He said all Tai Chi is not "natural"!

 Master Stephen Hwa “half body turning” at Fausts USA Karate, while Karate class stretches. Master Hwa taught Classical Tai Chi at Fausts. 

 

Half Body Turning at Seminar 

YouTube video

 

Mr. E.H.,  commented on the YouTube video, essentially saying only his Wu Tai Chi is correct and all other styles, including other Wu are wrong:

 

"In Wu Tai Chi, the movement starts with the hand. The elbow follows the hand. Shoulder follows elbow. Hip follows shoulder. Foot follows hip. That is the way of natural movement. Chen's Style is wrong. Yang is wrong. Wu Style Tai Chi taught with hands following the feet is also wrong."

 

Sifu Jim Roach said: Sir, your statement is comparable to hitting a bell with a rather large stone and making a lengthy sound, so my response is appropriately enormous.

 

Thank you for the comment. I see that you are a student/teacher in a "branch" of the Wu Tai Chi style; I am as well. I was also a student in another "branch" for many years. I was in that branch for most of the 1990s, directly under Wu Kwong Yu (Eddie). Students are told to "turn the hip" instead of "turning the waist." However, they "start the movement with the hand" instead of "mobilizing the hands or other extremities from the waist."

 

One "branch" within the Wu Style also raises its arms very high above its head and starts  such "hand movement"; Classical Wu Tai Chi does not do this. I will not argue the point from the perspective that one is right while the other is wrong; I would have my work cut out for me in doing so.

 

However, you imply that if something is natural, e.g., "natural movement," then it is somehow good, thus suggesting that what is unnatural, e.g., "unnatural movement," is terrible. This characterization of "natural" presents many problems. Even if we agree that some things are natural and some are not, what follows? Nothing.

In other words, I do not see facts presented to support that what is "natural" movement is good (right) and what is, by implication, "unnatural" is bad (wrong).

Do you state that "movement starting with the hand" is valid to the extent that all other schools are wrong? You say some schools, even within the same Style (Wu in this case), will start the "six harmonies" ( 1)hand follows 2) foot, 3) elbow follows 4) knee, 5) shoulder follows 6) hip by using the hand first. In this case, I see you are from the "Wu" school. You also do not mention using the core, the "hands" connection to the core, the feet, the elbows, etc.

 

Stating about the "six harmonies" being "wrong" as presented herein as Classical Wu Style is not sound. Simply stating the premise that "movement" is "wrong" because it is not "natural" does not make or present facts to make it "wrong."

There are, however, certain observable things that one can take note of: Here, in Classical Wu Tai Chi, the movement does not start with the hand; it begins with the waist. In using the hand to begin first, one uses an extremity of the body. Whether in Classical Tai Chi or any Tai Chi, it initially reduces or drains off some of the power of the movement, as the action is not connected to the core.

 

Tennis players, baseball players, golfers, etc., use an external action first with the arms/hands, then it is connected to the core, presumably for power, once the arc of the swing reaches the proximity of the core. However, using the hands/arms first does not mobilize the body's core effectively before the fact, for the core itself should be used to mobilize the hands, arms, and legs. 

After all, we are talking about Tai Chi for health and martial purposes, not baseball. *Hand and arm movements in and of themselves are abstract; when not connected to the core of the body, they lack strength and cannot move in a relaxed manner. Excessive hand and arm movements in Tai Chi make hand and arm movements merely extraneous.

 

*Using the hand first and thus allowing the arms to move independently of the core, you compromise the movement and diffuse the neuromuscular signals for the body's core even to respond.

 

*Using the hand first, you place the junction for the delineation of yin and yang (what is moving/ what is not moving) somewhere in the area of the elbows or shoulder.

 

*Using the hand first creates a disconnect right where the shoulder meets the core.

 

*Using the hand first, you are short-circuiting and disrupting the flow of "qi," placing the disruption somewhere in the hand/elbow/shoulder…there is no circuit completion of qi flow through the core to the arm…It only begins in the core when the hand leads the arm, which engages and stretches the shoulder connected to the core.

In other words, it stops and then begins at the shoulder. Qi is also going where Yi goes. After a move from the core, however, the qi should flow to the arms and hands; most internal energy should continue circulating in the torso until needed.

 

*Using the hands first in Tai Chi sounds like how typists and piano players use their hands. As we said, this disrupts the flow of qi between the body and fingers. Using the core first ensures that the localized nerve activity of the hands/arms remains dormant and lets the qi from the body take over. This is a good reason to learn the square form of Classical Tai Chi so that a practitioner can get used to movements with steady arms and hands without localized nerve impulses.

