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.