Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

I'm very happy to hear that there is "no pulling in push hands" now. Who knew that the rules had been changed? Certainly not me! In past attempts at pushing hands I've been pulled on, pushed against, pressed out, plucked down, warded off, bumped... I had a guy try to split me once too. I m...

It is very difficult for the human body to sink "straight down". Even when we fall down we rarely, if ever, do so "straight down" unless we first jump into the air and then hold ourselves rigid along the entire length of our body until we hit the ground, at which point everything...

Ah, fajin again. Why, someone please tell me, does everyone automatically and immediately start mentioning fajin? There are numerous types of jin expression. Myriad. A really, really whole lotta different types of jin. And fajin is probably the least utilized of the jins in Tai Chi Chuan. So it alwa...

Parkallen, "That kind of nearness is not common in Yang style..."? I practice Traditional Yang Family TCC per GM Yang Jun and that nearness is done throughout if that is what is necessary. Earlier in this thread I iterated the three frames of TCC and their corresponding primary weapons. As...

Audi, Regarding this: "I do not grab the ground as I have described above during an empty stance. My entire foot and the toes are "engaged," as I have described above; but I do not send any particular mental command to my toes, and they remain passively curled slightly upward." I...

"Grip the ground with your toes"... Yeah, not exactly evocative of what's actually going on there. I teach it the way I understand it, as that's all I can do. I explain that it's a metaphor, not something that you're actually going to be able to do. That seems to happen a LOT in Tai Chi Ch...

"Keep your knee in line with your toes", is an oft quoted expression in TCC. If you do not grab the ground firmly but gently with your toes, then you cannot keep your knees from oscillating. If your knees are oscillating even a tiny amount then there is no way to keep them in line with the...

GVI, As Audi has previously mentioned, ground fighting is taught as a matter of course in Wu Chien Chuan style as taught by Si Kung Wu Kwong Yu. I have learned some of this method in my time in his school, both from him and his instructors, but I am by no means an expert on the subject. I know what ...

Chidragon, Again, I have disagree with one portion of your last post: "To practice Tai Ji Chuan correctly is to following the principle of yin-yang and have each movement to coordinate with your breathing and vice versa" Up to the point where you so vehemently insist that ONLY tying breath...

Sian, Define "real" for me? :roll: I'm curious, what do you mean to learn by asking this question in this manner? Asking this question here wouldn't seem to be the best way to go about learning the answer, at least to me, as we could all simply lie about it to keep the "myth" ali...

I have very little time so to the heart of the matter... "How shall one learn without any translation?" In the Wu school, WAY back when I attended it, there was a great saying that we used for just that question. I will try to keep it as close to how I heard it as possible: "What do y...

ChiDragon, I wouldn't even dream of trying to dip my toes into the current discussion about the meaning of characters in a language other than English. I have zero expertise in that area so will leave those discussions to y'all who do have some knowledge about that kind thing. While it's interesting...

Double pressure and double weight are two different things. Double weight is, as I have been taught to understand it, the state of not being able to cycle yin to yang or the other way 'round causing you or your opponent to not be able to respond. Double pressure is having the same amount of weight o...

Chi Dragon, Um... Yes, I am quite sure that the Wu Chien Chuan style of TCC that I have studied and practiced for 29 years "ends" it's Dan Bian with equal pressure in both feet, meaning a 50/50 weight distribution. I see Dpasek has posted a nice illustration of this and I thank him for tha...

Siahn, I'll take a stab at this, mostly because I've been there, done that, hell I bought the T-shirt, so I hope I can help you get to the root of the issue. The way I am understanding your post is this: You feel cheated because this other student is being allowed to progress in learning the posture...