your words on yang or chen taijiquan

[Pranaman]

I found a teacher in my area, portland oregon, and he teaches I-Chuan, Chen and Yang Taiji, and Kung Fu. I'm mostly interested in the mental affects but partially interested in applications and longevity effects of taiji but I heard something about choosing a style of based on your body type, can anyone help me with my choice?

[bronzebow]

Generally with the martial arts I'll go for a good teacher first and style second. If you had a choice between good teachers though I've been told that Chen is harder on the body for "older" people and Yang, Wu or Hao is better in this case. Personally I like Chen because the martial applications are more obvious to me and this lets me find the internal alignments easier. I actually like what I've seen of some CMC tai chi stylists because they are so relaxed, in comparison the Chen practitioners I know seem a lot "harder." Not sure if this is the norm through Chen styles though.

[Pranaman]

Generally with the martial arts I'll go for a good teacher first and style second. If you had a choice between good teachers though I've been told that Chen is harder on the body for "older" people and Yang, Wu or Hao is better in this case. Personally I like Chen because the martial applications are more obvious to me and this lets me find the internal alignments easier. I actually like what I've seen of some CMC tai chi stylists because they are so relaxed, in comparison the Chen practitioners I know seem a lot "harder." Not sure if this is the norm through Chen styles though.

 

cool, he teaches both chen and yang, and he seems very good and he's been recommended by many people on two different online communitie. he actually teaches chen and yang taijiquan, kung fu, and I-chuan. So I guess I have many choices, but I don't know what I-chuan is, and I don't really know what kung fu is at it's core. I got the same impression on chen in its hardness and it being applicable.

[bronzebow]

I Chuan is Yiquan their foundation is in standing practices(Zhan Zhuang). It's good stuff.

[doc benway]

If the teacher in your area teaches multiple styles, my advice would be to discuss with them your background and aspirations and let them guide your education. I've seen excellent taiji practitioners from Chen, Yang, Wu, and other camps. The style is not as important as the teacher and student, IMO. Chen teaches more physical forms. Wu more meditative, Yang somewhere in the middle. The martial training in all three is a matter of becoming expert at applying the energies and postures in combat situations so they tend to converge.