Our practice will always continue growing

[SimonR]

Dear Wahnam Family,

I would like to share with you some of the wonderful aspects of our Tai Chi Chuan practice that I have reconfirmed or discovered during the course we are having with Sigung at The Blue Mountain.

We have just finished day 2, and it is amazing how the more courses you take the more subtle and profound skills you get.

I will just point some aspects and hopefully with a nice discussion we could deepen into them. We have heard them since the first course, but I invite you all to go deeper, gently invite them during your practice and wonderful things will continue arising, even if you have been training for years.

Day 1: We did all the stances, some footwork and grasping sparrow’s tail.

1.Ying Yang differentiation (go beyond just the differentiation between solid and empty in the sole of the feet, it expresses in every single aspect of the movement and application of the art)
2.Ahh! The 3 golden rules in stance training: Relax… relax… and RELAX!!
3.When you are checking your stance let the chi take you to a perfect position were it can naturally flow to the dantien, you feel rooted and at the same time light and powerful. (We are lucky to develop the ability to sense our body and chi with our practice of the Shaolin arts, let’s use that to have perfect stances)
4.And off course: Turn your waist! It is so simple and at the same time so efficient, I think we will never stop improving in this skill.
5.The movement starts in the back leg, is regulated in the dantien (waist) and expressed in the hands. The chi/force moves in a spiral. (It is so subtle and at the same time so powerful)
6.Move your body forming an “8”, after you start there is no beginning and no end, just flow! This is one of the aspects that make Tai Chi Chuan so fluid and efficient. The “8” goes form big external movements to short internal ones, it can go wide and it can go thin, the possibilities are limitless!

Day 2: Pushing hands

1.Check your stance!
2.Sense and guide your partner following him.
3.If we don’t intend to be forceful, force will come out. (Even if it is one of the first levels, it is amazing and a beautiful principle for daily life and the spirit)
4.The forms/techniques that we practice can be applied with the biggest to the smallest external form. For example carrying the cosmos and the immortal waves sleeves can be done in an apparently short movement, but the inner aspect of it remains, generating amazing results and efficiency.
5.Start well, have a good process and end well!
6.Push with your back leg! Waow, it is amazing how with so little effort even beginners can throw somebody meters away.

There is much more, but let’s leave it there for now. I will continue sharing with you the progression during the following days.

Kung fu friends, I invite you to join, this applies for all of us!

Best wishes!

Simon

[SimonR]

Dear Friends,

I would like to continue posting some excellent points that Sigung has shared with us this last days and that he is happy that we share here at our virtual kwoon, but I would like to see some discussion first. Probably the information is so extensive that it is difficult to start. Reason why I invite you to start with the first point. This question might help:

How have you experienced Ying Yang differentiation? Have you had any experiences that could help or inspire your family members? It could be in your practice or in your daily life. Sharing what you have learned form Sifu or other instructor is also important.

Every comment is valid and important!

Best wishes!

Simon

[Andrew]

As Sifu Simon has already noted, this discussion and the skills included in it are not exclusive to Taijiquan. So, learning and practicing Taijiquan can easily be used as a way to enhance Kung Fu practice --- probably regardless of style. Sometimes people forget that Taijiquan is in fact just as much Kung Fu as Shaolin Kung Fu

Considering this, it would be great to see practitioners of many styles contribute to this discussion so kindly initiated by Sifu Simon.

I look forward to joining the fun here too.

[Luo Lang]

This thread is a great chance to enhance the skill level, also the One of Kung Fu students and this one is also a very good opportunity for TCC practicioners to do so as well! Sifu let us remind that TCC is basically Kung Fu.

http://wongkiewkit.com/forum/showthread.php?p=92355#post92355

[Chiahua]

Okay maybe I'll get the ball rolling
On another thread I'd expressed some concerns regarding my inability to break the 5 minute barrier in horse stance, despite having trained it for so long.

Taking Sihing Steve and Anthony's advice, especially "stop struggling", I decided to focus on quality and ignore the number of breaths. Essentially I'd not been following the three golden rules as best as I could, particularly in the mind aspect.
I'm happy to say that my quality has dramatically improved, specifically in the quality of breathing. It was very difficult to let go of my ego regarding the actual number of breaths. I realized that I'd be compromising the relaxed and natural nature of my breathing to reach an artificial count. Now my breaths are natural and relaxed, or more so now.

To sum up, as far as I could tell, my posture was fine, but my mindset still needed work (relax, relax, relax!) . I found out for myself (Sifu and my Sihings may have had different experiences) that correcting my posture is relatively simple, since it's visible. Correcting ingrained mental habits are more challenging.

