Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

Yuri, Yes, there are reasons why I practice different forms. I have waxed poetic about them on this forum in the past, so I will not go into them again here. The classics do say these things. I have never seen them hidden in forms, to those with eyes that see they are always obvious. If you are look...

That warm up sounds like a beefed up version of the one I was talking about. Wu style first warm up is sorta like this, only you make arcs from up above your shoulders to down on each side, then back up, in one quick jerk. I usually get every joint in my fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders to snap...

Michael, Thanks. My legs have reached a new level after the seminar. I used to do 20 flights of my stair walking exercises every day. Two sets of ten flights of stairs. Add to that 45 minutes of Chi Kung and form exercises every morning, at least eight to ten repititions of the 13 posture hand form ...

On "going back" before a movement... I have to say I used to think this was totally unecessary, harmless but not needed was how I looked at it. Now, I'm not so sure. If nothing else, think of what your body does when it makes contact, especially forceful contact, with another body... That'...

Michael, I would prefer it if someone with more Yang style experience did that. I'm no Yang style expert, I barely know the form as it exists and is taught today. While I found Master Yang Jun's lectures fascinating and informative, I certainly would not wish to try to explain what looked like incre...

OYT, Ah, I see. Well, I don't know that I'd say the changes made to their forms by Masters are the real problem with the art today. I have no problem with a true Master of TCC making changes to the form he practices or teaches, as long as it's a true Master of TCC who is doing it. See the difference...

Yuri, I have done my utmost not to get into the fray here. I have opinions about lifting the arms, body movement (to lean or not to lean, that is the question. whether 'tis nobler to suffer the lean of the Wu's or stay upright and centered like the Yangs... oh, sorry, sometimes I have these funny li...

Polaris, Thanks for that clarification, I can't say I agree with it completely, but at least the Wu family stance on the concept is made clear to us. Having just returned from the Louisville seminar, where Audi and I finally met in person (Hi Audi!), I can tell you that Master Yang Jun is very much ...

K, I found your post very humurous yet precise when you mentioned the japanese prayer drum, because that's exactly what I think of when doing WHLC in a stationary stance (no stepping, just dividing full and empty and using arm movements). The Wu style second warm up also works very much like that, o...

OYT, Whether Wu style is a Yang style lineage or not is open for debate to some, but not to me. I have never heard the Wu's claim it was otherwise. What is a lineage? Why is Wu style not a Yang style in your opinion? If it came from Yang Ban Hou, as you incorrectly claim, then it is a Yang style. Bu...

You know what? I've just had one of those major, "Well, duh!" moments about something. I was practicing the Wu style WCSW's, because I was thinking about it and haven't done it in a week or so. I kept having a Deja Vu feeling, and couldn't come up with why so just moved on. I started to do...

Since I find myself with another minute or two to spare: The scenario that Louis describes, of being grabbed by one attacker from behind while another is approaching from the front... I can only tell you what I think I would do, and what I have been trained to do. In this scenario I would allready b...

Louis, I'm certainly not as well versed as Polaris on Wu style applications, however the scenario you describe sounds like it would be as easily addressed by at least portions of the Wu style White Crane Spreads Wings. I'll let her describe this, or whichever other form she feels appropriate for thi...

MLS, Neither do I wish to engage in heavy conversations regarding lineage, but when I see what appears to be disparagement of other styles I tend to get a bit "testy" about it. I will leave that for now, however. I have said my piece. Are the differences worth observing? In my opinion, yes...

Well... Let's just say that I have to agree that YCF may have passed down one of the only standardized, therefore reliably transmitted, forms of Yang family TCC. I cannot agree that it is the "only way". The fact that the Wu family has plenty of good teachers out there passing on the Yang ...