Taijiquan Styles

[GreytoWhite]

While I have not personally practiced it, my friend who taught me fully approves of their methods and higher level teachers.

 

http://www.plumpub.c...ll_WDboxing.htm

http://www.plumpub.c...coll_wudang.htm

http://www.plumpub.c...wudangtaiyi.htm

 

I have read that much of the Wudang taiji is heavily influenced by Zhaobao (a village near Chen jia gou) but they have also formulated from Chen, Yang, Wu, and Bagua.

Edited October 9, 2012 by MithShrike

[Isimsiz Biri]

About the origins of Taijiquan, I hope the following article may help:

http://www.chinafrominside.com/ma/taiji/TJQorigins.html

 

Also, there are some interesting articles

http://www.chinafrominside.com/ma/taiji.html

[Mr. T]

hello!

 

i am a practitioner of what our teacher calls "wutang temple style taiji chuan". that is what his teacher called it, so that is what we called it. i have only been practicing for about 6-7 years, and only this style. therefore, my knowledge on other forms is limited to what i read and watch online.

 

my experience is that the principle form (108) is very similar to many of the old styles that are displayed variously around. however, the general progression of the form is similar to many chen style forms...meanning that the movements are in relatively the same place thru out the form. the first half is much "smaller" and "defensive", with the second half becoming more pronounced, some faster sections, and more prominent displays of agression, for lack of a better term. class was basically broken into an hour of qigong, and hour of form instruction, and an hour of application training, depending on level of experience. then there is the two hour tao study group that was required attendence for advanced students.

 

as far as the spiritual side, our teacher required study of the tao and it's philosophies as an accompanying practice to the taiji, and class was heavily based on the influence of yin-yang theory. the system incorporates many forms of qigong, and learning the second half of the form requires focused meditation on the five animals.

 

this is the basic level, and i have not progressed past this level. having now learned the basic form, my wife and i relocated to get closer to family and now i am in a "holding pattern" of practicing what i have learned. i suspect that i will be in this pattern for quite some time as the style is quite humbling and i really have no desire to learn anything new since i pretty much stink at doing what i do know! anyways, that's all i know about wutang taiji quan.

Edited November 6, 2012 by Mr. T

[Shagrath]

Thank you

[Mr. T]

no problem, i hope it helped to satisfy your curiosity!

 

one other thing that came to mind after posting. the form we practice has some very low stances and difficult twisting steps. this looks very similar to the zhao bao forms you can watch on u-tube, except for the glaring difference that in our form we do not do that sticking up the toe movement on the low stances.

 

mind you, we might be practicing something totally different than what u-tube shows as wutang taiji...

[shanlung]

 

I did not know my earlier embedded URLs did not get through in this posting.

 

This is to rectify that.

 

Taoism - Some thoughts on Wu Wei

http://www.shanlung.com/oldwuwei.html

 

(this also give a sketch to my earlier days and involvement in martial arts)

 

My take on taijichuan as martial art and another attempt to explain fajing

 

Taijichuan martial arts

http://www.shanlung.com/oldtaijichuan.html

 

 

Idiot on the Path

 

http://shanlung.com/

 

 

 

I thought I should write down some of my experiences of Taijichuan before it faded away.

Sadly, taijichuan started to go away from me when Tinkerbell came into my life as seen in my earlier writing here.

 

I was martial arts inclined. Started with Korean TKD and Goju ryu. And later with Shaolin Kungfun passed down indirectly by a Shaolin Monk Sek Koh Sum who came from China to be Abbot in Singapore Suan Lin Tse. That Abbot died before my interest in martial arts was kindled. One of his tudi was my friend. I got to where I could snap the top half with a chop or reversed punch of a brick placed on palm of a hand. With Judo done in school and Western boxing done in my Army days, I had my share of real knocks and bumps.

 

I knew little of taijichuan other than that first encounter very much earlier on and which left a good respect for that. I had not even known of the different schools of taijichuan thinking they were all the same.

 

Which was why I was doing the Sun Jia Taijichuan, largely because of another Chinese MA guy I respected and he asked me to join him. Later on, I learned Sun Jia was from Sun Lutang, a guy who was good in HsingYi and Pakua and later learned taijichuan. Sun jia was a fusion of HsingYi, Pakua and taijichuan. I was at this for a few years following that lady. She was a student of Sun Lu Tang.

 

Then in 1980, Chen Hsiao Wang, the Jangmengpai of Chen Jia came to Singapore with the opening up of China.

