Starting Again

For quite sometime, due to heavy school commitments, I have cut down on my taiji training. It is time to start again. I have decided to do a shorter but no less fun and exciting sequence that i have finish learning which is Sun style. It takes only a little more than 10 minutes if you do at a normal speed to complete the whole sequence.
The sequence is compact and mobile. The footsteps are light and nimble and the whole sequence is actually quite well designed and fun to do.

As of now, my footsteps are rateher clumsy and i feel like a klutz. Hopefully, after some practice, I can streamline them and aquire the footsteps required of an internal martial artist, the footsteps of feathers like roots.

Don't understand...

Today, I posed to questions to my teacher:

1. What is the difference between someone who sinks(say his arm) and someone whose arm is heavy?

Ans: To sink is to let one's elbow drop, whole arm relax. Heavy is when you purposely use muscle power to press down.

2. How do you peng(ward off) or sustain the "balloon" between your arm and body without using your arm muscle power?

Ans: To actually make space between your body and arms by rearranging your body and kua and butt structure slightly, before shifting back when someone pushes.

But seriously, I still don't really get it. How do you maintain a structure without using muscle power and resisting?

Then my teacher say,"Not so fast one lah."

So back to practice!!!

New year, new taichi!

Hello everyone, happy new year!!!
First push hands practice this new year!
Had new insights!!


Today's push hands session was great! Pushed with a grand total of 2 partners and both taught me many things. If I could only remember some of them.....

Anyway, in the day's push hand session, while pushing with the first guy, I decided close my eyes for a while and lo and behold! The world changed. I could feel his force quite clearly, the intention. The sticking to the force as close as possible when he attacks. As long as i concentrate on his force and try to stick with it, forestall it, i must always be in front of it, following it, directing its motion becomes much easier. However, sometimes this part of whose intention is in front becomes blurred and we seem to be at the same pace. That's where the problem comes in and it is an open game for both of us. Sometimes, when i am chasing him, it is almost end game for me.

As last semester's school result was bad, i am cutting some slack on classes and thus practice. So hope results get better this semester and i can catch up with practice the next half of the year!


New year, new taiji, starting from beginning, learn humbly, lose humbly!

Second Thoughts in Taiji

Recently, after a taking a break from taiji push hands due to my examinations, it seemed i have forgotten much of my taiji push hands(my form seemed to have improved though). And at the same time, it has also brought to surface somee fundamental problems that i have neglected for the past one year.

From what i gather, i think most of the time, i have been making use of ppls mistakes in push hands rather than having cultivated a good form myself. It seems, my basics in my form is still rather weak. The problems it seems, still boils down to my peng(ward off) being too weak, backside turns as i move back and front, not using the kua and waist to turn. All very basic stuff. But after a long time, i still can't get it!! Not even a bit of it! Back to square one where i started from. How is this posssible????

After a year, it seems i still don't understand how when the legs move, the power is transferred to the arms. Arms kept relaxed, how does the power from the legs get transferred to the waist and the arms?? If u want to exert a force on something, you would have to tense some muscles somewhere right, and people call that resisting.

If your move the waist and the kua, isn't that saying to use the muscles of your waist and back? Even so, you can move your waist wherever you like, as long as your hands are not stiff like wood, how is the movement in your waist and kua going to be transferred to your hands? It does not make sense. The only thing that makes sense is to not resist your opponent with your main body, ie legs, torso area because that is usually where the force is directed.

Today, after pushing hands with my teacher today, more of my doubts were raised. As i pushed hands with him today, i realised that he din really use my own force against me. And i also din really feel the fall into emptiness kind of thing. But that maybe because when i felt he was pulling me somewhere, i relaxed quite quickly. But that can be said as throwing (diu) right, not sticking. When he pushed in, it seemed that it was also quite hard, no matter how i twisted and turned, he simply twisted and turned in. Actually i thought he could just come straight in, he is strong enough for that, no need to waste time. I mean there was much resistance as i pushed with him. Some say it is because i was the one resisting. But one can only feel resistance if both are resisting together right? so how can this be true???? Sometimes, like his hand is already in front of my chest and i used brute force to pull it away, but somehow i can't, it is very hard, almost stiff like stone. How does he maintain that anyway??

