From 1994 to 1999, I was able to learn regularly from Master Chen Xiao Wang. He tends to travel about 3 or 4 months of the year, but his son Chen Ying Jun and some senior students (Damir and Ho Sin) provide demanding "drill" sessions, with "nearly as useful" instruction when he's away. For two years from early 1997, I was able to take regular private lessons from Ying Jun to try to "live" the material and seek out the optimal. In turn, Ying Jun is following the 6 hours a day route to Chen style high attainment.
So far I've received instruction and correction in Chen's 38 form, Chen style Basics (sometimes called "Silk Reeling Exercises"), Lao Jia form (74 postures Chen village form), and tui shou. In addition, Ying Jun, Eugene Dubossarsky and I would often practiced "chinese wrestling" of a Chen style kind (no head locks, no striking, and the first to touch the ground with anything other than a foot is the loser)
Forms
The form instruction (time permitting) normally starts with post standing, then working through the 'known' material of the form, corrections, new material, then more correction. The first requirements are to get the angles right (foot pointing, not leaning, body turning, etc) with some continuity. This gives a basis to develop the form from. It is not a correct form by any means.
Form correction
Once the form has been learnt, it is corrected again. Each time brings a successive approximation so that one's body gets to know the feeling of the right stuff, and the chi fullness (and myriad other aspects) of a form without gaps. The Chen basics [see next] contribute to finding the empowered flow (yang outwards, yin inwards, winding, sinking, storing, releasing) in form practice.
The fundamental requirements of posture (upright, sunk) and movement (twining [opening/closing] and weight shifting) must be crafted into each posture. Co-ordination between right leg and left arm (and vice versa) are ubiquitous and sought. Double weighting and stiffness are 'worked away'. The 'direction' of applicability of each part of each movement is kept in mind and sometimes felt for. The Qi flow is identified and related to the 'direction' of applicability.
Standing, Dan Tien Rotations and Chen Basics
The first exercise for internal development in Chen style Tai Ji is Zhuang Zhan - standing. After calming the mind, listening behind (feel with your back loose as it it was an ear membrane, and the mind attending behind - literally)...
Some detailed description (which may be useful, but may be confusion - please tell me)... ...here.
Dan Tien Rotation. After standing, and working in one plane, either: (1) the plane of hips and shoulders; (2) The front to rear plane; (3) The plane parallel to the floor. detailed here
Chen Basics = Silk Reeling Chen Xiao Wang devised a set of basic reeling exercises taken from the Lao Jia Yi Lu to facilitate Qi circulation for people learning that form. There is a one hand circling, a two hand circling and a walking back horizontal drawing exercise. The one and two hand exercises have standing and stepping versions, and left and right sides. This give nine exercises in total. Detailed description is too long to put in to words. Each of the nine is learnt with beats (four beats per cycle, except for the stepping backwards which has one beat per step.
Even More correction...
Correction of individual postures is a very painful practice. You stand in the posture sinking weight down to the bearing leg, using the correct relaxation, poise and alignments. This standing may endure for five minutes per posture. The correct one is the one that hurts with the burn. Once you have acquired "sung" in that fixed posture you may study the Qi flow (ie, winding and unwinding of movement out of (and into) that posture). All kinds of defects due to tension or leaning or lack of balance or too much exertion or stopping. Getting the Qi flow is easier with Chen basics, so regular practice of these precedes working on the form at the Qi flow level of practice. Hunt for perfection - always have Qi "not broken".
More still The next level involves practicing where you only move when the Qi is present. The Qi originates quite literally from the Dan Tien via the agency of intent and breathing. You can half cheat this by using the back, but the expansions and contractions (stretching and filling) must be counter-balanced by dan tien movement, or it's more like a form of hoola hoop dancing without the hoop. Once this correction is clear the power of the hips (one kua at a time) and legs can be added.
Beats
Chen teaches forms (and Chen basics) using beats. Primarily the beats are transition points where you settle into the movement and establish sung thoroughly, clearly using the right Yang Chi aspect of the lower body - ie, which leg is "actively bearing, and ready to go", feeling compressed but not squashed or tensed, calm but not 'dead'. The other leg (yin) may be bearing more weight than the yang leg, but it isn't about to do something. The upper body's movement follows the actions of that yang leg, through a pliant waist and a vertical relaxed (and alert) spine.
After the form is "alive", the beats become redundant, as does the constant pace - as long as the mind remains calm, and movements can happen according to the presence of (intended) chi...
The end of each beat is a moment to re-establish "sung", and clarify the expansion of connection with the ground out to "where it goes next" (peng jing). Then move. Sometimes practice with beats, sometimes without. With for better sung, without for better continuity. Both are required.
Jing Training
The jings (peng lu chi an, tsai lieh chou kau) are described cleanly in the form with their explicit relationship to the ground, and leg and waist power being the first aim of practice. The second aim is exercising the (calm) mind - so that movement followed from qi (ie, "movement inside") and qi responded (automatically - after arduous, relaxed practice) to the intentions of the calm mind about what "to do now".
The these jings plus sensing and comprehending are refined in push hands, where a major obstacle is the unpredictability of a partner. Even a very co-operative partner a challenge to work with using relaxed upper body (especially shoulders), pliant power of the thighs, kuas, waist and "other joint opening". So you do it! And you do it again! You tell when you're wrong (using stiffness, force, inattentiveness, ...) so you know where to focus in future.
