Section 2 Videos
Open the Clouds, Diagonal Single Whip, High Pat On Horse, Separation of Right Foot
More details about doing Open the Clouds, Diagonal Single Whip, High Pat On Horse, and Separation of Right Foot.
More details about Open the Clouds, Diagonal Single Whip, High Pat On Horse, Separation of Right Foot. High Pat on Horse (right), Separation of Left Foot, and Turn & High Pat on Horse
Review Open the Clouds, Diagonal Single Whip, High Pat On Horse, Separation of Right Foot. High Pat on Horse (right), Separation of Left Foot, and Turn & High Pat on Horse. Introduce Turn & High Pat on Horse, Separation of Right Foot. Brush Knee & Twist Step (right, left, right), and Step Forward & Punch Downward.
Review Open the Clouds, High Pat On Horse, Separation of Right Foot. High Pat on Horse (right), Separation of Left Foot, and Turn & High Pat on Horse, Separation of Right Foot. Brush Knee & Twist Step (right, left, right), and Step Forward & Punch Downward, Carry the Moon in the Bottom of the Sea, Separation of Left Foot & Hit a Tiger at Left & right.
Discussed the importance of the using the feet correctly and the qua to create movement in tai chi. Reviewed how the feet turn as well as how one foot pulls (absorbs) and one sinks. Reviewed how to do a Brush Knee in detail, and how to use the feet to move the body when doing Open Clouds.
Discussed the importance of internal connections and how to create these connections. Discussed in detail how to kick. Reviewed Open the Clouds, High Pat On Horse, Separation of Right Foot. High Pat on Horse (right), Separation of Left Foot, and Turn & High Pat on Horse, Separation of Right Foot. Brush Knee & Twist Step (right, left, right), and Step Forward & Punch Downward
Step Forward & Punch Downward, Carry the Moon to the Bottom of the Sea, Separation of Left Foot, Hit a Tiger at Left & Right, Step Up and Punch.
Step Forward & Punch Downward, Carry the Moon to the Bottom of the Sea, Separation of Left Foot, Hit a Tiger at Left & Right, Step Up and Punch, Step Up and Strike Ears with Both Fists.
Reviewed in depth Open Clouds, especially the spiraling and footwork. Reviewed the relationship of the knees and elbows, especially in postures like the Single Whip. Reviewed the transition from Hit Tiger to Step Up and Punch, and to Step Up and Strike Ears with Both Fists.
Reviewed in depth the postures of the 2nd section up to and including Step Up and Strike Ears with Both Fists.
Reviewed in depth how the body moves the arms and how the feet move the body. Discussed the idea of being within a sphere and the fingers and toes touch the edges of the sphere, as your back extends to touch the back of the sphere. We revied how to sit; what do you do with our tailbone and ming-men to feel seated. We re-visited how the feet create a 3-dimentional spiral by turning and sinking and absorbing. Finally, we went over the Step Up and Punch and Strike Ears with Both Fists. We discussed how the position of the tailbone makes the movements work.
Went in depth into Deflect Downward, Intercept and Punch followed by the Apparent Closing. Reviewed in detail each part of the movements.
Went in depth into Deflect Downward, Intercept and Punch followed by the Apparent Closing. Reviewed in detail each part of the movements.
Reviewed the Apparent Closing, and learned the Hug The Silver Moon and Turn Palms postures, going into Grasp the Peacock's Tail (Ward Off).
Reviewed specific details of Open Clouds. Reviewed Hug The Silver Moon and Turn Palms postures, going into Grasp the Peacock's Tail (Ward Off).
Reviewed details of Hug The Silver Moon and Turn Palms postures. Went in depth into Grasp the Peacock and introduced Part the Horse's Mane.
Reviewed how to create counter balances by expanding in one direction as you move in another direction. Also discussed how movements in tai chi are linked together into a "flowing river". We demonstrated in some of the movements that we're covering how as one movement ends, the other begins. We went into details of Hug The Silver Moon and Turn Palms postures. Went in depth into Grasp the Peacock and introduced Part the Horse's Mane.
Went in depth into the 1st move of Grasp the Peacock's Tail and reviewed how Part the Horse's Mane is done.
Reviewed the steps that go into doing the kicks. Reviewed in depth the 1st move of Grasp the Peacock's Tail and reviewed how the first part of Parting the Horse's Mane is done. Emphasised how to open the arms by expanding, sinking, and squeezing the elbows, and how to feel counter balances when moving.
Reviewed second and third moves of Grasp the Peacock's Tail and covered the Parting the Horse's Mane in its entirety. Emphasised feeling the internal connections when doing the moves.
