Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

I can accept that Tai Chi is a very valuable and effective training accompaniment but I cannot accept that it can be used to as a method to defend or neutralise a serious attack. To get the most out of such a question, I think you must be quite precise within your own thoughts and in communicating ...

So I would be interested in how some of you explain "sinking the qi to the dantian" to your students, without being rewarded with glazed or sceptical looks. I personally do not like trying to explain what Qi is or what it feels like. I found much of such talk off-putting in my early study...

Is there any connection between tai chi chuan and the I Ching, more than those arising out of the fact they came from the same culture? Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that some of the philosophy Tai Chi is based on was first documented in the I Ching (Yijing); but no, in the sense that the practice ...

Hi dianexx, Your question is difficult to answer without knowing more about you and the particular seminar, but here is something that might give you a feel for some of the longer seminars offered by the Association in the past: http://www.yangfamilytaichi.com/about/articles/rep/2000-04-07#p-02 Take...

Frank, I also know some schools that like to claim "108" , because some people think that it gives the form they teach an aura of authenticity to those who hold "108" as some sort of sacred number in Taiji. I have heard of 64 being put forward as special because of the Yi Jing/I ...

Greetings all, I think part of the problem is that different members of the Yang family have taught different things to different people at different times. It is also widely known that different members of the family have themselves practiced differently over the generations. All Yang Style Tai Chi...

These are different names for the same thing. Most traditional Yang Style practitioners that do a long form, perform more or less the same postures in the same sequence; however, the number of moves is counted differently by different teachers. I have heard counts as low as 85 and as high as 150 or ...

Hi Frank, Thanks for the information. I think a lot of these ratios will also depend somewhat on where you teach, how you promote your school, and the tone of your classes. However, on a positive note, there are signs that some few have begun to feel the 'difference' in themselves and are beginning ...

Hi Martin,

Nice pictures. I especially liked the first three and the tenth (with red leaves in the background). They are a good match for what I presume is Wu Style.

Best,
Audi

Hi everyone, I think there may be something interesting at the bottom of this, but saying that more ATP and more oxygen is always good for health is like saying more batteries, more gas, and bigger gas lines are always better for a car. ATP is just an energy transport system. How the body produces t...

Hi Parkallen, I am not sure what you mean exactly by “relaxed.” As I have posted before, I have encountered three different shades of this word on my Tai Chi journey that are subtly, but importantly different. The first one concerns minimizing the use of the muscles, the second involves letting the ...

Greetings all, I really like the following article: http://www.ycgf.org/Articles/TJ_Jin/TJ_Jin1.html I think that is a good article as well. I especially like the definitions of jin and li , the separation between external and internal, and the emphasis on quality rather than quantity of power. I al...

Greetings all, I do not "grab" with the toes in any heel down empty stances until I am sending the energy back into the empty weight foot. I extend gently but vigorously across the top of my foot, rather than curl with tense contraction from underneath with just my toes, when I "grab&...

Hi Bob, I have another question about "grabbing with the toes." What do you do during the final pivot on the heel of the right foot during Repulse Monkey Left? As for me, when me left foot lands flat, I then root in both feet and grab the ground with both sets of toes. I then initiate the ...

Greetings all, Thanks for the comments. Below is my understanding so far. I should be clear that I am trying to address separately the problem of what is a correct understanding of the text and what is a good way to render it in English. I am mostly focused on the former, since I believe it should c...