![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Dr Jay, my teacher, likes to include philosophy in his instruction, and I never remember the important things, so I'm going to write what I can recall down. (And not use consistent transliterations, either.)
- Tai ji is often translated as "grand ultimate" and chuan as "fist," leading to the concept of taiji as the ultimate martial art. This is misleading, however. Tai ji is the great extremes of yin and yang, and taijiquan is the embodiment of the great extremes of yin and yang.
- This means that when practicing the form, we should take care to practice chansi, and let our torso and dantien drive the motion. Arms have no independent movement. In chansi, the body twists to allow chi to build up and flow properly. (I'm not a fan of mystical stuff. I'm not yet sure how to reconcile this.) Note to Gurren fans: it's spiral energy.
- Master Jou, Dr Jay's teacher, had a lot of sayings, and one of them was this: The taiji diagram is our teacher. Most people probably know it as the yin-yang symbol (or ying-yang, but that's just wrong). One of the signature steps in Master Jou's form is to sculpt the diagram at the beginning of the 9th passage (that is, after the sequence of wild horse tosses its mane, 1000-lb rock, white crane stands on one leg, and single whip. Then it leads into jade maiden weaves at the shuttle.) It's there to a) allow chansi in the form and b) remind us to let the diagram be our teacher.
- Master Jou's form is not identical to the current Chen family form, as he modified it somewhat over time to emphasize chansijin. I think he studied Chen Fake's style, which branched from the main family in the 50s, though I need to read his book.
- Chansigong or chansijin is something I need to practice more often, so that I can incorporate it into the form more easily.
- I asked Dr Jay if he would be teaching a sword class again soon, and he said "maybe," because there are some people ready to do two person sword so he needs to expand the pool again. And I said I wanted to learn sword form, so he said "Well, then, soon." I mostly really want to learn to swing a sword around. Unfortunately, I'll have to practice that outside, because a) furniture, b) lights, c) ceiling. And it's getting cold and dark early. Bleh. I could try the sword-free version inside, I guess.
- I forgot this initially, but reading about Chen Man-ching on wikipedia reminded me: the Four Treasures stem from calligraphy. First, you must wet the stone. The stone has two properties: It is hard, and it is not soluble. This corresponds to the dantien. Second, you grind the ink. The ink has two properties: it is black, and it is water soluble. This corresponds to the kidneys. Third, you prepare the paper. The paper has two properties: it is white, and it is absorbent. This corresponds to the lungs and heart. Fourth, you dip the brush. The brush has two properties: (which we didn't cover in class, so I'm guessing) it is straight, and it is flexible. This corresponds to the nervous system.
- Four Treasures is a preparatory exercise we do in class.
- Tai ji is often translated as "grand ultimate" and chuan as "fist," leading to the concept of taiji as the ultimate martial art. This is misleading, however. Tai ji is the great extremes of yin and yang, and taijiquan is the embodiment of the great extremes of yin and yang.
- This means that when practicing the form, we should take care to practice chansi, and let our torso and dantien drive the motion. Arms have no independent movement. In chansi, the body twists to allow chi to build up and flow properly. (I'm not a fan of mystical stuff. I'm not yet sure how to reconcile this.) Note to Gurren fans: it's spiral energy.
- Master Jou, Dr Jay's teacher, had a lot of sayings, and one of them was this: The taiji diagram is our teacher. Most people probably know it as the yin-yang symbol (or ying-yang, but that's just wrong). One of the signature steps in Master Jou's form is to sculpt the diagram at the beginning of the 9th passage (that is, after the sequence of wild horse tosses its mane, 1000-lb rock, white crane stands on one leg, and single whip. Then it leads into jade maiden weaves at the shuttle.) It's there to a) allow chansi in the form and b) remind us to let the diagram be our teacher.
- Master Jou's form is not identical to the current Chen family form, as he modified it somewhat over time to emphasize chansijin. I think he studied Chen Fake's style, which branched from the main family in the 50s, though I need to read his book.
- Chansigong or chansijin is something I need to practice more often, so that I can incorporate it into the form more easily.
- I asked Dr Jay if he would be teaching a sword class again soon, and he said "maybe," because there are some people ready to do two person sword so he needs to expand the pool again. And I said I wanted to learn sword form, so he said "Well, then, soon." I mostly really want to learn to swing a sword around. Unfortunately, I'll have to practice that outside, because a) furniture, b) lights, c) ceiling. And it's getting cold and dark early. Bleh. I could try the sword-free version inside, I guess.
- I forgot this initially, but reading about Chen Man-ching on wikipedia reminded me: the Four Treasures stem from calligraphy. First, you must wet the stone. The stone has two properties: It is hard, and it is not soluble. This corresponds to the dantien. Second, you grind the ink. The ink has two properties: it is black, and it is water soluble. This corresponds to the kidneys. Third, you prepare the paper. The paper has two properties: it is white, and it is absorbent. This corresponds to the lungs and heart. Fourth, you dip the brush. The brush has two properties: (which we didn't cover in class, so I'm guessing) it is straight, and it is flexible. This corresponds to the nervous system.
- Four Treasures is a preparatory exercise we do in class.
