Aid to footwork for beginners

 

Click "link to aid on "footwork." It is a video!

Link to aid on "footwork"

"Very good. It really should help beginners on the footwork."  Master Stephen Hwa

An unlisted Youtube link to a video. My student Jason Bulger is doing a variation I "discovered" in my experimentation with lower body movement. Also, "discovered" one needs to do this to 8 angles, N, NE, NW, S, SE, SW, E,W, not just front. That type of practice coincides with Classical Tai Chi Form instruction, wherein the first piece of business is teaching students to step and move in one of the 8 directions.

* Turning feet to various angles coincides with foot placement in the "Form

* Turning feet to various angles coincides with the numerous foot positions in the "kicking section".

*As you get comfortable with this, I recommend just very lightly touching (we had a tree) a surface or wall with just tip of a finger.

*Lightly touching with a finger is not a crutch, but it is enough to help you maintain good body structure while you do this.

*This is Jason's first try, so he is bending his head too much; otherwise, the internal movement seems very good.

*Use abdominal and back muscles to lift

Lift Legs using lower Quarter Body movement

"The leg lifting is accomplished by using abdominal and back muscles to lift either side of the pelvis, which in turn lifts the leg. In this case with Jason, either leg is completely relaxed since the lifting is done by internal power and not the leg muscles. The moving part is the leg and its associated abdominal and back muscles, while the other body parts remain stationary to provide support and grounding. Depending on which leg is lifted, the Yin-yang junction may be visualized in either the right or left side of the abdomen and back region. One could classify this as a lower-quarter body movement. All lower body movements are from the core. This is just one example of it. Practicing with an imaginary mental picture that the legs do not end at the hip joints, but rather there is a leg extension into the core of the body has helped some students learn how to initiate lower body movements from the core."

Paraphrase and excerpted from Page 5., "Internal Discipline of Tai Chi":  Uncovering The Treasure: Classical Tai Chi's Path to Internal Energy & Health Paperback – May 12, 2010

by Stephen Hwa (Author)

 URLhttps://www.amazon.com/Uncovering-Treasure-Classical-Internal-Energy/dp/1449917895/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=uncovering+the+treasure&qid=1593450066&sr=8-1