What Does It Take to Send Someone Flying Ten Feet Through the Air? Let's Look at the Numbers
Sometimes, stories are told of long-dead masters, and the story is embellished to the point that the master did push hands with a challenger and "sent him flying back ten feet through the air."
Sometimes, we see photos that are obviously faked, showing students a few feet in the air, flying away from the "master." There are prominent teachers right now who have used these images.
Sometimes, teachers tell us that they have also sent people ten feet through the air while doing push hands.
Really? You launched a full-grown adult ten feet through the air ā€” without a running start, on level ground, doing push hands and using nothing but your internal power?
See the photo at the top of the page? From the edge of the charcoal gray floor to the edge of the blue mat is exactly ten feet. Someone would have to make me fly all the way back to the mat.
Ā It insults the intelligence of the people hearing the claim, reading about it, or seeing the pictures, and it hurts the image of Taiji.
So le...
What Does "Double-Weighted" Mean in Tai Chi?
You have heard people say that being "double-weighted" is bad in Taijiquan.
But if you ask 10 different Taiji folks what that means, you will get 10 different answers.
Some say it is when your weight is distributed 50-50 between the legs.
Some say it's a mental thing. Others say something completely different.
This video shows what I learned about double-weighting from training with Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing and their students and disciples.Ā
Internal Energies and Takedowns - The Holy Grail of Taiji Self-Defense
The Holy Grail of Tai Chi self-defense -- in my opinion -- is when you can "feel" an opponent's energy when you are in a clinch and you can break his structure and use Tai Chi "energies" to take him down.
On Saturday, about a dozen martial artists of different styles gathered at Morrow's Academy of Martial Arts in Moline, Illinois and we practiced some of the basic concepts and energies. We recorded the workshop and the video is already going up on my website -- www.internalfightingarts.com -- and I am putting it together for a DVD.
Anyone can use muscular force to pick someone up and throw them to the ground.
But can you use Tai Chi energies to unbalance, uproot, and control your opponent's center so you can take them down?
You have to be able to do a few things:
** Determine how your opponent's center is turning
** Break his structure to unbalance him
** Have your hands and legs in place to help his center turn
** Then turn his center and take it where it wants to go.
The te...
Chen Xiaoxing Gives Private Push Hands Lesson in Chen Village
This video shows Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing giving a private push hands lesson to my former teacher, the late Mark Wasson, in the early 2000s.Ā
Mark was on one of his many visits to train with the Chen family in Chenjiagou, but it was a cold winter day and in those days, the village was still without heat in most of its buildings. So Chen Xiaoxing graciously came to Mark's hotel room to train him.
Mark died in 2013 after a long battle with Crohn's Disease. He helped to popularize Chen Taiji in the United States, sponsoring or arranging sponsors for Chen Xiaoxing and others to visit the U.S. for workshops, and Mark also took several Americans to Chen Village to train.
When I studied with Mark, I sponsored Chen Xiaoxing's visa for his 2006 visit to the United States. In return, Chen Xiaoxing stayed in my home for a week and we practiced like this every day. I learned a lot and, after being thrown to the ground so many times, got a brand new perspective of my basement carpet.
This is p...
Connecting with Your Opponent's Center in Tai Chi
When you and a partner are doing push hands, or if you find yourself in a situation that calls for self-defense, one of your primary goals is to "remain centered."
Remaining centered requires you to maintain your mental balance and physical balance. If you lose your balance -- mentally or physically -- you are vulnerable. The same is true for your opponent.
This means that one of your goals when facing an opponent is to find his center, connect with it and control it.
On my website there are videos related to this topic. You can meld with your opponent's center as it is turning, helping it continue in the direction it is traveling. That's my favorite way to control an opponent's center, but there is another way.
When you practice push hands with a partner, you try to remain sensitive, and you do not want to give him an opening. You hide your internal strength from him. You are relaxed but aware, connected through the body, but you are flexible, moving, and able to respond and ...
Chen Xiaoxing One Year Later
It's been a year since Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing stayed in our home for a week. He came to Moline partially as a favor, because I sponsored his visa to visit the U.S. and teach seminars around the country. He held a 2-day seminar on Laojia Yilu at our school and I received some good private training in my basement. It was fascinating to host a man like this and to see a true master up close and personal.
Grandmaster Chen is in charge of all tai chi training in the Chen village. He has trained some talented young masters. We're about the same age. He's the younger brother of Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang. He's the uncle of Chen Bing.
It was difficult for us to communicate, since he doesn't speak English, but when he trains, no words need to be said. One day we did push hands in my basement for a while. Each time I tried to attack him, he relaxed and suddenly, I found myself on the floor. We were both laughing--I was laughing because it was amazing to feel what he was doing but still be un...
The Taiji Yin-Yang Formula
Tai Chi magazine had a good article recently calledĀ The Taiji Yin-Yang Formula. I especially enjoyed this quote: "If one wants to catch something, first it must be let go."
Naturally, I can't go into all of the principles included in this blog post, but one of the principles I'll practice with the class this week is "letting go" when force comes at you.
I practiced pushing hands with Master Chen Bing in Chicago last year. There was an exercise we did--he put his hand on my shoulder and I put my hand on his. When I pushed, he would relax and suddenly he wouldn't be there. His shoulder gave way under my push. Instead of greeting my push with force, he let go. He easily handled my force and before I knew it, I was off balance.
One of the things about Tai Chi that has always fascinated me is the idea of relaxing when force is coming at you. It's contrary to everything we've been taught to do our entire lives. And as the article in Tai Chi Magazine says, the very act of yielding create...
Author - Instructor
Ken Gullette
I have practiced martial arts since 1973 and began studying the internal arts in 1987. My goal is to cut years off your development time by coaching you in the real skills for high-quality Tai Chi, Xingyi, Bagua. To see more about my bio, click the "About Ken" link on the menu at the top of this page.
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