inside must exist, but you can't touch it unlike a real rod in a globe.

割 - The blade itself does not move.  Moving the rotation saw into the wood to be cut.

How to write an article?

Have a topic/title, write the outline, then fill in the details. After the article is written, even without reading the title, the reader must know what that topic/title is.

3 actions of Six Sealing Four Closing:

1. Move the front hand out
2. Move the rear shoulder back
3. Elbow perpendicularly towards the line between front hand and rear shoulder

3 actions of Positive Circle

1. Elbow-in
2. Rotate
3. Hand out

Each of these actions is perpendicular to something.

We need to make the opponent double heavy using parallel opening.  At that point, we are full.

Yin and yang are orthogonal to each other (90 degrees).

Achieve stability through movements. Rotation leads to non-movement.

Open Kua -> Rotate -> Don't move

Find a referenced fixed point

Every move has movement and adaption.

When something is moved, there is no active action by it.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Feb. 22, 2021

Key things, e.g.

1. Forward is to push.
2. Backward is to pull.
3. Middle is to rotate.
4. Separation of yin and yang

We must remember the key things even if we don't understand it.

When we see "Fill in the blanks", even if we don't know the answer, we must fill in the key things. It won't be wrong overall.

There is a gap in between. It's can be too large or too small. Just right, it must have that "ke-cha".

We must remain a student as long as possible.

Even when we are instructors, in term sof time spent, we must spend more time as a student learning than as a teacher teaching.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Feb. 19, 2021

Chinese Class

Shoulder and kua must be open to be able to find a relationship.

Yin-yang is a relationship. We train to seek such relationship in different body parts.

Going straight is to hit (打).

Rotation is to avoid/neutralize (化).

open (开) | <- style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">|, To open is to parellel open (increase the distance between two plates). What we can actually do in the joint is very small. Big joint, max 3 inches. Small joint, max 1 mm.

<- style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">Applying this concept of open in our actions, let's take fetch water as an example, the opening of the front should be like this. There are two plates at the end of the front hand and rear shoulder. We have to create a parallel opening at the front kua.

Oval object rotation: There is no constant radius. X axis is long, Y axis is short. In this case, rotation creates length. This is mutation (变异).

A joint is not a sphere, rotating it is like rotating an oval.

Spiral is rotation with perpendicular movement.

Daoism is big science.  It has a big theory that won't change.

Vibration is an example of the parallel opening repeated very quickly.

沾衣十八跌 - 18 ways to fall by touching opponent's clothing

English Class

Client-server computing vs centralized computing

Confederation vs Centralized

憋过去: Opening a stuck jar lid.

Exercise: Hold up a straight arm. Front shoulder is the middle, pull the rear shoulder backward to power the arm forward.  Front and rear shoulders must be connected/related. This is an example of the oval object rotation. This is also rotating a lever. This is a different way of looking at the movement for a triangle with an invisible side.

He talked about the eight methods again.

There is only peng energy used in 8 different ways.

There is only offense in our taiji. If we talk about defense, we have already lost.  On the touch, the opponent should have lost already.

Master Air Vent Cover

I was training to go down without pushing forward. I used a chair with a high back. There are felts underneath each leg, so they wouldn't stretch the wood floor. They also provided some amount of friction. I noticed that just by going down, the chair would be passively squeezed forward. I made sure that my arms were not moving. Every time I finished going down, I had to adjust my feet to move closer to the chair. As the chair was squeezed forward, one of its legs got caught at the air vent cover, and couldn't move forward. The result was that the chair rotated around the stuck leg as the chair was further squeezed forward before. I was thrown out in response to the rotation. The feeling was indeed quite weird. Note that the movement causing myself to be thrown was not created by the air vent cover. All it did was maintaining not moving, and making one of the legs to get stuck.  This was real separation of yin and yang.

Master Chen Zhonghua Online Lesson on Feb. 18, 2021

Chinese Class

When we rotate, if the rotation goes forward, the entire object must move back to balance it.

Rear kua rotates forward, the kua itself must go backwards.

The number of breaths is limited in lifetime. Taoist will make the breath long, and limit the number of breaths as few as possible.

Taoist story, put himself inside an enclosed space. Light a candle, if we limit the size of the flame, the candle can last longer. He needs to keep the fuse as short as possible by cutting it.

If we have progress very quickly, we may not have progress for a long time. The amount of progress within a period is fixed. We need to control the progress, so that we can keep going. Not having progress for a long time is a factor that will make people quit.

We need to breathe in and then breathe out.

We need to start with elbow-in and then hand-out.

The biggest pair: yin and yang.

分 (fen/separate) -> 开 (kai/open) -> 转 (zhuan/rotate)

分 is a concept.

Practice horizontal movement vertically. Practice vertical movement horizontally.

In arm wrestling, we must allow the elbow to be pressed onto the table, then you can move the forearm horizontally a little bit.

We must convert energy (horizontal to vertical, vertical to horizontal). Every conversion multiplies the size of the energy.

Think about drifting, the car continues to go, but the direction changes.

Think about how kayak turns, we put the oar on the right side to create resistence with the water, and the kayak will turn right to go around the oar.

The wheel of a car only rotates, but the tire pushes against the ground, and the car only goes forward.

https://www.coursera.org/lecture/how-things-work/how-do-powered-wheels-propel-a-bicycle-or-car-forward-rX0WH

English Class

In Taoism, there is one thing that cannot be compromised, everything else can be adjusted.

Four ounzes overcome one thousand pounds

Four ounze bo (拨) 1K jin.

四两拨千斤

拨 means to pull a trigger, to pull, to tip.

Set up the opponent on the cliff, only use one finger to poke.

Never corner a dog.

Ji is water. Water has the property to fill you up.

Ground dragon: Step up without moving the front (left) hand. Step back to pull back.

Our actual movement goes backwards. As a result, something goes forward/gets bounced.

We have no downward move, our brain prevents us from going down.

I found a setup with a high-back chair against the wall.

We don't want to go down when we get older.  If we can still go down, we are young.