Keep the essentials in Tai Chi

Sometimes when I teach Tai Chi, the Chinese proverb “Qu Wu Cun Jing” comes to mind. In Chinese, Qu means get rid of; Wu means weeds; Cun means keep; and Jing means chives. Essentially, we should get rid of the weeds and keep the chives. Figuratively, the whole sentence means “Keep the essentials and get rid of the things which are not necessary.” 

Anytime we learn something new, we may unknowingly transfer bad habits from our daily postures, in other words, the weeds. However, many of us are not able to distinguish the weeds from the chives on our own because they look very similar. A good teacher can tell the difference and give you advice accordingly. For example, sometimes I tell my beginner students to relax their shoulders and keep their body vertical because new students are not aware that they have raised their shoulders and they are leaning forward or backward, causing bad form. In many cases, the job of the Tai Chi teacher is to help you discard such habits. The following is a list of these habits. Removing them from your form can help you develop better Tai Chi skills. 

• Raising your shoulders
• Raising your elbows
• Leaning your body backwards or forwards
• Allowing your stomach to protrude, thus not observing the proper position of the acupuncture points called dantian 
• Tilting your shoulders while moving
• Not transferring weight properly from one leg to the other 
• Not placing your foot lightly on ground
• Not turning your waist while moving
• Moving your body up and down too much
• Tilting your head
• Not leaving enough space between your arms and body
• Not coordinating the movement of your upper body and lower body 
• Stiffening your waist
• Using force

Find this article helpful? Please pass the link around and spread the word to more Tai Chi practitioners.

2016 Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi

Smart learning: Practicing is not the only key to learning Tai Chi

Many of my students have commented that learning to do Tai Chi correctly is not an easy task. Some of them have learned simplified form from other teachers found difficult learning the detailed traditional 85 forms. By simply repeating what the teacher has shown you, you are not improving your skills to their fullest potential. How can we really learn form and improve our Tai Chi skills? Here are some suggestions that you could benefit from. 

Set an approachable goal

When some beginners first come to our studio, they use the instructor’s performance and other intermediate students’ performance as a model. They feel that they will perform at this level within a month or two. This seems like a reasonable goal, but looks can be deceiving!  Of course, the form of the instructor and other intermediate students required years of practice and learning.

As a beginner, your goal is not to be able to have the same form and moves as the instructor. Rather, I recommend that you learn the first few moves and do them well. Only with an approachable goal will you conquer the fear of learning and ease the pressure of not learning enough movements so that you may move forward. 

Remember, learning every skill takes effort. It may take a short time to learn some skills; for others it may take longer. Your own ability and the method used by the instructor are two important factors in determining how long it will you take to learn your form. 

The correct way

While some students don’t practice often and others practice quite a bit, the ones who practice often don’t always seem to improve their form significantly. Why is this the case?  You might think that those who practice more should have better form and more advanced skills. However, the fact is this is not true.

We know that if you want to remember something, it needs to enter your long-term memory. In order for this to happen, you first need to enter the movements in your short-term memory. Naturally, this requires practice. This is common knowledge. This logic is sound if you are doing the right movements. If your movements are not correct, then you are repeating the wrong movements and you are entering the wrong information into your short and long-term memories, thus not spending your time wisely. 

That’s why when my father was teaching private students, he didn’t want someone to go to the next step if the current move had not been mastered. In a large class, when a teacher can’t correct every detail of every student’s movements, the best approach is to try to just learn one or two movements at a time and to learn them correctly. Ask questions or just ask teacher to come correct you in person. For this reason many students also book private lessons to master some movements. 

Part vs. Whole

As I often mention in class, everyone focuses on different aspects of the instructor’s teaching. It’s like the story of “the blind men and an elephant,” in which every one thinks the part they touch is the shape of the whole elephant.  Essentially, everyone’s focus and take-aways from class are different. Most beginners will pay more attention to the instructor’s hand movements instead of body movements. However, as I often say, “Tai Chi is a whole body exercise. We want to concentrate on whole body movements instead of partial body movements.” 

