by charles on Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:29 am
First, this should be posted in the "Video" section.
You asked for comments, so here are a few general ones.
The choreography of the exercises is the same as or similar to a variety of exercises taught in various other styles, depending on the style, labelled as "qigong", "neigong", jibengong or silk reeling. Some, obviously, are form movements. There is nothing "right" or "wrong", per se, with the choreography. What matters is what one puts in, or "fills" the choreography with, what motivates the movements and produces the choreography. My comments are about "the fill", how the exercises are performed. Wether or not the exercises are "authentic" Yang family qigong, is largely irrelevant.
One interpretation, an error, in my opinion, is what motion the "waist" produces. Many use turning of the ankles and hips to effect rotation of the body and call that the turning of the waist. Throughout your video, I see nearly no evidence of twisting of the waist: it is twisting of the ankles and hips. Twisting of the hips prevents opening and closing of the kua, not to mention little use of the waist, itself.
Every motion must reach a conclusion before it starts again or continues. You frequently don't let the movement reach that end or conclusion, but gloss over it or hurry past it. One result of that is that "qi" doesn't reach the extremities - often hands. One aspect of that is, in my opinion, you have too much tension constantly held in your hands. Another aspect of that is that you often lead a motion with the "wrong" part of the body, say the elbow, rather than the hand. "Qi" then reaches the elbow, the forearm/hand moves unsupported by the rest of the motion, since the movement finished at the elbow, and "qi" doesn't reach the hand: the movement is broken at the elbow. This causes a variety of your movements to be "broken" and discontinuous. Elbows often being raised contributes to that.
Movement must be a continuous series of open/close, open/close, extend/retract, extend/retract, exertion/relaxation, exertion/relaxation. For the most part, I don't see that in your movements. They are what produce "whole-body" motion and continuity of movement without "gaps and deficiencies".
I suggest slowing the movement way down, perhaps 1/2 speed of what is shown in the video, and pay more attention to feeling opening and closing, extension and retraction, exertion and relaxation, twisting and untwisting. Feel the finishing of each move, allowing and feeling the "qi to sink" at the end of each move. Also, explore rounding the crotch (dang) the use of the kua and rotation of the waist. In my opinion, one of the most difficult basic skills is that of learning to truly relax or "let go" (fang song): work on that. Taijiquan isn't the choreography but how the choreography is achieved.
Last edited by
charles on Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:43 am, edited 3 times in total.