 

Wu Chien Chuan himself told Yeung Wabu: "Every movement in Tai Chi Form has to have two complementary parts of the body, a moving (yang) part and a stationary part (yin). When the Yin-Yang junction is located in the torso of the body, it is an internal move. When it is outside the torso, it is an external move."

 

This is the key to a methodology that enables Tai Chi practitioners to mobilize the body's core for Tai Chi movements to generate internal energy and internal energy circulation. I have done Tai Chi from both sides of the coin, hand first, waist first, and the latter is the most powerful. Try using the waist first and keeping the hand still, and you will see the difference in power generation.

Your Tai Chi is “UNIQUE”

 Click here:  "Hand follows the foot..."

The vast majority of Tai Chi practices, involve torque and shear force dynamics that may affect joint health differently, especially in elderly practitioners.  Classical Tai Chi's "Biomechanics" are uniquely designed to prevent torque and shear force dynamics from injuring the practitioner.

 

 In starting any movement with moving the hands first, and your attention is on your hands and not on your core: *Attention on hands & “folding” as shown in the video, is partially initiated from the hand.  *Start with hands & lower body will not follow upper body’s move. *Start with hands & power gets drained off. ** The Foot/Feet lags behind and forms a twisted structure. Movement is achieved when the turning power comes from the waist and the entire back’s muscles. "Tai Chi Classics" call this "upper and lower body following each other", there is no mention of "start with hand".

The Youtube Video above as a link along with  this transcript from Master Hwa.   The  photo above,  and the following is excerpted from Master Stephen Hwa's comments in a 2011 workshop.  The subject had to do with internal discipline but also delves deeply into body structure and the benefits of practicing.  You will have to link from here to the Youtube video on the subject and can either follow along with what is written here or from the "Description" at the Youtube video itself.  

One of the things that occurred to me as I was editing the video for publication was a new perspective on something I had read in Master Hwa's book, "Uncovering the Treasure".  A golden rule that Master Young gave to Master Hwa was that the knee does not extend over the toe.  It occurred to me that the knee can (incorrectly and harmfully) extend over the toe in more than just the forward direction, it can extend over from a "torque" that Master Hwa speaks of in the video and here.  In other words, it can extend over the side of the toes as well as the front, can it not?  All of that resulting from a thoughtless rotational action on what should really be a simple understandable concept for a healthy stable knee joint.

Sifu James Roach

Workshop 2011, Buffalo State College:

"If you stick to this Classical Tai Chi program there will be a big improvement to the back. This is an important component about the back.  The back will respond to stretching  if you give consistent opportunity to stretch and the lower back will improve.  If you tuck your chin in correctly, you will also stretch your cervical spine as well. So the parts of this stretch are equally important. This may very well work to correct cervical spine problems or such things as a “knot” in the back of the neck.

So as relating to body posture, that is one of the central themes.  In this regard you will be able to have the energy transfer from the neck down to the heel. The energy can flow this circuit without outflowing to the middle of the body, like the lower spine for example.  This will transmit all the force to the ground in one uninterrupted  flow,  it will not be transmitted to just the lower back where it can cause problems. 

The other important body posture is referred to in Tai Chi  as “Hand follows the foot, elbow follows the knee and shoulder follows the hip”. In other words we do not turn by only using  half of the upper body and neglecting to turn the lower.  The turning power has to come from the waist and the entire muscles of the back.  There is a vast majority of Tai Chi schools that do not follow this rule. 

There is a question which has been raised in the past about this rule.  Where do we apply this rule?  Because we also have turning moves as well.  This is relatively easy to see in the form but when you are doing applications with other people, or as in “free form”, when is the rule applied?

I searched the entire form and found there is consistency and explanation actually. It is easy to explain and there are many different levels of explanation for this:  Any movement that you do where you are going to cause a torque (a twisting force that tends to cause rotation) (the danger of which comes from “shear force” a stress which is applied parallel or tangential to a face of something  as in this case a knee or ankle) in the knee or ankle, then you use the rule.   In other words, any time you have the potential for a twisting force that tends to cause rotation, key words twisting force which causes rotation to a knee or ankle.  

This is surprisingly such a simple concept but people are not following it. One of the best examples of this I can use is a golf swing.  Do you see the torque in my knee and ankle?  This why golfers have ankle problems, lots of people have knee problems.  I am not a golfer so I cannot say but certainly if you “hand follow…” the foot out you will not have that problem. Whether you can do that as a golfer or not, I do not know.   However, if you look at our form and in every case, every  instance, it is always following the rule to the letter.  Now if you examine the “half body” turning movement, there is no torque down at the knees or ankles.  So this type of turn is allowed because you see I do not have to turn my foot with it.

