Monday, December 28, 2009

圆化方进

I don't know why, but this phrase 圆化方进 kept showing up in my mind as I was driving home from pushing hands class today.

When pushing hands with my teacher, I felt that he was drawing out my strength until my arm grew tired. How? Maybe it is because he could sense my force and kept changing his force, so that no matter how I tried to move, he was always one step ahead and his force ended up at an angle to mine, causing my arm to flatten. In an attempt not to let my arm flatten, I tried to shift my force, and when I shifted, he sensed it and changed his angle of approach to continue to flatten my arm. In the end, in order not to let my arm become flattened, I kept changing my force trying to meet his, simply following and ended up continuously exerting force, and making my arm tired instead.

Maybe the trick is to draw circles, such that my force is always changing, rather than to try to react to his force and end up trailing behind.

2 comments:

Peter Lai HM said...

Dear Teck:

I have been learning the Chen Taiji 74 movements for a year. I am able to memorize the full set. But I feel my movements are still very bad, especially in the waist movements. Do you have any suggestion for a beginner?

Peter

Teck said...

Practice practice practice. That's what helps. And a good teacher who is willing to spend time telling you your mistakes and guiding you in correcting them. And more importantly, for you to make effort each time to correct your mistakes, one mistake at a time.