He hold a demonstration as a kind of announcement of his arrival. During his demo, he asked for 2 volunteers to come up and lock his arms. To my delight and surprise, I saw two of my friends walking to him. One was a 3rd dan Aikido and the other was a no nonsense Shaolin brother. I thought then armlocks by either of them cannot be broken ever. At the word that both were ready, the next moment saw both flung apart as CHW broke their locks with ease.

 

I signed up for CHW classes immediately. The Chen jia Lau Jia, the Jiang, the Chiang, the Dao was learned from him.

The first fajing was shown by CHW. But sadly because of that, I was mislead further away from fajing then before. Not the fault of CHW. But he was quite muscular at that time. And the mind , like a monkey, only want to believe what one want to believe.

 

That fajing is physical, and therefore must be from muscular/tendon background. And CHW was muscular.

 

I was unable to discard the lifetime of scientific western perceptions and

engineering background I had. Taiji was then interpreted by me in such a

light, grouped and generalised until it became 'understandable'. Techniques

were classified into vectorial forces and certain groups for

effect/response. 'Energy' should no longer be the static stiffness of

muscles. The whip-like effects from the legs and abdomenal/hips rotations

were equated to the 'chi' talked about. As my 'tui shou'(pushing hands)

encounters with others normally do not have me losing, I thought I won and I

thought Taiji was within my grasp.

 

My constant reading of the books on Taiji chuan and the TTC had me

interpreting them with the perceptions of my experiences. Rationalizations

fitted those nuggets into compartments in my mind with me feeling

justifiably proud of my 'progress'.

 

In 1990, I found myself in Taipei working on their mass rapid transit

system. Early morning will have me in their parks doing my taiji excercises

and 'tui shou' with uneven results.

 

There are masters and Masters but I was yet unable to see or know the

differences until the day I met Masters.

 

There were two who cannot leave my mind now. One had to walk with a cane

and need to be assisted by us to go up the steps leading to the Sun yat sen

memorial hall. Another was a slim elderly man,so slim that a strong wind

may blow him done, in the Hsingkongyuan(new Taipei park) south of the

Taipei railway station. Their weight was about 80-90 lbs.

 

Those two were so skinny that they were almost like walking skeletons. From time to time, I help Master Lee up the steps to SYS memorial hall and hold his arms which almost like broom stick. And when he laid down his cane for the tui shou, my body was compelled to go where it did not want to go.

 

It was also so laughable with the Master at HsingKongYuan.

I used to go there on some weekends to do almost free sparring with one and all. I noticed Master Liu watching me a few times. He looked like in late 70s and I thought he was toddling about there in the park for exercises. Until he asked me to try with him. As a matter of face, we all restrained ourselves. I even more with that sweet old dear.

 

He then started to talk with me when we were arms to arms, that he sadly over estimated me. That I was just a lump of fat and flesh with no strength at all. My politeness evaporated and I quickened my steps. He evaporated away from the center of my arms. I was very quick and he remained very slow, but not there. And kept talking to me how disappointed he was in me. And next moment, I was send flying. I came back more determined then ever. He moved like a wraith of smoke and again, I flew. I could not believe what was happening to me, lessons more intense than at SYS memorial hall with that other Master Lee. Again and again and again. My friends with me and watching all that said I was lucky. Master Liu hardly bother to do that with them. I left him with respect amounting to awe, and he asked me to see him again next week end.

 

I never could put the words to what Master Liu did at HKY, until I saw the movie Alien 3 - Resurrection a few years later. If you have seen this movie, you would have seen Ellen Ripley, made with genes crossed over from Alien, playing basketball with a bunch of kick ass Marines. Effortlessly toying with them, and with powers way beyond them. What was special effects happened in real life then, and at subsequent visits to Master Liu at HKY and Master Lee at SYS. Master Liu / Lee was Ripley, and I the muscle bound kick ass flat footed Marine.

 

It finally dawned on me in light of what happened to me that fa jing was not muscles at all. They said I lacked the faith. One cannot get the faith by reading and reading. You had to be thrown and thrown, tossed and throwned until you get it out of your head that muscles were not involved as they had no muscles to begin with. Which was why they told me what jia did not matter once I understood. Master Lee did the Yang jia to warm up before tuishou. Master Liu just do the tuishou with me on every 2^nd Sunday or so when I saw him. Master Liu never told me what jia he did. He would ask me if I want to talk or tuishou, and then proceed to tui with me. I loved the mountains of Taiwan too much to be that dedicated to taijichuan with with Masters.

