Reaching 20,000 yilus

On Oct. 23 , 2016, I reach 20,000 yilus. From 19,000 yilus to 20,000 yilus, I have noticed the following:

1. I am moving less of my hands, and using the rotation on the joints to propel the movements. This allows me to engage my waist more.
2. The triangle formed by the two kuas and dantien is becoming more prominent during the form. I think that this helps the engagement of the core in all actions.
3. I am able to locate my students' centres faster during demos, but not fast enough during push hands.
4. During push hands, I need to get my opponent to commit to his actions, then I find the lines more solid and maintainable.
5. My stance when doing the form is now lower than before. This seems to allow me to stretch out the kuas more. However, I also notice I sweat a lot more than before doing just a couple of yilus, and I need to take a break.  I am only doing 5 yilus a day right now, and I already feel very tired at night.

Observations

Today, when I felt that I wanted to throw up near the end of the 7th yilu. I didn't know why, but I wanted to record the incident. I didn't eat breakfast, and slept for about 6 hours the previous night. The stomach was not doing so well after that.

Practical Method Characteristics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hstkDJCjE9A

1. Rotation (Spin like a wheel, Be like a gyroscope)
2. Withdraw is to issue
3. Eye on the opponent
4. Revolution and rotation combined
5. 45 degree angles

Reaching 19,000 yilus

On Jun. 14, 2016, I reach 19,000 yilus. From 18,000, to 19,000 yilus, I have noticed the following:

1. I am able to more clearly see a dot that can be used for rotation. That can be in the opponent's body, my body or in the space. See this article for more detail. When I watch Master Chen Zhonghua push hands videos, I can see this dot in his actions.
2. I am able to engage my waist more. During push hands, the setup I previously talked about must include the engagement of the waist.  Unless the setup is there, don't do the actual move. However, the process of learning this does require repeated attempts to locate the moment when the setup is done, since I don't know what it means to be "the setup is there" previously.
3. During push hands, I need to remind myself about maintaining a fixed dot in my body during the setup process. Recently, I notice that I am not doing that as much as I focus on point 1 above.

https://youtu.be/-cJO0BsmCSM

Dot in space

Master Chen Zhonghua has demonstrated numerous times of having a fixed point (dot) for rotation in his action. Recently, I start to understand the pair of contacting points which can be used to create a stick/lever. I have been able to rotate an opponent using a dot in the middle of the stick. Today, I realize this dot can, in fact, be in space, and not necessarily in the opponent's body. It depends on how I contact the opponent, e.g. which body parts I use to create the stick. This kind of rotation is vertical, and can take the bottom support out from the opponent.

Update on June 18, 2016:
Today, related to this idea, I found myself using a stick created by my opponent on my body trying to do a move on me. The move he was trying was with his right arm across my chest and his right leg behind my left leg to flip me backwards. Between the contact point on my chest and the contact point behind my left thigh, a stick was formed. If I considered this stick with a third point on his body where he powered up, a triangle (a plane) was formed. I was able to rotate the dot in the middle of the stick between the two contact points, and flipped him forward.

Update on June 20, 2016:
I discovered there was yet another triangle. With the stick being one side of the triangle, I can have a point of another triangle at my waist/dantian. When I rotate my waist, I rotate the stick. This should be the concept of a fork as documented in my notes back in 2010: http://ktaiji.blogspot.ca/2011/01/private-lesson-with-master-chen.html
Related:
What's the dot?

Experience in Pushing Hands

I was pushing hands with my taiji brother today. I always felt that this taiji brother was strong, he normally did not use it, but when he did, I had a lot of trouble dealing with it. Today, he was trying to put his front leg between my legs to do a throw. I felt a strong sweep from his leg to my front leg. I held my structure fairly upright, then he fell forward two metres away. He tried a second time with the same move, this time he fell forward since I twisted him but in the opposite direction.  I didn't know what I really did, it happened fairly quickly. Both times I was able to remain standing in the same place.  I realized for things like this to happen, he needed to be committed for his move, and used a lot of power while I spent a lot of effort maintaining my structure. Because of that, a lot of potential energy was created like pulling a bow back, and the fall was triggered by the release.

Reaching 18,000 yilus

On Apr. 22, 2016, I reach 18,000 yilus.  From 17,000 to 18,000 yilus, I have noticed the following:

1. During push hands, I am starting to experience that opponent's power either stays in front of me or I can let go past me from either side by keep a dot in me not moving. It is as if they are touching the surface and not the centre.
2. I am also able to explain things based on separation of yin and yang or rotation. It is like I can see that pattern in various ways.
3. During push hands, I am focusing on the the setup. When I can get that setup, both the opponent and I will know that moment and the opponent suddenly collapses and falls straight down. That fall will need no power, just a poke. However, before that moment, a lot of effort is put into maintaining my structure and sneaking myself into the target position.