Offering free Tai Chi Lessons in Hong Kong

[dottaichi]

Hey everyone,

My dad teaches Tai Chi for free every week (4 days a week) in Hong Kong, the details are here: http://www.dottaichi.com/contact-us.html

On a totally unrelated note, I also recently updated a post on Tai Chi, if anyone wants to see how my dad (the Tai Chi sifu) moves in comparison to me here: http://www.dottaichi.com/WhyStableBodyStructure.html

Hope to learn Tai Chi together, cheers!

[DPasek]

On a totally unrelated note, I also recently updated a post on Tai Chi, if anyone wants to see how my dad (the Tai Chi sifu) moves in comparison to me here: http://www.dottaichi.com/WhyStableBodyStructure.html

Ronald,

I complement you on your attitude, especially your admiration of your father, and your willingness to show your own failures. Great humility, combined with the desire to help others even if that shows your own flaws!

I have wondered about Taijiquan and balance since this has been about the only scientific research that the CDC in the USA has felt is strong and stringent enough that they recommend “Tai Chi” as a way to prevent falls in the elderly (https://tjqmbb.org/). However, the researchers made modifications to the simplified 24 form in order to make it more effective for their treatment purposes.

It is my speculation that interactive work, where a practitioner tries to maintain their balance despite a partner’s attempts to make you lose your balance, is probably better for training balance than solo forms practice (although that also does help), and that the researchers who developed the TJQMBB program felt the need for their modifications because they were not teaching the parts of the art that would be the most beneficial for training better balance. To be fair, the researchers were probably looking for something simple that could be taught relatively quickly to elderly patients who already have balance problems (rather than teaching healthy individuals that then maintain their balancing abilities as they age). It is also possible that, even in solo form training, the researchers were not sufficiently emphasizing certain TJQ principles (centering, alignment of the nine pearl bends, head top suspended, maintaining the 6-direction forces, etc.) that I use in my practice, and they may instead have been placing their emphasis on learning the choreography without great understanding of the underlying principles.

I tested my own balance after practicing standard long forms for Yang and Chen styles, including weapons work, since 1979, and currently have an emphasis on interactive work both with, and without, weapons. I used the following test:
https://saveourbones.com/hows-your-bala ... -find-out/

For me, I could balance far longer (on one leg with my eyes closed) than the above article gives for 25-30 year olds, even though I am over 60 years old. It is easier to stand on one leg with the eyes open, but you (Ronald) do not seem to be particularly old, yet you start wobbling soon after raising your leg even with your eyes open. The test allows for wobbling when standing on one leg with your eyes closed, as long as you do not put your foot down or open your eyes. I realize that you have not been practicing TJQ for very long, but I was wondering if you have relatively normal balance for your age, or if for some reason you are starting at a worse than average level. If your balance is relatively typical for someone your age, then I would just say that continued practice will likely allow you to gain in ability like your father has.

Note: One of my first teachers (that I met while he was in grad school) had Meniere’s disease resulting in his balance being so bad that he needed to lean against a wall to move from class to class while he was in high school. His TJQ training essentially corrected his lousy balance (although he remains deaf).