by yeniseri » Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:27 am
90% of the time, I have no idea of what most taijiquan practitioners are talking about since my teachers never talked or taught taijiquan or qigong with all this yi, qi, etc. stuff.
Based on what I imagine they taught (perception, understanding, practice, etc), it is about levels of training and through each level you begin to peal away and realize some kind/type of insight that just cannot be told. I will realize I may be a dunce, most of the time but the fancy terminology is over my head.
1st stage: Learning the form
2nd strage. Over time, a pattern develop and the teacher corrects some movement that are considered 'basic' so that pattern is carried out when similar postures are played
3rd stage Hopefully some level of taijizhaung, ding shi, zhan zhuang, etc is integrated with above. May be at 1st stage and continuing at this 3rd stage level
4th stage Owning the form or its equivalent meaning one develops his/her own natural expression based on the previous stages.
One teacher, I heard him say on many occasion word like yi, qi, etc had no idea of meaning but translation to English rarely used that same equivalent. I also understand that the writen character expressed the 'intent' and meaning far more clearly than the translation of it.
When raising, inhale
When lowering, exhle
Turning left/right as in holding ball left/right, inhale with hold ball and exhale to Part Horse's mane. Others posture and transition require a combination of both.
This is just how I categorize the level of development and there are similar stages expressed in various formats. Just breathe naturally, learn as best as one can and respect all teachers.