Liked on YouTube: 3 dimensional push hands

3 dimensional push hands
Jim R: Good streamlined lessons available online: classical-tai-chi.teachable.com. In the martial applications of when the opponent comes high and comes low at you, there is a correlation to the practice of Tai Chi Form movements. Accordingly, there is a correlation to Push Hands training. As one does with “coming high/coming low” there is also a correlation to whether one uses a 2 dimensional or a 3-dimensional response. In a 3 dimensional attack or defense, one has to “lean back” sufficiently when pushed and when attacked also train to keep the other hand up and protecting the face. Remember that in going high and going low whether in Form, Application, or Push Hands there is the all-important connection to the core to initiate ALL movements of the arms. The “cloud hands internal discipline as seen from the back” video is a good example of core movement with arms moving up and down along the “Y” axis.
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az-KDi8NN3I

Liked on YouTube: Classical Wu Tai Chi - Internal discipline by Classical Tai Chi's Master Stephen Hwa

Classical Wu Tai Chi - Internal discipline by Classical Tai Chi's Master Stephen Hwa
Please see https://ift.tt/1JtLXfG Master Stephen Hwa teaches how to use internal discipline in use of lower extremeties. Applicable to Tai Chi Form, Martial purposes, everyday walking. For further details see: https://ift.tt/1JtLXfG In Chinese: https://ift.tt/1Kyh2cJ
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfjFIXyZ5TQ

Liked on YouTube: Cloud Hands "internal discipline" as seen from back view

Cloud Hands "internal discipline" as seen from back view
A good majority of Round Form internal movements of postures are "open and close", "open and close" with the body opening fully before the other half body closes. Round Form Cloud Hands "open and close" on the horizontal or "x" axis is less emphasized. Here instead the emphasis is on an "up and down" vertical or "Y" axis. It is an up and down stretch and energy flow along the vertical axis of the back. One can see the movement going up and down along either side of the back as split by the spinal column. On Master Hwa's back one can see the wrinkle of his shirt showing the stretch but an enlarged view does accurately show the muscle movement going up and down.
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgmyq3mqewU

 

Video Link  How to Learn Internal Discipline of Small Circle Tai Chi

You feel you only want a class and can't learn from videos? You can see my back as I stand and watch these students struggling to learn even with a giant mirror. I told Master Hwa today that we both are the "poster children" for video learning and ultimate success. I address the benefits of video learning in this narrative: Here S. Hwa is showing "Yin/Yang pairing", what moves and what does not move in the Square Form of "Cloud Hands". I decided to watch the student's sometimes futile attempt to exactly follow Master Stephen Hwa at the Buffalo State College Workshop in 2011. All of these students have some experience with learning, some 1 year and some have 8 years experience. I should add that before becoming one of the very first "closed-door", and "disciple students" I learned from a video of Wu's Style that I bought in Black Belt Magazine, 1980. Going to Toronto after that once a week to study and Eddie Wu told me I was the first he ever encountered that learned from video and "...it was very good, very smooth...".

As Master Stephen Hwa says in his latest video on learning "internal discipline":

"Some people are hesitant to learn from a video, they prefer to go to the class and stand behind the teacher to learn the movements. But, that is actually the most inefficient way of learning. You are watching the teacher and at the same time, you are trying to move. "

"In addition, you are only seeing large movements and neglecting the minor ones, especially the footwork angles and positions. The footwork is the most important and it is the foundation of movement. In my videos and why here we always label the directions N, S, E W so you can see the angles of the movements correctly. You know also that sometimes you have to turn your head to see the teacher or sometimes you cannot see them because your back is in front of them. I have always included "back view" videos which you follow just as though you are standing behind the teacher. The front and side view is extremely important. In fact, my own teacher Young Wabu thought that way in every class. In his classes he wanted us to just sit there for a time and watch him play the form. "

" I also want to say, just watching this kind of visual learning "saved" me, as I filmed him doing the form. I say it saved me because he lived in Hong Kong and only visited Rochester, NY from time to time. Later on in my business travels, I was away from Rochester and I did not have much chance to see him."

