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Ma Hong – Xin Jia (chi)
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Ma Hong – Xin Jia (chi)
Only Chinese is supported. Xin Jia, which translates as “new frame, initial road,” is a Chen family Taijiquan technique.
Grandmasters Chen Xiao Wang and Chen Xiao Xing’s grandpa, Chen Fa Ke, invented this form, which was later refined by their uncle Chen Zhao Kui.
Despite having a few extra movements, it is based on Lao Jia Yi Lu but with more obvious spirals.
It is a lovely form that considerably enhances one’s knowledge of Lao Jia Yi Lu.
Over the course of ten DVDs, Master Ma Hong covers both forms in detail. Introduction to Master Ma Hong and the Chen Style Tai Chi Master Ma Hong, a well-known Tai Chi master in China, is the nineteenth generation of Chen style Tai Chi practitioners.
Chen Dao Kuei, the son of Chen Fah Ke, was his tutor (the seventeenth generation).
According to Tai Chi Yin Yang, Tai Chi must be hard and soft; rapid and slow; insubstantial and substantial; open and close, and Master Ma Hong feels the Chen style taught by his master, Chen Dao Kuei, is precisely the ideal balance of hardness and tenderness.
It must also have Yi, Qi, Li (spirit, breath, and strength), and all of these must be integrated in Tai Chi.
While practicing Tai Chi, Master Ma Hong also discussed the link between close and open.
He stated that being completely open is not beneficial, nor is being completely closed.
In addition to health benefits, his teacher Chen Dao Kuei taught him not just each position, but also the function and martial application of each stance, because Tai Chi has martial value.
For a few years, I followed Master Ma Hong to study Tai Chi; here, I will summarize various elements of the Chen style taught by my instructor and discuss them with other practitioners.
Hardness and suppleness
Because Tai Chi is a martial art rather than a gentle exercise, the Chen style Tai Chi emphasizes hardness and softness in rapid succession.
For example, in Form 3 – Lazy About Trying Coat, the force from pressing two hands till the hip level is not a hard strength solely; it is a “soft” and flexible strength with penetration.
It has the ability to be extended and constricted, giving it both strength and relaxed softness.
Only in this manner can hardness and softness be measured.
It is not Tai Chi movement if all movements are strong (full of power), and it is not Tai Chi movement if all movements are gentle (without hardness).
Lots of movement in the Chen style appears to be suddenly quick and suddenly sluggish; suddenly soft and suddenly hard; suddenly disappear and suddenly appear.
They resemble soft water at times and hard ice at others.
Furthermore, as the opponent’s movement softens, yours becomes harder than him; and as the opponent’s movement hardens, yours becomes harder than him.
Your opponent cannot see your softness because it is inside your body, and your opponent cannot see your hardness since it is also inside your body.
In this situation, the Chen style Tai Chi’s premium aim is that anytime you want to utilize gentle power, you can, and whenever you want to use strong strength, you can.
The Chen style is a method in which softness and hardness can exist simultaneously.
Twining in a Spiral
Spiral-like twining may be accomplished by joints such as the legs, waists, shoulders, elbows, spine, and so on, with the flexibility of the entire body and perfect body dynamics.
Spiral-like twining is a technique for alternately stretching and retracting, being tight and loose, and hard and soft.
Even when the individual has to strike with the elbow or forearm, the spiral-like twining strength remains.
The idea is to stretch all the way, like a spiral, and then release it.
There is nothing in the entire forms that is empty since every action has its own underlying martial meaning.
The waist is highly crucial in creating this type of spiral-like twining since it is the co-ordinator of body movement.
Furthermore, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Qi comes from Diantian (2-3 cm below the umbilicus on the waist), and by executing the spiral-like twining, the Qi may be guided to spread throughout the entire body by mental exertion.
As a result, such training leads to greater offensive and defensive force in the body and limbs, as well as enhanced explosiveness of force.