 

Not all came from those 2 Masters. I was doing the Chen jia Chen Fah Ker and the Yang Jia and Yang Jia Suan Tui shou. The Yang Jia Suan Tui Shou came from a Master Tan teaching in a tiny park next to my block in MingSheng Ser Chi. This YJSTS was actually an exercise in Ting Jing. I was so nearly kicked out by Master Tan until I latched on, and stopped doing what I took for granted, anticipating the moves, like in conventional MA. I had to use Tingjing (listening Jing). I cannot put into words the difference.

 

I learned each moves and the transitionings were the most important, and not just the moves. The journey is as much as the destinations. If it is just the move, then there must be just ONE form, not the multiple of forms.

 

From the TingJing, you get the Dong Jing (understanding Jing). That it was the Tingjing that slipped the Masters out of my hand. That even without Fa Jing, Ting Jing was more than enough to take care of attacks to lead that attack elsewhere.

 

I went back to Taiwan again after my initial contract was over just to do taichichuan.

I was staying in Al Amigo guest house, a cheap hostel with flat rooftop that I shared with buskers, English teachers, and other folks

I was doing about 6-7 hours of tajijichuan, 4 hours on my own and 2 with my Masters.

Doing the forms over and over and over and over again. Doing that with the Yi and alignment, to point I need not hold that in my mind.

Taiwan is a place where it rained much of the time. One period of extensive rain lead to a good breakthrough in taijichuan for me. I was in the staircase landing looking at the roof wondering if the rain would stop. In the tight space of the staircase landing, I thought I would do my form. You known the space required to do the Yang Jia long form and Chen Jia Chen Fah Ker form. With stepping back, and intermediate stepping, I found I could do those forms in constrained space, and with the feeling of doing it at regular wide space. I felt constrained space was better in that fights might well happened in constrained space. Later on, I discussed this with my Masters and showed them what I did within the space of 4 flagstones. They were happy with what I had done.

Those were the days before the Internet. I do think the Internet is not conducive to good Martial Arts, in that more time is wasted writing and reading instead of the doing.

 

There were obviously local students with my Masters, Taiwanese who were born into the Chinese language and many were good in Wen Yen Wen too. With their mastery of Chinese, they were way behind me in Tuishou. They did not spend as many hours as I did in the forms, in getting the alignment right and not thinking of the chi as I used to kid myself in the past. With chi here and chi there and chi everywhere which was nothing but figment of imagination. After all, by the time you think of the chi, the fight can be over, so why bother to think of the chi when it is just there if you only have the faith. My Masters showed time and time again no muscles were ever needed for the chi. They barely had enough muscles to stand upright.

I also found if Master Liu was on a good day, his fajing was direct and simple. When I was send back, it was a simple fajing. If he was feeling wicked with me, he twist his jing when he was fahing the jing. I would get twisted , and saved from a tumbling fall because he would catch me before I fall.

 

In the Al Amigo hostel, now and then we would have a party up the roof of the 7 floor apartment at Chilin road. Tables were brought up with beers and cakes.

 

I had been quite conspicuous there, with my taiji practices. Another guy also living there had been asking me to have a match which I had been declining. He told me he was doing Shoto Kan for about 12 years, and in Taipei to learn Hung Chuan. Just arm length from me, he threw a series of punches to show how fast he punched. In my mind, I was glad I never accepted his earlier challenges as he was lightning fast.

 

He then execute another series of punches. I knew one was heading for my jaw with intent to hurt. That split second , time slowed enough for me to have turn my body sinking down slightly with my right arm into a danpian leading his fist just out from my jaw. His withdrawal of fist was then lead by me into a haidijen.

 

I was conscious we were on the roof top with low parapet walls, surround by people having a good time. Fajing would fly him to the tables or to people, or over the parapet wall down to the street 7 floors below. I also wanted to defuse that situation as troubles was the last thing on my mind as that would get me kicked out of Taiwan forever.

 

With scarsely a thought, I pour fajing into my haidijen and the image of his body through the rood slab into the center of the Earth. And felt his body rammed vertically down and his legs were wobbly. I was so close that I supported him so he could not fall down. I never thought fajing could be done downwards. All un-premeditated. All with wuwei, or as tze run as could be. All in line with the Tao.

 

I spoke quietly in his ears that we should stop or folks around us be frightened and spoil the party.

He agreed very readily to my nice suggestion. We both had a beer and a quiet laugh. His friends around us had not a clue. We remained friends and he did not call on me again for any more demonstrations.

