What kind of training surface do most prefer? Yesterday, the ground was a bit wet so I decided to train in a parking lot across the street. It was nice being on a flat surface again. Most of the time, I’ve been training on carpet in the living room in my socks. Otherwise, I’ve been outside in the park on the grass. While I do like the lush landscape and soft ground, there’s something about training on the hard, flat surface.

On the grass, I have to be a bit more careful to make sure I don’t step on any twigs or doodoo. In addition, the uneven surface makes things quite interesting and challenging, but at the same time, perhaps a bit too challenging. One of the structural things I am currenty working on is the shifting of weight without fluctuation in height of my hips. Also, I’m really trying to work on the alignment and placement of my hips to the outer foot. Before, I would shift over too much and this would cause a lot of the weight and tension to get locked into my hip and not really get transferred down to the ground. I’ve been working on this alot and doing the zhanzhuang and silk reeling has really helped in regards to structural alignment. Now, I can feel that my hip is more relaxed and the energy can now sink into my thighs, which results in quite a workout! I thought I had strong thighs before due to my wushu training but I was sadly mistaken after I had relaxed my hips enough to fully transfer all the weight into my legs.

Thinking of these concepts reminds me that I want to reread an article about fixed leg silk reeling by Wang Haijun (disciple of Chen Zhenglei). I know that when I’m on a flat surface, I can really pay a lot more attention to these concepts. Oh.. the decisions…

I’ve often been told that taiji training can be similar to an onion in the idea there are many levels to training. At first, just the sequence is training enough, but over time things get a bit deeper or not so deep.

I feel that I’ve trained long enough that the overall shape of the sequence is really second nature now. I think it helps to not try and be a “forms collector” but to really learn and understand a couple of forms. This was ingrained with me during my wushu training as I maybe did like 1 form a year, quite a constrast to my TKD days doing a new form every month or so. Currently, my focus is on the 38 form by CXW and the Laojia Yilu.

In every training session, I try to at least get in 5 mins of zhanzhuang with at least 8 reps of each of the silk reeling exercises. The first 4 reps of the silk reeling are really a mix of zhanzhuang and chansigong. The reason is that CXW breaks the single handed silk reeling motion into about 4 different steps. At each step, there are certain requirements for the body and for the mind. I try to concentrate and focus on these during the first 4 reps, especially in reqards to qi intention (Qi to dantien, back, shoulder, elbow, hand, waist, dantien), each count has a corresponding placement for the qi.

In addition to the yi aspect (intention, mind) there is a dantien rotating aspect. As I’m taught, the dantien can rotate in 3 different methods (vertical, horizontal, combination of the 2). The vertical method is really more like and “over” or “under” rotation and the horizontals are more like “spinning” in my mind. The last one is really a combination of the 2 which creates more of a spiral motion.

So, after I do the chansigong, I generally try to work on some kind of short form to get warmed up. I did practice CZL’s 18 essence chen form for a while, but lately I’ve been doing the 38. Currently, over lunch, my main focus is just to get a fluidity of movement and continuity with mental relaxation (I’m trying to take a break after all!). I work through that form at a pretty slow pace that is coordinated with my breath and then I do the laojia yilu after.

Now, when I’m at home and training on my own, I’ll try to get at least 3 reps of a form in before moving to the next form. The first rep is just to warm the body up and done at a higher stance to get relaxed. The second rep is done with a bit lower stance and I’m starting to think more about yi and the intention of qi at each posture. The third rep is done slower and with a more lower stance.

Sometimes, I feel that it can be quite overwhelming to try and think about all these things during any given rep, which is usually why I like to break things down. Hopefully, I’ll get to a point that the yi will become second nature so I won’t have to put too much effort on the actions.

If I’m really short on time or just want to do some isolated training, I’ll pick out just a couple of movements and really get into the nitty gritty on them. I’ll look at my structure, alignment and try to determine the qi path for the movement and if I’m really ambitious, try to incorporate all of the dantien rotations in their appropriate places. I usually don’t make it to the dantien portion as I still have quite a ways to go on the structure, alignment and yi that I’m still working on, but it’s good to shoot for the moon

Decided to do a bit of the 38 form yesterday during lunch after a sesion of the laojia yilu. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed practicing this form due to it’s variation. The 38 form is basically a combination of the laojia and xinjia forms of chen style taijiquan that was created by Chen Xiaowang.

While doing the laojia yilu is great, I feel it was good to have a bit of variation added to the mix. My flow is getting better and I can feel myself becoming more centered over lunch. I can easily come back to work and tackle the afternoon. If I had any complaints about the 38 form is that I miss the repetition of the traditional yilu elements, that is lazily tying the coat and single whip. I think it’s be really great if the beginning of the 38 was the same as the beginning of the laojia yilu. Hmm.. perhaps I’ll just do a slight variation on it for myself….

I was considering doing some training in the parking lot of a church as right now do it in a park. But after thinking, I feel it’s good to workout in a natural type of setting even tho the ground may be a bit uneven. I recall back in college when we’d go to the park and train, the hardest was when it was really windy and we were training on uneven ground. I guess it’s the perfect way to test your structure and stability!

After reading Tai Chi Blog: Lower Your Cholesterol and Heal Your Heart I started thinking about the whole middle finger thing. I’ve always kinda had an issue with the shape of my hands during form execution. While it sound trivial, I think it makes a huge difference. I think a lot of it stems from my wushu days where the hands were very tense and held in certain positions, however with taiji, things are a bit different.

How important is the shape of one’s hands during training? I think it’s very important, but not only that, the shape of the wrist is also very important. I’ve run into few styles/trainings that actually discuss the shape of the hand. My first occurence was when I did some yang taiji via the TT Liang camp, they advocated the “fair maiden’s palm”. You can see what the palm shape looks like by seeing photos of Cheng Man Ching on the comparative study page.

At first, I had a big problem with this concept as I my palm/wrist shape was more similar to that of Yang Zhenduo. But now, I’m starting to realize the importance of the shape of the wrists and the palms. Then in one of my other classes, I was told the shape of the palms should be similar to the shape when you put your palms on the back of your thighs. I actually like this as it really opens the palm region and creates a natural curve.

Now, I’m working on a concept there the palm should be empty in the middle (similar to the shape of the thighs curve) with emphasis placed on the middle finger and a slight intention of the pinkie and thumb wanting to meet each other. Doing this kind of intentional work on my palms has really added another layer to my own training. In addition, the wrists should not be locked or too rigid. The wrists should be like they are during zhanzhuang, which is a relaxed sort of straight line. The above is like an interesting mesh of the fair maiden’s palm structure and that of the rigid pile stacking finger curvatures I’ve seen.