Now this is certainly for health viewpoint.  For martial art power viewpoint, it is this way and you have much more power.  More power than the leg lagging behind, in which you are fighting yourself.  The torque force pulls your body backward while you are attempting to turn forward.  

On another level, remember at one time we came back to considerable argument regarding “turning at the waist vs. turning at the hip”.  People have said that “turning at the hip has more power than turning at the waist”.   Well, you see, again that turning at the hip is torqueing your knee and ankle.  WELL, YOU MAY SAY YOU ARE GETTING YOUR OPPONENT ON THE GROUND BUT EVENTUALLY YOU WILL HURT YOURSELF, YOU ARE ALREADY HURTING YOURSELF.

After all, when you learn martial arts, the first principle is that you do not want to hurt yourself.   Otherwise, your opponent can wait just a few years for the damage to set in (laughter).  Somehow not hurting yourself and delivering the power really coincide with each other.   If you don’t hurt yourself, you can deliver more power.   Now there are people, who argued with someone here in the past, now they are very strict…STUDENTS HAVE GOT TO TURN THEIR HIP. 

If you are a young person, you can get away with all kinds of movements for awhile.   You see this in golfers when they are young but when they get older they are really hurting themselves.  Sooner or later this will take its toll."

Master Stephen Hwa

“…too frenetic to learn…”

 

  

Hello,

I am a new student in tai chi, as of June of last year. I studied Karate, and then, due to an auto accident, I decided to begin the journey of tai chi. I could not do the Karate. I had back surgery, and tai chi has helped to strengthen my back. I know it is a long journey, but I would appreciate any advice you would give me.

Thank you in advance for your response. I was a school teacher for 25 years, and during that time, I taught Shotokan Karate for several years. After the accident, it took me the best part of a year to gain mobility; then, I started tai chi by finding a class that someone offered for the back. I took it and found it very helpful.

I found Master Hwa's home page, Classical Tai Chi, on the Internet and was drawn to it immediately. It offers the most in-depth opportunity yet. I watched his videos on the page to take a look and found it excellent.

I am still learning the background of tai chi and still have a long way to go. But I want to find the most credible avenue as I begin this journey. I am 56 years old and want to make this decision I plan to follow for the rest of my life. I read on his website that you are a certified teacher and a senior student. I see you were the first accredited teacher. Can you offer some advice and encouragement? It is not easy, but I want to do this.

Roland

Hi Roland!

A big problem with learning Tai Chi is approaching it with a frantic "I want it now" mentality. I'll tell you the same thing I tell my Tai Chi students. Any decision you make as to whether you continue Tai Chi needs one year. You have found an excellent teacher in Master Stephen Hwa, who teaches Classical Tai Chi.

What is relevant is giving yourself enough time to experience Classical Tai Chi adequately in some depth. There is great depth in Master Hwa's many videos on YouTube. Access them from his website, all 50+ videos. I also recommend his Teachable website, and that address is on his Classical Tai Chi page.

On the other hand, a year is short in terms of a lifetime, and you would have needed to make a GREAT time commitment. There is something good about having a good video where you can watch a movement ten times. I know of no teachers who would repeat something that much in class.

Many Americans approach Tai Chi with a "McDonald's" Mentality. Those students expect Tai Chi to be cheap, fast, and enjoyable, just like a cheeseburger from McDonald's. 

They want it to be affordable, easily accessible, and pleasing to their taste. Unfortunately, this mindset doesn't always align with the principles and goals of Tai Chi, which require patience, dedication, and a commitment to learning and improving over time.

Deciding to stay or go based on less than one year may be doing yourself a disservice. Since you would have needed more time to make an educated decision, you will not be doing yourself any favors by quitting after three months.

I live in California in a rural area. I do hear from people such as yourself and never hear from them again! I also saw people every semester in the schools where I taught Tai Chi who I never saw again after eight weeks. No matter what I say, they undoubtedly feel that they know enough about it to warrant their decision. 

Thinking this is a shabby way to treat oneself! Taking Tai Chi differs from going out and buying anything. "Well, I don't like this after one month, so I'll return it." Tai Chi better meet or exceed my expectations. This thinking is "frenetic"!

As a teacher, I'm sure you understand teaching students who come to class in a "tizzy," as it were. As the famous Tai Chi author Robert W. Smith said: "I grew tired of teaching Tai Chi and simply retired; I found Americans simply too frenetic to teach." 

Roland, don't fulfill what sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy about being too frantic to learn.

