Completely agree in principle with Charles and with Bao. Overdose of harmony and accord, anyone...?
charles wrote: My experience has been that it is pretty tough - read, almost impossible - to be taught a base of how to do solo practice that is almost entirely ineffective in two-person application, and then figure out from two-person application how to alter what one has been taught in solo practice and implement it. Doing so necessitates a big change to and divergence from what one was taught in solo work.
This is certainly true. Luckily, all the important teachers I had in the latter two-thirds of my tai chi career have, each in their own way, done the opposite: created strong and testable interaction/synergy between solo practice and application, and this is one of my biggest areas of focus in my own teaching. "It's all the same." In other words, from the word go, all my students get to experience this, not only in the sense of "what can this solo move be used for" but much more importantly, repeatedly trying out some variations and experiencing/training the organization and changes
within the body that actually make the applications and push hands work, also for smaller/lighter people against larger people. Same principles all the time, just a few variations in techniques and tactics. Some get it more quickly, others less quickly, but they all get the information, framework and encouragement to train in this way.
Your description of the 'big disconnect' so often present in the tai world is, unfortunately, quite accurate but in a way it continues to amaze me. I mean, I am certainly not a 'master'. With neither false modesty nor self-aggrandizement I would describe myself as fairly competent mid-level. I've met and felt enough people who are somewhat or much better than me. But I train consistent principles in solo and partner work and nowadays up to a certain level I can usually make my tai chi work, also against uncooperative or 'difficult' people, and in a way that's in line with said principles. It's certainly not rocket science, and even less magic. Maybe I've been lucky...?
charles wrote: Many Yang style variants practice solo "roll back" as part of the Grasp Bird's Tail sequence in such a way that they are double-weighted. Do it that way with an opponent/partner, and you'll spend a lot of time getting up off the floor. But, "everyone" still practices it solo in the same way that produces the double-weighting that sends them to the floor. Few become aware of the underlying principle(s) that need to guide the solo practice so that if they do the same thing in two-person work, they are not double-weighted and sent to the floor. For many, solo training is done one way, two-person work another way: different guiding principles for each.
Yes. Basic principles (very much simplified) in this form move as done in Yang Style: left hand/arm/body half begins more 'full' but also sensitive and relaxed at moment of contact with opponent. Hips immediately begin to sink and rotate, dantien moving to the left, propelled either by opponent's force or (in solo form) by imagined force, and arm/hand are carried along in same circle. Then as this rotation continues, left hand/arm/body half start to 'empty' while right hand/arm/body half begin to come into contact with opponent and start to 'fill'. Emptying and filling in harmony with each other, no gap in between. As these processes continue, body shifts increasingly from front to back foot, moving back as little as possible but as much as necessary to neutralize incoming force and return the force through the right side. Until the technique ends, and then swing/flow through into next one. The complementary emptying and filling aren't obviously visible from the outside but they should be very clear for onself. And for the opponent, if present. Meaning he falls over, not you. If the solo 'roll back' is done this way (and it also feels much more interesting that way!), then the feedback loop between solo and partner work is naturally present. Again, not rocket science (?!)