Wrung out

 https://www.classicaltaichi.com/internal-discipline.html

Quarter Body and More

It’s back to 2003. It’s just for a moment here as a long-time teacher and instructor, Sifu Bill Cranstoun, of this group, describes his learning experience:

I have been working with the classical tai chi tapes for two weeks. As a twenty-year practitioner of the Yang family style, I want to make the following comments:

Now, I am informed of the differences in moving the waist while the pelvis and hips remain still. I feel like a towel that is being wrung out, with the center of the wringing out dynamic in my abdomen. Also, I have never been instructed to pull from the leading foot. I was having a hard time with this until, in practicing the walk, I had the feeling at first in the backward walk that there was a suction force pulling me back, and it felt pretty effortless. It is taking some time to get used to, but my practice formerly was to play the form with a big step.

Now, I need to think of a new dynamic and remind myself to place my heel near the toes of the other foot. Amazingly, this small step produces such an excellent whole-body stretch. I am finding ways to practice the quarter-body movement repetitively in many situations, including my physical work, mainly in repetitive single tai chi moves.

I have never shown the difference between internal discipline and momentum. I am interested in the history of this form, not to prove its validity, which is borne out in the practice.

Thank you, Master Hwa, for the excellent instruction!

William C.

Response from Master Hwa:

Your method of practicing the quarter-body internal movement is right on. My class tells me they practice this single movement when driving, standing in line, or working.

The history of this form is well recorded up to the Yang family founder. There is a very

interesting article talking about large circle tai chi and small circle tai chi, and how Wu, my lineage, learned tai chi from the Yangs, http://www.wustyle.com.

Earlier history about the form passed down from the Chen to the Yang is not quite as clear.

The form I am teaching is an intermediate circle simply because, as I mentioned in the video, a small or compact form should not be taught to beginners. When one is proficient with the intermediate circle, one will be able to evolve into a small circle naturally.