I guess many people are practicing the stomp too early, then eh? I fear many, including myself, are probably not doing the stomp correctly. Perhaps this is rarely explained, such a shame.

In my understanding the chen laojia, when stomping, the foot does not change any direction. It’s just put down. However, preceding the stomp can be a change in direction (ie.. flash the back). Are you saying the foot direction changes when stomping? If so, what movement has this?

If one is put in a ‘wrong footed’ position, I think we need to further explore the move and see if it’s justifiable or applicable. To me, doesn’t sound too smart to do something that would put us in a bad position. Perhaps this is why other style do not stomp? Do they always move in such a way that they remain in good, advantageous positions?

As for the psychological shock, if “flash the back” is done correctly, shouldn’t be opponent be on the ground? Why need to shock him if he’s already down? Also, stomps are usually accompanied with 1-footed turns, if turning on 1 foot is not a good thing to do, is it better to stomp and try to scare an opponent? If we assume our opponents to be well-trained martial artists, can we think a stomp would shock them?

As for dropping the weight from the kua area, shouldn’t the weight be redirected to the ground? Why keep weight in the kua in the first place?

Thanks again for your comments, but I fear they have caused more questioning from me. Please provide further insight to clarify given points.
Thanks for your time.

purposes of Stomp :
1)is for changing of foot step in order to get in to a advantage position (especially when you are wrong footed) and
2)at the same time create a psychological shock to the opponent.
3) Stomping helps teach the student to drop the weight of the body from the kua area.

AS for the wushu jump front slap kick, there’s definitely quite a bit of biomechanics in play to get that extra “lift” mid-way in the air. When I used to do it, it was the result of a “pull-down” of the left leg, to kick with the right. In addition, the ricochet is interesting in that most jump front slap or butterfly kicks are preceeded by a ‘hop’, however the same is not true for movements like the spinning outer slap crescent kicks.

Wow.. that was mind warp thinking about my wushu days. I was tempted to try a jumping outer crescent kick, but last time I did that cold, I was out cold for 2 weeks

your words (purposely put in BOLD)? “Stomping serves to disperse(san) your qi and dispersing is an important principle to achieving emptiness in your body. This is something i am still TRYING TO FIGURE OUT.” If anything this shows that you don’t understand what emptiness is. If you are on the right track, you won’t have “TO FIGURE OUT”. If this is not trying to intellectually understand or 2nd guess the process then i guess i’m wrong in understanding what you mean. Anyway, its your path - good luck to you

Xing(form with obvious shape) is necessary for undertanding the shenfa(body method). Differentiating xing and yi so that they can be better combined is indeed a good method. Common ways to achieve this are through simple visualisation exercises during zhan zhuang and silk reeling exercises or even in the forms. Due to the static nature of zhan zhuang postures, visualisation exercises are easier to attain through them than in the forms. But that is not to say that I don’t incoporate them in the forms. This is my current level of understanding through practice, not second-guessing nor intellectualisation.

Thanks for your insightful prose. Reminds me of the real secret to taiji, that is:

Practice, Practice, Practice

An another note, I’ll have to explore this “mind stomp” notion, however I do like the fact that you noted how qi should be cultivated and not dispersed, which is one of the core reasons for training taiji, IMO.

For when you see Song
You see San

The methods of Yang
Have no stomping

For how do you maintain Song
At the point of impacting forcefully?

And yet there is stomping in Yang
In High Pat on Horse

But its a mind stomp
Hence no “xing” impact

No “xing” impact means
The treasures of shen, yi, qi

Are maintained carefully
And qi is cultivated, not dispersed

Its a misunderstanding too common
When one does not follow the transmission

For the real objective is
To disperse “xing”

For only then can we say
Use intention, use no strength

And Song and San that old couple
Peacefully in harmony on the way they go