Chen.quest.ion

Chen Applications from Chen Zhonghua

Man, CZH is just wonderful. Enjoy. I got this vid from the Practical Method blog.

No point in my saying much about this, I have my hands full trying to talk meaningfully about Taijiquan.  If I ever got away from Chen TJQ (not something I want to happen) I would want to take up Aikido as an alternative (with instruction; I’m not going to try the do-it-yourself route again).  If that was a “no-go” for some reason, well, I would want to attempt an exotic kungfu (as in Shaolin-type) style.  Once again, self-teaching would not be an option. 

Dragon style attracts me (some don’t see this as a “style”, rather an animal form/subset of kung fu in general… but I have encountered some info on a real live Dragon Style Kung Fu).

Then there’s Pigua (usually practiced in conjunction with Baji?), which looks pretty awesome to me.

I like these MA styles because I see similarities with Chen taiji.  The less similarity with Chen taiji, the less interested I am.  The zealotry of a midlife convert?  But what about Yang and other taiji styles?  Dunno, they never grabbed me for some reason.  My loss perhaps; certainly they have much to offer.  Anyway I’ve been looking for the old Pigua articles that turned me on originally.  See my blogroll links for one.  Here’s another:

http://www.southernskykungfu.com/articles.htm

Pigua has some great training methods and I’ve fooled around with these; the low-stance and movement drills, not the pole training and more advanced stuff.  Pigua is wild!

I have a new image for my Chen.quest.ion blog header bar.  Though I loved my Chinese crags, they didn’t have much to do with taiji, exactly.  (Perhaps even less than the previous car-speeding-through-curved-tunnel I started with.) 

How about these lovely trees?  My understanding is that the resilient, downward-hanging branches illustrate “sung”.  I want to write something about sung (and fa-jin, and such matters) before too much more time goes by.  Maybe this will get me going.

Going back to rocky heights for a moment: I love crags, mountains, big rocks, cliffs… anything I can climb.  It’s a passion of mine.  Any climbers out there?  I only do free climbing and bouldering but have done it since childhood.  And still do, any chance I get.  When I can no longer climb, I will know I have truly gotten old.  Too old!  Help me, taiji practice!!!

In addition to climbing, there’s mountain appreciation.  I’ve never seen Karst formations with my own eyes.  These are one of the glories of China.  Anyone wanna talk about this?  Or sung?  If not – I will ask again later!       

FYI: I just found some rare english-language information on Prof. Wu Dong, whose teaching materials I’ve been using (supplemented by many other sources) to learn the moves (hopefully incorporating the principles also) of the Chen Competition Form.

This is from a very good MA forum called SgWutan, they reprinted the China news article about Wu Dong.  Actually the article is not all that informative, but if anyone knows where there’s a better, I’d love to hear about it.

http://sgwutan.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=42

By the way, if you go to SgWutan do check out more than this article which is probably the least of what this site has to offer.  You will find some really excellent discussions in their forum.  I just discovered that the site contains illustrations of how to perform Hindu Squats, Hindu Pushups, and Ballet Squats, 3 super exercises that I learned from Matt Furey.  I’m still digging into all the SgWutan resources.  Fun stuff, serious stuff, good stuff all.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m interested in physical training, have been doing it a lot longer than I’ve been doing anything taiji-ish.   Tonight I visited a cool blog called Garden Ninja and he has a great link for training - among other things – to do the front splits, which is kind of a dream of mine.  I’ll be trying to improve now that I have:

http://www.flashmavi.com/stretching_frontsplits_how_to_stretch_the_frontsplits.shtml

There are lots of other stretches and good moves at this site.  Quite a find, I am very psyched about this.  “Splits” is one of those things like “Kua” that you might suppose there are all kinds of informative articles on.  Nope… but things are changing.    

I’m not going to risk my hip sockets (or groin?… whatever) by attempting full side splits (which I don’t need anyway) but I would love to have full front splits (which do tie in to Chen style taiji).  

There are actually some good courses you can buy on improving stretching, and I’ve sampled these.  As usual, what I’m seeking is training methods that can be stirred into my daily life as an ingredient that will help create a better future for me and hopefully those around me.

I’m not exactly sure how front splits will help build a better world but I will need them if I want to continue with the 56 Forms Chen.  And besides, I’m sure we all have some personal kungs that simply appeal, for whatever reason.

Good place for me to mention that the Formosa Neijia blog has quite a bit of material on bodywork training and its martial connections.

Last couple of days, had some good reading and writing over at the Chenwired forum.  I introduced myself formally (as had been requested of forum members).  As integrity dictates, I trotted the skeleton out of my closet – to wit, I have not had Taiji instruction, but have been trying to learn by remote as it were.  Now, to a certain extent this suits my personality, habits, and means.  I do try to make sure that it is not also suiting my vanity.  Some folks might maintain that someone reporting for his/her first day in Chen class under a qualified teacher, is closer to Chen Taijiquan than I, after six years of striving with my books, vids, notebooks, handmade wall charts, full-length mirror, and experimenting with different ways of movement in my workplace activities.  In fact, strictly speaking, it’s undeniable that that is the case.