Sigh........ confused........have i been wasting my time this 1 year? Where is the promised softness to overcome hardness and stuff? Or is this all also part of taiji?

Books and training

A few weeks ago, I was just browsing through my school library and found a compendium of Shaolin martial arts. It is consists of 2 volumes, a few hundred pages each, containing numerous Shaolin training methods and pictures, detailing carefully every step to mastering the skills listed. I thought this was quite incredible and wondered if it was possibe that my school library had any classic taichi books since it has a long history itself.

And to my delight! I found Dong Yin Jie's Taijiquan shiyi!!!! Yes! That book which I had been looking for for so many months!! It was the 5th edition, printed in 1965! It had been kept in some other closed section of the library for preservation I suppose, but they still allowed people to borrow it! Incredible! It looked as good as new, with only 2 other people having borrowed it before me. That was not all it had. If I did not see wrongly on the screen, I think they even had the 2 books written by Yang Cheng Fu, the 1949 book by Chen Yanlin, books by Gu Liu Xin, Hao Shao Ru, Fu Zhong Wen, Chen Wei Ming and many others! And that only lists those avaible on Taijiquan!

It's been quite barren lately on my side of new understandings so I'll just talk about something I read the other day at Kinokuniya, Steal My Art by Olsen. It is actually a book about T.T Liang. In it were many interesting stories about TT Liang, like how he used to behave, his ups and downs with Zheng Manqing, his teachings etc. I especially remember one story where someone, I think it was Zhang Qin Lin, who told him(TT Liang) about a recluse with great skill, who lived on a hill. I think he was a student of either Yang Jian Hou, Ban Hou or Shao Hou.

Anyway, after getting the address of the recluse's wife from Zhang, Liang set out in search of her and sent her many gifts to get the address of the recluse. Finaly getting the address, he went to look for the recluse. When he arrived, he saw the recluse pounding something with a mortar and a young boy greeted him with tea. After trying numerous ways, he finally managed to get the recluse to talk. The recluse told Liang to stand in the position of Grasp the Sparrow's Tail, or was it Single whip? Anyway, a position that required a bow stance. The recluse felt the calf muscle of Liang's front leg, it was hard. The recluse laughed, saying, "Wood!". And that Liang's teacher had taught him wood taichi. Next, the recluse stood in Golden Cock Standing on One Leg and told Liang to feel his calf, Liang felt and its was soft. Liang finally figured that this is the result and true meaning of relaxing and using mind intent. Liang continued learning from the recluse until the recluse chased him away 6 months later. When he went back to his teacher, Zheng, he repeated the experiment with Zheng, felt Zheng's calf and shouted wood too!

Pushing Hands- eye, touch; pushing into form

Its been three weeks since my last post and I feel I have gained much.

Within these 3 weeks, I have spent my time doing push hands slowly, watching, reading, observing, feeling, thinking.


Push Hands Slowly:
Doing push hands slowly, I get the opportunity to really feel the change in jin, force, centre of gravity, think of a plan, a course of action, make mistakes, try out new ideas, keep myself relaxed(song) and stuff. I really have to thank one of my fellow classmates for this! Each time I push hands with him, we continue non-stop, feeling for opportunities and testing out stuff for about an hour! It is really really fun!

Watching:
Watching videos mainly on the Wu style push hands of Ma Yue Liang, Ma Jiang Bao and Wang Pei Sheng.
Realising that if we can get the point of resistance of the opponent, we can use it, usually with a peng or a neutralisation, to "force" the opponent to move in a certain dirction.
The peng that you deliver need not even be in the direction of the the place where you want him to fall to. Remembering that you have to stick to the opponent first.
In sticking, I do not mean sticking to the hand of the opponent but sticking to the centre of gravity of the person. Only by finding and sticking to the centre of gravity of the person, can you control the person's balance and movement. And this centre of gravity only appears if the person resists. So, you can also say sticking to the resistance of the opponent. following where it goes so you don't lose sight of his CG. If he does not resist, his centre of gravity cannot be found, and cannot be caught or stuck onto. However, in saying do not resist, I do not mean collapsing your hand/peng structure. If the structure is collapsed, the opportunity opens for a push straight into the body, which is the location of the centre of gravity, which of course would deal terrible damage.

