Section 2 Videos - 2025
Discussed in detail how Sink, Turn & Expand are found in every posture. We used the act of "catching the baby" to demonstrate the "sitting" in every posture or qigong. When you "catch the baby" you automatically expand and sink by loosening the leg muscles and kuas. We related this to opening the arms as we start the section. We then went into a detailed explanation of doing "Brush Knee". We discussed sinking into the movement, rather than just shifting the weight across. We looked at how the arms spiral from the back, and how when the Brush Knee is finished our upper palm spirals a little by dropping the elbow and hiding the pinkie, creating a long line from the fpinkie finger to the back toes.
Feeling suspended, lifting the head, dropping the hips, these are just words unless you really feel them. Like a slinkie, the hips drop away from the head creating a tugging or tension between them that is a connection. As your spine lengthens, you have to feel it in every posture. The tailbone must connect to the heels to feel this even more. We related this concept to the Swing Arms, Push the Water, and Block and Strike qigongs. We then looked at it from what happens when we do Brush Knee. We went into great detail about the many aspects of doing Brush Knee, to Present the Peach, to Brush Knee.
All movements start with the feet pulling, sinking, turning, and rooting. For many students this can be challenging. To get students to understand, the material has to be presented in different ways. For the past few weeks we focused on letting go of the hamstrings of the leg that is getting the weight. This week, the focus was on moving the trunk back to start each movement. Moving the trunk back expands the arms, sending their energy forward. It allows for the smooth transition between moves because as the move finishes, and before it is complete, the arms go forward into the next movement. We applied this concept to Push The Water, Block and Strike as well as to Brush Knee and Present the Peach.
In this session we elaborated on the concept of elbow resting on the knees and how that is applied to every movement that we make. We reviewed the idea of dropping the hamstrings in the leg that is getting the weight and hollowing the front of the body to push the arms forward. The arms expanding forward as the trunk sinks back creates power in the arms (peng jin) and helps to feel the continuity between the movements. We applied these concepts to 'Push the Water', 'Block and Strike' and to the 'Cloud Hands', the kicks, and the 'Brush Knees."
In this class we covered a few of the critical aspects to doing tai chi and qigong correctly. We used a towel to describe how the arms and body spiral to create energy. Letting go of the hamstrings in the leg you are shifting to is critical because it opens the door to sinking the hips, rooting, opening the spine and ming-men and hollowing the chest. Hollowing the chest is also critical and it goes with the letting go of the legs. The third important thing we talked about is sinking the elbows to the knees which is critical for unifying the upper and lower parts of the body and becoming a unified structure. We then applied these concepts to doing 'Drink the Water' and 'Block and Strike'. We then looked at the details of doing 'Drink the Water'. We applied our concepts to the form in doing the "Opening of the Section', and 'Brush Knee'. We looked in detail how to do the 'Present the Peach' posture.
Today's class was about the feet absorbing and sinking. It is easier to feel one leg absorbing, but that means the other is not being used. So, we discussed what it feels like to sink the 'empty' foot. We exaggerated the shifting to one side so the heel of the foot is off the ground, and then we lowered the leg and hip, thus straightening the trunk automatically. We reviewed how the absorbing and sinking is in every qigong and form movement. We reviewed the Brush knee and the Present the Peach movements and how the sinking and absorbing of the feet make the movement.
One of the basic movements in all of tai chi is the turning of the hands which comes from the "squeezing" of the elbows. However, the elbows do not move on their own. They are moved by the sinking of the chest and rounding of the back. As the chest sinks, it pushed the shoulders forward creating a movement in the elbows that spiral the hands. But, even the chest is moved by something else; the ming-men. As the ming-men (or lower back) sinks, it pulls on the chest to hollow. The ming-men, off course, sinks because the weighted leg releases its hamstrings, and the empty leg goes deeper into the floor. So the chain of movement goes from the feet to the hands, created by the sinking and pulling in the legs. We then looked at how this kinetic chain is used to do the 'Brush Knee' and 'Push the Water' movements.
