I always find Master Chen’s exercises, focusing on one body part, or emphasizing one movement – whether or not formally a movement in the form – particularly useful. They help me understand where the movement should or could begin, what part of the body to concentrate on (or to ignore), and how it leads to an application. Now translating into my body may still take a long time, and the exercise may just lead me to an intermediate step on the way to correctly executing a move, but it is nonetheless invaluable in helping me understand the move and in guiding my personal practice.

A few things stood out for me:

· Master Chen’s emphasis on making some of the moves big gave me a freedom to feel the moves more deeply. Although I may not yet perform the moves correctly, my body was able to feel more of the flow of individual moves as well as the connections between moves. Also, by breaking down a move or emphasizing a particular part of a move, I can better feel when I’m losing energy in that body part (and perhaps correct it!).

· It was also helpful to use the image of the “open channel” to find balance; the channel from the top of the head to the coccyx, the knee to the foot, the reminder that correct structure will lead to the correct execution of the move.

· I also enjoyed the discussion of some of the Daoist concepts involved in Taiji; the conceptual framework deepens my understanding of the whole system.

· Frankly, watching Master Chen perform a move is instructional. As I gain in my understanding and knowledge (sadly not always in execution!), I learn more and more from the demonstrations, being able to see in his body the directions and explanations he is giving.

It is always enjoyable to meet with Master Chen, and even when he is teaching materials with which I am unfamiliar, or are beyond my level, I still learn a great deal. It was particularly helpful to have him lead an entire session on the Hunyan system we are learning. I look forward to his return!

Master Chen said that, as babies, we learn to tense up our muscles to be able to walk. Now we have to learn how to relax them. I am not sure I understand well what he really means and, moreover, how it is possible to put it into practice. This is quite a challenge but it does correspond to other aspects in my 4 years of learning taiji. To be able to progress in taiji I had to unlearn ways of doing movements that took me months to learn.

With his teaching Master Chen has half-opened a door for me where there was no door before. To be able to make further progressin one's learning, very often one has to accept to unlearn a part of what one has learned before. I remember my days in university. A physics teacher told us about the laws of physics becoming obsolete after a while. For teachers and students it was necessary to understand and accept this in order to progress, and their understanding of the old laws had to be put aside. I am not sure if my interpretation is right but this is where I am right now.