Ma Yue Liang
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8784247348094164056&q=taiji+push+hands

Ma Yueh Liang and Ma Jiangbao http://www.dragonslist.com/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1048

Ma Jiangbao with students http://www.dragonslist.com/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1045 http://www.dragonslist.com/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1046 http://www.dragonslist.com/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1047

Wang Pei Sheng:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYZ5tk_NlaY


Reading:
Reading up on Yamada Senta's book: Principles of Aikido. Realising that there are many similarities between aikido and taiji. Aikido feels for the opponent's ki and goes by unbalancing him. Taiji goes by listening for the opponent's jin and goes by unbalancing him and maybe fa/expel/push him off(whatever you call it but no english word can quite compare to fa) . Aikido has following step, like in Sun style and Xingyi. And it uses numerous circular movements just like taiji. But one difference is that in aikido, the curriculum is quite well-defined for example like they state very clearly in how many ways a person can be unbalanced and stuff. While in taiji, you sort of just learn this either through your master by mouth or through practice and experience. One thing I gained from the book is that i learnt that(or was reminded that)it is quite easy to unbalance a person if I really take notice of how he is standing, his leg placements, his hand placements, which part of the body I can use and stuff.

Observing:
To me, using the eyes is very important. I don't know about the masters, but the eyes contribute quite largely to my skill in push hands. Observing my partner's body movements while pushing hands. Seeing how and when opportunities appear, seeing when he is vulnerable. Where to push him to such that it is easy for him to lose balance and difficult for him to save himself. Usually I realise that the time when his peng structure is collapsed is the time when I should enter, "chase in withoiut leaving a gap".
One easy thing to look for I find is the colapse of theelbows or arms being too close to the chest. But for this, you must always look out for a possible trick where he uses his body to neutralise as a whole.
Another easy thing to look out for is the position of his legs. Example, in a bow stance, if you are trying to push him to unbalance him backwards, it is always easier to unbalance him in the direction where "there is no leg" as my teacher always says.
Next, the inclination of the opponent's body is also another thing to go by. For example, if the opponent body is inclined to the left in a bow stance, just push his shoulder down to the left and he goes down easily. If he resists too strongly and tries to tip back up straight, you may just push him furhter left or instead use his momentum and push him over to the right, depending on what you feel is easier(meaning which case the situation permits).
Another thing to go by is by how far the person comes into your territory. If his upper body comes too far in(usually when he is executing a push, elbow or lean), it is easy to pull him toward your left rear
or right rear, depending which side is easier for you or which "empty" side you have created for him.
Sometimes, when the opponent is standing too straight or not sitting into the kua, or has his hands raised too high, it is easy to uproot him by delivering a push(peng jin) to his hands or the top part of his body, or under his armpit. Usually, these natural "creases" in the body like the elbows, shoulders, knees, waists all aid in sticking and uprooting as they are difficult situations to get out off.

Feeling:
The feeling part is very closely tied to the other parts. I guess I have mentioned quite a lot about it in the other sections. But it is really about feeling to find the opponent's resistances and weakness and reacting immediately. Usually when I am feeling, I find I don't feel quite deep enough and don't react fast enough. Sometimes I feel the resistance of the opponent but can't catch onto it in time and so I lose many opportunities rather easily. Sometimes, like during single hand push hands, it is not much roll back(lu) as in ward off(peng). Like when he is pushing, you should be warding off and not rolling back. Because rolling back too early only brings the push closer to you if not done properly. If he so decides to change to a peng/ward off then it is end of story for you. Also, if rolling back is done too much, it brings the opponent closer to you(which if he decides to take a step in and do a peng, could easily unbalance you) while also sealing off your path to do the push. However, I have to admit that there is still much more to be desired from me in the feeling department.