Reviewed Grasp the Peacock's Tail and covered the Parting the Horse's Mane in its entirety. Introduced the Fair Lady Works At The Shuttles.
Went over the Parting the Horse's Mane in its entirety and how it turns into the Fair Lady Works at the Shuttles. Covered the Lotus in detail.
Went into the details of the Fair Lady Works at the Shuttles, and how the first Fair Lady turns into the next set of Part The Wild Horse's Mane movements.
Went into the details of the Fair Lady Works at the Shuttles, and how the first Fair Lady turns into the next set of Part The Wild Horse's Mane movements, and how that evolves into the next Fair Lady. Discussed how expansion is important to create the feeling of fullness (peng-jin).
Discussed the importance of feeling the barrel (expansion) while doing any movement, but specifically the Part the Horse's Mane. Went over how to sit back while doing the Fair Lady. Introduced the last 2 Wild Horses and how they change into the Grab the Peacock. Finally, introduced the Apparent Closeup where the left wrist goes under the right wrist, and then they reverse as you step back into a horse stance to go into the Closing Form or transition into Third Section.
Emphasized the importance of feeling the barrel (expansion) while doing any movement, but specifically the Part the Horse's Mane. Reviewed the last 2 Wild Horses and how they change into the Grab the Peacock. Finally, introduced the Apparent Closeup where the left wrist goes under the right wrist, and then they reverse as you step back into a horse stance to go into the Closing Form or transition into Third Section. Discussed how energy moves through the hands, even as the arms move back and how counterbalancing is important in the moves.
Reviewed the aspects of posture of connecting the knees and connecting the elbows. The knees can be connected by holding a basketball between them. The elbows connect by holding a barrel. The upper body is connected through the hollowing of the chest and rounding of the back. THe lower body is connected by hollowing the lower abdomen and rounding the hips (and opening the ming-men). Did an exercise to feel the hollow and emptiness in the qua. Throw a baby up and catch it. As you catch it, you naturally bend you knees and empty your quas. That's the feeling to capture.
Reviewed the Part the Wild Horses Mane in more detail. Discussed how to hold the ball and how to sink the tailbone. How to keep expanded. REviewed the Fair Lady and how the arms remain expanded. Discussed how the shifting of the weight at the end of the movement creates the slight turn away from the hands, and, how the shiting of the body's weight to the back foot pushes the arms out.
The position of the head and chin are vital for correct posture, for rooting and chi flow. We explored how tenseness in one muscle creates tension in other muscles. We discussed how to tuck the chin to lift the head, straighten and open the spine, and to feel energy go down the arms and legs when the Jade Pillows open. We did a deep dive on the Grasp the Peacock's tail. We looked at the position of the feet and knees. We pointed out how as the weight shifts to one leg, the other leg sinks deep into the ground to create a balance in the legs. We also explored how in Roll Back both hands keep expanding forward.Finally, we looked at how to raise the arms in the Press by bending the quas and elbows to redirect someone's force to the feet.
Shifting Weight; How to shift weight in a more advanced way. Demonstrated how in order to receive the weight in one leg the knee lifts and the foot absorb energy from the ground. Simultaneously, the "empty" leg sinks into the floor. The end result is that the quas open more, the tailbone sinks, and the feet root. Did an exercise where the hollowed hands interchange receiving and giving, and how to feel that in the feet. We then embodied these concepts in doing "Grasp the Peacock". This answered the question of how to sink the right qua when turning to the left in "Rollback". Reviewed the Grasp the Peacock's first 2 moves.
Reviewed Shifting Weight; How to shift weight in a more advanced way. Demonstrated how in order to receive the weight in one leg the knee lifts and the foot absorb energy from the ground. Simultaneously, the "empty" leg sinks into the floor. The end result is that the quas open more, the tailbone sinks, and the feet root. Discussed how "sink, Turn & Expand" are in every posture.
Went over the last part of the section where the left wrist crosses under the right and then the right crosses over the left as you step to the left and go into a Horse Stance. We then reviewed how the arms circle to open, rise up through the center and open out in a circle. The hands meet at the bottom with the palms facing up, and the left foot comes in at the same time so the feet are together. The arms go out and then in toward the chest as the palms begin to rotate to face down.
Reviewed the Grasp the Peacock first 2 moves in detail. Explained the upward trajectory of Ward Off and how Roll Back is all about expansion rather than just retreating.
Discussed Shifting Weight; How to shift weight in a more advanced way. Demonstrated how in order to receive the weight in one leg the knee lifts and the foot absorb energy from the ground. Simultaneously, the "empty" leg sinks into the floor. The end result is that the quas open more, the tailbone sinks, and the feet root. Related this to Grasp the Peacock movements.
