Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

Two things: One, Something about my post yesterday kept nagging at me ever since I hit "submit". Returning here today and reading my post with fresh eyes, I now see why that is. I said, "Off arm". Not just once, but twice. I have no idea why I would have used that term. There's n...

Subatai gives a very concise explanation, very much in line with how I've heard these described. I can only add that Diagonal Flying is larger, more expansive, with a greater splitting of the energy and a definite bump to the opponents stance/root just prior to the take down. Part Wild Horses Mane i...

Chidragon, Absolutely no offence for your "speaking by the book". You have presented a coherent and quite "by the book", at least from some books, explanation. I hope you will feel the same way about my speaking from personal experience regarding this subject in response to that....

Chidragon, As I am ever curious about things, your statement that "all Tai Ji practitioners, in the near future, should try to coordinate the movements with the breathing and vice versa" intrigues me. Since I have seen this advice previously, and by many others, but have yet to find a good...

I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked by my students, "When will I learn to Fa Jin?" My reply has remained fairly consistent over the years, it is the one I learned from my first Master, Si Kung Eddie Wu, a very long time ago. He explained to me that he could not teach me Fa J...

My favorite answer to the question of breathing during the practice of TCC is one I heard from Master Yang Jun at a seminar in Louisville about ten years or so ago. A student asked Master Yang a question something along the lines of, "Should I breathe in our out during this movement?" Mast...

It's all well and good to say that TCC should be considered/practiced/done as a "whole" and not as individual parts but to achieve the whole you must first learn all of the separate components, only then can you can meld them together into a whole. Part of the experience of TCC is the lear...

Lao-pei, Your posting seems a bit contradictory on first read: From YZD:"If emphasis was all on chan Si jing, then Yang style would be the same as the Chen style." Then: From Yang Lu Chan: "...There is only one school of tai chi chuan: there are not two methods." Until you read t...

Lao-pei, Thank you for posting the words of the Grand Grand-Master. In his words: "in the Yang style what we have is twisting and continuous motion. It has the chan ssu jing element, but we do not call it chan ssu jing" In my words: Whether you call it "Silk Reeling, "Pulling Sil...

dturker, And it's in Opening, Grasp the Bird's Tail, the transition to Single Whip, Single Whip, Raise Hands, White Crane Spreads Wings, Left Brush Knee, Hands Strum the Lute... As well as Lazy About Tying Robe, Six Sealings and Four Closings, Buddha Warrior Pounds Mortar, White Goose Spreads Wings....

Wobblyboy, That may be the most efficient and stable way for you to make that turn. It's not for me. I can use that method and even do it well, however it's not my "go to" method when making this turn. Again, I practice a variety of methods for making this turn so that I know as many as I ...

Wobblyboy, On sitting back or not after the end of Grasp the Birds Tail (Push)... I find it highly desirable to know both of the methods well. Each method is correct and each has a purpose. Each has a range of valid and demonstrable martial applications and understanding both is necessary because ea...

DragonX, Rollback can also transform into Split, or Pluck, or... Any of them. Even another Rollback. Each named "posture", even those named after a primary energy, expresses multiple energies and each of those expressions of energy contains the necessity that the energy currently being exp...

Sifu990, A former Master taught me this and I've never found it to be incorrect; Learning the form to standard (which includes all the TCC principles) will teach anyone 90 percent of the art of TCC. For achieving the maximum health benefits out of the art that is all that is required. In order to co...

Wobblyboy, Yes, there are a great many "differences" in each and every persons form. If you watch Yang Zhen Duo's videos, then watch Yang Jun's videos, you are going to see many "differences" in between their performances. Most will be very slight, as the transmission from Yang Z...