Do Classical Tai Chi as Art

Sir Ian McKellen

Ian McKellen adresses a letter from Kurt Vonnegut to a group of students!

Sir Ian McKellen it is said “could make a tire repair manual sound like Shakespeare”! 

Kurt Vonnegut it is said that the “ease with which he writes is sheerly masterly, Mozartian".

“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives.

Make art and in so doing, learn about life, and yourself.”

Hence the importance of practicing any art form, not for money or fame, but to explore and express one's inner self. The question being, how anyone can say that  Mind/Body discipline Classical Tai Chi is not an Art? 

Is Classical Tai Chi Art?

Embracing the statement by Master Stephen Hwa that Classical Tai Chi has to serve 2 purposes: Classical Tai Chi  is considered an art in multiple forms. It has its roots from the Bodyguards and Corps of Imperial Palace Guards of China and accordingly is recognized as a martial art. It is also practiced as a health art, promoting numerous,  scientifically  proven benefits. Additionally, Classical Tai Chi can be seen as even more of a multifaceted art that not only encompasses martial, health, but  philosophical aspects as well.

“Qi”? “What Qi”?

Grandmasters Young, Wabu and Wu Chien Chuan

Master Eddie Wu at Discipleship Ceremony with Sifu Jim Roach

Qi and Internal Energy in Classical Tai Chi

(video on Qi)

Sifu Jim Roach said, Dear Master Hwa, here's my question: This is regarding approximately 7:30 of the video, "...Qi...internal energy..."! In the YouTube video, you state in so many words, "...the qi is something you cannot feel...but you do feel the energy..."! 

I recall both you and Eva stating that you both visited the Taoist Tai Chi studio in Buffalo at their “open house”. If memory serves, I once conversed with Moy Lin Shin in 1976. People may not know that he founded Taoist Tai Chi, a worldwide Association. He approached me at a practice to correct my Tai Chi. Instead of making a physical correction, he said something perplexing in Cantonese. The translator said, “Mr. Moy said you should let your Qi (Chee) come out. I said, “What is Qi”? I only was in Taoist Tai Chi for less than a year! The translator said, “Mr Moy says you will know it when you feel it”!

I left the Taoist group after a year and a half. On another occasion, I told that story to an engineering Professor at the University of Buffalo. His name was Dr. Ching Liu, and he taught Yang and Chen Style. He looked at me and said, “Your Qi? “What Qi? “ 

In sum, after 30 years now, in 2006, it might be more of a fine point, but is it correct to say one does not feel the qi; one feels the evidence of qi? I'm considering an analogy to electricity, such as "one does not see electricity, but one does see the evidence of electricity when a light bulb goes on." Or, one does not feel electricity, but one does feel the evidence of electricity when one gets an electrical shock.

Thank you for that video; I would say it is a down-to-earth explanation of Qi.

Jim

“Yes, Jim. You may feel your fingers tingling, but you will not feel the Qi flow because it is there instantly. Other people may feel your Qi when you touch them, and sometimes, others feeling your Qi works well.”

Master Hwa, I will relate a story where I  “…felt someones Qi when they “touched me”, ...and it worked well…”!  I read the Forum for June 2003, once again with more interest, especially the statements about the Wu family's healing ability and that intrinsic to Tai Chi once there is sufficient Qi development. In 1985, I injured myself severely. I sustained one bruise that was the length of my entire thigh. I was attending Wu's Tai Chi Academy. I went to practice, but Sifu Eddie Wu noticed my limp and asked what had happened. When I told him of the injury, he called me in the office about my leg. Wu rubbed his hands together for 5 minutes and then hovered the hands closely over the bruised area, moving slowly over the region, not touching it. During this time, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply and regularly from the Tan Tien. 

After about 15 minutes, the treatment was completed. However, I felt considerable heat during the treatment, and my leg felt good. My leg felt more aches after, and I thought, "Oh wow, this did not work." Incredibly, I noticed that my range of motion had increased by at least 50%, and the more I moved, the better the leg felt. 

On numerous occasions, Eddie Wu taught us, as disciples, the “small circulation” with reverse breathing. After a year or two of that training, Wu began gradually teaching us to do the "external qi gong healing," and we got to practice on each other. Some people reported feeling nothing. As for myself, I felt fortunate that my injury provided a point of reference that I used in my practice. By the way, Yoga Journal published a massive article about the Wu Family's healing ability around that time. 

The article included quite a bit about your teacher, Master Sonia Young's healing ability. Watching the Bill Moyers series Healing and the Mind in 1995, one can see examples of external Qi Gong in Traditional Chinese Medicine. A lot of people dismiss this out of hand because it looks like chicanery to us from the "other" culture. I can personally vouch for its efficacy. 

