If you've seen Robert's video on the exercises from the Internal Structure of Cloud Hands, you may be wondering how to incorporate them into your current practice.

If you're flipping back and forth between the book and the video, you probably have a lot of questions.

You know that I think this is one of the most important Tai Chi books I've ever read, but if you're trying to decode it yourself, you still might be scratching your head....

So I want to help you pull it all together.

What's On DanKleiman.com

I posted the video of the exercises to give you a better sense for what's in the book.

What's in the Inner Form Section

Privately, in the Inner Form section of DanKleiman.com, I went into a lot more detail for members. Here's an excerpt of a discussion thread where we began to break it down:

@1:00 Commencement

Robert says, "commencement is a way of understanding 4 internal changes in a circular pattern." This is also true of Cloud Hands, with the added complexity of shifting, turning, and stepping -- which is the reason he has chosen to make Cloud Hands the paradigm.

@4:00 Center to Periphery

Notice that he starts by explaining the physical movements or "macro movements." Then, he introduces opening and closing the joints and cavities (especially the waist, which he describes in the book in more detail). So here, we're dealing with physical movement and the beginning of internal movement.

@6:40 Heaven to Earth

In contrast to the Center to Periphery exercise, this one begins with awareness moving up and down the central channel. You're concerned with the timing of physical movements only as they relate to following the way your mind is moving on your zhong ding. Obviously, this is much more subtle and harder to feel. I recommend you start by "simply" feeling up and down your body, using your hands as a guide to where you should be. Over time, you'll have a feel of bringing your mind deeper into your center line, along the zhong ding. It's a sort of "squeezing" into a cylinder from all directions.

@9:00 Swimming

In addition to this being mistaken for a shoulder loosening exercise, I want to point out what he's doing with the release. It looks like he's shaking his hands pretty vigorously at the end, but that's not quite it. This is a signature piece of the way Master Wang practiced the form.

This is the guy who would toss Robert around like a rag doll!

Notice the way he does the same fast releases? It's not from the hands at all.

You get there from releasing all the joints at once (and eventually releasing the chi from your zhong ding). You hold your structure together in such a way that the only place the movement can go is out of your hands, accelerating the effect of the release and creating a powerful discharge.

So, my advice is: don't go for finger shaking. Learn to feel as much of your body releasing at once as possible, coordinating the timing to make it as simultaneous as possible.

@10:40 Turning Post

Here's another it's best to practice slowly at first. I was able to develop a much better sense of gathering into the zhong ding from this exercise. As you turn, continuously feel like everything inside the body is gathering into the center.

@12:00 Rolling Cloud Hands

When Robert says to keep the "arms lengthened," he is referring to the connection between the arms and the belly, through the armpits. Bruce explains a similar connection, between the arms and the spine, in the Energy Gates book. This lengthening out from the body allows your arm movements to cause internal pressures back into the body. Tai Chi and qigong use these connections to create lots of the massaging effects that generate health and martial power.

For this exercise, open the armpits and have a very light sense of the elbows sinking toward the floor or being pulled away from your body.

At 1:35 in this video, you can see the "belly rub" exercise, which is another way to start to find the connection Robert is taking about between the arm movements and the internal organs:

Basically, you want to get a sense of pressure and movement circulating through the abdominal cavity in a pattern that mirrors the movement of each hand.

@14:00 Cloud Hands Variations

The end of the video is Robert demonstrating the different variations of Cloud Hands from style to style.

As members have been practicing this material, I add new videos, written explanations, and offer guidance on specific moves as well as overall practice themes.

Where We're Heading

For the next few months, Cloud Hands is a major focus of the Inner Form section. We've found that picking a major theme helps organize everyone's individual practice and also heightens the sense that we're working on something together.

Other recent discussion topics, not directly related to Cloud Hands have included:

• Defining the 70% in your practice
• How many repetitions of each exercises should I do...and why?
• How to deal with distracting thoughts in longer practice sets

If these topics in general and Cloud Hands specifically get you excited, then come join other serious practitioners who are digging into them on a daily basis.

There is room for all different levels of practice. As long as you share a curiosity and reflective attitude about your practice, you'll fit in just fine.

Sign up for a free trial to see what's inside the Cloud Hands Challenge:

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