li jiong
06-30-2001, 10:21 AM
Someone: 1. About Zhan Zhuang:
When teacher Cui Ruibin taught us zhan zhuang, he invited us to touch the muscles of his legs. These were constantly alternating between tension and relaxation. A lot of people seem to have the idea that zhan zhuang practice is keeping a fixed ( static ) posture with no movement at all - Cui Ruibin on the other hand taught us that you definitely do move albeit very little. He called this "micro movements" - very little movements barely visible with the eye. What I understood from him is that for instance in holding the open embrace posture, you continuously shift your body weight from toes to heels and back and you let your body control every point on this path - I'll explain: if for instance your body would travel back and forth 10 centimeters and you divide this distance up into millimeters you then could stop the movement every millimeter. This then means that during the time your body travels from one point to another it is relaxed, when you stop at the point it is tensed to temporarily stop the movement, then you relax to allow it to travel another millimeter etc... When I asked him if he voluntarily tensed/relaxed his muscles he said this was not the case so I assume that the muscle "vibration" is induced by trying to feel the very tiny body movements - does this match with what you've been taught?
Li Jiong: Zhan zhuang is divided into yangshengzhuang (health posture) and jijizhuang (combat posture), what you delineated is jijizhuang, of course, all the muscles are working. It seems that Mr. Cui hasn't told you why the muscles were working, and how they worked. Practising jijizhuang, we should find or imagine a target, as a mountain, a big tree, a big building, or an enemy, a big beast, then we imagine against them, push, pull, press, hold or fight them, furthermore, must often change your force, then the muscles are all working, not only the legs.
One point must be noticed, one must have the base of relaxation, then can practise jijizhuang, otherwise, it is very easy to bring some trouble to him.
Someone: 2. About Mocabu:
What is the feeling to go for. I've never received much explanation on this training method. Is it just a question of moving your center of gravity very consciously from one leg to another and trying to be stable all the time. What is the exact feeling to look for?
Li Jiong: Mocabu is in order to improve one's ability of controling motion, it is the shili of the feet in fact, then it is partial exercise. In the second course, all exercises are whole, and it is not a problem for us to get nimble, so the exercise of mocabu was got rid of in our system.
Someone: 3. About ShiLi:
What is the idea behind testing the potential of force. I don't understand the 3-dimensional aspect very well: how can you expect to pay attention to 3 dimensions at the same time? I'll give an example: teacher Cui Ruibin showed us a posture for combat in which the idea was to grab a moderate sized tree before you. You then tried to pull the tree towards you, lift it, push it into the ground etc. This however is a sequential event of actions - when you pull, you work in the horizontal plane or should you always combine this with a vertical movement as well?
Li Jiong: "Hunyuanli" is the ability to control all the 3-dimensional aspect, but it is the ability or possibility only, when we do it really, then there is one dimension only, pull is just pull, push is just push, but via training, we have the ability to change the force quickly. So the idea in shili is like in jijizhuang as well, but it is moving.
Someone: 4. About tuishou:
How do you neutralize an incoming force e.g. a push to the chest? I was
explained to let it come a very little, but the moment it threatens your centerline, you rotate the parrying arm to the outside like a rotating cilinder. I was told that the action to do this is initiated by turning the shoulder of the other side towards the opponents centerline... How do you absorb/ use force when doing tui shou with both hands? When I see it on video performed by teachers like Yao Zong Xun and others it seems so easy yet how do they manage to play with the physical force that their opponent tries to execute upon them?
Li Jiong: Mr. Han told us :"how you practise, how you use". Of course, there are some techniques in tuishou, but it is very difficult to explain them by words only. And it is useless to beginners. So excuse me can't answer this question detailedly here.
http://ssw.myrice.com/fenghuang.gif Yiquan Science (http://ssw.myrice.com/)
When teacher Cui Ruibin taught us zhan zhuang, he invited us to touch the muscles of his legs. These were constantly alternating between tension and relaxation. A lot of people seem to have the idea that zhan zhuang practice is keeping a fixed ( static ) posture with no movement at all - Cui Ruibin on the other hand taught us that you definitely do move albeit very little. He called this "micro movements" - very little movements barely visible with the eye. What I understood from him is that for instance in holding the open embrace posture, you continuously shift your body weight from toes to heels and back and you let your body control every point on this path - I'll explain: if for instance your body would travel back and forth 10 centimeters and you divide this distance up into millimeters you then could stop the movement every millimeter. This then means that during the time your body travels from one point to another it is relaxed, when you stop at the point it is tensed to temporarily stop the movement, then you relax to allow it to travel another millimeter etc... When I asked him if he voluntarily tensed/relaxed his muscles he said this was not the case so I assume that the muscle "vibration" is induced by trying to feel the very tiny body movements - does this match with what you've been taught?
Li Jiong: Zhan zhuang is divided into yangshengzhuang (health posture) and jijizhuang (combat posture), what you delineated is jijizhuang, of course, all the muscles are working. It seems that Mr. Cui hasn't told you why the muscles were working, and how they worked. Practising jijizhuang, we should find or imagine a target, as a mountain, a big tree, a big building, or an enemy, a big beast, then we imagine against them, push, pull, press, hold or fight them, furthermore, must often change your force, then the muscles are all working, not only the legs.
One point must be noticed, one must have the base of relaxation, then can practise jijizhuang, otherwise, it is very easy to bring some trouble to him.
Someone: 2. About Mocabu:
What is the feeling to go for. I've never received much explanation on this training method. Is it just a question of moving your center of gravity very consciously from one leg to another and trying to be stable all the time. What is the exact feeling to look for?
Li Jiong: Mocabu is in order to improve one's ability of controling motion, it is the shili of the feet in fact, then it is partial exercise. In the second course, all exercises are whole, and it is not a problem for us to get nimble, so the exercise of mocabu was got rid of in our system.
Someone: 3. About ShiLi:
What is the idea behind testing the potential of force. I don't understand the 3-dimensional aspect very well: how can you expect to pay attention to 3 dimensions at the same time? I'll give an example: teacher Cui Ruibin showed us a posture for combat in which the idea was to grab a moderate sized tree before you. You then tried to pull the tree towards you, lift it, push it into the ground etc. This however is a sequential event of actions - when you pull, you work in the horizontal plane or should you always combine this with a vertical movement as well?
Li Jiong: "Hunyuanli" is the ability to control all the 3-dimensional aspect, but it is the ability or possibility only, when we do it really, then there is one dimension only, pull is just pull, push is just push, but via training, we have the ability to change the force quickly. So the idea in shili is like in jijizhuang as well, but it is moving.
Someone: 4. About tuishou:
How do you neutralize an incoming force e.g. a push to the chest? I was
explained to let it come a very little, but the moment it threatens your centerline, you rotate the parrying arm to the outside like a rotating cilinder. I was told that the action to do this is initiated by turning the shoulder of the other side towards the opponents centerline... How do you absorb/ use force when doing tui shou with both hands? When I see it on video performed by teachers like Yao Zong Xun and others it seems so easy yet how do they manage to play with the physical force that their opponent tries to execute upon them?
Li Jiong: Mr. Han told us :"how you practise, how you use". Of course, there are some techniques in tuishou, but it is very difficult to explain them by words only. And it is useless to beginners. So excuse me can't answer this question detailedly here.
http://ssw.myrice.com/fenghuang.gif Yiquan Science (http://ssw.myrice.com/)