First private class with Master Chen

I just had my first private class with Master Chen.

How to imagine the circle without moving the hand:

• For the first half of the circle, energy travels from the outside of the right foot along the outside of the leg, the back, the outside of the arm, the pinky to the tip of the middle finger. For the 2nd half of the circle, energy travels from the tip of the middle finger, to the thumb, along the inside of the arm, the chest, the inside of the leg, and then to the inside of the foot.

How to find the exact opposite point to create a stretch:
Example 1

• Hold up the arm like normal when starting the positive circle.
• Don't move the hand or the arm.
• Keep the shoulder down.
• Cave in the chest

Example 2

• If your opponent is pushing in one direction, stretch in that same direction
• This is yin yang separation.
• It is important to keep the base (the lower part of the body from waist down) solid. Keep it front downloaded.
• Stretch the upper body. This creates the illusion of being long (from the right hand to the left leg).

How to move the chest muscle down and backwards.

• While moving the chest muscle down and backwards, the spine does not displace, but it may stretch vertically.

How to tuck the buttock towards the heel.

• The purpose is to redirect the incoming energy to the ground.
• Point the buttock farthest away from your opponent to the front heel.

Power or no power

I watched the Toronto Workshop 3-4 video today. I got a different understanding on the material presented. Although I was there at the workshop, I didn't really understand much at the time as I was so new to Taiji. I had no clue on many of the concepts. One topic was on Taiji power. According to Master Chen, Taiji practitioner had no real power, but only perceived power. That kind of power was based on the manipulation of length, width, height, weight, speed and angle of the body. We needed to always locate the centre. At this stage, we could regard it as the dantian. Later, it could really be at anywhere inside the body or even outside of the body. If we were able to keep the dantian as the centre all the time, we would be very long (hand to foot). However, a slight touch on our bodies by the opponent might change the centre, as we tried to fight it off. To be better than the opponent, we needed to be longer. We needed to train to keep that in mind.

Another concept I got from the video was to rotate the elbow. In order to lead with hand, you needed to find a spot for your elbow, at which it could be rotated. Once the spot was located, it should not move. Lead with hand, and rotate the elbow. Locating the right spot for the elbow might involve aligning the rest of the body parts.

Foot - striaght to the ground

Knee - rotate empty (meaning no displacement, but just transmit the energy)

Thigh - rotate horizontally

Waist - adjust

Shoulder - rotate down or up

Elbow - rotate sideways and lead in

Hand - lead out

Kua Rotation

Since I read the article referenced in the blog below, I have a much different understanding of the kua.
http://ktaiji.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-is-kua.html

I am starting to feel what it means to rotate the kua. I am very much looking forward to meet Master Chen in May 2010 to verify whether I am on the correct path.

One thing that I feel different is during the duck walking exercise. I am starting to feel with kua rotation, I can use the front leg as an anchor to pull the hind leg to the front. Rotating the kua allows me to adjust the centre of gravity from the even split on both legs, to 60/40 or 70/30.

I am trying to apply such kua rotation on every leg move in Yilu. It was easier to start with legs wider apart at first, now I can feel the same sensation with legs relatively closer together, like in a normal standing position.

This is very exciting!

Kelvin's Yilu on April 14, 2010

Reversing life to the beginning

http://www.hongkongtaiji.com/files/qing-mag-articles-june2008.pdf

This articles talks about reversing to the same state as a baby (e.g. how it breathes), and eventually you will be back to the beginning and be united with the universe (back to wuji). Master Chen discussed this concept as well.

Not moving the hand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfqgwJfA0c4&playnext_from=TL&videos=UDJPqWKIlh8

This is an excellent video by Ian Sinclair providing the student the feeling of relaxation during the displacement of the hand from the bottom to top.

I definitely got the feeling of the hand floating up for about 10 seconds immediately after performing the first exercise. This, in fact, matched what Master Chen once talked about someone's form looking more correct after performing about 100 times of Yilu in a row. A person will be so tired that he can no longer lift the hand by force. I can see how this little exercise can resemble such feeling after exhausting my strength in the arms.

Taiji Fighting Strategy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3y8tLH0M_M&feature=related

This video resembled what Master Chen showed me on the first day of class about keeping your intention, and not getting distracted during a fight. It takes training and experience to achieve that relaxed state of mind. I have briefly experienced how advantages it can be against your opponent if you are more relaxed than him/her. However to me, experience and knowledge are needed to achieve relaxation. It's natural to tense up if you are nervous. It's difficult or rather impossible at this point to me to be truly relaxed during an engagement with an opponent. It may seem like a chicken and an egg problem here. If you are more relaxed, you are better than him. If you know that you are better than him, you can be more relaxed. However, a chicken and an egg problem is exactly like a circle, with no beginning nor end. You don't know when it will start to happen. When it happens, it happens.