 

My sojourn into full time taijichuan ended when I was recalled back into service. I had a good pay check and stayed in a good apartment. But I could not spend more than 90 minutes on taijichuan daily just to tick over. Which I did regardless of the country I was in.

 

Until Tinkerbell came into my life.

And taijichuan went out as a result as I could not even find that 90 minutes daily.

 

But not entirely.

But that’s another story.

 

Idiotic Taoist

Edited February 23, 2013 by shanlung

[shanlung]

In 1993 when I was about as good as I could be in taijichuan, I was on a walkabout on the island of Koh Phagnan off the Southern coast of Thailand.

 

I saw posters about on Taijichuan classes being taught by a taichi master. I had to ride on my bike and hunted down that place.

 

Saw that was a Caucasian in his mid 20s living in a Thai house all ready to teach taijichuan. He married a local thai.

 

We started chatting. I told him I was interested in taijichuan, leaving out my background as irrelevant. I was there to learn of him and not he to learn of me.

 

He proudly told me he finished the course of Yang jia taijichuan in Penang with an hour lesson twice week, taking about 6 months. He also showed me a pile of taichi books that he was reading, with another pile of video tapes on taichichuan. I asked him if he did tuishou in Penang and he told me his master there did not know tuishou but he picked that up from books. He told me his master thought he was good enough to open a taijischool after 3-4 more months there with him.

 

I got an earful of taijichuan and Tao from him. Everything came from the Tao. Roses , cowdung and a host of other things came from the Tao. So why not taijichuan? Even more so when the symbol for taijichuan is the YingYang sign?

 

Since I also had a glass of cold water from him, I let him go on and on.

 

Sadly that is about the state of taijichuan. Lots of masters and charlatans teaching more tiny masters and charlatans.

To wave and move arms and legs slowly will magically put you to feel the chi forces of the world and to tap on those energies.

 

Not knowing taijichuan, they created a world of chi running all over here and there, mixing up with taoism and fantasy and telling that one be at peace in the world and love all (to make sure they got cast in stone excuses that they need never have to show their Immortal Imcomparable Fist)

 

How to tell him that I was a mere student after years and years and not as elevated as he being a master. Perhaps he was wiser than me, and his twice weekly dose of taijichuan from someone who do not know how to tuishou was a lot better than my daily 6++ hours and with Masters that fajing me all over.

 

I felt we did not even have a common ground in which I could talk with him. Hands on with me would just embarrased him and I saw no need for me to be a self declared policeman as to purity of taijichuan. Beside, he was a nice chap and did give me a glass of water unasked . Just an interesting education for me as to the other facets of the world of taijichuan.

 

I thank him for the glass of water, said I think about his classes, and rode off back that road to a place where I knew I could get a nice cold Singha beer and watch the rest of the world go by.

 

 

Idiot on the Path

Edited April 19, 2013 by shanlung

[Wu Ming Jen]

I practice Wudang Kung Fu USA and Wudang Shan China .This is a big umbrella of internal arts Tai Chi Chuan, Ba Gua Chang, Hsing I and a list of other forms like tiger taming boxing not as known to the general public plus weapon forms and so on.

 

Before Tai chi Chuan or other higher forms of martial arts are practiced there are forms that are taught first the first form has "basic" moves done to the right and the left. I love how these forms are "basic" with jumping and spinning kicks and combinations kicks for the legs, extremely low stances many different hand and elbow strikes, grabs, pulling, twisting chin na. But I know why it is "basic" only a few moves (36) done fast in about 90 seconds compared to a long form taking 15 to 20 min to perform.

 

We begin each session with walking running using,kicks hand movements or whatever to warm up the body circling the courtyard then Chi Gung for a while then 900 kicks up and down the courtyard with a mid step shuffle before each different kind of kick left then right leg. After that we work on whatever form each person is learning. The masters leave for about 45 min to let students work and drill their own forms to muscle memory. Masters return and you show them your form and they give corrections and you're next few moves. This is a three hours Then it's lunch time and break. Afternoon class is another 3 hour class.

 

I love midnight practice in the courtyard while other are sleeping or resting. I was blessed to have Masters join me out in the courtyard. I also spied on after dark classes for fun

 

Personally I never had a new aged Tai Chi dancer for a teacher. I started at a kung fu temple age 16 so I do not know much about "other" styles under respected family names that are not a martial art.

 

My preconditioned thought of things like old, skinny, fat or unfit looking Masters have been shattered forever. So many stories to tell. I like reading stories as above thanks for sharing

[shanlung]

Kicking this up.

