Chen Taiji Academy: Senior students of Grandmaster Wang Hai Jun (Wang Haijun) teach individuals and classes in the fundamentals, principles and forms of the original Taiji from Chen Village, Chen Jiagou, China. These students teach and train in the eastern part of the United States.
The chest should be empty. If the chest is thrust out energy is blocked from reaching the dantian. When the chest is not empty the dantian will not feel full. Nor should the chest be sunk or concave. The empty, relaxed, soft chest allows breath to be slow and deep like a baby’s breath that can be seen deep in the baby’s belly.
Use the mind to bring breath to the ming men, to the kidney area.
Looseness is central. Without looseness there is no fast and no slow. Without looseness there is no hard and no soft. Looseness is the key to flexible hard-soft-fast-slow movements. The looseness comes from the flexibility, openness, softness of the hips, of the kwa.
The link for slow, fast, heavy and light movements is looseness. Power comes from looseness. Throw the hard strength away.
Student practices Pao Chui, power comes from looseness (Summer 2016)
The bottom does not get tucked in or under in training the form. Doing so weakens the lower body and the energy of the dantian. When the bottom tucks in the dantian is less able to drop.
When relaxed more energy is able to reach the dantian. The dantian stays level as if it were a bowl filled with water. The level dantian fills with energy, when level the energy does not spill out.
Let the back follow its natural curve, do not go against the natural body.
Fold the kwa (hip joint) letting the dantian drop down or roll down and relax. Feel the fold of the kwa let the dantian drop or pull down, not up.
Even though the knees are open there is also the feeling of the knees closing in. The knees are held as if they are holding a ball or holding onto a horse. They remain open, and closed simultaneously.
The body feels like it is sitting on a chair. The head goes up, the joints open. There is flexibility. The bottom is not tucked in and the hip joint is loose. It is okay for the bottom to go out a little, but not so that the body leans forward. Settle the movements, then drop the bottom. This will put less pressure on the knee and make for smoother flow of movements.
When the hip joint is loose the bottom and top parts of the body are able to remain flexible.
Wang corrects folding of student kwa, dantian will be level (March 2018)
Ding Bu is a fixed push hands. Once the position with the partner is taken the feet do not move. In this fixed step push hands the four major energies of peng, lu, ji, an are practiced in sequence. The hand does not face oneself. Focus and face the opponent, with feet placed diagonally. At all times cover self, leave no openings. One touch and you will understand the other person. One touch will tell looseness, tightness, tension, closed and open joints. Cover the elbow, and block the hand. Joints are loose. In turning there is no collapse. Keep the face protected. The circles are smooth and everywhere is like a bow, at every point it is possible to turn away.
With ji the pressure or energy is going to the other person. With an the pressure is going down. With ji the energy goes from the back to the shoulder to the arm. Ji is the response to the opponents lu.
No strength is used.
In Xie Xing, the Diagonal Posture, the knees and elbows are rounded. The knees neither stick out nor fold in. The rounded knees and elbows hold energy together. The ears are aligned with the shoulders. The bottom is dropped., The kwa is loose. Stretching at the joints opens the joints. The right heel pushes the weight 80% to the front. Even so the bottom drops down.
Wang, start of Xie Xing, with rounded knees, loose kwa (Summer 2016)
Shun Chan is a term used to represent natural twining when that twining moves inward towards the center of the body. For the right hand the whole-body spiraling is a clockwise rotation and for left hand leading the direction is counter-clockwise. In either case the little finger leads the direction of the rotation. The feeling is one of scooping, as if scooping water, gently.
Ni Chan is a reverse twining or spiraling with the rotation going outward. For the right hand the rotation is counter-clockwise. For the left hand the ni chan is in a clockwise direction. In either case the thumb is leading and the leading is moving away from the center of the body.
Ni Chan and Sun Chan can be practiced as a “reeling-silk” exercise using the wrists alone with a focus simply on the turning of the hands. Little finger leading sun chan toward the body; thumb leading ni chan away from the body.
With practice the ni chan and sun chan can be felt in the practice of the forms.
Taiji moves in circles. All movements are circular: to the side, the front, horizontal, vertical. Hand movements are circles: ni chan (twining outward) and shun chan (twining inward). The whole entire body is held as a circle as if it were a globe, a ball, or a balloon. Twining enforces small circles of knees and elbows, of ankles and wrists. Shoulders match hips in circles.
The back remains peng to protect the back. The front peng protects the front. Back and front peng occur together. Arms push out with peng connecting directly to shoulders and protecting the chest.
Peng on the outside parts of the body equals connections and peng on the inside. Connection creates full energy.
When the left side has peng it is easier for the right side to have peng. When one side does not have peng it is easier for the other to not have peng.
When the arm is peng it extends and connects the joints so that there is no blockage in the elbow or the hand. When there is no blockage in the joints then contact takes place with the dantian with looseness, connection and peng.
Peng with extension, stretch, roundness, connection (March 2018)