Liked on YouTube: Internal Discipline Silk Reeling-Master Stephen Hwa

Internal Discipline Silk Reeling-Master Stephen Hwa
Master Stephen Hwa www.classicaltaichi.com teaching class of beginning students to do Internal Discipline using silk reeling.
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ8KMSmbB4w

Liked on YouTube: Robot Tai Chi by Stephen Hwa

Robot Tai Chi by Stephen Hwa
Master Stephen Hwa demonstrates the Wu Style Taiji Square (a.k.a. Joint) and Round forms. Dramatic soundtrack courtesy of The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers S1E3.
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvaXibEWIm8

How to connect arm to core

 

Questions and observations of 2 students:

These are the courtesy of Master Stephen Hwa at the Classical Tai Chi Teachable.com, a streamlined course.

Helen A,

When I try to move my arms from my back muscles, as you recommend, I feel the muscle movement in my stomach area (core muscle?). Does this mean that I am doing the action correctly?

Master Stephen Hwa: You got it!! This exercise aims to connect arm movement to the back and the abdomen muscles so that eventually, you can use the energy of these muscles to power the arm movement.

Steve S.

Sir, what should you feel in the abdomen? As you push forwards, do you pull the core to the right? Or should it feel like your pulling the abdomen backward and to the right? Many thanks. Respect

Master Stephen Hwa: The important thing is to connect your arm to the core. Once you are connected, the forward push movement of your arm will teach how the abdomen should react. Once you are good at that, you can reverse the procedure by moving the core to move the arm forward. There is no simple way to explain how the muscle in the abdomen should move..

The waist turns on a radius

 Consider what Master Hwa is doing as the following paraphrase and analogy of his arm as "belt" moved from center. “Neijia” v. "Waijia” ; whether quarter, half, upper body turn: “It is known and practiced by all competent golfers, tennis players, etc. The strength and mass of the body is in its center, so it makes sense to begin and control motion at the waist. Consider this illustration. Hold one end of a long belt in one hand. Imagine that end to be the center of a circle, with a radius equal to the length of the belt. If you try to describe the periphery of the circle by using your other hand to move the free end of the belt, your efforts will be slow and awkward. However, if you leave one end to swing free, and merely flip the wrist of the hand holding the “center” end, the belt will swing around and around, smoothly and with great speed. Beginning at the center; returning to the center. Tai Chi is basically a conservative philosophy of motion. Conservative as in conservation. One of the priorities is simply to endure - energy flows in circles, always returning, never exhausted. This is a kind of thinking that we are beginning to understand as we foresee that in the future we may have exhausted the world’s once “inexhaustible” energy reserves. Tai Chi is also recycling of energy - and it demonstrates that for each of us our bodies can be a microcosm of the whole physical universe."

Lui, H. H.; Horwitz, Tem; Kimmelman, Susan. Tai Chi Chuan: The Technique of Power (Chinese Taoist Texts) . Cloud Hands Press. Kindle Edition.

Caveat Emptor re. Push Hands

Caveat of Push Hands  a video link

From a stranger who visited Master Hwa's Facebook page, "liked" it but then reacted with suspicion when I made a "friend request". He thought someone had "hacked" me as to why I had sent it. I explained I was Master Hwa's student.

In brief he said: "Hi Jim, sorry for any misunderstanding. Does Classical Tai Chi do Push Hands?"

If I could gain contact with him once again I would say "YES". I would add that the subject of Push Hands has a caveat emptor similar to buying a house for instance...responsibility for quality lies with the "buyer". I would then would add that the myriad of written material, video, Youtube, Teachable, and book mention it dozens of times. I would add that Tolstoy said it very well. But in a "nutshell" I say it is when he wrote about people who "don't know that they don't know". How can anyone who has not learned the Classical Tai Chi Forms ask that question? Because of the wealth of material on this caveat I would refer him to "Fajin, Part 1". I would say: Stand perpendicular at a perfect right angle to the floor, feet perfectly parallel and push the wall many times with your fist just as Master Hwa demonstrates. If you can honestly say you are not pushed backwards, losing your footing each and every time, then you can understand the "YES" answer I gave.

Understand the capability of "Dan Tien"

 Understand the capability of Dan Tien

I  don`t understand when using internal movement how do you keep your abdomen loose, or is that myth not true.(Maurice B.) 

I am finding the Tai Chi Walk difficult probably due to my having to break old habits with the Yang Style. But it is coming along. The step backward is awkward in that I find it hard to keep my buttocks tightly in and pivot at the same time. (Jim D.)

 Master Stephen Hwa:  The sit back move requires you to fully tuck in the behind by energizing the abdomen and at the same time you have to be able to turn at the waist with ease and with power to ward off opponent' s attack (see Figure 9). 