Arc-like Motion
In Chen style Tai Chi, each joint is linked to complete a wide range of arc movement.
The arc movement aids in both pushing Qi circulation in the body’s main and collateral channels (network) and transmitting internal power to the extremities.
On the other hand, the arc movement can improve stability because while performing an arc-like movement, the body moves along a low curve to improve stability for a certain step or posture.
This necessitates a wide range of motion and powerful lower-limb muscles (more pressure on them).
Because some persons have limited range of motion and weak muscles in their lower limbs, they cannot move much lower.
As a result, they cannot do the arc-like movement, and their stability is lower than that of individuals who do.
Arc-like movement creates Yin and Yang equilibrium throughout the body, keeping the person in his or her own center of gravity at all times.
Only by controlling your center of gravity will you be able to have the greatest body structure and hence the most power over your opponent.
Movement in the Opposite Direction
My teacher instructed me to memorize the following eight words: open and shut, empty and full, spiral and turn, and up and down.
These phrases represent the Chen style’s opposing movement.
In Form 21 – The Punch at the Elbow’s Bottom, for example, as soon as two hands go up, the body must descend down (up and down).
Form 19 – Push While moving both hands forward, the trunk somewhat moves rearward (forwards and backwards).
This opposing movement not only generates opposing force but also maintains the center of gravity (balance) in the middle.
This contrary movement is highly emphasized in Chen style Tai Chi.
Another example: when pulling a heavy wagon, you must first pull backwards before pushing forwards – opposite force! When lifting something, you must first bend your knees to surrender opposite strength.So, all movements in the Chen style always have opposing movement/power inside the body.
Like a tiger, if she is going to chase a prey, she will tighten her body, and then suddenly stretch its body to create opposite power to catch the prey.
One Moves, Everything MovesThe Chen style is the oldest, it still contains a lot of martial contents.
Although it looks soft, it does have instant hardness.
When releasing it, Fah Jing (the techniques of releasing internal power) is occurred.
But in order to achieve this, the important thing is how to transmit the internal power.
My teacher told me the principle: ‘one moves, everything moves’.
The Chen style not only requires using muscle but also needs to use bone, ligament, tendon, Qi, spiritual thinking and so on.
Because of this way, a good practitioner is able to coordinate his different parts of body and to keep moving them to gather his maximum internal power either for issuing it or for redirecting the opponent’s force.
Once one moves, everything moves, not just move the hands or the legs only! Hence, a practitioner needs to know something about Traditional Chinese Medicine (Jingluo theory), Anatomy and the theory of Yin and Yan.
For example, when you use strength from your legs, you must know the meridian “San Yang”.
Thus the energy (Qi) will go down along “San Yang (lateral meridian)” to the feet, and then the energy goes back to the interior meridian “San Yin”, it is a small Yin and Yan cycle.
Therefore, when issuing energy, you must understand how to keep moving all relevant joints to let the Qi flow.
Hereby, the internal power can be transferred lively and springy by means of constant movement.
SummaryI just summarised a few characteristics of the Chen style I have learnt from my teacher.
But, there are more features we need to identify and address, such as the techniques of how to borrow the opponent’s power; breathing techniques and so on.
From my learning experience, in the beginning, the hardest thing is how to learn softness, in other word, how to relax muscles especially for the shoulder, elbow and wrist muscles.
It does take a bit long time.
After that, the next step is to improve strength by doing Solo single form, Push hand, Long pole, and Tai Chi ball.
The last step is how to combine the softness and hardness together and transfer the internal power fluently and peacefully, like the wave of sea.
In short, the Chen style is a kind of martial arts with ‘a serene heart plus a concentrated mind’, which allows the nerve centre to rest, improving ability to coordinate the functions of the various organs of the body.
Relaxation of the whole body, deep and natural breathing, smooth arm-like actions and it aims at conveying one’s inner force to tips of the limbs by mental exertion, resulting in harmony of the inside and outside body.
It is most suitable for both physical fitness exercise and self-defence training.
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