For folks new to me and taijichuan.

 

I wrote much of my background in MA and taijichuan in this thread

 

Not that I think you learn anything from what I wrote unless you are already well grounded and with a true Master

In which case you need not what I wrote as you barely able to digest what your Master is giving you.

 

Taoistic Idiot

[shanlung]

Vaina, I hope you do not mind my answering your question here as I felt what I got to say be of use of others as well.

 

And perhaps you might upload that video in this thread so folks know too.

 

That guy is real. I looked for the alignments of his posture, referring often to the image on the mirror as shot of him was waist up. Throwing of others backwards would be a controlled fajing on his part.

 

Regardless of taiji, or baiji , or baqua, hsingyi, the fajing must be there.

 

At the very very minimum, if the instructor cannot yet fajing, he MUST be able to demonstrate clear ting jing (listening of jing)

Aikido throws of very senior players (aka 6-7 dans) are of this nature. The listening of energy, and the divertion of energy makes the throw look unreal. Before I could get a somewhat working fah jing, I used ting jing to execute the throws. The knowing of his move, the decoying him in a pseudo pull to get his counter reaction to counter that pull, and adding the one ounce of force to his counter to send him back.

 

When the master can tingjing, he will feel like smoke in your hand, and can tie you literally into knots. That is the very minimum of a Master to follow.

 

Taoistic Idiot

[xor]

Thank you. For me that clears up several things, I'm glad I asked and didn't just go with my intuition that this looks real.

 

I've been a visitor to an aiki dojo where all instructors could have been on the "ting jing level", they called it just aiki or sensing aiki. I have to admit it felt quite unreal how we got thrown compared to regular aikido.

 

This is the video I linked to shanlung :

[ChiDragon]

FYI You may have noticed that the last guy, with glasses, was not thrown as vigorous as the others. He seems to be one of his advanced students; because I did see that he has some Jin in him to cancel out some of the pushing force of his instructor.

[Chang]

A style of tai chi which has been practiced in the U.K. since the 1930's is Li Style.

The Li style is a very traditional form of T'ai Chi similar in its size and frame to the Wu style. It contains all of the basic principles of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Click on the link below to see a demonstration of the form;-

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMGqrH0rPuo

[mkim680]

Anyone here practice the Wu Hao Style of tai chi chuan? It is a rare style and just wanted to see. I've learned the begining parts of it and just wanted to connect with others who practice this version of tai chi.

[CloudHands]

You know what the creator of karate wrote after he won every fight against every style of hard MA and went to China to check out an old taiji master? "Karate is a really good art. Superior to all other martial arts for humans. Taiji is for superhumans."

 

Quote needed !

[doc benway]

Curious to hear from other long term taijiquan folks (also with an excellent teacher and excellent training) on the topic of spiritual development in, or alongside, one's taijiquan practice.

 

One of my concerns about studing IMA with a martial focus is the karma issue - i.e., how many folks have been hurt/maimed by one's lineage?

I'm glad this thread popped back up because I got a chance to read what I wrote and I have to say that I disagree with myself.

 

 

Not sure what I was trying to say - maybe that there are more direct spiritual methods (Dzogchen, Dao meditation)...

 

As I look back over the years, I see there's been spiritual progress (don't laugh please... ) and I've made the assumption that it has been related to this practice or that practice, but all of that is quite impossible to sort out really. So who knows what takes us to where we are? I've engaged in quite a few different practices over time, often overlapping. And yet, the most profound "spiritual" insight I ever had was while riding along in a car, totally spontaneous. On the other hand, if I hadn't started practicing Taiji, I probably never would have been exposed to Dao meditation. I may or may not have gotten stimulated to pursue a pretty intense spiritual path for several years. So maybe Taiji was a gateway practice, and maybe a lot more than that. Either way, it was very important for me!

 

Regarding karma - I think what counts is the choices each of us makes in whatever endeavor/situation we find ourselves. In the martial arts arena, I've found that there's as much opportunity to generate wonderful karma as there is the opposite. If you take the codes of ethics that most schools teach seriously, it can be a very positive and powerful force. And those of us involved in martial training will hopefully erase some of the negative karmic debt that exists by taking the ethics to heart.

[kevin_wallbridge]

This is a very enjoyable thread. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to it over its life (looks like nearly a year now).

