Another Clip of Chen Yu teaching...

Found this clip, watch the action of the waist/hip with this motion!

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Low Stance May Equal Low Kicks... of course, can be more, too...

This is one of my favorite moves, and also difficult for me. One of my classmates, practices this cool move that drops into a hurdler's split then pops back up into the next motion. I asked Shifu what was the rationale for the low stance and he proceeded to show me a bunch of different low line kicks and attacks that would impact upon the ankle and support limb of an opponent. I'd never considered or thought of attacking like that in such a manner before. To me, it was very much an eye opener and gives me more ambition to stretch and try to develop the skill to hit that low stance better and maybe even try that hurdler's stretch position one day.

Addition of a Step... Maybe Helps in Understanding Application

I asked Shifu about the motion leading into this position in class for clarification. Shifu explained the sometimes the way we practice the form, a given motion my be just to focus on the intention of a movement; however, if we break it down and then perhaps add in a step, as we conclude into a given position the meaning may become more clear.

Shifu always tells us that as we practice the form, first we focus on our bodies, making sure we know how to get into a given movement correctly and that we have good alignment making our stances strong, and the body strong and healthy without stressing any of our joints. THEN the next step would be to begin examining more closely the meaning of a given motion. If the motion isn't clear, then sometimes having a meaning to a given motion helps us into the sequence a bit better.

One of the ways in which we can practice our basics is to repeat a given motion over and over. One way is to practice a step into a motion, over and over. Sometimes we can practice a motion without a step. This way we can use component pieces of the skills we have learned in a different fashion depending upon the variables of fighting.

The Push

The push in the form is generally done about chest height. Shifu explained that we should have the hands in front of our bodies, now, we can rotate the position of our bodies, and our hands will be generally chest height and in front of our chest; however we want to make sure our flow of energy is not uneven or our hands in an awkward position. In application, the direction of the push can be in any direction and any angle, however we still follow the principle of keeping the hands in front of our bodies.

Stepping and Striking

The strike shown above is a two step sequence, the way we do it in class. At the completion of the step, the strike can be a punch, it could be a push, it could be a palm attack. The step used is an interesting motion, and many students get confused by it.

One student asked if the footwork shown was advocating a particular type of attack or entry we could use with push hands. Shifu explained to us that the step interpretation is dependent upon the situation we are caught in at the time. How is our opponent different from us? Is he bigger, taller, shorter, stronger, etc, and what have we done to him or her as we go to apply this motion here. Hence application is always dependent upon relative things in regards to an opponent.

Some students have a prior bias and inclination towards push hands practice. Shifu always encourages us to learn pushhands, but feels that on occasion, it may be unrealistic if the practitioners are pushing and pushing too long, whereas in actual fighting the contact time is generally much shorter; hence, we don't have that 'listening' time before we try to apply a given counter.

A Change in a Year - A Bigger Family

We had an impromptu Saturday lunch/dinner and many of the students of Shifu showed up the other day. There were over 20 of us all together, and smiles and laughter were abound and people were sharing stories, singing was taking place, and we were a large group of people united in common love of Chen Tai Chi and our teacher, Yu Guo Shun.

I remembered last year, we had a similar gathering, but it was a much smaller crowd that was there. It sure pleases me to see all the happy faces that were present. It was neat to meet others we hadn't known before, and it was super cool, to exchange stories, ideas, jokes and a happy time outside of training. I am very grateful to see that Shifu is steadily building up his family of students I am amazed at how very nice and very friendly, without egos affecting the flow of energy in the room.

Is it Chen Tai Chi or is it Shifu that has resulted in such a fine mix of people there? I think it is both, for sure, Shifu is a masterful teacher, and works very hard at sharing his art with us. And it is such a wonderful art, with throws, locks, strikes, kicks, ideals and beautiful effectiveness, and I believe it fills all of us with a greater appreciation of our lives and the potential we all have to grow, improve and be happy.