Visual Vs.  Real

As I mentioned above, even students who pay attention and try to concentrate on the whole body movements might not be repeating the movements correctly. As Tai Chi is considered an internal martial art, what you appear to be may not be what is happening in reality. In Karate, an external martial art, a hand block and punch is a hand block and punch. In Tai Chi, it can be a twist of the whole body linked to your arm which rotates to form a block. Pay attention to your instructor's movements and ask questions to figure out how to make this special move. 

Steps

Steps determine the success of your learning. If you made the wrong first step, the second step could be wrong as well. For example, in Tai Chi if you haven’t transferred weight to one leg, then you can’t lift the other leg. Making sure you have the right sequence will make your Tai Chi smooth. 

Repetition

Finally, let’s return to the topic of repetition. If we take all the suggestions above into consideration, we can now talk about repetition. Practice makes perfect! That’s why I always tell my students at end of the class, “Please go home and practice!”

2016 Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi

8 Ways to Memorize Your Tai Chi Form

Tai Chi does not just improve health; practicing and learning the forms also helps improve your memory. New students often ask me how to memorize the forms, so I share some of my experiences below.

1.   Facing of the Palms

My late father, Master Zhang Lu Ping, taught me various memory aids for placement of the palms. Consider Peng as used in Brush Peacock’s Tail; it is like holding a mirror with the palm facing in. If Peng is used with the hand facing out, you are pushing open a door. If the hand faces in, you are holding a baby. When the palm faces up, you are lifting a plate. When the palm faces down, you are bouncing a ball.


2.   Circles
There are many circles in Tai Chi form and considering them all could be complicated. I suggest you consider only two circles; clockwise and counterclockwise.

3. Stances
There are only four major stances.
-Opening Stance (Opening form)
-Bow Stance
-Horse Stance
-Empty Stance (heel OR toes on the ground)


4.   Arm Transitions: Peng and Lu ( or Ward Off and Roll Back)

If you perform Peng, you must next perform Lu. If you perform Lu, you must next perform Peng. If you open you must next close, if you close you must next open. You cannot perform Peng-Peng or Lu-Lu; it must be Peng-Lu or Lu-Peng. Understanding this will prevent mistakes and help you memorize the arm

5.   Foot Transitions: Weight Transfers

There is always a weight transition between movements. If all your weight is on one leg, it is not empty and you cannot lift it. You must transfer weight to the other leg to make the first leg empty; then you may lift the first leg. Always transfer weight between forms; from full to empty, empty to full.

6.   Associate the Movement with the Name

Whether Single Whip or White Crane Spreads its Wings, connect the form name with the moves that link it together.


7.   Use in Application

Although some students are most interested in the health benefits of Tai Chi, it is often easier to remember forms if you learn their applications. You might not want to learn how to fight, but the martial applications will help you visualize movements and memorize the forms.

8. Repeating single movements in the forms is the best way to remember.

Continued practice, learning a little at a time, will move your forms from short-term memory to long-term memory.

2015 Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi

My 1st Tai Chi video: 1 set of Yang Style Tai Chi

Finally, I did the first 13 movements of Yang Style Tai Chi on video clip. Hope it will help some of our students to remember the movements and also for our blog readers whom are curious about Tai Chi. Enjoy! P.S. I will try to get some applications of the movements up on my blog/youtube in the near future.

Basic way to Balance with Tai Chi

I had a lecture at Brandeis University on "Balance and Flexibility"on November 9th, Here is a small clip of this lecture on the very basic way to balance in Tai Chi. enjoy!

8 More Benefits of Practicing Tai Chi in Slow Speed

1. Gain Tranquility
“The Solid is the root of the light;
The Quiescent is the master of the Hasty."

These are the words of the Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu in the famous Tao Te Ching. Tai Chi also emphasizes slowing down to stay relaxed. When you practice Tai Chi at a slower speed, you will defeat haste and gain quiescence, or tranquility at rest.

