Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

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Anyway! It was a nice conversation with you. This thread was about why someone omit the part in turning the head gesture in the form of "repulse monkey". I was trying to get a justification from some of the members here.

Thank You for the conversation.

Sorry! It was my fault to start with the wrong foot. When we talk about the basic moves in slow speed, it was understood for beginners. Fortunately, this thread had lured some advanced practitioners and had given their contributions. I want to thank them for given us the knowledge in advance.

Let's start all over! This thread is strictly for beginners which will exclude all advanced levels or applications. So we will not jump the gun.

I am sure once in a lifetime, someone had twitched a muscle with a sudden quick movement. It is because the person had not been exercised for sometime. The twitchy pain will not go away at least two weeks. However, if the muscles were exercised constantly, then a sudden move will not cause any pain to the muscles due the flexibility from the exercise. This is the reason why all Tai Chi styles exercise all the muscles slowly with smooth transition. The diligent practice will condition all the body muscles into twitchy muscles without cause any pain from sudden quick moves.

In the case of the "repulse monkey", while stepping back by turning the head to the right then to the front; and to the left then to the front, it will exercise the neck muscle and the joint. Hence, any sudden quick movement will not cause any pain to the neck muscles. BTW This also apply to all muscles in the body by other Tai Chi movements.

Many people may have not aware of this. The slow movement in doing Tai Chi Quan is mainly for this purpose. The constant exercise is the best way for muscle toning. As a result, it builds up the quick reflex of the body muscles. Besides the muscle tone, it also increase the physical strength of the muscles which is known as jin(勁). Indeed, in order to move up to the advance levels, jin(勁) must be developed through the diligent practice of the slow basic movements.