Turning My Kua

Just when I thought I had it figured out, I found out that I was wrong.

I had thought that turning my kua meant that when I my weight is on my right leg, and I want to shift over to my left leg, I should sink my left kua and then use my right leg to push myself to the left. Turns out that this is only half the story, and thus, the wrong way to do things.

During a short discussion on Chen style silk reeling exercise (a basic taiji exercise that is often used as a warm-up), my teacher pointed out to me that my kua movement is wrong, resulting in me turning my backside rather than my kua. The right way to turn my kua is actually as follows.

When my weight is on my right leg, in order to shift to my left leg, I need to sink my left kua and at the same time, as I am sinking my left kua, I need to be pushing to the left with my right leg. Thus, both my left and right kua are moving at the same time.

The difference? The previous/wrong method has me moving my left and right kua sequentially, while the correct method is to move them together.

You Have The Answer

I was driving back from a pushing hands lesson, and in my mind were some questions. I was going through them so that I can organise what I want to ask my teacher the next time I see him.

But as I was going through the questions, I started thinking more about them, and in the end, I realised that I actually had the answers to the questions. I realised that I had the answer to what I should do when my opponent pushes me till I have no more room to retreat, or what to do should he stiffen his hands to prevent anyone from moving it. And the answers are all so simple, because taiji is very simple. The principles are always the same, it is just a matter of realising when to apply what.

So if you have a question, think about it. Go back to basics, and who knows, the answer may be within yourself!

Practise Seriously

We need to be serious in our practise. And that includes not just when we are practising our forms, but also when we are doing one or two moves to clarify our doubts, or when we are running through a newly learnt move trying to remember the move. Especially when we are still learning a new move, it is all the more important to practise it correctly. So everytime you learn a new move, there is no "I am just trying to remember the broad actions". Every effort should be made to try to get the move right. If everytime you do a move correctly, it is practise as well. Whether you are trying to remember it, or demonstrating to someone else, or actually putting time into practising it.