Four Ways to Find Your Piece of Time for Tai Chi

Even students with high interest in Tai Chi who attend class regularly don’t always find time to practice at home. Practice is essential for following up on the skills learned in class, leading to overall progress. But how can you find time for  Tai Chi  in today’s busy world? 
The key involves using your time more efficiently and creatively. 

First, you need to determine your priorities. Next, I recommend creating a log to figure out what you spend time on every day. Take special note of time wasters, such as excessive TV watching, playing video games or use of social media. Lastly, you should plan to remove or reduce these time wasters from your life and concentrate on the important things you want achieve. I suggest the following: 

1. Prioritize tai chi. 
What is the purpose of  Tai Chi  in your life? Are the benefits important enough to prioritize it? Some students want to gain balance from Tai Chi; others aim for correct body structure to reduce joint pain; yet others want to relax and clear their minds. Some of my elderly students attend class to achieve slow, gentle exercise to maintain their flexibility and mobility. Some of my college students want to learn Tai Chi for self-defense. Find your purpose in tai chi will give you motivation to move forward and keep up practice. 

2. Determine your time wasters.

Next, try to record a few days’ activities in a log to find out what the big time wasters are in your life. The top time wasters in mine are listed below with ways I have overcome them:

• Watching TV.  I watch a movie or two once a while using a DVD player. I don’t subscribe to cable.
• Playing computer games. I don’t play computer games. I play chess or the Chinese game “go” once a while with friends.
• Social media. This one is hard since I use social media for my  Tai Chi  class, as well as connecting with friends. However, I still try to reduce my time spent on social media by checking only once or twice a day.
• Waiting for water to boil. I use an electric boiler called Zojirushi CV-DSC40 VE Hybrid Water Boiler and Warmer, which has three different temperatures for different teas. When you have that, hot water is always ready when you need it.
• Finding the right CD and book. I converted all my music so that I could store it on my phone. I also use a Kindle.
• Cleaning and organizing things. I reduced the amount of stuff in my house, so I don’t have to clean as much. 
• Cooking and eating at restaurants. I cook more easy, healthy dishes and occasionally I go to a nearby restaurant (that doesn’t have long lines!) I also use an automatic rice maker called the Zojirushi NS-LAC05XT Micom 3-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer
• Running fewer errands. I generally create a plan and run all my errands in one trip. One example is checking my mail once a week rather than every day.

3. Follow my father’s advice!
My father held a PhD in mathematics and taught university level math. For this reason, I’ve always trusted his sense of time efficiency. His top three suggestions (from what I remember) are:

• Muti-task in some situations

In general, I’m not a proponent of multi-tasking. Focusing on one task at a time leads to a better outcome. However, there are exceptions. One idea is try to stand on one leg while brushing your teeth to practice balance. Another is to do tai chi breathing exercises while waiting for the bus.

• Don't stay in bed when you are awake

I remember when I was a child, my father always told me, “When your eyes are open and you are already awake, don’t delay. Get up immediately and use your time to do something meaningful. Wasting time is a shame.” 

• Get up early

No time for Tai Chi? My father would suggest waking one hour earlier in the morning and going to bed one hour later at night.

4. Try the 6 mini forms from The Zhang System
If you don’t have time to finish all of the 85 traditional forms, you can try the 6 mini forms that I have created, each of which has 6 new movements or less. They are conclusions, or culminations, of the traditional form without sacrificing or eliminating important moves like the simplified tai chi form. You can finish each form in a few minutes. If you only have few minutes in the morning, that will be plenty of time to fit one in!

One of the mini forms is listed below:
 The brush peacock’s tail form
1.      Preparing form
2.      Opening form
3.      Brush peacock’s tail
4.      Single Whip
5.      Cross hands
6.      Closing form

I hope this article was helpful for you to tame the “time” tiger in  Tai Chi . If so, please pass on the link to this article to help more  Tai Chi practitioners. 

2016 Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi

TV Interview on Huan's Tai Chi on Channel 5 WCVB

Watch Joe's Tai Chi interview last Tuesday, September 13th on on WCVB Channel 5.  Enjoy!

The door to Tai Chi: Stages and Steps of Learning Tai Chi

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Lao Tzu
but how? and where should we start in the world of Tai Chi?

When I give lectures and seminars, I often hear students saying they have already learned Tai Chi or have been doing it a long time. Most of them have only reached the first or second stage of the following four stages: Xing/Shape, Sheng/Feel, Yi/Meaning, and Jue/Song. The students have not really completed all four stages.

Yang Cheng Fu (the founder of Yang style Tai Chi) wrote a book whose full title is The Complete Body and Usage Book of Yang Style Tai Chi. It is divided into two parts; one is for your own body, to understand if your body can adapt to the tai chi forms, the other is for usage, to understand how to apply the forms to others. Shape and Feel are part of the body; Meaning and Song are part of the usage.

