I training in aikido for 14 years and now at 81 I am beginning to take classes in tai chi. And when I started doing the Yang form I noticed how many of the students where moving their arms in a rather static way while I kept feeling (even though at a very slow speed and not much visible action) that as I finished a body movement and began shifting back my hands and arms wanted to continue floating out a bit longer. You are showing that here. In aikido we would sink the hara, rotate the waist and somewhat tighten the turning of the hands so a kind of spiraling from the large hip rotation to the very small hand rotation and the training partner would go where we directed them. Exciting to see how this is reflected in your demonstration here. You should have so many more people following you. This is pure gold.
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation. Beginners in Taiji find it very difficult to achieve dong/dang, and for me it took a lot of relaxed practice, observation of my teachers, and experimentation. It is mainly through my background in physics that I have been able to analyze it. Until quite recently, I didn’t even know that there was a name for it. It is not explicitly mentioned in the classics, and there is only a brief mention of it in Douglas Wile’s translation of Cheng Man-ch’ing’s Advanced Tai Chi Form Instructions, pp. ii-iii and 47. Therefore, my goal is to help others to achieve it much earlier on than I did and experience the wonderful exhilaration that it provides.
Thank you for this explanation. Useful. Huang Sheng Shyan 4 exercises let to feel this process even without knowing about it. You perfectly explained this process. My impression is that the key principle of Chen taiji, silk reeling is accurately explained in your video.
Yes! And Professor Cheng seems to be the only one who wrote about dòng/dàng. He also described on p. 47 of his "Cheng Man-ch’ing’s Advanced T’ai-Chi Form Instructions," compiled and translated by Douglas Wile.
Thanks for supplying the characters. Interestingly, modern Chinese/English dictionaries provide a somewhat negative connotation to dòng/dàng, namely, turmoil, unrest, commotion, upheaval, chaos.
@@dsfgnk4 That's only when those two characters are used together to form an adjective 動盪. When used separately they function more as verbs. So,proper use in a sentence and context is very important. Btw,full disclosure,I'm fluent in Chinese and practice Taichi in Taiwan.✌️
Is this what they mean in the classics when they say to move like a whip? I don't often get the chance to practice Yang these days but it is fun to play with tempo and really feel the elasticity and natural return as yang becomes yin. Very interesting, absorbing way to play it, especially if you're sleep deprived or intoxicated and can really get into yourself. Ah, fun, I must make the time to practice more often
I think the reason that the movement of a whip is referred to and that “Single Whip” is so-called is that if practiced correctly (according to the principles), the slow, large, shifting-and-turning movements of the Taiji form eventually lead to acquiring the skill of fa jin (internally produced, explosively released, whip-like movement).
The continuous unbroken movement like you are showing that is made by most of Cheng’s Western pupils misses out The An pressing / packing down jing that should be present in every single. Each movement expresses Peng, upwards, Lu, backwards, Jhi, forwards and An downwards. Cheng for some reason kept the downward An after dang hidden. It is so hidden in cloud hands for example that people miss it out completely. This begs the question why did Cheng hide An everywhere? One might come to the conclusion that he did not want western people to know it. For instance in brush knee after the front palm strikes, there is dang, to swing forwards, also termed to smooth off before storing power again to pack the opponent downwards into the ground with An that can send someone onto the floor, or bonce them like like a ball, but can also it can cause internal damage. Maybe this is why Cheng hides it. In the 1970’s a very well known disciple of Cheng, Dr Chi taught in Wimpole street in London. He did show the An force, stating every posture has two fundamental forces, vegetable chopping force, followed by bouncing ball or An force. So Cheng’s Chinese students were taught without things hidden. I am not the only person to point this out. You make many good points BUT where is the An?
