Tai Chi Club

Looking to gather people together to form a Tai Chi Club in Eugene. The focus will be on the core principles of sensing hands explored through exchange stepping, the 8 preparatory drills and 4 hands. Basic to the approach will be an emphasis on looking at relaxed structure and relinquishing the urge to win. Far more interesting is finding how the 8 energies reveal themselves within and between our own bodies. Ideally, I am looking for persons who have studied the Yang Tai Chi forms and are looking to deepen their understanding through contact exercises and to have fun. The resources we can call upon are Jim Madras and Erica Anderson at the Natural Arts Center once we have acquired understanding of what we need to advance. Contact  me with any questions at:
boyspear@yahoo.com.
Once I get an idea of how many people are interested, we'll work on time and location. Cost is your time and commitment to show up.

Resting-In establishes the ground path

Point 1.
Rest into structure. This creates the path to the ground and establishes 'grain of motion'. The interesting thing is that you can't tell from looking whether there is a ground path adherence.

The point of origin can come from any place, not just the tan tian.

Big point from last winter session Dec 10
Release any bracing points, areas down into the contact points. For example, into the yung chuan when standing. Into the sitz bones, when sitting.

Equal Density - spread out the load equally. Do not use the muscles. Exercise when putting a load into the hands from a kneeling position or getting up or falling down or doing push ups.

Personal notes:
Become/listen to the correspondence between the arm pits and the kua.

Knee and Lower Back
Relax the knees when carrying weight. Let the load through down to the relaxed feet. Holding the load at the knees creates holding at the small of the back. Release both by relaxing the knee load downwards

The grain of motion should be like a closed circuit. Very little interference. A clear line. Easy. No feeling. 

Playing with Doug

We're playing with generating a wave from the root to create a reaction. Interesting thing is that if you are totally resting-into the partner's structure, the wave bounces back into the originators body and out his weakest points. If not, there's a really nice bounce out.
When playing with a partner of some skill, the gaps are well covered. There's the notion of creating an opening thru putting a double feed into your partner's system. As simple as a double push to open the door. More difficult to go from a moving and resting place to detect the opening or gap.
There needs to be a fixed place from which to rotate the partner's structure. That fixed place needs a na (frozen point) to revolve his structure around from a diagonal plane. Key being diagonal as from above left down towards the head like a covering motion to spiral him out of structure.
You need to load your partner's structure before releasing. This is significant because you are, as it were, filling him so that he cannot neutralize your action. As in single whip, load him by tapping in, rolling the forearm and then when he is full, stir forward and in from the contact point.
Explore smaller internal circles with large energetic circles.

Notes from the Summer Sessions

From class 8/13
Allow movement (folding) from the side indents of the breastbone (sternum) opening the back and release, open the sacrum. Both places balance one another. It is the line of the bai hui through the hui yin that is still when moving.
Note: Small movements work out stagnation. Large movements just carry them. Discern the grain of motion playing out. Don't interfere with how anything wants to play out. It may feel as if the line extends outside of the body. That's when the internal parts begin to play with the air.
Transfer - moves the load of the contact point from one area to another on your partner's body. Different contact point on your partner's body.
Exchange - moves the load from one part of your body (i.e. right forearm to left forearm). Same contact point on your partner's body.
While practicing the hip track, note that the receiving leg does nothing. It just fills. And the hip track is a track that stays on the same level. There's no bobbing up or down. The hip track shifts on a line as on a track. Leave the knees at the same height balancing one another.  Use the kua paying respect to the balancing action of the knees.

From class 7/16 - 16 part Xing Yi Nei Gong
When the knees are bent, pay attention to the ankes and hip crease.
Adhere/Rest-in
Stick/Support
2 sides of the same coin.

2/9/11
Relax Faster and soften the front part of the groin and inguinal ligament to sink/fill the bottom of the pelvis.


A push is activated without lag in connection by releasing though the grain of motion.
In the Eight Brocades number 1, find space in the triple burners by following the grain of motion. When a bind is released in the body by finding that thread, the energy returns to it's natural path. It's something you can feel.
Muscular strength cannot overcome the fascial strength of 2500 pounds of structure.

Casey Lou

Our beloved Casey Lou passed away  today. 13 years old. Best dog ever! A true protector. Loyal and the softest fur. His ears were spotted like a Dalmatian's. His last days were a heroic struggle to continue living normally. Casey struggled with coordination and occasionally would fall while on the evening walk. When he passed, I was struck by the absence of movement in his body. A couple of seconds and he was gone. Lifting him to take him to the car, his head bobbed over. How heavy he was. Absence. Something he never was while alive. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I see him at those moments, on his pillow as if asleep, but gone. My wife, J, said that he took a long breath and let go. He was ready.
Lately,  read about body mapping. Our sense of connection is biological, deep and permeates all the soft tissues through the brain into the recesses of the fascia, the little nooks in the joints. Our body maps extend well beyond our bodies. We form connections invisible in space and then respond, resting inward and outward. I can feel Casey through my sinews and liquid fascia; extending outwards in space to find him.. Easy to muster the illusion, the sense of patting his head. Sense memory. I'll never get that same sense of feeling as I shared with Casey. He was truly one with our little family. We were a pack. Rest in Peace, Best Boy.

Moving Relative to the Connection Point

The ability to move all the joints relaxed and aligned relative to the connection point while retaining peng is key to sensing hands skill. This is the way that Erica says Julie is able to take one out of balance and to create a bind in one's system before utilizing it. Remember what works in form, breaks if insufficient in connection.
For example:
A push against peng that creates a  bind in the posterior hip joint, not allowing it to go into the ground ... Your partner simply loads into the gap in the hip joint and you're toast.

The length and width of one's stance
The stance should be based on one's ability to weight totally into one leg and extending the weightless leg to find the length and width of a natural stance. All this is done without vaulting, but sunken and without breaks, gaps or insufficiency. Julie says I should pretend that I'm really big and full like Yang Chen Fu.

The cubes (carpals) in my hands

BONES OF HAND
Proximal: A=Scaphoid, B=Lunate, C=Triquetrum, D=Pisiform
Distal: E=Trapezium, F=Trapezoid, G=Capitate, H=Hamate

Feel how the carpal bones articulate.