Double Jian w/ Tassels
I'm meeting with Jeff at 10am this morning. I started with a short Warm Up and a Round (right side) in the driveway before he showed up.
When Jeff came we talked about refining postures in general and specifically in the Forms that are taught at JRRMAS (J. R. ROY MARTIAL ARTS STUDIO), focusing on the Yang Style 150 T'ai Chi Ch'uan Solo Form.
Each posture has a beginning, middle (transition), and end.
The 'end' of the posture is where you would take a photo for a book describing that particular Form.
In T'ai Chi Ch'uan practice, the end of the postures contains Wuji (stillness) for a fraction of a second.
*One of the greatest paradox of T'ai Chi Ch'uan practice: To the casual observer, one should appear to 'flow' unceasingly (like a great river) from movement to movement, very fluid. However the practitioner is conscious that at the end of each movement there is a moment of stillness as Tai-Chi becomes Wuji and back again. Stop but don't actually stop! Good luck!!
First step is sequence after one is comfortable with the sequence then the task changes to refinement.
There is no end to refinement.
To refine anything:
Initially takes conscious thought and effort.
A goal is to embody the principles with the ability to have the principles in place without conscious thought or effort.
The skills and the quality of your 'Tai-Chi Body' becomes effortless and instantly accessible.
Mastery demands correct iterations.
Progress is paradoxical, cyclical as opposed to linear.
There are 'quantitative leaps' as in water boiling or freezing. It appears as if nothing is happening, then all of a sudden....Bam!
The resulting skills and the quality of your body movements are just the tip of an iceberg of effort.
Techniques for refining postures
Holding postures
Looping single movements to repeat
Two person partner work
Learning applications
Then we talked about the beginning - middle - end to each movement.
I applied that to Single Hand Push-Hands
Next we reviewed the Tai-Chi 13 Spear Set (left side)
Some solo Spear basics w/ both sides
Then we spent a few minutes on the Modern Arnis, give and take knife drills.
First the w/ x-block, then the ice pick
The Dance