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.
Even when completing a form in which the elbows are typically close to the body such as in the transition to a punch or “fan through the back” the arm and elbow are not held against the body. The elbow is out from the body “like you are holding a book”. The elbow maintains peng in relation to the body. It is not tucked in closely like a bird at rest but is held outward a bit with roundness.
When pushing hands you must stick to each other. Sticking lets you listen to the other person. You can feel the power of the other person. Where is the person weak or strong? Where is the person collapsed? To push hands you must know the circle well. You must be peng and loose and centered. When your body has peng and is loose you can stick well and you will not lose the link with the other person.
As we practice Taiji the entire body moves like a ball. As an example even with “Fan Through the Back” as the body pivots and turns 220 degrees the arms move together as if one were doing a cartwheel. One should feel the entire body move as a ball.
Wang has often spoken of Taiji breathing, or reverse breathing. Taiji breathing is reverse breathing. Normally with an inhale the dantain and diaphragm expand. With Taiji breathing the dantain goes inward with the in breath and expands with breathing out. Breathe in with the ming men and the dantain. Imagine the belly button meeting the spine. When exhaling the ming men area of the spine goes out as does the dantain. The breath goes through the back. The dantain gets warm as the breath moves. Energy fills the dantian .
In February 2021 England and the United States and Europe are basically quarantined. Fortunately we live in a time of technology and that technology closes the gaps created by miles and oceans. During our zoom trainings Wang has talked about the following:
Move the back like a wave. As so many of us become more sedentary, especially with limits on going out and socializing our bodies are becoming stuck. Open the chest with the warm-ups. To open the back circle arms over the head with palms facing the ceiling the back stretches and moves undulating snake-like, like a wave.
Focus on the eight energies of peng, lu, ji, an, cai, lie, jou, kao throughout the form, in each move. Peng is a forward move with an upward push as to uproot. Lu is a rolling back, a pulling of the opponent to the back and out of the way,
Chen Taiji practice contains opposites. Gong and rou are the concepts of hard and soft. Chen Taiji practice links hard energy with soft. Hard energy comes out of softness. Without softness there is no hardness. Slow leads to fast. Looseness is most important. In looseness there is no collapsing, there is connection between all parts of the body-left and right, top and bottom, front and back. With expansion there is no collapsing. When there is expansion there is connection. With connection there is no collapsing. If collapsed there is no connection.
During the winter of 2020-21 Wang Haijun developed a 13 form to accommodate the inside spaces that many people are confined to during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has been teaching this form and taiji fundamentals via the zoom platform. These classes are structured in the same format as a weekend seminar with warm-ups, reeling silk, and form training. Throughout he describes foundational principles of Chen Taiji. During one of these lessons Wang used the metaphor of “glue the body”. He went on to explain that the upper and lower body are closely connected as if they are glued together. The body is glued to the ground. This is similar to his “water, oil, honey” analogy. The taiji practitioner is seeking to have a sense of glue or of honey, there is a stickiness of all parts, a heaviness and a density.
When practicing settle the mind first. Throw the thoughts out. Put the mind into the body. Feel the inside of the body. Feel the dantian movements. Find the energies of peng, lu, ji, an in every movement.
Begin the form with Chi Xi. Stand naturally with legs directly below the shoulders. The arm raises with the wrist rising up first as the body sinks slightly. Once the lifted hands reach the level of the shoulder the hands move down from shoulder height in order of elbow, arm, with wrist leading, like petting a waterfall.
The more correct the form the more comfortable the form. When the body is more connected you want to do more practice.
Chi Xi, settle the body, settle the mind (March 2018)
In Chen taiji do not tuck in the bottom., the tail bone does not curl inward like a shrimp. The body stays natural. The spine naturally curves in at the neck and the waist. When practicing the body sits, like on a chair, the bottom sinks and the back relaxes. The spine naturally goes in a little bit and extends, the tailbone sinks and straightens some without turning inward. The hips become loose when the spine is natural and when the tail bone is dropped.
When the hips are loose the body turns well. When the hip frame can turn well the muscles and legs twist and turn with the bone. When the hip frame is not loose the muscles cannot twist and turn.
‘Sun kwa’ describes the looseness of the hip and its loose connection to the body frame. ‘Sun kwa’ is the loose hip, the relaxed hip frame.
In this posture the dantian naturally rolls forward and sinks down. The feet will be grounded like growing roots.