What Flavor Tai Chi Would Your Prefer?
I’ve been talking, all right writing, about tai chi for a while now and one of the my more common subjects is that tai chi is broken down into two schools of thought. The one most people in the West seem to be familiar with is health related tai chi, where the movements are taught in a general way and are intended to provide relaxation and a wide variety of well documented health benefits. The second is the martial school of thought, the original intention and use of tai chi chuan (taijiquan).
Since I’ve been writing this blog I’ve become friends with a very serious tai chi player, Steven Smith, who lives in Montana. I like the way Steven describes “Real Tai Chi” as being tai chi chuan. The generally accepted translation is grand ultimate fist, with chuan being the Chinese word for fist. As Steven puts it, “The chuan makes it a martial art.” If you’re interested in the perspective of a serious practitioner you really should visit Steven’s site at RealTaiji.com.
As for many subjects, the internet has been a real boon for tai chi. For all those people who are interested in tai chi as a healthy exercise, more information is available now than ever before. With all this information, it can be difficult to know what’s really good and what’s not.
One good thing about tai chi and tai chi-like movements is that they are very gentle on the body while helping us to relax and actually develop some muscle tone without realizing it. If movements are done incorrectly they rarely cause problems when tai chi is practiced in this way. The movements provide some health benefits even when not done all that well, and provide some pretty significant benefits when done properly. For more information on health benefits click here to see the health information on my main site: http://www.camptaichi.com/health-stories-medical-research/.
If you’re interested in tai chi chuan, the martial side, it’s a little harder to find good schools. The Internet is beginning to provide more information along these lines; however, it’s difficult to move along this path without a physical teacher and some other students to practice with. My master, Master Cui Zhongsan, discourages new students from jumping into the martial applications too early because most of us have already trained our bodies to remain tense most of the time and we need to learn to stay loose if we ever hope to be effective martially.
If you’re looking to learn more about the martial side of tai chi I suggest you look around in your local area for a competent teacher. One who can at least teach you to stay loose with structure and who can also get you started in push-hands practice once they feel you’re ready. Push-hands is the practice of controlled sparing with a partner, and it starts with learning to “listen” to your partner’s energy while maintaining your own center.
Whatever your flavor of choice, I wish you all the best. If you don’t have access to a teacher, there is more and more training coming available on the Internet, and maybe you have a friend who’s interested in training with you. Remember it takes a long time to really learn tai chi, so be easy with yourself. I too will have on-line classes available so CampTaiChi.com will be available as a resource to you as well.
Your thoughts?
John
P.S. Steven Smith has some very interesting information he’s giving away for a limited time. I recommend going there and picking it up: Here’s the link: http://realtaiji.com/article/1225/reviving-taiji-begins-now/
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Nov 19, 2009 - 12:11:00John,
Thank you for a great and thought provoking article. For what it is worth here is my 2 cents worth.
It seems to me that the “flavor” of taiji practiced would be dictated by that which is desired “within”. For me it becomes a matter of what is best for me this moment.
Am I in need of or desire better health? Maybe general health or some specific health problem? Then maybe taiji for health would be appropriate. Posssibly a little tai chi Qigong or some Wudang 13.
Do I desire or need in the moment of life to be a little more aggressive? A little more “tough”? A little more “strong reacting? If so, taiji chuan may just be the ticket.
I think health status and age have a lot to do with the choice. At age 65 when I met my Sifu, which by the way is a “grand champion”, I saw that she teaches both sides of the sword. Normally she is wise enough to guide the student to the right form, either health or martial sides. I myself made the selection to stay with the health side for I needed that most in my life. At my age I had stopped thinking in martial ways.
Give me balance, promote good health and help me to live long enough to witness my own re-birthing as a new person through taiji.
Love and Light,
richard
John, I like both flavors probably because of my parallel training in Ryukyu Kobujutsu. However the majority of my Tai Chi students are really interested in the health, meditative and feeling-good aspects of Tai Chi so my classes are really geared towards that. I do have some Kobujutsu students (not a lot) who crosstrain in Tai Chi as I actively encourage that. One thing I do explain and correct are the small things that are important for the martial art application like forming proper fists, upward blocks are higher than the head, proper and stable stances, etc. Some years back as an experiment I took the Zheng Manqing (Cheng Man Ching) Taiji 37 form and over a period of 3 to 4 months explained the martial art application behind each move of the form to my students. It took that long because I was doing one move at a time in one class. As part of this, I would have my students pair off and actually practise the moves by having one attack and the other defend then counter-attack if it was part of the move. Note that this was all done slowly and softly like in the solo form. A couple of times, some would attack a little faster and try to catch the defender offguard but I discouraged that as the intention of the exercise was to work together and help each other learn together. The feedback on this experiment was that they now enjoy Tai Chi so much more, now that they had a deeper understanding of the moves. As a result of that, we do this every couple of years. So I think one can work both sides of the Tai Chi coin.