We have a really awesome group of people in our Kung Fu group that spans ages of kids on up, and everyone there yesterday, I believe is a reflection of Shifu and his devoted teaching. I believe we are all proud of Shifu, and proud to be a part of his Kung Fu family. I feel so blessed to have these friends in my life. Thank you to all of you who attended yesterday. Thank you to all who will come and join us in the future. May Shifu live a super long time, and may we all grow happier and be stronger and better every day, every chance we have a chance to train and get to see one another.

The Thighs of Chen Tai Chi!

A bunch of us were gathered around a table, and we were bemoaning the various aches pains we had gotten over the months we had been training, when one of the guys said, "y'know my thighs have definitely gotten MUCH bigger." Laughing, we all began talking about the sizes of our thighs...

"Well, my right thigh is definitely bigger than my left thigh..."
"Ha! Do you end up walking around in circles?"
"Maybe you should practice sometimes the opposite way, to achieve a better balance?"

There's no question that training in Chen Tai Chi, we have all gotten much stronger, and I think many of us take a perverse delight in the gains we have achieved from our training. I think that is a good thing. For too long the world has gotten the impression that tai chi is but flowery movements meant for health and moving meditation, but when we gather in a group, hopefully the outside world sees a bunch of smiling guys and ladies, with powerful thighs... and hopefully, for just a brief moment they take pause... and just maybe, one or two of them may think to themselves..."wow! Those people look strong, and they look like they are doing tai chi, and they are sweating, and they sure look like they are having an awesome time!"

Usually folks think about smaller guts, rounder butts, a bigger chest when they work out. I know my friends and I, we're proud of our Chen Tai Chi thighs! : )

Knee Strikes and Applications

It was a funny moment. I was trying to ask my senior in class to show me something, and Shifu overheard me. "What is the problem?" "Nothing, Shifu, I just wanted to see something." "What did you want to see?" lol... well, I got a whole explanation again, lol, not that I ever did get a chance to see what I was originally looking for... ; )

Shifu chastised me for forgetting that our intention would dictate how we were moving or aligning our hands in preparation for the knee strike. He demonstrated to me, how if I were applying a technique off of the L side, or the L arm, how we would move, and how it would look... then, he should me a different technique on the R side of the opponent. He explained... if you understand a technique from the Left, you should understand a technique from the Right.

As we were working the technique, I found myself quickly fatiguing and unable to move my knee as I wanted to without a lot of effort. This clearly goes to point out my lack of core strength and need to practice more raising my knee up to more easily execute the technique. For this week, that will be my assignment.

Funny how our head position can change everything else...

I was asking Shifu yesterday about the above positioning as I was not sure of the intention and correct alignment. Shifu explained that the Left side shoulder/elbow, knee and foot form one straight line, in order that we are in the best optimal position. Our gaze is immediately to the front of the left foot. In this way, the right upper back/lower right shoulder position has correct energy and stability in the position. IF we were to raise our head up, or turn towards the R elbow, that energy in the upper back/lower right shoulder is lost.

For application, we did a pulling action with the R hand, as the L elbow would apply a greater force to torque or strike an opponent's limb.

Advice for Practice

As we were practicing in class yesterday, Shifu suggested the following: As you get tired, it is ok for your stance to go a little higher; however, your arms and body shoule not get tired so, try to make sure that your upper body and hands are in the correct position. Shifu strongly recommends that in class, when the mirrors are available to be sure to check one's positioning during the forms.

Shifu made a point of going over the correct foot positioning and explained that: "imagine your feet as grabbing or gripping the floor. This way you will have a firm foundation with your legs/knees/ ankles correctly positioned so you are strong and not likely to injure yourself while training."

As always, Shifu was full of useful advice for us trying to improve.

Shifu Demonstrating at Tournament

It's a shame that there is an idiot camera man floating around like that, but still we can get the flavor of Shifu's Chen forms in the demo. I know for sure that was an impromptu kind of thing.

Shifu is so precise, his movements are all accurate and detailed like no one else's i've seen.

Hope you all enjoy.