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Wei ShuRen：Complete Yang Style Taji –

More stillness-in-motion from Master Wei Shuren.

Wei ShuRen：Complete Yang Style Taji –

I could use some Yang visuals and I have decided to check out this famous master’s work.

My third class is this evening.  Right now it’s morning.  Yesterday after work I was reading Formosa Neijia on Shen training and he had a memorable phrase: “That super calm state”.  I’ve been considering Calm a lot lately.  In my life there have been stretches of years where it seemed like I had it; then lost it almost completely; then started finding it again.  Now I’m looking more at making it.

Teacher has a good way of inserting some theory & principles foundations into our brief, weekly classes.  Mostly we just work on movements.  He doesn’t lecture us on taiji theory and it’s almost tempting to assume that he doesn’t care all that much.  But if you’re paying attention at all, you notice he slips in these little zingers at key points.  Later on for some reason you find that the “zinger” stuck with you, even if you can’t remember all the movements that were demonstrated.

It’s like the clock in a computer?  Often when using a computer the clock is the last thing you care about, it seems like some little accessory.  When in fact, the computer can’t function properly without the clock. 

We’re shown Beginning posture, and Teacher mentions seriously that it is “Nothing”.  And looking at our summer session Forms list, I get reminded that Teacher doesn’t talk much about “holding the ball” or “turning the ball”; the first and second movements are called “Hold Nothing”.

So this morning I made a quick list of pairs or poles:

Calm —— Agitation

Sung —— Stiff Force

Stillness —— Turbulence

Emptiness —— Overloaded