Recently in Chen style Category
Master Li focused on the very beginning of the form (Chen Style Old Fome, First Road) tonight. In doing so, he had a couple of interesting lessons for us.
He made us realize that there is no one "correct" form - it so very much depends on the individual, and how he or she manifests the internal/spiritual energy in his or her moves. He said: "I teach you something when you are a beginner, then for the same posture I make it look different when you are an intermediate student, and then I might make you let go of that form completely and do it differently when you're advanced." The form does not matter all that much. In fact, when you are a beginner, the form is taught so that you have something to practice to and hold on to. But each person is unique, and the way they manifest the energy could be different from the others. The form taught in a class is just a sample of what makes sense to an average student. You as a student have to recognize your own way of doing the same move and your own personal style.
What matters is the fundamentals and roots. The connection with the energy, and keeping the balance with the ground. How that is demonstrated is a matter of personal style. He spent some time showing some details [which I had never noticed before] in some of the very basic moves, and how there are spiral moves built into them, usually unnoticed in the overall forms, to connect the movement to the source of Chi (Dantian) and how to make the whole body rooted in the ground, hence keeping the balance (I sometimes feel proud of calling this blog infinite spirals!)
The second interesting teaching of tonight was focusing on the opening/commencing. Instead of keeping the hands loose, he made us stretch the hands and then keep them stretched and at the same distance from the body as we're opening for the form. It was an interesting feeling of energy. The point was to make us understand that one should mentally stretch the hands. Even if your hands are relaxed and "inward" a little bit, mentally the hands are out there, meaning that you're expanded. Your body expands beyond the physical self.
He explained that the best meditation to make the spiritual energy active is the "still" meditation, but it's too hard because it gets boring and tiring. You stand in the "still standing meditation" for ten minutes and your muscles hurt and you get bored. So you do not continue. The next best thing is moving meditation, of which Taiji is an example, where you are moving but your mind focuses on extending the energy beyond your body. Because it's moving, you have more room to avoid being bored and being tired, and therefore you can continue it for a longer time.
He made us realize that there is no one "correct" form - it so very much depends on the individual, and how he or she manifests the internal/spiritual energy in his or her moves. He said: "I teach you something when you are a beginner, then for the same posture I make it look different when you are an intermediate student, and then I might make you let go of that form completely and do it differently when you're advanced." The form does not matter all that much. In fact, when you are a beginner, the form is taught so that you have something to practice to and hold on to. But each person is unique, and the way they manifest the energy could be different from the others. The form taught in a class is just a sample of what makes sense to an average student. You as a student have to recognize your own way of doing the same move and your own personal style.
What matters is the fundamentals and roots. The connection with the energy, and keeping the balance with the ground. How that is demonstrated is a matter of personal style. He spent some time showing some details [which I had never noticed before] in some of the very basic moves, and how there are spiral moves built into them, usually unnoticed in the overall forms, to connect the movement to the source of Chi (Dantian) and how to make the whole body rooted in the ground, hence keeping the balance (I sometimes feel proud of calling this blog infinite spirals!)
The second interesting teaching of tonight was focusing on the opening/commencing. Instead of keeping the hands loose, he made us stretch the hands and then keep them stretched and at the same distance from the body as we're opening for the form. It was an interesting feeling of energy. The point was to make us understand that one should mentally stretch the hands. Even if your hands are relaxed and "inward" a little bit, mentally the hands are out there, meaning that you're expanded. Your body expands beyond the physical self.
He explained that the best meditation to make the spiritual energy active is the "still" meditation, but it's too hard because it gets boring and tiring. You stand in the "still standing meditation" for ten minutes and your muscles hurt and you get bored. So you do not continue. The next best thing is moving meditation, of which Taiji is an example, where you are moving but your mind focuses on extending the energy beyond your body. Because it's moving, you have more room to avoid being bored and being tired, and therefore you can continue it for a longer time.