Application and drilling for perfection
Applications and drills, and more corrections eventually clarify many issues. He teaches with 'beats', and indications of chi flows occuring with each beat. The material is entirely consistent with the descriptions in the neijia page. The applications provide examples of specific expression of jings.
Push Hands
Push hands classes begin with a four beat, clearly delineated, single hands exercise. Then comes double hands. Then maybe some chin na or neutralisation application. Then pushing of a partner (fa-jing), or rooting, or more rugged applications. The work is very clearly defined, and the objective is a high standard in each exercise.
Exercises in Free Push Hands entail application of previously learnt push hands techniques with a semi-co-operative partner. Both parties are learning the applications, without pre-determination. Competitive moods and 'wrestling' are all to common and contribute nothing to the development of skills or effective learning. As one gets better, one naturally performs the techniques with more ease and effectiveness. Chen is quite happy to deal with the wrestlers in quite painful ways (with a smile on his face) - they too may learn...
If you're in Sydney and want to do some push hands, please contact me by email at:
osborn@it.uts.edu.auInitially Wong taught Peter the 24 form in 1956 in Canton, then he went on a search to find more teachers, finishing with Tchoung in Vancouver in the early 70s. His repertoire included several Yang forms (including Sheng Gar), Yang style Dao, Jian and Stick, push hands, Yang san shou, and Chen forms (from Yang Chin Sheun).
Peter tended to have soft and compact tai chi and aimed to neutralise. I wasn't sure how much of Peter's material was being taught (and how much withheld), and there were gaps relative to other explanation of internal strength. I think Peter believed he knew a lot of secrets and was careful to let out only little bits at a time. It turned out (I think) that some of his admonishments, if I had followed them, would have served me well ("not against", "more soft"), but the gaps needed attention. After some years away from him I pushed with him and found he was using internal strength, but was using it so delicately I'd never noticed it before.
I learnt long Yang form, a chi kung form, some Yang push hands and da lui, Yang san shou forms A, B and joined, Chen forms (Peter's version of Xin Jia Yi Lu and Pao Chui from Yang Chin Sheung) and some weapons stuff (jian).
Of these, I only practice the long Yang, San Shou forms and Lao Jia pao chui regularly, and other forms to remember them and explore a bit.
Peter's push hands mainly accentuate yielding and neutralisation. His push hands skill came from several teachers, but mainly Tchoung Ta Tchen who learnt push hands from Cheng Man Ching. Peter lacks the full repertoire of push hands skills (compared to Chen) and has a variety of subtle tricks. However, pushing with him is still challenging and exemplified lightness, but with "sung" and use of the ground. It takes very good attentiveness indeed to get something over on him, and good self-control to avoid being dispatched with ease. Alas, most of his students use muscle. Alas, Peter denies some of the basic " sudden power" aspects of internal strength (as Chen can manifest at will in his awesome repertoire).
My earlier MA history: Getting interested...
I first heard about martial arts when I was 11 (ie, early 1966), and how the hard training, skill and 'mysterious strength' was very different from brawling and hyped up slugging - it was cultivated by practice and used the body and mind "properly" rather than just relying on ferocity. I recall giving a discussion on this at early high school when I claimed that it was possible to knock someone out with just a shrug of the shoulder. This claim evoked scepticism and taunts...
...but now I know about these kinds of capabilities and can probably lay someone out with a shoulder - though I hardly want to - and have met significant Masters who can do much more than this - with ease, poise, good humor and huge power.
In the 1970s, Australia (and the rest of the world) had a martial arts boom - partly from Bruce Lee's portrayal of kung fu in movie's portrayal of kung fu in his movies. The locally available teachings came from Japanese and Okinawan Karate (espec Goju, Shotokan and Kyokushin), Tae Kwon Do (mainly Chung Do Kwan) and a boom in the 'relaxed/health art' of tai chi from people like Erle Montaigue and Gary Khor.
And so I began... ...in 1975 I started learning from a 24 year old Korean 4th Dan called Kim Myung man (the style was Hwa Rang Do - containing a wide variety of material, including Ki development and internal co-ordinations for power generation, sensitivity and shifting).
By 1995 I was a 4th dan myself and could do some things rather well. Sometimes the Ki/internal stuff was exactly that, and other times it was exertion and effortful self-deception. The former ways of cultivation and applying HRD assist tai chi, and components of tai chi assist HRD.
However, for me there have also been interferences between the two styles, especially in my own development of power generation and application. My attempts to try too hard in HRD were detrimental to tai chi. Where the power generation comes from intent, the conflict between styles is basically resolved, although in HRD, it's easy to feel that the smooth or sudden power, or shifting is driven by intent, but actually it is forced. The sensitivity to tell the difference is my ongoing research. It's easier to tell this in tai chi, where slow formwork can be more obviously discerned as "right or wrong". But there is hope, supported by a little thought and a fair bit of practice.
And even found some tai chi... ...in 1981 I started learning tai chi from Peter Golus who taught a truncated Yang style form and some qi gong. Peter had learnt from David Cousins who had researched the style a lot in Taiwan, and also from Gary Khor (who did a splendid job of marketing a healthy but fairly superficial "style" to "every day" Australians - especially Grannies...). Looking back, the material made the small steps of learning relaxation and the kind of mental focus you get from regular forms practice. The "mysterious strength" wasn't apparent...
Tom Osborn