Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

On another thread, in the Push Hands Section titled "Tai Chi on a Beam", there has been quite a rousing discussion going on about the use of the hips during T'ai Chi Ch'uan. I recommend reading it to everyone.
There I made allusions to a method of using the hips that I have developed over time and have had great success teaching to my students. I was asked a few questions about it that could not easily be answered in such a forum and that lead me to decide I really needed to write my method down in a hopefully coherent and understandable fashion; both for my students sake and so that I would be able to present it to a wider audience more easily than writing it out in dribs and drabs on a discussion forum.
That began a journey that lead me to some very unexpected places.
I did quite a bit of hair pulling getting this written but I think I have gotten at least most of what I wanted to say down.
Due to the length of the subject matter I decided to break it up into Chapters, each giving another piece of the puzzle. There will be at least three, possibly four, total Chapters before I'm finished.

One caveat and then I'll let you get to the article:
This is NOT in any way, shape or form an "Official" Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan article or method of instruction.
As mentioned in the article itself, this method of teaching how to use the hips is mine and mine alone, taught exclusively at and by Everyday Taiji Cooperative, LLC.

Without further ado, enjoy:
http://everydaytaiji.com/Theory.html

After looking at this online a few times I'm thinking that adding some photographs would help...
I'll work on that, later. After I get all of the Chapters finished.

Bob

Hi Bob,

I read your article. It is well written; however, trying to describe movement in this level of detail is notoriously difficult. One thing that would help me to understand better would be to know whether there is simultaneous movement in any other joints in the legs or in the spine when you describe the circular movement of the greater trochanters.

Take care,
Audi

Audi,
Thanks for your kinds words about the article. It is only as well written as it is because of my two editors.
If not for them it would be an incoherent mishmash, so I thank them once again.

I recognize the shortcomings of this article as related to "whole body integration". My original intent was to include at least some of the "links" from the greater trochanters to the rest of the body for further clarification.
Unfortunately the scope of the article had to be narrowed down to a presentable format. In other words, it's a LOT more condensed than I wished. That's why I finally decided to break it down into chapters, there was simply too much information to include all of it in one go.
If I had gone into the usage of the entire body, linking all the parts together from toe to head top as I would truly like to do, I would still be writing the introduction.
My editors convinced me to leave out quite a bit of what I had originally put in my outline, in the hopes of getting me to be able to put down anything usable.
All I can do is keep writing the article, elaborating more in each chapter as I go.
I do fully intend to go into detail on these "links" to the waist/spine going up and the legs going down, that will be discussed in, I believe (read that as "that's where it is in my outline as it stands now"), Chapter 4 which I intend to use as the "end" of this article, where I will attempt to tie the hips in with the parts of the body closest to them for further clarity for anyone who reads this.
My partners in crime, and now my students who have read this first chapter, are pushing me quite hard to complete this article and then to begin another one; this time on usage of the waist.
I shudder to even consider moving on and writing an article about the waist, to be completely honest, after finding out just how difficult it is to write these types of articles.
I will continue to work on Chapter 2 in every moment of free time I have at my disposal. The writing is nearly complete, once again it's creating the graphics that is taking up more time than I ever could have imagined.
I am about half way through with that task.
Once I am done with that, then I need to put them together with the text then make it all flow together.
Another time intensive step in the process as just as soon as the graphics are introduced the writing has to be redone to match them as they are presented.
Then editing by my two partners, another rewrite to make their edits seamless with the rest of the writing.
Then work can begin on Chapter 3, and so on.
IF, and right now it seems to be a big if, I complete this article and I'm still sane (or at least as sane as I ever was) I will consider possibly continuing on.
If I were just doing the writing part and had someone else, someone who knows how, to do the graphics I'd probably have been long done by now.
Alas, no one I know who has that kind of talent is willing to assist me for the money I can provide.
Which is zero.
So I will keep plugging away as best as I can.

Bob