"All during that time, I could practice however because the visual learning enabled me to remember his movements and his words. As far as learning and targeting specific form movements, the video actually is the most efficient way of learning. Here you can go back and forth reviewing the steps again and again. With my Youtube videos, and my https://classical-tai-chi.teachable.com/

course the videos can change the "streaming speed" as low as half speed and you can download the "teachable" videos to your own storage or USB drive. Really what is really important about class and group learning is when you want to do a "push hands" inspired exercise. You know learning the form is very much a private affair, one is constantly negotiating with themself. This is especially true when you are a little bit advanced so you should be aware as well that "Teachable" does provide methods to communicate with the teacher that is quite streamlined."

Liked on YouTube: Tight compact form left side

Tight compact form left side
Tight Compact Form either right or left side best demonstrates how the "Jin" is generated by the waist since it has no reliance on generating power from the legs. My own teacher Stephen Hwa says : "I know that one of the classical writings about tai chi mentioned that: The jin should be rooted in the feet, generated from the legs, controlled by the waist, and manifested through the fingers. From my own sense of fa jin, I want to change the above to the following: The jin should be generated from the waist, controlled by the legs, rooted in the feet, manifested through the fingers. Let me elaborate on this. I have discussed and demonstrated the generating of jin (a surge of power) from the waist many times before, especially in the Overview video so I will not repeat here. Now, when you generating the jin, it surges to the hand and the fingers for delivery. At the same time, an equal and opposite force will send from the waist down through the pelvis to the leg and finally absorbed by the ground through the foot. During that instant, the buttock and leg will naturally be energized to transmit the force to the feet and firming the lower body structure to support the fa jin. You can actually sense that during Form playing. Using the external leg power to simulate forward and lateral fa jin is ineffective. Leg power is strongest in the direction of uplifting from the knee. That is why sprinters use the crouch start on starter blocks rather than start from an upright position. To use leg power at an upright position, to effect a push forward move, the move will have a low acceleration from rest in contrast to fa jin from the waist which can be made to have a sudden burst motion. Using the leg power really can not be called fa jin" Internal Exercise for Power and Vitality course https://ift.tt/3kDHye4... Small Circle Tai Chi Form course part I https://ift.tt/3kDHye4... For more info https://ift.tt/36WwzHk Classical Small Frame (Circle) Tai Chi Form has many dimensions. These Youtube videos try to show some facets of it:
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1PPcNtCC1g

Liked on YouTube: Square Form Wu Style Tai Chi with Stephanie

Square Form Wu Style Tai Chi with Stephanie
Since Wu Style Tai Chi a small circle, the beginner students learn the "square form" first. It offers the student a strong foundation and understanding of the round or flow form. The square form is a step-by-step method so the student can understand the concept of grounding below the waist to the earth yet lifting up the spinal column through the neck towards the heavens. All the movement is first generated from the tan-tien (2 fingers beneath the navel) which is the subtle power source of energy movement or CHI. It's intensely mindful and gifts the students with a new awareness not just on the physical plane but also on the spiritual path of well being, healing and radiant health. Everyone can learn tai chi when they embrace my PSAT methodology on this journey... Patience, Surrender (ego,) Attitude and Trust. And as Luke ChiWalker says, "May the CHI be with you." Check out my wellness blog... momscosmicdiner.blogspot.com
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_zvIZwkmlM

"Preparation" for internal (the devil is in the details)

"Preparation Form"  a video link:

(click on the picture to enlarge)

Note how much time is devoted to the beginning of the video and it shows the import of posture 1. Master Hwa said "Very True" when I posted the following at Teachable: 1. The preparation Form 太極起式 (Tai Chi is a mind/body discipline one studies to also know when they do something wrong as well as right AS it is being done) Jim Roach to Master Hwa: "It seems a bit of an oxymoron to see so many people in the world admire the slow-flowing movements of Tai Chi yet still attempt to hurry up to relax. It makes one grateful you hold a place in your heart for aficionados. The time you spend on "talking" about first things first is just what the Doctor orders. My student Barry is a longtime martial artist who teaches defensive tactics to Probation Officers. Barry came to your 2011 workshop at the College. He later wrote to me how impressed he is with just the very first posture, the beginning posture..."Preparation Form". In so many words, he described his "play" of the form as hinging on how well he was able to do just that one. He said if that one movement has the correct Yin and Yang right from the beginning then the rest of the form will go well...if not then the rest will not be so good."

