Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

It has been my experience, as a multi-disciplinary fighter, that Taijiquan practice will enhance any method. You will not be "mixing" the two styles...you will be using one to improve your skills in the other. Yes, Taijiquan will give you the internal training you're looking for. Its best ...

hi. It has been my experience that the long and low posture works particularly as a training device to lower the center of gravity and train leg strength. Fights, however, seldom occur in areas where there is enough room for the sort of long-range postures we would like to do from the form. However,...

The Peng You Taiji Quan Association has just introduced a new program called "Tai Chi for Arthritis." The program was developed by Dr. Paul Lam, and has become exceptionally popular. It is actually a modification of the Sun style, but the basic theory applies generally to what we do. If yo...

Stuart Olson (T'ai Chi Thirteen Sword) says that the tassel used to be used as a weapon, and that it was one of the highest skills of the swordsman. He also claims that it used to be used for distraction (tassel goes one way, the sword goes the other), and was sometimes made from thin wires or embed...

Hi Audi. The problem, I think, is that terms are not always specified. What ONE? What TWO? Generally the reading is like this: One is Wuji, the unified force of yin and yang. Wuji in form represents stillness, because yin and yang are indistinguishable. Two is Taiji, yin and yang as distinct but INT...

Wow! Did that throw a wrench into the conversation. As to the Daoist origins of Taijiquan, I should say for the record that I was responding to Audi's comment about the meaning of the term "Taiji." This is the root of the term "Taijiquan." As to when the word first appears in ref...

Hi, I don't know if it's exactly the same as the one taught by the Yang family, but Wen Mei-Yu has released a very good instructional series (2 tapes) on "Traditional Yang Style Knife" (sabre) available through Unique Publications. The ads are in Inside Kung Fu magazine, or at www.cfwenter...

Michael, Don't worry about your "misreadings." I sometimes have difficulty explaining things clearly in writing, so I appreciate the opportunity to work on my clarity. I enjoy the challenge. Part of learning from each other is the ability to accept criticism and adjust our understanding. I...

In respose to your comments about "Taiji," I have studied Daoism for some time, so I may be able to handle this one (and, please, anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). According to Daoist cosmology, the original state of the universe was stillness. In that stillness, yin and yang w...

Indeed, I was not talking about walking around with your chest puffed out, fists clenched and a bad case of I.L.S. ("invisible lat. syndrome"). It is an intangible "air" of confidence...that aura that surrounds the competent fighter. It is not a challenging demeanor; rather, it i...

What I meant was not that you pull while spinning. It comes out more as a sequence: grab; step around; root; pull with the weight and the waist. No, there is no sense in trying to pull or roll-back without having both feet planted firmly on the ground. By turning before rolling back, you increase th...

There is a great article on Taiji in the workplace at www.qi-journal.com

There is a saying that has been used by the Chen family to describe the Yang style: "Taiji hands, Bagua feet." This refers to the character of the circular action of the stepping in the Yang forms (the Chen forms are more linear, turning principally to change direction). According to Kuo L...

Generally speaking, predators prey on the weak and unsuspecting. If there is one advantage martial artists (of all schools) have in terms of self-defense, it is this: They walk with confidence, and appear internally strong and externally alert. Their bodies are upright and healthy, and their eyes ar...

Indeed, the steps are related to the relatively fixed number of stances. But we must not forget (and I do this sometimes) that stances are not stationary. They always come from somewhere and go to somewhere else; they are transitory. So, stepping is a means of getting from stance to stance. It is in...