By Walther Chen
Walther is an advanced student and an assistant instructor at Wu Dao
In June, Wu Dao was fortunate to have Master Wei-Lun Wang visit for a series of weekend seminars. He is accomplished in all the internal styles (tai chi, xing yi, and bagua zhang), as well as the art of Liuhebafa which brings all the internal styles into one elegant practice.
In the first part of the story, I recounted how Master Huang was teaching the Yang 108 form. This time, I will continue with the second part of the weekend’s workshop. In this part, we were treated to an overview of qigong and all three internal arts. Master Huang began with some basic Qigong, including sections of Golden Lotus Qigong. It was quite difficult for most, as it required the strength and structure to be able to hold positions for many minutes at a time. We were once again treated to some excellent imagery, as Master Huang encouraged us to imagine putting our thumbs up our nostrils during one exercise.
Master Huang introduced Tai Chi as “like water.” While its force can come out like a whip, the essential character of Tai Chi is of flowing through, penetrating through the opponent’s defenses through whatever weaknesses are detected. To illustrate his point, students paired up to practice a drill: the boat in water. One partner crossed arms over the chest (forming a “boat”), and then the other partner would try to tip the boat over. To do so in a tai chi manner was to be extremely sensitive to the weaknesses in the boat’s balance. When Master Huang demonstrated, he followed so well it was as if he didn’t use force at all. After the drill was over, he asked “What does the boat need to do in order to fight back?” Of course, the answer was to become water.
In the Xingyi and Bagua sections, we were introduced to one basic movement for each style. Through his explanations, we were able to grasp the essential feel of each style. Xingyi strikes like lightning. In Xingyi, all attacks move straight forward in a straight line, and attacks are generated from the centerline of the body. The idea is to crush through the opponent, whether there is a weakness at the point of contact or not. Bagua twists and turns around the opponent like a tornado. Much of the footwork is a circular step first to evade, and then a linear step to close on the opponent and deliver an attack.
It was interesting that in the two hours of xingyi and bagua, we learned very few movements, but practiced each movement multiple times to get the feel of the style. The focus was clearly on depth and not breadth. And even while teaching choreography, Master Huang didn’t miss a chance to remind us about the very basic connections and structure that must be felt within the body.
In the first part of the story, I recounted how Master Huang was teaching the Yang 108 form. This time, I will continue with the second part of the weekend’s workshop. In this part, we were treated to an overview of qigong and all three internal arts. Master Huang began with some basic Qigong, including sections of Golden Lotus Qigong. It was quite difficult for most, as it required the strength and structure to be able to hold positions for many minutes at a time. We were once again treated to some excellent imagery, as Master Huang encouraged us to imagine putting our thumbs up our nostrils during one exercise.
Master Huang introduced Tai Chi as “like water.” While its force can come out like a whip, the essential character of Tai Chi is of flowing through, penetrating through the opponent’s defenses through whatever weaknesses are detected. To illustrate his point, students paired up to practice a drill: the boat in water. One partner crossed arms over the chest (forming a “boat”), and then the other partner would try to tip the boat over. To do so in a tai chi manner was to be extremely sensitive to the weaknesses in the boat’s balance. When Master Huang demonstrated, he followed so well it was as if he didn’t use force at all. After the drill was over, he asked “What does the boat need to do in order to fight back?” Of course, the answer was to become water.
In the Xingyi and Bagua sections, we were introduced to one basic movement for each style. Through his explanations, we were able to grasp the essential feel of each style. Xingyi strikes like lightning. In Xingyi, all attacks move straight forward in a straight line, and attacks are generated from the centerline of the body. The idea is to crush through the opponent, whether there is a weakness at the point of contact or not. Bagua twists and turns around the opponent like a tornado. Much of the footwork is a circular step first to evade, and then a linear step to close on the opponent and deliver an attack.
It was interesting that in the two hours of xingyi and bagua, we learned very few movements, but practiced each movement multiple times to get the feel of the style. The focus was clearly on depth and not breadth. And even while teaching choreography, Master Huang didn’t miss a chance to remind us about the very basic connections and structure that must be felt within the body.
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