As for being able to "do" it, I can only say that one must keep up one's practice of "reverse breathing" as a prerequisite. The power of the mind is paramount in these practices, and using "Yi" not as martial intent but as "healing intent" must precede the practice. If one has no "Yi," then the practice is unlikely to work. Since my injury preceded my practice, it was not a great stretch of imagination on my part to begin to learn the healing techniques. I've never told anyone of these incidents, and I hope the story is worthwhile. 

“The Way of Classical Tai Chi”

  

INSTINCTIVELY THE WAY

Delineation (Square Form)

Extensive Delineation

“Segmentation is the physical characteristic by which the human body is divided into repeating subunits called segments arranged along a longitudinal axis.”

In the above video, the movements of the Square Form are crisp, resolute, and due to what we see as a "delineation" along segmentation between what is moving and not moving:

Is this a Yin/Yang symbol, a white figure on a gray figure, or a gray figure on a white? Is this what one might call "ambiguous"? Yet, we see a yin-yang "pair" clearly delineated when not caught up in ambiguity. The Classical Tai Chi Square Form has this "delineation" as its primary purpose, and it is our "template" for learning the "Round." This is necessary because most of us move instinctively, one might say "ambiguously."

An instinct is a linked set of behaviors that an organism undergoes unconsciously in response to external conditions. However, the strength of these instincts can diminish in modern life due to limited physical activity and poor movement in adults.

Most do not understand that our bodies have segments. We are naturally segmented but have never learned how to use them. One part of the body moves, and the other part is non-moving. This has to be taught to the conscious mind! 

As Master Stephen Hwa states in his book "Uncovering the Treasure," the subconscious also has its role: "We gradually absorb the essence of the forms and shapes we practice into our subconscious. Eventually, every move we make will instinctively follow the way." He says we will not continue to move instinctively, ambiguously, but that the moves we make will "...instinctively follow the way..."

Mirror Neuron/Mirrored Form

The Brush Knee video shows left and right

 "Raise Hands" is only one example of a "right" side form, yet it, along with others, should be "mirrored" and learned on the "left" side. 

Mirror Neuron/“Mirrored Form”

The Tai Chi Classics emphasize symmetry and balance in practice, often stating that what you know to the right, you must understand to the left. This principle is in performing Tai Chi forms and their mirror images, which equally train both sides of the body and promote balance.

The Tai Chi Classics have some good things that surprisingly fit well with Classical Tai Chi. In Tai Chi Classics, the phrase "What you know to the right, you must know to the left" means that to truly master a movement on one side of your body (right), you must also fully understand and be able to execute the same movement with equal skill on the opposite side (left), emphasizing more than a principle of balance and symmetry throughout the practice. 

When we speak of a mirror image of the body, we must consider the mirror image of the mind.

A good example: Someone yawns, and you yawn because of "Mirror Neurons." 

Mirror neurons play a significant role in learning Classical Tai Chi by facilitating the imitation and internalization of movements. These neurons activate both when observing and performing actions, allowing learners to create an internal representation of movements they see, which helps them copy and master them over time.

According to research, when you watch someone perform Tai Chi, mirror neurons in your brain fire as if you were performing the movements yourself. This process helps create new neural pathways that accurately copy the observed movements. For instance, infants often mimic the chewing actions of their parents, demonstrating the effectiveness of this learning mechanism.

Moreover, studies have shown that mirror neurons can be effectively stimulated through video recordings, allowing learners to slow down and repeat what they see. This is particularly useful for detailed and precise movements like those in Classical Tai Chi.

Your mirror neuron system becomes more active the more expert you are at an observed skill. For instance, I have a video of Master Hwa watching a student do the form, shall we say not so well. Master Hwa moves his body in sync as he stands to the side and just watches. And it looks like his body is telepathic in urging the student to do things correctly. To the extent that you relate in a fundamental sense to the act of balancing and moving forward, your mirror neurons will resonate. But that student's mirror system activity will pale next to that of an expert like Master Hwa watching the same. 

Key points about this concept: 

• Full awareness signifies the importance of focusing on one side of the body during practice and being fully aware of both sides simultaneously. 
• Specific moves of Right Side: When performing "Right Side" Classical Tai Chi moves like "Brush Knee," "Fair Lady," etc., the right and left sides are both done. You are doing a basic mirror image. 
• ANY MOVEMENT: That understanding of the "right" side movement means you must also understand how to perform the "left" OF ANY MOVEMENT, thus applying the mirror image in practice with the same fluidity and intention as your "Brush Knee," "Fair Lady," etc.