Hi Andrey, Alain & Everyone. I've been reading your posts for a few weeks & have enjoyed them. Since I have a question, I've decided to dive in.

Sunday, Jesse discussed weighting when performing High/Low movements. If I recall correctly, he said that when the weight is on the right leg, the right arm is light. Conversely, when the weight is light on the left leg, then the left arm is weighted. Using this example, let's say the weight is on the right leg. Should the right arm always be light, regardless of whether it is high or low?

BTW Andrey, I loved the video of the bears doing push hands!

Hi Scott,

Welcome to the forums!

You know, all rules have exceptions
The way I approach it is to try the posture, and see what feels right. For example, in white crane, this is what Jesse said: the weight in on the right leg, so the right hand tends to be light and the left is heavier. But the chi is still flowing to that upper hand.

Then I tried other postures, like Part the Wild Horses Mane, in Chen, Yang and Wu style, and it makes sense that the hand opposed to the heavy leg is full. It's like you are pressing down to transfer the pong to the other hand.

There are exceptions, though. For example Lazily Tying Coat, in the Chen form. The weight is on the right leg, but the left hand rests on the waist, you can't really say it's heavy. The right hand stays light, but with a good pong still.

I recommend you experiment: take some postures, keep the core Taiji principles (loose shoulders, waist/kua relaxed, etc) and see what feels good.

Do you have any specific posture you are thinking of?

Hey Andrey,

In the Chen 56, I've experimented with the transition from White Crane Spreads Wings to Walk Obliquely in Twist Step. I believe it starts with the weight on the left leg with the left hand high. Then you "gather the energy from the heaven" with your left hand. It seems that in doing this, the left hand becomes yang, or weighted or full, yet the weight is still on the left leg. Then the right hand "gathers the earth energy" & the right leg rises. This seems ok since the right hand is now yang/weighted/full while the weight remains on the left leg. Perhaps I'm splitting hairs The remainder of the transition seems ok too: when the weight is shifted, the opposite hand seems weighted.

Woops, sorry. I see it's Alain, not Andrey!!

Alain,

I believe you're right that every rule has exceptions. Another posture in Chen 56 is the last part of the movement Twisting Hands At Middle (just before Front Parry). I believe that the application is a flicking of the right wrist (i.e. to the opponent's face) while shifting weight to the right leg. Again it seems like yang/weight/fullness is on the same side as the weight of the leg in a high/low situation.

Hey Scott,
It's very complicated topic. Each posture have to have it's own yin-yang balance meaning that one part of the body feels heavy another light. Say for example you have a string puppet hanging. There are so many strings which hold different part of puppet's body. Now you start cutting them one after another making sure that puppet is not falling andt still remain in original position. So in a sense you spare only essential strings. Thats pretty much what most of us try to achieve practicing the form in the beginning. Later when we able to use only necessary "strings" to hold our "puppet" we start learning how to balance our position with existing "strings". Push hands in this case is essential tool for correcting our positions because it teaches us how to keep balance by adjusting our center of gravity and what muscle o strain or relax. Again there a lot of techniques coiling, spinning leaning and etc for the sake of one goal to retain stable position and react on incoming force.

If I tell you that your weight distribution in particular posture should be 70/30, right hand solid, and left hand soft it makes a good instruction to follow, but absolutely worthless thing for you to get immediate results. The reason why is that learning process is very gradual and to understand certain skills may take some time.

When I was practicing my former Lun Hu Quan style I spend many years sitting in low postures and training my leg endurance. During the contact fights and striking exercises I discovered weakness of particular stance and worked on fixing and adjusting it. However, when I started learning tajiquan I didn't have to start from the scratch because a lot of things were pretty natural to me from my prior training. For that benefit, I can drop my center of gravity down or relax certain part of my body at will without thinking and analyzing it . If you ask me how do I do that, I'm not sure what would be definite answer but practice, practice and one more time practice. Your body will tell you most of the time what is wrong better than thousand somebody words. For example, can you move me in push hand with single whip? Try and if you can't you will know immediately find
what is wrong with your stance! Then you go back and incorporate those changes in your form and test it again until your body set it right. So just like Jesse says everything in taijiuqna is pretty much natural but take some time to develop.

Now I'm not sure about Chen 56, but in laojia and my prior training form most posture suppose to be at the same height except few times when you go up or down due to nature of stances. If you load one of your legs too much you most likely experience some extreme burning sensation on one particular side, your posture will look wrong, and your body will scream that something is wrong. Try to think what and adjust. You legs must soar but more or less equally

By the way I'm still going though the same process of adjusting my stances. Every time somebody pushes me I have to go back and re-evaluate over and over again. I think this process is endless by nature

Andrey,

Thanks for your response. The "puppet" is a good visual to keep in mind.

In terms of weight distribution, I'm not sure that there is any one "right" answer for a particular movement. We all have different body types & some of us...especially women...naturally have a lower center of gravity.

In terms of applications, Jesse has often said that by virtue of the very adaptable & flexible nature of Tai Chi, each movement can be adjusted to deflect or parry or attack. I imagine that once you are "in the zone", weight distribution can be incrementally adjusted, just as hand weighting can be adjusted, for a particular situation.

Since I've only been studying Chen for just over a year, I still have the propensity to look for exact positions from Jesse. I deliberately don't practice the Chen form too much at home because I might develop bad habits that will be difficult to break. Ultimately, you're right, I will have to find the right positions for myself & test them in push hands.

Scott if you talking about the form and particular stance the weight distribution is pretty much fixed unless you move. When you practice push hand your weight distribution is alive, but in a sense it represents stances from the form.

You are right about different body types but anyone can develop required body properties look at Chen Yu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOoWloE6DDs


Also I don't think you will develop bad habits by practicing the form on your own as long as once in a while you check it with Jesse. In fact, as more you do your form as better your push hands will be. I can't tell for anyone else, but that how I improve my push hands.

Andrey, I see what you mean. Although Chen Yu is shorter & stockier, you see the same chi generation, kua, waist, weight distribution, etc. I am struck by how various people take the same Chen form & "make it their own" as Jesse says. It's like different musical improvisations on the same song.

I have another topic to post on Push Hands. See you there.