 

This is an area that I have had some experience with. When I began martial arts training I hoped for some spiritual awakening to come from it. As a boy I watched the "Razor's Edge" (Darryl F. Zanuck's 1946 classic) and was floored by the line the Saddhu speaks to Larry in the high Himalayas, "The trouble with you my son is that you are a deeply religious man who does not believe in God." It dusts my feet to this day.

 

When I did encounter an aspect of spirituality in my practice it was in a very unexpected way. It came from 推手 push-hands. Like most beginners I was stiff and anxious and when I tried to relax I just got more vulnerable to my partner's push. My teacher at the time (the very generous Sam Masich) pointed out that I would become more tense and my movements sharper and a little more frantic the closer the push came to the centre of my chest (膻中 middle Dantian). He pointed out that the push there was no different from the push on my shoulder and that it was only me that was making it different. He said "why do you feel that the push is more of a threat there than elsewhere?"

 

Much like the "Razor's Edge" moment, I then had an epiphany about how I was engaging spiritually with the world. I feared for my heart to be broken so I was pulling it away, both physically and energetically, from fully engaging in my life because of my anxiety about potential threat. I began to use the practise of push-hands to challenge that part of myself. I began to guide my partner's pushes towards the centre of my chest where I would then resolve the push from deep in the midst of my own vulnerability and weakness.

 

I like to think I began to be a clearer and more compassionate human being from that lesson and it is one that I continue to explore and enjoy to this day. When I teach the martial arts it is this lesson that guides how I assess and evaluate a student's needs. I have no interest in conquering demons, I bring them salves and poultices for their wounds so that their cries do not disturb the peace of the night.

[Vitalii]

My article about Taiji quan

 

 

Variety of Taiji Quan

 

Taiji Quan is one of the most famous styles of Wushu in the world. At the same time, we can say that despite its fame it is still very little studied style of Wushu. How comes it? Well, the whys of it is that all over the world people usually know and practice a simplified, sport version of Taiji Quan, whereas traditional Taiji Quan is significantly different.

 

In this article, we will talk about Taiji Quan Yang style, which has many variations. Many people consider that Yang style is not well suited for a real life fight, and that, in particular, Chen style is more effective in this regard. However, this point of view is quite misleading. It appeared because the Yang style, which is popular worldwide and which is practiced by the majority, is generally associated with soft and slow movements, and resembles more to a slow graceful dance rather than a martial art.

_______

Continue reading here http://zhendaopai.com/variety-taiji-quan/

Edited August 5, 2013 by Vitalii

[Chang]

Hi Vitalii,

 

Your link comes back as page not found.

[Vitalii]

Hi Vitalii,

 

Your link comes back as page not found.

 

Thanks, it is now fixed.

 

http://zhendaopai.com/variety-taiji-quan/

Edited August 5, 2013 by Vitalii

[ChiDragon]

 

Variety of Taiji Quan

In this article, we will talk about Taiji Quan Yang style, which has many variations. Many people consider that Yang style is not well suited for a real life fight, and that, in particular, Chen style is more effective in this regard. However, this point of view is quite misleading. is generally associated with soft and slow movements, and resembles more to a slow graceful dance rather than a martial art.

_______

Continue reading here http://zhendaopai.com/variety-taiji-quan/

 

Without going into a deeper understanding, indeed, it was quite misleading. Most people only saw the Yang style macroscopically. It resembles more to a slow graceful dance rather than a martial art is because the secret was never revealed to them. BTW That was exactly how I was told in your article when I learn the Yang style thirty-eight years ago during the traditional Tai Ji period.

 

 

 

PS....

You've made me felt like at home again.

 

Thanks....

Edited August 5, 2013 by ChiDragon

[wisetaobuddy]

any style is a good style but still not all can practice all of them because each of us have different physical condition and also different in our purpose of learning it

[blim]

Hi I have done yang style a bit. It was great for healing when you tried the stance and build your foundation. The chi would flow from your feet all the way to the head and finger tips. I have seen live demonstration of how the master handle attacks effortlessly too. Great KungFu!

[Vitalii]

Training of Fajing in traditional Taiji quan Yang Style.
On this video we can see Fu Qing Quan (grandson of Fu Zhongwen) doing the Fajing.
Fast form (Fast Frame) also focuses on Fajing, which is quick and sharp.

 

Edited August 16, 2013 by Vitalii

[Starjumper]

My Yang style has nine sections, and the later sections are done faster and faster, till at section 8 many of the movements are at full speed. Section 9 is a partner set.

 

Also, spiritual developement means emotional growth, and tai chi is not really geared for that like some other systems are.