FROM BIG TO SMALL AND MANY TO FEW, AND FLOWING WATER FLOATING CLOUDS
Sabah 2016 -- Day 2 Afternoon

Cloud Hands

In the afternoon session of Day 2, course participants continued reducing big movements to small, and many steps to just a few steps. The resultant Taijiquan movements became fast, without practitioners attempting to increase their speed.

Big movements are noticeable at the shoulders middle movements at the hips, and small movements at the knees. The small movements may appear linear to the uninitiated, thought they are circular.

The many steps necessary for proper Taijiquan movements are gradually reduced to only a few steps. For example, moving forward in three stances initially took about 32 steps in big movements, but were reduced to only 3 steps in small movements.

Initially, with a pause after each movement, the 32 steps would take 64 units of time. Now it took only 3 unites of time, thus the Taijiquan movement could be very fast without practitioners attempting to increase their speed.

Grandmaster Wong also demonstrated how to "fa-jing" or explode force. Two conditions are necessary. Practitioners must have internal force. They perform the mechanics correctly.

"Cloud Hands" is a shortened term for "Flowing Water Floating Clouds Hands". This was probably how Wudang Kungfu, which was later called Taijiquan, first evolved from Shaolin Kungfu by Zhang San Feng. the great Taijiquan master, Yang Lu Chan, was reputed to practice "Cloud Hands" thousands of times a day.

Course participants had a lot of fun with "Cloud Hands" Firstly, they practiced "Cloud Hands" with many variations, like palms facing inward together or outward, opening movement and closing movement, big circles and small circles, rectangular movement, and rotation of waist. Then they moved about in various stances and performed various patterns.

Please click the topics below to view the videos:

  1. From Big to Small Movements, From Many to Few Steps
  2. Flowing Water Floating Clouds

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