                                            Figure 9

The above examples illustrate that the Dantian has to be able to do multitasking. One has to understand that energizing the Dantian for certain move is different from tensing up the Dantian. Tensing or stiffening the Dantian immobilizes the entire section of that part of the body indiscriminately. Energizing is a selective utilization of certain muscle for a certain function. Energizing has the character of agility, sudden surge and ebb not static.

Even "tuck in", also called "stretch down tailbone" should be fluid in nature. So, even one is fully tucked in, one should still have the feeling of suppleness (pronounced "soong" in Chinese) at the Dantian. A simple picture of what is going on during the sit back and ward off movements mentioned above could be as follows: 

The tuck in move uses the Rectus Abdominis muscle, while the turning move uses the the External and Internal Obliques. Even though both muscles are next to each other in the same region, with the yin-yang training in tai chi, one should be able to use its distinctive feature independent of each other or in cooperation with each other. All those attributes mentioned above can be developed by practicing the Tai Chi Form. I have seen this among my students.

Why else a fist holding a Robin's egg?

 

Sifu Jim R: Here we are at the "World's best Tai Chi Studio". In light of Newton's 3rd law we know not to use "Ordinary force", aka external, muscle flexed, rigid, etc when we push. Here's refreshed information from Forum 10's discussion on the dan tien's energy/rigidity on not using Ordinary force. Here's how instead to use Fajin in "Peng/Ward off" when the concern is with the arm. Note that Master Hwa’s fist is not clenched, but the red shirt student’s fist is. Master Hwa maintains a small space in fist, like holding a “birds egg”, so now read why this is.

A student, Jim D. writes: I understand the utility of redirecting incoming force, but when blocking, how is it that the arm remains soft and subtle (so that we may listen) and not rigid as in external martial arts?

Master Hwa's response: In Forum 10, I discussed a similar question regarding the Dan Tien: you need to be energized yet not rigid. In short, the rigidity in an external martial art is indiscriminate, with every muscle in the arm stiffened up to the maximum. In tai chi, only the necessary energizing is employed. In addition, your blocking of the opponent's arm should use a force just enough to ward off his arm. If you use too much force, then it's no longer redirect but push back, and you lose the advantage of redirect. Therefore your ward-off move is very fluid and delicate. This redirect can only be achieved when you are not stiff or rigid.

Sifu Jim R: The above picture taken at the "world's best tai chi studio" is the "human version" of Master Hwa's following experiment:

Master Hwa: I have an experiment I want you to try: Try to press the back of your hand against, say, a door frame, just like you are blocking an opponent's incoming arm. Do you find that one side of your forearm muscle is energized while the other side of the arm's muscle is relaxed? Let me know your results.

Jim D. responds: I tried your suggestion to "press the back of your hand against a door frame" several times and had several different experiences. They are as follows:

*A tightening of the outside of my forearm and back arm.

*A tightening of the whole arm to include the forearm and biceps, and back arm.

Resistance from the door jam seemed to force me backward as I pushed forward.

These experiences seemed to be affected by the amount of pressure I applied.

Master Hwa's response: Your experiments showed three different cases, illustrating some very interesting points: 1. This sensation is the expected case. You should be able to block using only the outside muscle of the forearm(extensor) while the inside muscle of the forearm (flexor and palmaris) should be completely relaxed; in other words, you only use the necessary muscle to achieve the task. Your arm is still supple and responsive, and you can make a counter move with the arm very quickly. 2. Here you are tensing or stiffening your entire arm; the muscles in the arm are stiffening indiscriminately. The arm has a wooden feeling and does not respond very quickly. One could achieve this state very easily by clenching the fist. That is why Classical Tai Chi has no clenched fist in its form. 3. Here you are applying a force beyond what your body structure (rooting) could support, just like forward fa jin with the body perpendicular to the ground. When you apply a force there is an equal and opposite reaction force that needs to be absorbed by the ground through the body.

If the ground does not firmly support your body structure compared to your opponent's, your body will move instead of your opponent.

That is why I emphasized in the Overview Video that fa-jin is useful only when you detect an opening in an opponent's movement, such as taking advantage of his body's momentum or deficiency in his rooting and striking without any forewarning. It is not a move with brutal force but with fineness and sensitivity. That is why training a tai chi fighter is much more complicated than training an external martial arts fighter. I believe case 1. is the natural response. Case 2. is a learned habit-a bad habit at that. Nowadays, all TV and movies show martial arts with tight fists and muscles bulging on the entire arm. People get brainwashed thinking this is the norm. This bravado is purely for show. It will be hugely mistaken if one thinks this is the way to fight. Practicing tai chi will refine your natural ability to use only the right amount of force in the movements and not be affected by emotions such as fear and tenseness since the move is instinctive. If you try cases 1 & 2, you can sense how you do differently between these two situations.