Answers to Questions to Ask Sifu Chen

Answers to Questions to Ask Sifu Chen 

for Tuesday Zoom webinar on Aug 12, 2025 at 7:15pm PST:

1. What health reason made Sifu Chen shift to Tai Chi ,and what age did he get started practicing Tai Chi to get to where he is now?

2. How did you find your teacher? What was his name?

3. What was your teacher known for?

    鄭曼青》黃性賢》鄭顯氣

4. Is training with your teacher difficult?

5. Please introduce song gong (loosening) exercises.

    鬆靜沉穩 Today, Shifu Chen spoke about Master Zheng’s “Seven Methods of Relaxation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R0z33PJyKA

6. Do you apply visualization in your practice - life, Tai Chi and Push Hand?

    心鬆體鬆，頭腦放空。用意過度，氣無法上身。

7. From your experience, what are the benefits of Tai Chi?

8. Can you explain Chi?

先天氣，內氣，元氣

    

9. How to do Tai Chi internally? Explain.

    放鬆，陰陽開合，氣才能進來。

內外雙修, 內三合, 外三合

10. Can you explain Root?

與地培育感情

鬆才有根，氣不會get stuck, 

11. Can you explain Ting Jin?

12. Explain the Tai Chi principle.

靜鬆沉穩，心鬆體鬆頭腦空空，

13. Can you explain Chi energy going in and going out?

陰陽and 開合

14. Explain, what is dantian?

15. Why learn Push Hand?

16. Explain, what is Luo Kua?

Luo Kua (落胯)

17. What is Gen power? (explain reduce force, Jiǎn lì)

18. Explain:

    1) Its root is in the feet, it develops in the legs, it is controlled by the waist, and it is expressed through what is pointed at.  

由後腳鬆到前腳，手不加任何力，就是按。chi comes up to your hand.

不加力，加力則滯，用腳推，不是用手

   2) A downward thread, the yin and yang under the feet change.  

   3) Relax your mind, relax your body, and empty your mind.  

   4) What is quieting the mind, relaxation, and calmness.

   5) Teachers often say in class: "Don't think too much." Why?

不要想太多，才能靜。沒有才有，有就沒有。想要靜也是沒靜。傻傻練。打到不用想招式(movements)， until they become a natural part of your body. 站樁is a good way.

19. What areas (if any) do you apply visualization (mind intention) when doing your Tai Chi practice? What do you visualize to make the movements happen?

20. How long after studying did you start to feel and understand Song and Root?

21. Have those principles become your natural movement?

22. Do you sometimes just play with zhong ding, alignment, and root?

      只要鬆，一定正

23. What is the importance of the dantian in internal tai chi practice? Do we sink the energy into the dantian and to the feet at the same time, in equal amounts?

氣存丹田，氣達非存湧泉，丹田氣是活水庫，不可滯在丹田。氣只能用很small的意，沒有意，氣才會遍周身。氣是以丹田和核心的氣球。

氣出三寸必收回

24. Sifu Chen said at a more intermediate/advanced level, we no longer need Mind or Qi to guide our movements; we will do them internally. What is moving the body, if not Qi energy? Is there another, different type of force?

25. How can the song gong #2 exercises to be applied for neutralizing incoming force during push hands? Please show us an example.

甲乙對推，打中心，

26. How do we elongate the upper and lower body to create more space? Do we expand the internal balloon, or pull from the dantian center and out to opposite directions?

27. I'd like to get your perspective on consistency of pressure- how do you describe what it is?

28. Is nature /universe energy different from physical contact energy... in terms of receiving and giving it back? Does Sifu capture both contact physical energy and surrounding nature energy when practicing one on one with3 others?

29. How does Sifu deal with negative energy from aggressive people - does he block it from entering him or does he welcome it, take it to the ground and filter it into positive energy and give it back to the individual?

30. If someone has tremendous energy, could one send a person off their feet without touching the other person?

31. Does Sifu believe in the soul? If so, does that belief affect his practice?

32. Stepping from one side to another and back and forth (yin yang), please explain the changes during the movement.

33. Clearing the mind, how did you do this when you were first learning how? What you can suggest to us beginners to help clear our minds as part of our practice?

does he do armbridge also and  for how long does he do it?

Ethan Holtzman 11:21 AM

Please have Sifu Chen tell and maybe show us how he does the figure 8 without physically moving

Bob Ng 11:27 AM

Could we learn about the 8 energies from practicing the form? Or is that only possible through push hands.

Wayne Huey 11:28 AM

Does that dan tien store chi or is it a freeway for the chi to flow?  Thank you