This is so cute! I ran across this video while searching for school stuff - I should ask master Li who the girl is. She must be a very good student - it's hard to find kids who actually "listen" at that age - and I particularly love the way she hits the fist and leg so seriously :-)
Update: I asked Master Li - this is his daughter, taking a Taiji class for the first time!
Update: I asked Master Li - this is his daughter, taking a Taiji class for the first time!
Our school had a demonstration last week, which unfortunately I could not attend. Master Li prepared this video to show how attendees should coordinate with music and also how to end the demo, which is about a third into the Chen style old form first road:
Wow. Imagine this kid thirty years from now - how good will he be then?
Practicing Taiji - specially Chen style - as well as slik reeling exercises requires a great deal of strength and flexibility in legs, hip joints and knees. Most of the exercises involve sitting low in a horse stance, shifting the weight from one side to the other in continuous spiral movements. There's also more of transitioning into empty stance from different low-height postures in Chen style.
Standing meditation helps a lot, and should be practiced in different forms. Horse stance and one-leg standing meditations would increase the strength of the muscles and joints.
Standing meditation helps a lot, and should be practiced in different forms. Horse stance and one-leg standing meditations would increase the strength of the muscles and joints.
While there are many books out there about Taiji in general and the simplified forms in particular, one cannot easily find books on older and longer forms such as Chen style old form. I ran across Old Frame Chen Family Taijiquan at a local bookstore, and found it pretty interesting.The book has some good introductory material about the history and foundations, and then describes the form posture by posture. Again, like DVDs, it's not supposed to be used as a self-teaching tool - one needs a a good teacher to work with. But it's a good reference when you're trying to figure out the details of a certain move you saw in the class.
The typesetting of the book told me that it was done by a TEX-like software, which brings out some nostalgic feelings in me being a computer geek and all. So that made me like the book even more :-)
The author, Mark Chen, seems to have a Taiji school in San Mateo area. Hopefully one of these days I should pay him and his school a visit, both to see how the school looks like, and also thank him for the book. Writing a book on a subject like this is not an easy task, and I'l sure it's taken him quite a lot of time and energy to get it done.
One of the good things about learning the Chen style for me is that I can go back and think more about how I'm doing the movements in Yang style. So for example, my 24-step movements are now rounder and more curvy. This is something that a couple of teachers told me at different points in time, and now I'm experiencing it first hand. Here is another demonstration of the 24-step by Su Renfeng - you can see how round and smooth the movements are:
The foundation of Chen taiji is built through a special form of Qigong, called Silk reeling on Chan Si Gong. Silk Reeling is a set of standing movements (I have seen a couple of "steps" also, but for the most part like many other forms of Qigong the form is done standing in one place) focusing on rotating the Dantian.
One of the key, basic moves is in fact placing both hands below stomach, on where Daintian would be (Dantian is the center of the body both vertically and horizontally, so the actual Dantian is inside the body) and rub it in spiral moves (some time in each direction). There are other moves in which you would move one hand in spirals, like the cloud-hands moves, and then two hands, and so on and so forth. In fact, these are the basis of most of the spiral moves in the form. The fact is that cloud-hands is built using these moves, so no wonder they do look like cloud hands!
There are also certain moves designed to stimulate the flow of energy by opening and closing certain muscles and areas around the Dantian, such as ribs.
Master Li says learning the form (such as the Chen routine) is relatively easy and can be done in no time. The real focus of a student should be on building the foundations using silk reeling exercises. Feeling Dantian and being able to control the muscles to rotate it is what takes time, practice, concentration, and patience.
One of the key, basic moves is in fact placing both hands below stomach, on where Daintian would be (Dantian is the center of the body both vertically and horizontally, so the actual Dantian is inside the body) and rub it in spiral moves (some time in each direction). There are other moves in which you would move one hand in spirals, like the cloud-hands moves, and then two hands, and so on and so forth. In fact, these are the basis of most of the spiral moves in the form. The fact is that cloud-hands is built using these moves, so no wonder they do look like cloud hands!