Master Hwa: "Very True"

How to correct yourself with or without a teacher

Correct yourself video 

For a good look at first "round form" then "square form" with lots of explanation please click on the link above "Correct yourself video".  Then for great instruction which includes intensive "Square Form"  teaching please go to the link "Teachable" for you" right below:

"Teachable" for you

It is true that Tai Chi teachers have faced increased sizes of classes ever since Wu Chien Chuan started teaching groups of people on the mainland of China.  Before this one might say students who received private instruction were the norm but also very fortunate.  When Wu moved to Hong Kong because of war, however,  he once again had a private and hard-working student in Young Wabu. Stephen Hwa reports Yang Wabu told him "the teaching went on night and day". This was done at Young's home in Hong Kong where Wu was an honored guest.  This is a far cry from having to learn in a very large class where a student was subject to minimal observation and correction.

It goes without saying that difficulty comes with teaching large groups. This is not an unusual occurrence in the history of the world, and certainly, the old Masters of Tai Chi were not the only ones that ever faced the problem. What some might call big problems due to group size really are simply problems intrinsic to teaching any group.  I recall my own teacher saying this to me when I expressed my own concerns on the matter.  Additionally, he told me that any teacher makes this choice to teach and thus it becomes "the life that one has chosen".  In other words, those Masters made their own decision to teach large groups and deal with the attendant problems.

It was and has never been simply a matter of calling out the movements of the form to expect a student to respond appropriately.  Nor has it ever been a simple matter to tweak the form and have those same expectations. One cannot even expect students to follow along with others in the class in the same time frame. A teacher wishing to make corrections has to quite often deal with the incorrect direction that the student's body is facing.

Even in this day and age, one can indeed understand the need for a form where such problems can be addressed.  To this day we have the representation of this form in what the Wu family now calls its "108 movement standard form". I learned the "standard form" (square form) in the very early 1980s and I learned it by videotape.  I subsequently traveled to the Academy in Toronto weekly for years to show what I had learned and was told by the Master himself "your form is very smooth, I am impressed".  He also stated that I was the first person he encountered that had learned the form from the video and that he had hundreds of people worldwide that had purchased the video.  It was almost immediate after this that he stated I should start coming on Friday evenings to the advanced student classes.  The later disciple classes I attended elicited the comment from Wu "the door to these classes is closed"

Here I was in group classes once again albeit at the disciple level and one would think the form correction would be more comprehensive.  I received  "personal" correction from the Master via a  "video" of my form and at certain spots, I heard that I was doing something wrong.  Quite honestly,I thought he was upset and later in the tape one can hear the camera operator giggling almost gleefully over his statements at my "mistakes".   Although, to his credit, I hear the same operator saying "well he has improved".  Was the "improvement" the result of the classroom "pauses", "adjustments", the "codification" and "explicit stating of movement"? Hardly! It was a result of my own hard work, on my own with no input over years until the "video". What is one to make of this? Am I to thank the 108 standard forms or my teacher?  

Enter the small frame, compact "Square" sometimes called the "Joint" form as taught to Young Wabu by Wu Chien Chuan.  This is anathema to those folks who do larger frame styles be it Wu, Yang or Chen, etc.  I am constantly amazed they don't seem to notice the very small size of the steps and ponder over what the mechanics have to be for that size.  Let's go further and say "pondering" to the point where one realizes the body movement has to also be small and hence come from "inside"  also called "internal from the core". With this in mind, how does one "self-correct"?  I will say with no reservation and with much admiration that self-correction can be found in the "Square Form" as taught by Wu Chien Chuan to Young Wabu to Stephen Hwa and then to me, a very fortunate student.  It has all the "pauses" in its movement that enable any student to find time to correct themselves.  It is referred to as "robotic" by the large frame stylists and I would say, "the more robotic the better" for it is in those movements that one finds ultimate capability for correction.