2. Become More Relaxed
If you move too quickly through the sets, you don’t know if you are relaxed or not because you don’t stay in each movement long enough. It’s easier to achieve relaxation when you slow down your movements.

3. Improve Stretching
You can stretch better and really open your joints when you move slower.

4. Challenge Yourself
You are challenging yourself when you go through each movement slower. For example, it’s easier to do a quick kick, but it’s harder to raise a leg slowly into the air and then slowly put it down.

5. Exercise Longer
You will exercise longer when you move slower. When you do movements faster, it’s easier to get tired. For example, if you run fast, you will get tired more quickly. Jogging slower will allow you to keep going longer. Exercising longer also means you can build more strength and endurance. That’s why Tai Chi is especially good for the elderly.

6. Reduce the Chance of Injury
Beginners often complain about hurting their knees when they do Tai Chi. Usually this situation happens because they move their knees over their toes when they form a bow stance (which means they have the wrong stance). If you are moving too fast, it’s easier to let your knee move over too far. But if you move slowly, you will move more carefully, and will be able to notice and readjust your position so as not to hurt yourself.

7. Fully Accomplish Each Movement
When people move quickly, they often don’t pay attention to details and sometimes don’t even complete the move. When you do it slowly, it will help you complete each individual move rather than hurrying to go to the next move.

8. Better Understand Yin & Yang
When Tai Chi master Yang Yu Ting was teaching students Tai Chi, he required them to pay attention to their relaxation, softness, roundness, and speed, and asked them to do it slower. He thought that slow speed would help students better experience and understand the changes of yin and yang, often understood as empty and solid the complimentary energies that work together to create balance.


If you like this article, you might want check out:
8 Benefits of Practicing Tai Chi in Slow Speed

Copyright Huan's Tai Chi 2012

Essentials of the Roots in Tai Chi

Photo by Pulpolux

When people get older, they start to feel it in their legs. Suddenly, balance becomes a problem. When walking, they can't land each foot precisely in the right place. They may experience lack of strength to lift their legs up to certain height. Or they may not be able to put weight on one leg for very long. They may feel numbness and stiffness in their thighs and feet. They may feel as if their entire bodies are hanging in the clouds because the whole lower part of the body is weak.

Legs are the major supporting tools of your body. Tai Chi Master Wu Yi Xiang once said, "Tai Chi's root comes from the feet, and its origins from legs. It is controlled by the waist and spreads to the hands and fingers. From the feet to the legs and extending to the waist, the body should unite as one. … If there are problems, the origin can always be found in the legs or waist.”

It's possible to train your roots (legs and feet) to prevent many problems. Legs and feet play very important roles in the 8 joints and 9 sections to unite and relax your whole body. Tai Chi requires the 8 joints and 9 sections to relax as one. If you do your Tai Chi well, you will know how to walk like a cat. You will also know how to support your body with your legs to form a good structure. Your legs will become very strong after practicing Tai Chi many times. You can train your legs in the following four ways:

1. Zhan Zhuan: Post Standing
Post standing allow you to hold one gesture for a period of time in order to build strength and endurance for your legs.

2. Strength and Leg Control
Strength exercises will flex your legs and allow your legs to turn, move, and reach more positions. Leg control, like standing on one leg and moving your other leg in different angles, will help with leg balance in different positions.

3. Leg Lifting and Landing
When we talk about Tai Chi steps, we often mention moving your feet like a cat. We want you to remember 3 points: Lift lightly and land lightly. Lift slowly and land slowly. Lift with one point and land with one point. For example, lift the heel first, keeping your toes on the ground. Then lift the toes up, and land with the heel first and then the whole foot.


