Taiji at SRI

The Hun Yan Taiji seminars ended on Sunday but I had one more visit to San Jose as I went down to San Jose with Glenn  on Monday for a private lesson....I went to help translate and hang out.  Glenn needed more instruction on the advance moves for the Taiji Ruler.........Master Chen Xiang had showed a few techniques during the seminars but the moves were way beyond what everyone could do.  But for the private lesson, Master Chen did not hold back and blew us away with some extremely complicated movements where the body rows and the ruler winds around the body......it took almost a half an hour for Glenn to figure out one move!!  Master Chen just chuckled and kept adding more difficulty..........During our break period, Michael our host for the Seminars brought out some research results done at Stanford Research Institute (SRI),  they had tried to measure Master Chen's Power generation.  Using body sensors and a foot plate to measure his body's power they found that in less than 6 seconds time he could generate the equivalent force of 500 lbs of force with his body during an elbow strike.  This was twice the amount of force that any other athlete that they had measured could produce.  SRI was quite impressed and puzzled by what Master Chen could do, as he did not seem to use any physical power....he was completely relaxed and went from complete calmness to full power....often so fast that their sensors just flew off of his body!  SRI was intrigued as they realized that in fact their instrumentation was not sophisticated enough to understand what was going on....how did he fire his muscles so fast, why was the force so great, what relation did the power have to the state of his mind........and so on,  many things still to figure out.  SRI was interested in trying to find out how to maximize human performance and develop superior methods to train athletes.  While Master Chen is very powerful, his power still pales before that of Grandmaster Feng........who throws everyone  around including Master Chen as if they were rag dolls!!  You cannot see or feel the power being applied until you realize you are on the floor.  During 2006, when Glenn and I were in China studying Taiji and Bagua, Coach Wu Bin had taken me to meet some Wu Style Taiji practicioners..........they were very good at pushing hands.........I had a chance to try their techniques........Master  Wu  whom I was introduced to was extremely soft................he used almost no detectable force to move me...........it makes you realize that there is a lot of very high level Taiji Masters in China whose skill is amazing.  The thing to learn from all this is that they gained this kind of power by practicing Taiji......we all can achieve some level of this from our own daily practice!  Of course practicing correctly is important, that is why both Master Chen and Madame Feng stressed practicing the Qigong even more than just the form.  The neigong practice is what develops your power and improves your Taiji.......the form helps you with the application it is a collection of moves that you can use and is organized in a form to help you remember it.  In the end you practice form to have no form!  The form is not an end in and of itself....that's where traditional Wushu and contemporary Wushu part ways.  To paraphrase Grandmaster Feng: if you don't practice (nei)gong now, when you get old, all that you will have amounts to nothing!!