days 57 & 58: tai chi (cloud hands & single whip)

concepts:

• horizontal & vertical
• dimensions
  

forms:

• Yang simplified 24 movement (continued)

this week was a continuation of last week, with the class getting farther into the simplified 24 movement form. we received additional detail on moves from last week, and also covered more background information regarding tai chi.

day 57

i was pleasantly surprised to see Art in class today. it's been awhile since i've seen him at the Saturday class, so it was good to see him again. it appears he'll be attending the UCLA classes more regularly.

we took a little time to make sure everyone received the course materials--so far, it's been the syllabus, the list of the techniques in the simplified 24-movement form, and a sheet covering basic tai chi principles. Sifu reminded everyone about the Yin-Yang (insubstantial-substantial) concept, and to apply this in tai chi movements.

we reviewed the form to date, and then spent time covering a sequence called grasping bird's tail, which actually involves 4 sub-techniques:

• ward off
• roll back
• press
• push
  

we stopped with single whip. these are fundamental techniques in tai chi, and the simplified 24-movement form applies grasping bird's tail with the practitioner going left and then going right, and also has single whip several times.

Sifu said that there were a lot of misconceptions about these techniques, and wanted to spend time on them to make sure we got them right--and understood why it was right. he noted that the common tendency (and common mistake) is to employ horizontal circular movements, but that this is wrong from a combat application perspective. in order for the techniques to work, there also has to be vertical circular movements, meaning that the hands and legs in effect follow curves along a 3-dimensional plane (i.e., a sphere). the reason is that this is crucial in breaking the opponent's root (i.e., throwing off their centerline and disrupting their center of gravity), which then makes it easier to throw them off-balance.

he demonstrated these concepts using me as a partner, and showed the differences between the techniques being applied in horizontal circles versus along 3-dimensional circles. the difference was substantial, and i could see just how important the vertical motion was in throwing off the centerline.

day 58

this day we continued the form and went from the single whip to cloud hands, then single whip again to right heel kick. i found this somewhat straightforward, since i'd actually seen this on the tai chi video Art had given to me quite some time ago (and yes, i do watch these videos), and i'd actually practiced this specific sequence then.

Sifu today noted that we can visualize tai chi forms as involving 5 dimensions--3 dimensions of space, 1 of time, and 1 of the mind. in order to perform the movements, we have to be conscious not only of physical actions in 3-dimensional space, but of our pace in time, as well as our intent in the movements. this is important to understand the techniques as not just physical expression, but as actual patterns with combat applications.

Sifu also commented that terms of the course plan, he wanted to have the class learn the form as general movements, but that we would then spend the bulk of time this quarter working on details and fine-tuning our form. he said the details were important, but that he didn't want to overwhelm us in the beginning.

we finished the day on this, and i ended up sticking around on campus to eat. i may do this more often, although it's going to have to happen on Thursdays, since my Tuesdays are a frenetic mess.