I haven’t checked out Steven’s “Real Taiji” fully yet but at a quick glance it looks like something up my alley.
Colman
http://twitter.com/colmanfink
I like Wasabi. Lots of it.
And thanks for your Real Taiji support.
Here’s a quick thought: preserve inner yang. You cannot relax away apathy or lethargy, they’ll only be exacerbated with lax-ation. We must fight! Fight dis-ease, fight old-age, fight apathy, fight lethargy. There’s not a lot to relax, really…residual tension, excess beliefs, imaginary fears. It takes an inner rebel. Cultivate it.
You’re spot on, John: there’s a lot of flavors. I like pickled ginger.
My own take is that you don’t necessarily need to engage in the martial, but should have some understanding about the martial. That is, knowing that taijiquan *is* a martial art. This could be merely going over the martial applications of each movement. For me, it gives the mind something to focus on and engage with.
In the Chen Style Taijiquan Practical Method as taught by Hong Junsheng and Chen Zhonghua, the martial aspects are exposed from day 1. Each movement is taught with the practical application in mind, “there are no empty movements”.
On the other hand, I really like what Yang Jun did with the Yang Family taijquan on his instruction dvd video. For each Yang form, he covers an associated application to give people a general idea. To me, this is great in that most people do not think Yang style as being martial, but there are martial components, we just have to bring them out.
Very few of my students are interested in martial applications of tai chi. I have always taught that a basic understanding of the application is required in order to do the form correctly. It is difficult to have correct body postition if you do not know the objective of the movement. Incorrect body position leads to bad chi flow. Health and applications are the two halves that come together to make the whole, ying-yang theory. It is hard to have tai chi without both. Thanks for the RealTaichi.com link. I am looking forward to exploring it.
David
Richard,
Studying tai chi “for the health of it” is a good path to take. Knowing what we want often comes to us only after we’ve tried a few different things and it sounds to me as though you know what you want. Witnessing your own re-birthing through tai chi is a worthy goal.
John
Colman,
I think teaching students the concept of the martial application is an important part of developing proper form. That’s what my Master does, what my Teacher does, and what I do now. It lets students know where to focus and therefore aids in chi (qi) flow to the extremities. I find that when I focus on a martial application I can feel the energy flowing more freely. Sounds as if your students are really getting a lot out of your classes.
John
Steven,
Wasabi is good for what ails ya… pickled ginger I’m not all that sure about.
That’s an good explanation about relaxation. A lot of newer students equate relaxation with lying in a hammock doing nothing. I like to refer to the state we’re seeking as being loose with structure and I think we both end up in the same place. Cultivation is definitely the key.
You’re welcome for the plug, after all you’re doing good stuff. Thanks for the feed back.
John
Wujimon,
Yes showing martial applications for each form is important and we do that with each student as well.
It’s my understanding that Yang Luchan developed Yang Style with “hidden” applications to honor the promise he made to the Chen Family. He was never to teach anyone outside of the family Chen Taiji. There aren’t any empty moves in Yang Style either, and the energy releases are not obvious in the forms for this reason. We do however practice them while working on individual forms.
Thanks for the feed back and for giving me the opportunity to point this out.
John
David,
I think you’re right when you say it’s hard to have tai chi without applying the yin-yang theory and showing applications. You’re also right when you say bad posture promotes bad chi flow.
What amazes me about tai chi though is that even posture that’s not quite correct still leads to some health benefits if practiced regularly. When the martial side is at least introduced, the student benefits that much more.
Thanks,
John
I am stepping in on this late, so I hope I am not covering old ground.
I heard Master Yek Sing Ong basically say once that, Taichi for health alone can provide some health benefits, Taichi performed just as an external martial art is not any better than any other martial art and maybe worse… but only when it is done for both the martial arts, that the inner health benefits will it deliver it’s true strength… or words to that effect.
Something about intent, cause and effect.
Like Yin and Yang, one is out of balance without the other, but also you might find that some people will never be able to develop to a effective level of martial art but everyone can probably achieve better health.
Sheldon,
I think your right about the martial aspect for most people. However, tai chi can be a very effective fighting art if you train for it. It’s not much different than external styles when it comes to body mechanics and application, the difference is in internal energy. External arts often develop energy flow once someone reaches a high level of mastery; tai chi works to cultivate this from the beginning. It takes very little physical effort to use internal energy and the force can seem out of proportion to the effort put forth.
Thanks,
John
I am into real side of Tai Chi Chuan.
If you want real health benefits you have to practice it like it was practiced. Sure, people have health benefits just with waving-hands-oh-i-am-so-elegant form performance but hey - you can have all than without the form - simple Qi Gong exercises are doing the trick.
So, if you can, practice with someone who can teach you how to fight with Tai Chi Chuan.
Wish you best in your practice
Sasa,
Thanks, as Master Cui says, “There is chi kong in tai chi but there is no tai chi in chi gong.” All the best to you as well.
John
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