There are also certain moves designed to stimulate the flow of energy by opening and closing certain muscles and areas around the Dantian, such as ribs.
Master Li says learning the form (such as the Chen routine) is relatively easy and can be done in no time. The real focus of a student should be on building the foundations using silk reeling exercises. Feeling Dantian and being able to control the muscles to rotate it is what takes time, practice, concentration, and patience.
I'm seeing many differences between Chen and Yang styles, but one that is really amazing and probably very fundamental is the spiral movements in Chen style Taiji. All Taiji styles emphasize the internal energy and how the energy - and therefore the movement - is generated from Dantian or the center of the body. But Chen style's use of Dantian is more expressed - through Dantian rotation and expressing this rotation in pretty much every movement of the routine. Master Li says that the first road of the old Chen routine is all about bigger spiral movements to train the student in getting the hang of these "rotational" connections. So you're constantly rotating different parts of the body in conjunction with rotations in Dantian muscles. To be more accurate, it's the Dantian rotation that results in rotation of hands or legs, etc.
Some of the spiral moves are obvious (and by obvious I mean "can be seen easily"). But the more you look at a good performance, the more you spiral moves. More and more spirals are built into the transitions from each posture to the next. At times your body is doing three different spiral moves in three different directions - one by hands, on by the waist, and one by the knees. It'll take a lot to make this second nature, so that one does not have to think about it. If one thinks about it, one will fail in doing the real, connected move. As the Samurai guy in Tom Cruise's Last Samurai said: "Too many mind" :-)
The perfect move is the one with no mind.
Some of the spiral moves are obvious (and by obvious I mean "can be seen easily"). But the more you look at a good performance, the more you spiral moves. More and more spirals are built into the transitions from each posture to the next. At times your body is doing three different spiral moves in three different directions - one by hands, on by the waist, and one by the knees. It'll take a lot to make this second nature, so that one does not have to think about it. If one thinks about it, one will fail in doing the real, connected move. As the Samurai guy in Tom Cruise's Last Samurai said: "Too many mind" :-)
The perfect move is the one with no mind.
I managed to visit a few Taiji schools in the area and spend some time at each. There are a lot of good schools and teachers here. I finally decided to stay with Li's Tai Chi & Kung Fu Academy in Cupertino. Master Shu Dong Li is very professional and very serious about Taiji, and focuses a lot on the internal energy and the foundations in addition to the forms. The students are pretty advanced, and most of them are Chinese, which is another good sign. I have been to the school for a second "trial" session and it's obvious to me that Taiji - specially the Chen style - is a very serious thing here, which is what I've been looking for. The school itself is a large and professional facility.
Master Li has DVDs showing the forms along with step by step instructions, and I can tell you seeing different tapes/DVDs from different teachers they are of very good quality in terms of content. I regularly use my Chen Style Old Form First Road as a learning aid. Obviously tapes and DVDs are not to be used as the sole means of learning, but a helpful tool to complement the actual class.
Some other good schools/teachers in the area:
Hong Dao Wushu Academy
Academi of Tai Chi
Wu (Hao) Tai Chi Foundation
Taijiquan Tutelage of Palo Alto (Yang Cheng-Fu style)
Master Li has DVDs showing the forms along with step by step instructions, and I can tell you seeing different tapes/DVDs from different teachers they are of very good quality in terms of content. I regularly use my Chen Style Old Form First Road as a learning aid. Obviously tapes and DVDs are not to be used as the sole means of learning, but a helpful tool to complement the actual class.
Some other good schools/teachers in the area:
Hong Dao Wushu Academy
Academi of Tai Chi
Wu (Hao) Tai Chi Foundation
Taijiquan Tutelage of Palo Alto (Yang Cheng-Fu style)
