The Hand Method

So, this is 20 years worth of my understanding of Taiji distilled.  I started in 1990 with the Yang system under Stephen Berman, and with Master Jou as a source of inspiration (I trained with several of his students, but I never met him personally) I trained with Ronnie Yee in Hong Ju Shen's Chen Style, then later I met Jay Dunbar of Magic Tortoise and studied the Wu/Hao form.  I had other influences along the way, but these were the main ones.

This is my own stuff though.  Every master I have asked has told me I am wrong.  I have accepted their viewpoint and their superior understanding, and still came back to this same understanding year after year.  So, follow me at your own risk but I can't stop thinking along these lines.

I was frustrated during my time with Yang style because I didn't see any underlying principles though they were always referenced.  I trained in Aikido all the time I went to different Taiji schools, and it was in Aikido classes that I would take the time to experiment and play with what I had been shown in Taiji choreography. 

The Taiji classics talk about the Hand Method, the Torso Method and the Mind Method.  Under these headings, Taiji has 13 techniques represented by the Bagua (8 trigrams) and the Five Elements.  While these are the same Five Elements used in Chinese medicine and the Bagua is based on the Daoist priniciple of Yin and Yang, the symbols and ideas are not directly related to the Daoist religion or Chinese medicine.  Yin and Yang, combined in the Taiji symbol, was a concept that was broadly based and widely embraced but there was no central authority to limit or rigidly proscribe the use.  Similarily, Taiji's use of the Five Elements is not derived from or related to the Five Elements of Xing Yi Chuan though the names and symbols are the same.

There are exercises in the Chen Style I studied that really started to show me how to use whole body power and gave me a sense of what the internal connections and structure were like.  In terms of the hands, there aren't many options.  While I was told there was no connections, my teacher showed me a "Positive Circle" and a "Negative Circle."  (We had a couple of flakes show up one night for practice who were so upset by the name Negative Circle that they left the school on the spot.  Don't get hung up on the names.  They're not my names either.)

The exercises start with the lead hand circling forward and down (Positive) and then the second circle is going forward and rising (Negative). 

The rear hand can also circle in the same fashion.  The two hands can be moving on the same plane, or they can be offset from each other.  So two options each for two hands and two options for how they related.  2x2x2=8. 



So, two positive circles on the same plane or three solid lines:

Changing between circles can get more complicated, with both hands changing direction from an open or a closed position or one hand paused in an open or closed position.



Three negative circles offset or three broken lines:

So, most of the thinking I did started here.  The three solid lines when interpreted this way resemble the Peng shape of Grasp Sparrow's Tail, and the three broken lines resemble the Lu shape of the same sequence.  At least, half of the continuous circle resembled those final shapes.  And that's where I started to see the Torso method.

I plan to cover the rest soon.