(I) Creating Qi and Internal Balance in your Body

We will begin with very basic, standing exercises called Zhan Zhuang to teach you Shen Fa, good body posture that is essentially the foundation of your body balance. Each movement trains you to move specific parts of your body in a more natural way. As you practice, you will be more conscious of your weight shifts, so you know how to adjust your body centering for better balance. The movements also engages all the joints in your body; shoulder joints, elbow joints, wrist joints, knee joints and ankle joints, so that you expand the range of flexibility in them. You will build up your leg strength as you will learn to hold a specific posture for an extended period of time. It requires you to build your mental concentration as you will learn to coordinate your limbs, torso and head in an optimal alignment. You will learn to relax and learn to feel the beginnings of Qi.

(II) Developing Silk Reeling energy and Stepping techniques

Building upon the standing exercises in Zhan Zhuang where you have developed initial Qi circulation, we will lead you into the next stage of learning called Chan Si Gong. This is a series of repeated, single movement patterns which is meant to develop silk reeling energy and further develop postural alignment. At this point, you will also be taught Stepping techniques called Bu Fa to train up leg power, and impart basic footwork strategies. These single patterns are graduated so that you are progressively training up each set of muscles required for the next group of movements. It is an extremely useful routine in that it eventually trains you to initiate movement and generate power naturally from your body frame and abdomen.

(III) Applying and Internalising the use of Qi and Silk Reeling energy into Form

This the part which you been preparing yourself for. You will now be taught a specially routine choreographed by Grandmaster Zhu, called the 5 Elements and 13 Postures which actually covers all the fundamental techniques of peng, lu, ji, an, cai, lie, zhou, kao, zhuo gu, you pan, qian jin, hou tui, and zhong ding. You will learn how to use your relaxation and breathing to integrate Qi into each movement. More fascinatingly, you will be able to actually see how the characteristic Chen style Silk Reeling technique is uniquely applied into a movement. As you practice, you will begin to understand the interplay of Internal and External forces, the contrasting fast and slow movements, and why maintaining an unbroken body line is so important. Notice the contrastive terms used, and this is what is meant by the Yin-Yang in Tai Chi!