Shape(Xing): Includes understanding the basic principles, movements and positions, and the transitions between them. Are you familiar with all of the movements and can you do them yourself? 

Feel(Sheng): Coordinating the whole body with proper weight transitions. Are you able to move smoothly and feel relaxed during each movement? Moving through the forms should ultimately be automatic, without thinking. 

Meaning(Yi): Understanding what each movement is for. What is the martial application for each movement? Are you able to apply the form for self-defense against different types of opponents?

Song(Jue): Synthesizing, understanding, and applying the written, philosophical, and martial material that prior and current Tai Chi Masters have offered. 

"In the Song Dynasty, there was a farmer who thought his crops grew too slow. He went and pulled up all the crops, just a little bit. After a day, he found all the crops were dead. This is a famous story that everyone in China knows. It tells us we have to realize our goals step-by-step, not in a hurry." 

“Follow in order and advance step-by-step; advance gradually in due order; follow in proper sequence and make steady progress.” – Zhu Xi’s (famous comment on Confucius’ book)

Here I list the steps to practice the above four stages:

Preparing and Opening Forms

Prepare your Tai Chi and understand balance while in a still position.

Brush Peacock’s Tail

Understand the four major movements of Tai Chi; Peng, Lu, Ji, and An.

Post Standing

Practice a steady form for the various stances, e.g., Horse Stance, Bow Stance, and Empty Stance.

Practicing the Steps

Practice your footwork for the various stances, e.g., Advancing Steps, Retreating Steps, and Side Steps.

Practicing Single Form

Practice the major forms individually, e.g., Single Whip, Knee Brush, Waving Hands Like Clouds, and Jade Lady Moves the Shuttles.

Practicing Whole Form

Go through the whole form smoothly.

Push Hands, Basic Forms - Steady

Understand the basic forms of push hands while not moving your feet.

Push Hands, Basic Forms - Walking

Understand the basic forms of push hands while walking.

Push Hands - Feeding and Understanding Energy

Learn to identify your own energy as well as the energy of a partner.

Push Hands - Applying the Forms You Have Learned

Apply the Tai Chi forms you have learned in during push hands.

Applying Each Form

Understand how to apply each form not just during formal push hands, but in informal martial arts applications.

Does Tai Chi really extend your life?

(Above: Drawing of Tai Chi Master, Zhang San Feng, whom is believed by some to have achieved immortality.) Does Tai Chi really extend your life? Let the facts below to show you the truth. Tai Chi Master / Age Chen Style Tai Chi Masters Chen Chang Xin / 82 Chen Gen Yun / 79 Chen Yan Xi / 81 Chen Fa Ke / 70 Chen Zhao Kui / 53 Hong Jun Sheng / 89 Gu Liu Xin / 82 Lei Mu Ni / 85 Yang Style Tai Chi Masters Yang Lu Chan / 73 Yang Chen Fu / 53 Yang Zhen Ji / 86 Yang Zhen Ming / 74 Fu Zhong Wen / 86 Li Ya Xuan / 82 Tong Ying Jie / 64 Cheng Man Ching / 73 Wu Style Tai Chi Masters Wu Chien-ch'uan / 72 Wu Ying Hua / 90 Ma Yue Lian / 97 Hu Tu Nan / 105 Wu Gong Yi / 72 Sun style Masters Sun Lu Tang / 73 Su Jian Yun / 89 Copyright Huan's Tai Chi 2010

Wisdom from the Oil Salesman

Ouyang Xiu (歐陽修) was a Chinese statesman, historian, essayist and poet of the Song Dynasty. I have read many of his literature. When Ouyang was a little kid, his family was very poor. He couldn’t afford school supply. He used tree branch as a pen to write on the sand. I have read many his literature a long time ago but I still have memory of his work on “Regarding the Pavilion of The Old Drunkard” and “Old Oil Salesman”.

Kang Su Gong was the most famous archer in Northern Song Dynasty. He was practicing shooting in his front yard one day. Many people went watching him. There was an Old cooking oil salesman had two buckets of oil with him. He left two buckets of oil on ground, taking a rest and watching Kang Su Gong. Kang Su Gong has missed only one shot out of ten. Every one started to cheer, but the salesman only nodded his head.

Kang Su Gong saw that, not very pleased.
“ Do you know archery? How do you think my skill?”
“Not very special, just because you have done it for a while” Salesman said.
Kang Su Gong become very angry, “How can you put me down like this?”
Salesman said, “I can show you by pouring my oil.”