The function and connections of the ming-men is vitally important for understanding tai chi and doing it correctly. The focus of the class today was on feeling the connections between the arms and the ming-men. Although movement originates with the feet and legs, the movement is expressed in the ming-men, which then moves and moves the arms. The ming-men is responsible for hollowing the chest and sinking the hips and tailbone. We then looked at how this is manifested in doing the Open Clouds of the form. We finished by looking at the movement of the arms in the kicking of the right foot. The arms expand from the ming-ment and do not just flap around. The arms are counterbalances to the lifting of the knee and kicking of the foot.
Awareness vs. Yi (Intention). The classics say movement starts with Yi. However, Yi is intentional, meaning you tell your mind what to do; move an arm, move a leg, etc. At higher levels, there is no conscious thought, only reaction, feelings and almost unconscious movement. Move without thinking. To get to awareness, you must feel the hollows in the body; specifically the 3 hollows of the chest, hands and feet. Hollowing is both going inwards and at the same time feeling the hollow space filling in. To hollow the feet, we must go back to "catching the baby" where we catch a heavy weight by bending our hips and knees. Doing that, lift the knees, which lift the ankles, which create the hollow under the feet.
We applied these concepts to doing the Open Clouds movements in the form. We then looked at doing the kicks and how expansion is pivotal in keeping our balance. We covered in detail the second kick, where after the kick we turn to the left and then turn the entire body to the right to step into "High Pat On Horse". We then looked at the "Punch Down" movement and the transition into "Carry the Moon."
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When turning, it is very important to keep both kuas bending inward. The temptation is to push the kua out in the direction of the turn. It is also very important to expand, especially the arms. We did an exercise to feel that expansion. We related the opening of the kua and expansion of the arms to doing the postures in the form.
We looked at the punch downward in detail. The punch is done with a soft and hollowed fist with the palm facing down. We then turn the palm up from the elbow as we shift back. The left elbow continues to expand forward. As the arms rise up to go to the next movement, the elbows sink and squeeze.
In this class we reviewed the Push the Water, Block and Strike, and Drink the water qigongs. We discussed how opening the ming-men (lower back) creates the hollow in the front of the body, and combined with the hollow in the hands and feet, create the hollow that is the sphere that surrounds you.
We looked at the Punch Down movement and the transition into Carry the Moon. When punching dow, there must be a backward movement as well to balance it. Therefore the back leg mus sink. After the punch, the wrist rotates to face up, and is not pulled back. When opening the arms and sitting back, there must be a forward movement in the knees and elbows. Feel the energy going forward and not back to you.
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Opening the shoulder joint along with opening the kua is one of the most important things that you can do. To feel the opening of the shoulder joints, extend you arms as far as they will go. Then, move the trunk back to counterbalance the forward direction of the arms. We then applied it to the Push the Water qigong. We then looked at how the elbow changes as the direction of the movements change.
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We continued with the Punch down in the 2nd section. As the punch completes, the opponent grabs the wrist. Do not pull back or resist. Simply go with their pull for a brief second to allow your body to expand and strengthen the internal connections from the wrist to the feet via the ming-men. We continued to the posture, "Carry the Moon", emphasising the squeezing of the elbows as the arms go up.
To open the class we reviewed the concept of expanding; specifically how to open the shoulder joints. We applied this to Push the Water and Block and Strike. In addition, in Push the Water, we emphasized the idea of making the internal circle smaller so that one arm extends out as the other shortens. In Block and Strike we pointed out how the lower arm needs to extend all the way before turning to move forward. In the moving Block and Strike we emphasized the weight shift; The weight moves as the leg turns, and not afterwards. We finished the qigongs by pointing out that as the arms go up, they still expand, and when the hands move towards the face, it is the elbows that expand forward. Also, when the arms go down, the head lifts, opening the spine for more energy.
We reviewed 2 aspects of the Open Clouds. First, when finishing the diagonal move, the upper body turns more than the lower body. Secondly, when we shift weight and turn, it is similar to what we reviewed earlier in the Block and Strike. To go from Brush Knee to Present the Peach, the kua must bend a little more and the upper body lean forward more to get a feeling as if you are pulled into the next movement. The power of the hands in Present the Peach comes from the ming-men. We finished the class by introducing Master William Ting's Video Library.