Reviewed how the feet are engaged in going into Ward Off, and how the sinking of the back foot creates a lifting force. Discussed how to avoid being double-weighted in Roll Back. Explained how the body lifts the arms in Press. Went over how the third part of the Peacock is done; the stepping forward while sinking; the arms moving into position; how the trunk moves the arms to the side and back.
Discussed Shifting Weight; How to shift weight in a more advanced way. Demonstrated how in order to receive the weight in one leg the knee lifts and the foot absorb energy from the ground. Simultaneously, the "empty" leg sinks into the floor. The end result is that the quas open more, the tailbone sinks, and the feet root. Related this to Grasp the Peacock movements.
Continued with discussing how to Shift Weight in a more advanced way; Demonstrated how in order to receive the weight in one leg the knee lifts and the foot absorb energy from the ground. Simultaneously, the "empty" leg sinks into the floor. The end result is that the quas open more, the tailbone sinks, and the feet root. Related this to Grasp the Peacock movements by reviewing how Ward Off uses the weight shift to make it effective, and how Roll Back uses expansion to make it effective. Explained how the lifting of the knee and sinking of the kua creates a change in the back muscles that connects the arms to the legs. We also reviewed the importance of lifting the head and sinking the chin and its connection to expanding.
Covered the postures from Fair Lady to the end of the section. Added more detail in how we do the Part the Wild Horse's Mane, especially how we step into the last one so that we have space for our hips to turn. We reviewed how in each of the moves there are opposing directions to help us expand and create balance. We went in depth into how and why we expand using Master Ting's expanding and contracting toy. We watched a brief video of Master Ting showing the applications of the Grasp the Peacock postures. We also highlighted common errors that students do when doing the Peacock.
Went in depth about softening the fee and how there is a hollow under the feet. The toes touch the floor and extend out. There is symmetry between the hands and feet in what they do, and how they are shaped. We followed that up with a detailed description of how to shift weight by sinking the kua, the "empty" leg, and the tailbone to move the body's weight from one leg to the other. To shift forward, the front kua bends downward, the "empty" leg sinks, and the tail bone sinks down and forward. This also helps to create a slight turning in the trunk. We reviewed teh 3rd Grasp the Peacock movement.
Brush Knee: Did a deep dive into the details of how to do the Brush Knee. Reviewed to Closing of the 2nd section.
We are restarting the 2nd paragraph from the beginning. We started with a discussion of the position of the tailbone when we go forward and when we go back. The tailbone attaches to the heel of the weighted leg. We then went into a deep dive about "open the Clouds (Wave Hands In the Clouds)". We discussed that when we are in a horse stance to start the movements, we are actually sitting back as if in a chair. Our elbows and knees match by going forward. When we sit back, our lower kuas open causing the upper kuas to open as well. Shifting weight is not a horizontal movement, but rather a sinking of the kua so that the weight moves because of the sinking. The hands are always spiraling. The arms have a shape (holding a barrel) that is kept throughout the movement.
The class started with an in depth analysis of how the arms open and lift when in a horse stance. We looked at the fundamentals of posture and expansion both in the upper body and the lower body. From there we worked on expanding the move into the first part of Open the Clouds (Wave Hands in the Clouds). We looked at how the body turns and the feet pivot, and how we sink into the ground to shift our weight forward. We looked at the direction of the movements and how the hands spiral at the end of each turn.
Continued with the in-depth look at the "Open The Clouds" movements. Started with looking at the basic structure of the tai chi posture. We worked on softening the feet and extending the roes. We looked at how to relax the muscles of the legs and feet. We looked at the relationship of the elbows to the knees and how sinking the elbows to the knees connects the arms to the legs. We explored how when the arms rise and open, they expand outward, and as they do the elbows squeeze inwards. We then related all these postural requirements to doing the Open the Clouds movement. We connected the shifting of the weight to the sinking and absorbing of the feet, and how each move ends with a circle to go to the next move. Lastly, we started looking into the High Pat On Horse movement.
The overarching theme of tai chi is to relax, to release, to let go of all tension and stiffness in the body. Unless the body is relaxed, nothing works. Next is posture. If the posture has flaws, things don't work well in tai chi. Then, each movement must have 3 components: Sink, Turn and Expand. That's what we worked on in this class. We used the "Strike and Block" qigong to demonstrate these concepts. We then transposed them into the "Open Clouds" postures, where we went into detail about how to turn, use our feet, expand, and spiral.