Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

Hi Bob, You're welcome. Re: remembering: I think most of us have sequences we have trouble remembering. I like to try and remember them from a few different angles by attaching little mneumonic devices to them. For example, I remember the first cloud hands in the third section and the third part of ...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2"><B> Maybe newbies are supposed to wander in the dark until we find the dao. LOL. If I could just stop running into walls at least it wouldn't be as bruising....

Hi John, Many of your questions about the details of the point scores are answered here in Association journal #2: http://www.yangfamilytaichi.com/association/news2.pdf The theory exam is a written exam with no oral component. Ask your teacher for advice about what to study for the written exam. The...

Found another interesting link while surfing at Empty Flower: this one's about mirror neurons ("Monkey see, monkey do.") and the biology of empathy. It has interesting implications for tai chi study. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/10/science/10mirr.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=4b52...

Hi Louis, Martin, Here are some quotes about training response time and perceiving action potentials before action begins from James OschmanÕs book Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis, Churchhill Livingstone pub., 2000. The following passage (towards the end) reminded me of Òthe intent [yi] of the...

Hi Richard, <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2"><B> It also has been interesting to me that several Yang style contributors in this thread had a negative reaction to the possibility that their ...

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2"> ...and to George Lakoff, an important cognitive linguist (and taijiquan practitioner!) who has done groundbreaking work on the understanding of conceptual metaphor and “the embodied mind. </font> Interesting--I didn't know Lakoff did tai chi...

Hi all, I wrote this several weeks ago but LouisÕs discussion of metaphor recalled it to mindÑespecially as I am incapable of describing my experiences without metaphor and analogy. Back to AudiÕs original question about internal and external with regard to silk reeling: for my practice, when I thin...

Hi Louis, For me, the term conscious movement implies movement that is itself conscious, or movement that is fully imbued with consciousness. Let me back up and start with what is not conscious movement, in my view. HereÕs my current understanding (always subject to revision, of course): when one mo...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2"> <B>Kal You should build on your training - work your way upto tigers and the like! </B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ha! Good one http://www.yangfamilytaichi.com...

Hi Audi, First off, I agree with what you and everyone else said about the importance of actual training partners and forms practice. That said, though, I do think thereÕs some value in solo push hands practice practice (that is, practicing for the practice of push hands). I like the idea of using a...

Hi all, I haven't yet tried the stop-gap form (I've only tried the super-slow), but it seems like excellent training for mastering central equilibrium. Just to add a little something: I read somewhere that one's form (structure, frame) should be able to absorb/yield and then fa at any point during a...

Hi All, This has been a very interesting discussion and IÕve been mulling it over for a while. I was particularly interested in the idea of single arm push hands involving liejin, and the whirlpool images of pulling/sucking in and the flywheel casting out. When I combined with DPÕs earlier character...

Hi Bob, Yeah, everyone's different and so there are no "shoulds" when it comes to the best way for each person. We're different people and what works for you won't necessarily work for me and vice versa simply on account of differences in our prenatal constitution ("I was born this wa...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2"><B> sweating is a normal side effect of Tai Chi Chuan and does not necessarily mean that muscular force, brute force, is being overly used in the performance...