Yang Taiji Quan - A student perspective

[CloudHands]

I had the project of giving the detailed training steps I passed-by. I'm not sure what help it can be. Probably none except for me since the people that doesn't share the same practice will not understand and dedicated Yang Taiji practitioners seem almost absent (or I don't notice them, that's very possible).

So this is not what I give here, I'm not trying to teach online but to put into words (well... mine!) a basic overview of my (our) practice. It might be interesting to discuss it both for me and others.

 

 

Routine

Almost a decade with one teacher,  started at 24 years old, weakly course (maybe I missed one or two).

Daily practice around 60mn/a day but sometimes 3h/4h  and sometimes none (walking + resting is welcome).

Week-end workshops

One week workshop (now annually since 2016).

Basic training is generally meditation / 2 yang forms / weapons (pole/dao/jian), starting to take more place year after year.

Add-ups are qi gong / horse stance / stretching.

It's really better to do 60-75 mn in a row and not doing half in morning half in evening like I had often to do last year.

I'm not done with learning there are other forms I still haven't started.

 

The greatest results I have observed are in the fields of cleansing the body, balancing the emotions and internal knowledge.

In 9 years of practice I let go of back pain (long ago) and I'm much less subject to emotional swing. I have endured challenges and pressure in a way I can't blush and haven't been sick for what 5? 6 years?  (never seen my teacher sick either).

 

Besides as locks drops, feelings become clearer this doesn't mean I don't go through excess no more, but less and I deal with them much better.

 

In the same movement and as emotions and body are overlapped I perceive spots in my body more clearly. I'm not sure that the feelings (when observing some place) changed much but the whole (both as a whole and distinct parts is more present/accessible).

 

How ? The prime factor is not "more energy" but a better balance. It helps to have more energy only if you have you internal structure set up correctly. As we tend to stuck our energy in the lower and upper back more energy stocked may become more imbalance. Most people grew up imbalanced and most bodies manage to ignore blockage until the body send the loudest alarms.

It is possible to get free of these locks by a better body presence (including locks acceptation) and by sending energy back to pelvic bone, feet and legs. Basically it's not that complicated it's about using your pearls (articulations) stretching your muscles and tendons while observing body parts. The more you practice you more you can stay "in touch" with your moving body (talking qualitative and quantitative) the more the feeling and effects are.

 

Also this is the way you achieve power, by stopping wasting (leaking) and eventually, secondarily, start to accumulate. Once you relax the tense parts of the body setting articulations free then you understand (by doing) that you can use your internal force with minimal muscular brute force. So being under pressure you're able to stay (more) relaxed/distant by not letting emotions and (overly yang) energy going in excess to the upper body.

 

There are others active dynamics at the same time.

For instance :

Activating yong quan pump / Bai huei pushed up (which implies stretching lumbar/pelvic/hips areas according to the stance low) for the more obvious.

Besides the Yang form acts on the body like it's lungs (in a Qi Gong way) it dilates and contracts absorbing light energy, releasing tensions.

This is realized (like in qi gong) by coordinating breathing and moves. Yang tai chi alternate between closed and open stance, right and left support points. Empty and full at the beginning.

I don't want to be too exhaustive.

 

This looks like prerequisites but I think this internal travel, then achieving a better understanding of our internal energetic and emotional mechanisms is a real gem of Yang Taiji, and being that it is an ultimate lesson already and because it apply to any situation, it's a living lesson.

[Vajra Fist]

This is super interesting, thanks for your path notes. I've always wondered what long term practice of the yang style would yield. 

 

Have you ever had any knee issues with this style? I have practiced yang several times over the years and always had to quit from knee pain. 

[CloudHands]

16 hours ago, Vajra Fist said:

This is super interesting, thanks for your path notes. I've always wondered what long term practice of the yang style would yield. 

 

Have you ever had any knee issues with this style? I have practiced yang several times over the years and always had to quit from knee pain. 

 

Hi Vajra

 

You welcome

 

I had some minor knee trouble since it hasn't gone to pain but I felt something was going on on my right knee. There is a background I won't develop on that knee trouble. But I had some concern before Taiji and I knew there was no structural major issue. But taiji did put pressure on that point and I started to fear lower stances, enough to ask my teacher. Confident about it as a minor or transitional concern he said that "fear is often a bad adviser". I realized at the time that what I had to do was stretching so I went lower and I did additional stretches.

And after some time Taiji fixed it. Often neigong practices point us our weakness. Sometime meditation gave me awful pain in the back but what a satisfaction when it disappear (I mean during meditation). Accepting what your body tells you is accept your emotional and traumatic history.

Mechanically the melt of stretch and muscular strengthening did the job. Maybe it fixed the alignment too but that I can't tell. The articulation has been fine for years.

 

Why so many knee trouble ? Maybe some do too quickly too much ? Or not consistently enough. It's possible.
Basics for any practice you should not bend you knee further than your toes.
Keep foot/knee/hip alignment is very important. Knees are not supposed to be twisted they can support it a little but it just damage them.
In many taiji videos I see people doing hip rotations from the front of the foot. If you don't want to jump I not sure of what good it can be. Heel is like a ball so it's perfect to turn from it.
Also if knee trouble there is a known method, one should do body weight shifts on the other foot then doing the rotation and it's still very good tai chi.

 

[Earl Grey]

17 hours ago, Vajra Fist said:

Have you ever had any knee issues with this style? I have practiced yang several times over the years and always had to quit from knee pain. 

 

As a Yang practitioner, I've found the opposite as it helped my knee problems. Could likely be alignment, positioning, and overreaching, and if you do Zhan Zhuang properly alongside. Probably your teacher employs a different methodology than mine--who knows?