Ancient Humans walked with weight back on Savanna

Video link to safe walking

Look at the picture of the Savanna. My teacher Master Stephen Hwa has said early humans had to walk very carefully with their weight back, not letting gravity pull the body forward in order to cope with such unstable ground in the night as well as day. If you are walking with weight back you are not pushing so much with the back foot as you are pulling with the front. With such pulling, the core will engage by default.  This is not entirely correct and it is easy to hurt the legs this way. In Classical Tai Che we use the core to engage the legs. In this Youtube video link above, Master Stephen Hwa teaches you how to Tai Chi walk and use Tai Chi walk for everyday walking, how to engage the core, keep weight back, etc.

Your practice is "a drop in the bucket"

1st student, slouching in a chair: "I've been practicing 3 days a week and my balance has not improved". 2nd student leaning against the wall: "So have I, and I am frustrated by the teacher's corrections in class". The teacher overhears and says: "Did you ever see Master Stephen Hwa's Facebook picture of the Dad who is doing terrible things to his knees while he shows his child something"? "You both know the idiom "drop in the bucket",?  Your 3 x a week practice is just that. Let me clarify in the spirit of the idiom that the big problem is not with how many "days" but with how many hours because you have to practice all day". 1st student: " I can't practice all day, I have to go to work". Teacher: "I'm not talking "formal practice", I'm talking about what my own teacher Master Stephen Hwa calls "offline practice", which is not just doing "internal work", or "Form" but more importantly becoming AWARE 24/7 of what your body is DOING/NOT DOING. It's rather futile and absurd to ask for "benefits of Tai Chi" and still insist the only time you are AWARE is doing the Tai Chi Form or internal exercises"

Fajin's pragmatic philosophy of not getting knocked backward

Video link to Fajin effects


Note Master Hwa's perpendicular stance to Tom's leaning. Without superb ability to "tense and instant relax" how else do you think Master Hwa does not get knocked back because of Newton's 3rd law? A student made a very insightful comment about the true pragmatic nature of "tension and relaxation" saying: "Most excellent explanation! Thank you! And too, if we could only apply this principle to everything we do in our life - to every movement to every thought to every emotion, life would flow much easier." and Master Hwa replied: Excellent!! You have grasped the philosophy in this practice"

First sharpen your tools ("Yi") to do Taijiquan

Video of Isaac Stern in China

"Yi when doing Tai Chi is purely mental, or one might say the intention to project"  Stephen Hwa. 
Jim R. said: You must do Tai Chi as naturally as you breathe. Or, as Isaac Stern told a young violinist:  "You must play as naturally as you sing".  I used Google Translate  for Lao Tzu's quote "..he that would perfect his work must first sharpen its tools.." This points out the import of "YI" (martial intent) and "Jing" (Force or as Master Hwa says "non-ordinary" force as found in his treatise on Fajin part 1 on Youtube).

Stephen Hwa:  "Most people are now learning Tai Chi probably for reasons other than for serious martial art applications. So the question is how much should we emphasize the martial art aspects of Tai Chi? Certainly, Tai Chi Form movements make more sense and are easier to remember if they are corroborated with the martial art origin of the movements - why there are these sequences of movements, and what the positioning of the body and timing of the movements mean. Besides this aspect, there is a more subtle but powerful reason why the martial art aspect of Tai Chi is important. I shall discuss that below: Tai Chi Form should be practiced with “Yi” (martial art intention). “Yi” is not something complex and elaborate. It is single-minded and somewhat intuitive with the desire to deliver the internal power externally through hands, arm, and foot, whatever the movement is. If the hand is moving forward, then the Yi goes to the palm and fingers; if the hand is moving laterally in a blocking movement, then the Yi goes to the leading edge on the side of the hand; etc. Once the practitioner masters the “Yi”, it is no longer a conscious effort anymore. It becomes subconscious and comes naturally whenever the practitioner makes a move. At this stage, when you play the Form, you have both the internal energy and Qi (nerve signal - a simple-minded definition) circulating in the torso of your body. With the “Yi” as a catalyst, the Qi is able to flow to your hands and fingers while the internal energy continues to circulate in your torso until you need it for an application. Then the internal energy will follow the Qi to the arms, hands, and fingers for delivery. External martial arts such as Karate also practice a solo form called Kata. Kata allows the practitioner to study movements at full power and speed and allows the student to move with the enemy in mind. So, both the Tai Chi form and Kata are practiced with “Yi”. But, Kata is practiced with a tensed up arm moving with power and speed: while Tai Chi is practiced with a relaxed arm and moving at a slow speed. The “Yi” in Tai Chi is therefore purely mental.