I training in aikido for 14 years and now at 81 I am beginning to take classes in tai chi. And when I started doing the Yang form I noticed how many of the students where moving their arms in a rather static way while I kept feeling (even though at a very slow speed and not much visible action) that as I finished a body movement and began shifting back my hands and arms wanted to continue floating out a bit longer. You are showing that here. In aikido we would sink the hara, rotate the waist and somewhat tighten the turning of the hands so a kind of spiraling from the large hip rotation to the very small hand rotation and the training partner would go where we directed them. Exciting to see how this is reflected in your demonstration here. You should have so many more people following you. This is pure gold.
Thank you for your kind words of appreciation.
Beginners in Taiji find it very difficult to achieve dong/dang, and for me it took a lot of relaxed practice, observation of my teachers, and experimentation. It is mainly through my background in physics that I have been able to analyze it. Until quite recently, I didn’t even know that there was a name for it. It is not explicitly mentioned in the classics, and there is only a brief mention of it in Douglas Wile’s translation of Cheng Man-ch’ing’s Advanced Tai Chi Form Instructions, pp. ii-iii and 47. Therefore, my goal is to help others to achieve it much earlier on than I did and experience the wonderful exhilaration that it provides.
Very BASIC stuff that most 'teachers' don't know.
Bill P.
Thank you for this explanation. Useful.
Huang Sheng Shyan 4 exercises let to feel this process even without knowing about it. You perfectly explained this process.
My impression is that the key principle of Chen taiji, silk reeling is accurately explained in your video.
Thank you for this wonderful video 🙏
Thanks for your comment. I'm so glad that you appreciate the video.
👍🙏 спасибо!
Sounds like momentate, a made by word by Mark Hennesy in his translating Master Chang’s New Method of Tai Chi Chuan Self Cultivation.
Yes! And Professor Cheng seems to be the only one who wrote about dòng/dàng. He also described on p. 47 of his "Cheng Man-ch’ing’s Advanced T’ai-Chi Form Instructions," compiled and translated by Douglas Wile.
Dong 動 is move and Dang 盪 is swing/sway . Just added for extra info in case anyone's interested ✌️
Thanks for supplying the characters. Interestingly, modern Chinese/English dictionaries provide a somewhat negative connotation to dòng/dàng, namely, turmoil, unrest, commotion, upheaval, chaos.
@@dsfgnk4 That's only when those two characters are used together to form an adjective 動盪.
When used separately they function more as verbs.
So,proper use in a sentence and context is very important.
Btw,full disclosure,I'm fluent in Chinese and practice Taichi in Taiwan.✌️
Is this what they mean in the classics when they say to move like a whip? I don't often get the chance to practice Yang these days but it is fun to play with tempo and really feel the elasticity and natural return as yang becomes yin. Very interesting, absorbing way to play it, especially if you're sleep deprived or intoxicated and can really get into yourself. Ah, fun, I must make the time to practice more often
I think the reason that the movement of a whip is referred to and that “Single Whip” is so-called is that if practiced correctly (according to the principles), the slow, large, shifting-and-turning movements of the Taiji form eventually lead to acquiring the skill of fa jin (internally produced, explosively released, whip-like movement).
The continuous unbroken movement like you are showing that is made by most of Cheng’s Western pupils misses out The An pressing / packing down jing that should be present in every single. Each movement expresses Peng, upwards, Lu, backwards, Jhi, forwards and An downwards. Cheng for some reason kept the downward An after dang hidden. It is so hidden in cloud hands for example that people miss it out completely. This begs the question why did Cheng hide An everywhere? One might come to the conclusion that he did not want western people to know it. For instance in brush knee after the front palm strikes, there is dang, to swing forwards, also termed to smooth off before storing power again to pack the opponent downwards into the ground with An that can send someone onto the floor, or bonce them like like a ball, but can also it can cause internal damage. Maybe this is why Cheng hides it. In the 1970’s a very well known disciple of Cheng, Dr Chi taught in Wimpole street in London. He did show the An force, stating every posture has two fundamental forces, vegetable chopping force, followed by bouncing ball or An force. So Cheng’s Chinese students were taught without things hidden. I am not the only person to point this out. You make many good points BUT where is the An?