Thinking:
Assimilating all I have learnt, I find more often than not, it is a play of keeping your own balance, own centre of gravity from your opponent, making sure that all is properly relaxed, when executing a movement, prepare mentally for the backup step if this fails. Knowing where are your weakness and concealing them, by opening up an empty space which acts as a trap for him to enter and at the same time, thinking of a backup plan or course of action if this fails. So knowing yourself and your opponent is important. While pushing think constantly to find new ways to unbalance the person while observing, thinking of new ways to uproot the person from different directions. Thinking about hand placements, where is good to put, where might provide more leverage. How should you push, which direction to take. Where to move, carefully noting to keep all movements round(with peng) and taking into account your own situations and weaknesses. Taking into account his situation and weaknesses, if there is no opportunity, think of how to create one, how to lure him into a trap. Sometimes, as my teacher always says, fan the east, attack the west. From looking at how he pushes, this seems really useful in people who like to push quite hard.

Lastly, I leave you with a video of a certain Mdm Yue who does a nice Chen form, with similar body movements(shen fa) to my teacher, though they live miles and miles apart. If anyone happens to have any information on this Mdm Yue, like where she learns from and where can i find out more about her, please tell me, just leave a comment! Thanks a million!

Madam Yue:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0LzwnvTcO8

Improvements, performances, relaxation, challenges and skill

Today during tai chi lesson, as usual, with my "pulling cloth" technique, I was the last to finish my form again. Luckily the assistant coach has not been around for the last 2 weeks, which left me going through my form in peace without any disruptions. I know he corrects my form for good reasons but I still like to go through my whole form undisrupted! Furthermore, every correction just leaves me with terribly aching muscles and taking an even longer time to finish the form....ha, I just hate it! But.....

This pulling cloth technique is really fun, after every round of doing the taiji form, my body would feel terribly hot, arms, legs, back, and all. It is really amazing! And you just feel a whole lot calmer after the whole thing.

But.....going through the cloth technique left me forgetting my footwork, the shifting of weight, the empty and full feet etc... Why does this kind of thing keep happening???
This is not only frustrating but also really dangerous as I do the Yang style with low stances, and not changing from full to empty leg, meaning when I am supposed to change, like in Cloud Hands, the leg which is supposed to be empty is all stiffed up, muscles and all! And when I bring such a leg in in mid air, I can actually hear the crackling of bones and feel the movements of the tendons across my knee, which is actually bad for the leg and knee. Just relax it when you are supposed to and all will be fine....

Recently, my teacher was commenting on how he managed to perfect the many nuances in the Yang style taichi form. He said that when he was still learning taichi, they had to do many performances in restaurants and hotels, and so their teacher would correct their form to every last detail such that it would look good. He said that while performing, he had seen people holding their chopsticks in the air, stopping short of picking up the vegetables, while their eyes were riveted to the performance! I was like wow, I thought "watching a taichi performance is like watching the grass grow(quoted from Tung Hu Ling)".

Speaking of Tung Hu Ling, there is this coloured picture of him which just looks really great! The "look" (气势) is just great

The other day, I was thinking of joining my schools' taichi club to find more push hands partners. However, on the first day, after I introduced myself to them and told them who I learn under, I was already pushing hands with his assistant coach. The first thing they told me to do was to shorten my stance, which left me handicap as the skill of my stance is much better than the skill of my Ward Off(peng). So needless to say, they had me pushed all around the house....Damn! And the teacher there kept criticising not only me but also my teacher......I smelled a gunpowder!
Upon questioning my teacher, I found out that the upper generation had a vendetta.....A case of the upper generations fueds affecting the lower generation......How like the good old days of China........So that would mean I have disgraced my teacher...Damn again!!

Oh yeah, just this morning, I was just surfing around and found an interesting account of a fight between a taichi guy and a Brazillian Jiu-jitsu guy:http://www.netweed.com/lyricalswords/2006/06/ever-wonder-what-happens-when-tai-chi.html

Both ended up impressed with each other's art!