He placed a calabash on the ground, then placed a small Tong Qian(Traditional Chinese money with a square hole in the middle) on top of the mouth of the calabash. He took a big spoon and scooped some oil out from the buckets. He then poured the oil into the calabash. You can see the oil formed a long string and went into the calabash through the small hole of the Tong Qian. He was very steady, so you couldn’t see any oil left on the Tong Qian.
After the salesman has done this, he said, “It’s not a big deal I did this, I have done that easily just because I have practiced a lot.” Kang Su Gong smiled and politely sent him away.

We are not only learned that practice make you good from this story, but also found that being humble can prepare you better from learning new skill, because there are always some oil salesmen around whom has unique techniques to show you.

How to read a bull and do the same in Tai Chi and your life?

During the Spring and Autumn Period ( between 722BC and 481 BC), they are many countries in China. There is a country called Wei. The king of Wei is called Wei Hui Wang, also called Liang Hui Wang ( Liang is the capital of Wei). Once a Chef named Ding was invited to Liang Hui Wang’s home to demonstrate how to prepare a bull. You could see him holding the bull with his hands, using his shoulder to lean on the bull, use feet step on the bull, using his knee to lock the bull, he know exactly how to control the bull. After he first inserts the knife to the bull’s body, you can hear the sound of separation from different part of the bull, in harmony and sounds like music.

Liang Hui Wang was shocked and surprised by this.
“Wow, you are superb. How can you have techniques like this?”

Chef Ding said,
“I like to discover the way of how things work rather than just try to cut the bull apart. When I first start to learn how to cut a bull, I only saw a huge bull right in front of my eyes. After 3 years of experience, I understand the structure of a bull. When I read a bull, I don’t see a whole bull any more; I see the separate parts of the bull. After I have done so many times, I can just do it without seeing it with eyes. I know where are the places to insert the knife and places you shouldn’t insert knife, how to use the spaces between the parts of the bull body and avoiding to hurt my knife’s blade. A good chef needs to switch a knife once a year. A normal chef changes once a month, cause they often hit the bones when using their knife. I have been using this knife for 9 years, killed thousands of bulls, it’s still sharp and like new. Because there are gaps between the bones and muscle, my knife can swim around the bones. Sometimes, I have difficulty since some bull structure bit differently. I need to pay extra attention, slow down my movement and don’t use too much force. After I found the right spot, I can open it with one shot. The bull will fall like mud if you do it right. After I done a good job, I like to check the job and surround area, feel satisfied with my work, carefully clean my knife and put back in the knife bag, so it will be prepared for the next use.”

This is a story from Chuan Tzu’s book, it really inspires many people. We have the common people and Chef Ding in Tai Chi as well. Some people just tries to remember the whole Tai Chi set, chef Ding tries to find the structures and connections between each part. He found the ways to differ him than the common people. He try to use the minimum effort to get his Tai Chi done. chef Ding learned how to relax and slow down and pay extra attention to the difficult parts. Chef Ding checks his Tai Chi after done and reviews it before he feels satisfied. He also prepares for the next Tai Chi class. Learn the thoughts from chef Ding, you will do well in Tai Chi and life.

Copyrighted by Huan's Tai Chi 2009

Tai Chi under the Table

( Picture on right: Wu Tu Nan doing Push hands)
Famous Wu and Yang Style Tai Chi Master Wu Tu Nan is a Mongolian Chinese. He had a lot of sickness and had to take medication every day while he was a child. Wu Tu Nan passed away 1989 and was 105 years old. Tai Chi really helped him to stay healthy and live longer.


Even though there is a debating that if he really learned from the Yang family, he is truly a Tai Chi Master. According to the book he wrote on his life on Tai Chi, he was sent to Quan Yu’s Tai Chi school (creator of Wu Style Tai Chi) to learn Tai Chi when he was 9 years old. Quan Yu asked his son Wu Jian Chuan to teach him. After 8 years learning from Wu Jian Chuan. He then learned from Yang Shao Hou ( Yang Chen Fu’s brother). Yang Shao Hou trained him really hard. When Yang taught him martial arts application, Yang bounced him to the chair. Chair’s back fell off. Without a back, the chair became a stool. Later, he fell on the stool again because Yang taught him more applications, and the stool just broken completely.


Another thing that Yang trained him is to have Wu practice Tai Chi under the oil table. Oil table is a higher kitchen table that Chinese chef use which you don’t have to bend you back to cut the meat and veggies. Still, it’s much lower than regular stance. It’s really hard for the legs. Yang use this to train Wu’s “Seven Inch Lean” which is a technique you use your shoulder to lean on opponent’s lower leg’s seven inch point. You can see how low it is.


Now, some students asked me how low they can practice Tai Chi. I told them that they can see the limit from Wu Tu Nan.

Copyright 2009 Huan's Tai Chi