A Memory on How Things Connect

So when I woke up this morning some discussion got around to what was necessary to warm up the body before training.

 

That was all it took to remind me of something I picked up along the way, which also fit my tai chi training.

 

It was a very simple drill.

 You just sway from side to side,

With your feet in an open stance.

 

And as you sway from side to side,

Your ankles, and knees turn towards the other side

And your hip turns that way too.

 

So one way you rotate yourself towards the other side

And as you sway you are moving forward towards that side.

Then when you reach it, you rotate your ankles,

knees and your hips Toward the other side,

Then more forward to that side,

Repeating as many times as you wish.

 

The reverse motion also works.

That is where you turn away from the side you want to move towards,

Then move backwards to the other side.

Then you reverse yourself and move backwards to the other side.

Again repeating as many times as you wish.

 

A no impact method to warm up.

 

And you can do it anytime,

Even a simple sway and back when apparently standing still,

You find yourself instantly loose, ready to react.

 

The link to tai chi is that similar motion is being used.

 

Let me show my instructor doing the Yang Press motion.

 

 

 

 

Then a decade later,

where I was living in NH and no longer able to train with him for years.

Ernie and I gave a demonstration of the Yang form together.

This is how we did that movement.

 

 

Notice he moves away and then returns with the Press.

 

And to be fair, this resembles what I do today with my disabilities.

 

My balance issues no longer permit the stepping in my tai chi,

But the sway of the motion is still present.

When I originally studied as a Sho-Dan I was not interested in this moves

Application potential.

And Ernie was so involved in his Eagle Claw studies,

 so we did not work on tai chi application.

 

Eventually I began training a small group of my students in Tai Chi.

That group continued for 17 years,

And I began to see the tai chi applications.

 

So one day I asked one of them, Dennis Driscoll, to strike towards me.

And I used that motion for defense.

 

I brushed the strike down,

And then just performed that Press motion, softly,

just as in the form I studied.

 That motion almost caved in his chest and he went flying back.

So I tried again, promising to go more softly  to his attack.

Same result.

 

That evening I called Ernie to ask him about it.

He replied, “Victor, didn’t I warn you never to do that to a student?”

And there was laughing.

 

What happened as I studies on it,

What happened was,

the rotation of my hips, away and back worked with the Press,

 

Becoming a major force enhancer,

That makes the press very powerful.

 

I had discovered,

 I had been working a long time on what was a major weapon.

 

So a simple drill,

A major player.