Happy chi flow,
Chia-Hua

[Charles David]

Dear Simon,

You asked a good question:

How have you experienced Ying Yang differentiation?

And this example, from my daily life quickly came to mind.

I recently enjoyed a long winter holiday coinciding with the Chinese Spring Festival, which consisted mainly of staying home with my family, reading, playing games together, watching movies--all rather passive activities.

My first day back at work was very exciting, seeing about a thousand people, interacting personally with about a hundred, giving everyone my very best. In contrast to my long vacation at home with my family, this was very yang activity, and by the end of the day I found that I had not enjoyed enough "yin" time. In fact I had given too much of myself, and was feeling uncharacteristically fatigued.

Now I have a better sense of the importance of maintaining yin-yang harmony in my daily routine and energy expenditure: not using more energy than necessary for a given task; not hoarding energy that should be spent.

It's a small insight, but one I needed.




With My Best,


Charles

[SimonR]

Dear Uncles,

Thank you for your words, it is indeed very important that we consider this as an integral aspect of our development in Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan, thanks for highlighting it.

Dear Chia-hua, thank you for sharing your experience, it is very important to remember the simplicity and at the same time depth of our stance training. These simple reconfirmations as the one you had, make our practice grow amazingly. These skills will always continue growing and with each practice we will attain higher levels. Congratulations!

Regarding the first point, Ying Yang differentiation, I would like to share some aspects. It is clear for us, since the first class to recognize the Ying Yang differentiation regarding the weight distribution when we move our feet. We can also experience it when we compare the rootness and solidity of our stance in the lower part of the body and the lightness and agility of the upper part of the body, sensing the Ying Yang harmony when the legs become "light" and agile so that we can move efficiently and the solidity and force of our arms when we strike. When we practice a form or spar fluidly and relaxed this becomes really alive.

A few months ago, while I was practicing Cloud hands, it became very clear how the Ying Yang harmony is present in every movement. When one hand is up, it is “charged” while the lower hand is “empty”, with the circular movements of this pattern we can be aware of this continues harmony between ying and yang and how it is always changing and how one nourishes from the other one. If we just relax and smile form the heart, being aware of the body, this differentiation starts to show itself in the hole body and if we just let it grow, the resultant movements are amazingly elegant and at the same time fluid and powerful, from emptiness emerges the power and from power we return to emptiness. This shouldn’t be understood only mentally, the best way would be to enjoy it during our practice, we all had the transmission from Sigung and/or our Sifus, being conscious of it could enhance our skill.

When we see Ying Yang as the harmony between complementary opposites, we can recognize countless expressions of it in our daily life and in our practice, please feel welcome to share with your family members any comments.

Looking forward to read your words!

Best wishes,

Simon

[SimonR]

Dear Uncle Charles,

I read your post after I posted my last one. Thank you very much for sharing it, as you said this "small insights" are so important. At the end, our life is full of these beautiful and "simple" discoveries and confirmations and that is what makes it wonderful.

Best wishes dear Uncle!

Simon

[Andrew]

When we see Ying Yang as the harmony between complementary opposites, we can recognize countless expressions of it in our daily life and in our practice, please feel welcome to share with your family members any comments.

Excellent observation, Simon. And very well stated.

[Kingmonkey]

Dear all

Dear Friends,

How have you experienced Ying Yang differentiation? Have you had any experiences that could help or inspire your family members? It could be in your practice or in your daily life. Sharing what you have learned form Sifu or other instructor is also important.

Personally I have experienced that there are many different Ying Yang differentiations. For example thare is a Ying Yang differentiation on the physical level (health), there is one of the soul, one of the spirit and one of your actions (movements)etc. Now, what I realise more and more is that our training seems to bring them into more harmony, each one for itsself but also all among each other, so that thery become like one big Ying Yang harmony. When your mind is at a more Yang state, your body will start to equate that with a more ying state and so on.
I realised that when my mind in the morning is some kind of stubborn and refuses to let go of a certain thought, i intuitionaly did my One Finger Shooting Zen with more focus on the Qi Gung level, on the other hand if my mind seemed to be lazy and "wobbly", I did it with much more focus on the Kung Fu aspects and after those training sessions I allways recognised my self as quite smooth and balanced in every part of my phenomenal self.

So far for my recent experiences with Ying Yang differentiation
may be I'll find the time to post how this affects my daily life later on.

Pat