taijiquan training - state park walking

[Scott R. Brown]

Something/Nothing, Circle/Square, Gamble/Gambol........I get it......you guys are playing with words!

Veeeeeeeery mysticular of you.......my head is spinning!

And I almost fell down looking up thank you.......but I did see a lot of clouds......no bear......but a great deal of water got all over my face! Does that mean something mysticular too?

[uki]

Originally Posted by Scott R. Brown

but a great deal of water got all over my face! Does that mean something mysticular too?

perhaps the bear was urinating??

[Skip J.]

Originally Posted by taai gihk yahn

wrong Bear - look up...

Interesting taai..... and I thought I had it nailed..... makes sense tho......

Does this version of cloud hands have the hands up'n out more than other versions??? I have a hard time imagining any more up'n out than the current version......

[taai gihk yahn]

Originally Posted by Skip J.

Interesting taai..... and I thought I had it nailed..... makes sense tho......

why does it make sense?

Originally Posted by Skip J.

Does this version of cloud hands have the hands up'n out more than other versions??? I have a hard time imagining any more up'n out than the current version......

it is very different from the standardized Yang I've seen / studied: as you first step out with the left leg, the upper body is turned to the right, as the hands come down at the right side, moving through split, press, push and pluck (weight is mostly on Rt. leg); then as you shift the weight to the left, the left arm moves to the left at face level, rounded, w/palm facing towards you (this contains the ward off, shoulder and elbow aspects) and the right travels across at navel level, rounded, palm facing down / thumb pointing at navel (this part contains roll back); at the completion of the left rotation, the hands come down to the left side repeating the split series, most weight on left leg, and right foot comes in; rotate back to right w/feet close, shift weight to right, hands down to spit at right side, left leg steps out; rinse; repeat;

in the "advanced" version, it's done on a zig-zag pattern, with a series of variably 180˚ to ~270˚ turns for each step

[Skip J.]

Originally Posted by taai gihk yahn

why does it make sense?


it is very different from the standardized Yang I've seen / studied: as you first step out with the left leg, the upper body is turned to the right, as the hands come down at the right side, moving through split, press, push and pluck (weight is mostly on Rt. leg); then as you shift the weight to the left, the left arm moves to the left at face level, rounded, w/palm facing towards you (this contains the ward off, shoulder and elbow aspects) and the right travels across at navel level, rounded, palm facing down / thumb pointing at navel (this part contains roll back); at the completion of the left rotation, the hands come down to the left side repeating the split series, most weight on left leg, and right foot comes in; rotate back to right w/feet close, shift weight to right, hands down to spit at right side, left leg steps out; rinse; repeat;

in the "advanced" version, it's done on a zig-zag pattern, with a series of variably 180˚ to ~270˚ turns for each step

Ah well, if the older more traditional form was called bear walking and the bear is up in the sky; then a more modern form with hands up could be called wave hands like clouds because clouds are up in the sky... of course, there is the bear constellation in the night sky....

As you say, that is very different......

Are the two different versions of Yang style taught at the same school??? or different schools????

[taai gihk yahn]

Originally Posted by Scott R. Brown

Something/Nothing, Circle/Square, Gamble/Gambol........I get it......you guys are playing with words!

Veeeeeeeery mysticular of you.......my head is spinning!

And I almost fell down looking up thank you.......but I did see a lot of clouds......no bear......but a great deal of water got all over my face! Does that mean something mysticular too?

or possibly oracular...

[taai gihk yahn]

Originally Posted by Skip J.

Ah well, if the older more traditional form was called bear walking and the bear is up in the sky; then a more modern form with hands up could be called wave hands like clouds because clouds are up in the sky...

nice try; nope...

Originally Posted by Skip J.

of course, there is the bear constellation in the night sky....

finally!
and why would this constellation be relevant to the "tai ji"?

Originally Posted by Skip J.

As you say, that is very different......

illiterate teachers + literati students = linguistic drift...

Originally Posted by Skip J.

Are the two different versions of Yang style taught at the same school??? or different schools????

I have done the "standard" Yang in the past; my current school teaches the older version

[Scott R. Brown]

Originally Posted by taai gihk yahn

...and why would this constellation be relevant to the "tai ji"?

Because it revolves around the pole star!

