Snake/Crane, I'm with you on the Basics. You have to go back and refine those techniques. You always see or feel something somebody did and it makes you go to the basics once again. Jon you talked about one master being hard and one soft. The exercise that always helped with this was pressing against somebody and building up the energy(pulsing) to match your partner. You both start slowly building up the energy from floor through forearms. When they let off, you also let off. It has to be a gentle release of the pulsing or pressing at each other. Sometimes when it was focused just right it was pressing bone on bone(but centered). This always helped me learn to match softness and hardness. Then take this to moving.

V/r

Steve Manning