However, nothing’s stopping me from being that “first day in class” guy.  Tell you what, I’ve already decided, if I come face to face to face with a real teacher, I’m going to say as little as possible about my “experience”!  Unless asked of course.  Then I will answer – and say as little as possible.

I told the Chenwired page that I have taken six years to “learn” 24 forms.  Later I did the math and calculated (for the first time actually) that at this rate it will take me 14 years to “learn” the full 56 Forms of the Chen Competition Routine.  I don’t particularly have a problem with that.  But….   There are a lot of “but’s” that devolve from this state of affairs, and I won’t trouble to list them here.  For the moment, I’m still having fun, still think Chen Taiji “rocks” (boy I hate that expression, I’m an old fogey), and sometimes I think I’m getting closer to Internal movement in spite of all the reasons why that might not be so.

But there’s a limit, after all, to pure penetration.  That word has a martial arts definition or two but I’m talking about a talent for discernment; discernment being the ability to see with clarity that which is obscure or hidden.  Which brings me to an article which I just read for the first time.  On the Pull Up A Chair blog.  It explains with typical “Practical Method” clarity and concision WHY us regular folks are not going to stumble upon the deepest secrets of taiji (and maybe even some of the not-so-deep secrets) in any useful dimension, without the guidance of someone who really knows.  Really knows because they were themselves guided there by someone who really knew because…

That is a lineage.  That is the true, unalloyed and undiluted essence.  That is a traditional journey.  That’s a road I’m not currently on, though I may bless and thank Chen Xiaowang and dozens of other achievers for sharing information by publishing it into our modern Information Age.  Why can’t I just open the Doors of Perception all by myself, even a crack, simply through effort and striving?  http://pullupachair.wordpress.com/2007/02/28/inside-and-outside/#more-49

Just a quick note to say I’m adding Teck’s Taiji Journal to my links.  I checked out his blog just now, more or less for the first time, and was delighted to see a post about similarities between Taiko drumming and Taiji, in terms of technique.  I love this stuff.  I have been wanting to write about something I noticed once in viewing a video about Japanese religious cermony (I believe it was a Shinto temple), and the priest’s employment of what I recognized as fa-jin.  However I’m not ready to do that yet.  In the meantime I glad I found my way to Teck’s Journal. 

How to Match Your Opponent’s Power

I swear on my honor that I wrote my previous post before I ever saw this. Interested? Visit the Practical Method blog!!

This is what Tai Chi is all about.  That’s just one man’s opinion, and there’s no reason to take my word for it. But so far in my research and experimentation, that’s what I have concluded.  There’s an expression that goes, “Don’t sweat the small stuff”.  In many human affairs, that could be very good advice.  But if we’re discussing tai chi chuan, I prefer this expression:

Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.   – Thomas Carlyle
 

So with this in mind, let’s say that tai chi calls to the potential genius in all of us.

Speaking humorously, I might suggest that tai chi appeals to the “control freak” in all of us. Trying to control all - ALL, mind you - the minute details and shifts of what we’re doing in those minutes of practice or other usage.  And not just the details in and of themselves; but their always-changing relationship and balance to each other.  Managing the microcosm.

But the real point is learning to give up, to go along, to follow the Tao.  It’s a pretty paradox.  And a really splendid pursuit. 

This post is a little tribute to Stone River Kung Fu (sometimes known as “Bullsnake’s Martial Arts Training Hall”), one of my earliest internet guideposts on the road to martial arts success.  (Not claiming I have that success; only hope that I’m on the road.)  He’s a martial arts instructor of lengthy experience and broad background.  Doesn’t always write like a Shakespeare, but I’ve always found his writings to be fundamental, knowledgeable, and often touching on areas not frequently discussed elsewhere.

I have been wanting to post something about “Single Leg Stances” and yesterday I discovered that SRKF has beat me to it.  Which is great, because his post is far better than anything I could have cooked up on this key topic.  Better yet, he’s added YouTube video clips to his “stance” articles and they look great too.  If you are someone like me who feels that “stance work” is #1 in tai chi and the martial arts, then do check these out.  If you’re advanced beyond what he’s presenting, maybe you’ll want to shoot him a note as to how the material struck you.

In my post on “troubleshooting” recently I mentioned being weak in Cat Stance.  Boom, SRKF has a post on this with video including vector lines.  Dial-up connection notwithstanding, I will have to spend some time with this.  Do you know how rare this kind of fundamentals training material is in the billion-page Internet?  Well here’s one source anyway.

http://members.tripod.com/~Bullsnake/index.html

Also read his post on Tai Chi Chuan; it’s succinct, unique, and provocative.  And there’s a nice overview of Taoist elements theory; and more.  This man also has a blog on MySpace now which contains some excellent pieces on MA, meditation, and society.  I joined MySpace solely to read his stuff!