[taai gihk yahn]

Originally Posted by Scott R. Brown

Because it revolves around the pole star!

that is absolutely correct; although it's surprising that you didn't give Skip the chance to figure that out for himself, seeing as he seemed to be enjoying the process of stretching his brain a bit...

anyway, ok, so if the polar axis is the macro taiji, what's the micro one?

[Skip J.]

Originally Posted by taai gihk yahn

that is absolutely correct; although it's surprising that you didn't give Skip the chance to figure that out for himself, seeing as he seemed to be enjoying the process of stretching his brain a bit...

anyway, ok, so if the polar axis is the macro taiji, what's the micro one?

Ah well yes, since uki and I fell off onto a threadjack in my magazine issue thread post about outdoor walking..... I'm enjoying following this wherever it goes... if it's my thread, it can't be a threadjack....

However, there's no way I would have picked up on the revolving part.... but I would have given it a shot for sure. Scott has kinda stepped in and yanked me back from the abyss several times already, so he's part owner of this thread I guess.

The "thing" about this forum is you longterm guys discuss stuff I never hear about in class.... so I wanna throw out an interesting idea from time to time and see what happens.

By the way taai, nice photo in the Festival thread....

[Scott R. Brown]

Originally Posted by taai gihk yahn

that is absolutely correct; although it's surprising that you didn't give Skip the chance to figure that out for himself, seeing as he seemed to be enjoying the process of stretching his brain a bit...

anyway, ok, so if the polar axis is the macro taiji, what's the micro one?

Surprising???? Isn't that my middle name?

Actually, I didn't know I was raining on someone else's parade or I would have stood by and watched!

Sorry Skip!

Next time you don't want me to spill your can of beans be sure to include a caveat.......

Scot_......put the can opener DOWN!

[Skip J.]

Originally Posted by Scott R. Brown

Surprising???? Isn't that my middle name?

Actually, I didn't know I was raining on someone else's parade or I would have stood by and watched!

Sorry Skip!

Next time you don't want me to spill your can of beans be sure to include a caveat.......

Scot_......put the can opener DOWN!

No problem Scott... anytime...

[Skip J.]

Originally Posted by taai gihk yahn

nice try; nope...


finally!
and why would this constellation be relevant to the "tai ji"?


illiterate teachers + literati students = linguistic drift...


I have done the "standard" Yang in the past; my current school teaches the older version

My Bad..... us old folks are allowed to talk like that, right?

I should have followed your links back before..... it seems your study is from a whole different direction. Many things you have said in the past now come into focus, you give hints to the direction you travel, but don't hit us over the head with them. Congrats on finding a Master like Sat Hon to train with.

Personally, I enjoyed the pics of your studio with the indoor penjing. I have raised bonsai about 30 years and am moving into penjing lately myself.

Thanks for the challenge.... it was somewhat deep and mysterious tho......

[Skip J.]

It finally cooled off enough to walk in the woods before Saturday. It's rained off and on for the month of October; we went from a 2 year long drought to caught up on our rainfall total in one month. So we got up early and went walking by Lake Raven in Huntsville State Park for the first time since April. I expected it to be muddy and wore my wet boots. My wife doesn't have wet boots so she wore her off-road walking shoes. Well, it is a sandy well-drained site and my wife's shoes worked fine. I sure wished I had worn mine before we got back to the trailhead.

We left early and got there a little after sun-up. She carried some water bottles in her backpack, so all I had to do was carry myself down the trail. We walked about 8 miles up'n down thru the woods on different 1 to 2 mile trails; so we were always coming back by the bathroom. There is one real long trail around Lake Raven, but I don't know if it has any bathrooms along it, so we haven't tried it yet. I expect that we will try to go every 6 weeks or so throughout the winter, until it gets hot in the woods. We will do some 2 day trips to increase our mileage if we can.

I was able to keep my eyes up ahead and follow the tree roots up to my feet with my peripheral vision, a real challenge I was not sure of. Of course, I kept my chin back, my back straight and my hips tucked under the whole time. I credit Bob Ashmore's advice on stairwalking this past several weeks with getting my hips in shape for all the up'n down steps. My hip joints stay fairly well worked out feeling all the time, but not quite sore. I'm still not ready for belly dancin' lessons tho. Maybe next year....

Thanks Bob, I appreciated all the help

Ya'll take care now, ya' hear????

[uki]

skip... you do know you can poop in the woods right? pee behind a tree and stuff... wipe yer butt with some moss or leaves(don't use poison ivy).