4. How to Move your Legs Correctly
Tai Chi forms already include a full range of leg movements, so doing Tai Chi forms will strengthen your legs. When you move your legs, you want to pay attention to 3 points. One is to make sure you are stable. Once you are stable, then you can lift your foot. Once you lift up your foot, then you can move. Don't lift your foot if you are not stable. And don't move before you have lifted your foot up high enough off the ground.

Your roots (legs and feet) are important parts of your body and your Tai Chi. Having strong legs will definitely strengthen your body and your balance, keeping you healthy and powerful.

Copyrights Huan's Tai Chi 2011

What is really in Tai Chi?

Tai Chi is short for Tai Chi Chuan. Chuan means boxing. Therefore, true Tai Chi Chuan is a martial art. There are different versions of Tai Chi Chuan and many simplified sets. There are for example sets with 24, 42 and 48 movements. With so many variations, how can one differentiate between Tai Chi boxing and Tai Chi dancing? While opinions differ, I believe the difference between boxing and dancing are found in 4 features. They are Content, Application, Mixture of Ying and Yang and Following Yang Chen Fu's 10 principles.

1. Content
   
   
   Real Tai Chi consists of 8 fundamental methods and 5 fundamental steps. Taken together, these yield 13 forms. If any of the simplified forms is missing one of the 13 forms it is not a complete Tai Chi set. The 8 methods are Ward Off - Peng, Roll Back –Lu, Press - Ji, Push - An, Pull Down - Tsai, Split - Lieh, Elbow - Chou, and Shoulder - Kao. The five steps are Advancing Steps – Jin, Retreating Steps - Tui, Stepping to the Left Side - Ku, Stepping to the Right Side - Pan, Settling at the Center – Zhong Ding.
   
   
2. Application
   
   Tai Chi was originally developed for self-defense and fighting. Every movement must have a defensive and/or offensive purpose. Defense makes your body stable and strong. Attacking allows you to actually defend yourself..
   
   
3. Mixture of Ying and Yang
   
   Each movement is made of complimentary and opposing polarities such as closing within opening, opening within closing, upper and lower body coordination, left and right body coordination, Ying and Yang folding, and Ying and Yang twisting.
   
   
4. Following Yang Chen Fu’s 10 principles.
   
   Grandmaster Fu’s teacher, the founder of Yang (Cheng Fu ) Style has 10 famous principles which conclude the characters of Tai Chi. They are
   
   1. Keep your head erect
   
   2. Keep your chest sunken inward and let your Chi/energy stick to the back
   
   3. Relax your waist
   
   4. Distinguish empty and full stances
   
   5. Sink your shoulders and drop your elbows
   
   6. Use concentration instead of force
   
   7. Coordinate the upper and lower parts of the body
   
   8. Combine internal and external energy
   
   9. Have continuous movements
   
   10. Find quietness and peace in movements
   

Next time, when you are in a Tai Chi class, you can be confident that you are really learning real Tai Chi if you find all the above features are included in your instruction.


Copyright Huan's Tai Chi 2011

“Hundred Meetings” Controls Your Body and Your Tai Chi

"Hundred Meetings" or Bai Hui is a Chinese acupuncture point located at the highest point of your body, atop your head, in the center, aligned with your ears. It is an important energy center that controls your body. In traditional Chinese medicine, there are about 400 acupuncture points and 20 meridians, or paths through which the life-energy known as qi is believed to flow. Many meridians meet at this point at the top of the head. That’s why it’s called “Hundred Meetings.”

In Tai Chi, many principles are related to relaxing and stretching. Principles such as sinking your shoulders and dropping your elbows, and sinking your shoulders and stretching your arms are both good examples. Another Tai Chi principle is to tuck in your chest and stretch your back. When your back is stretched, the next principle to add is emptying your mind and supporting your head with energy. This means erecting your neck and keeping your head straight and lifted as if you can feel an invisible string attached to your “Hundred Meetings,” pulling it towards the sky.

In Chinese, we say, “ if your head tilts and your waist bends, then you didn’t learn martial arts well enough.” You neck and head should be naturally vertical to the ground. Don’t lean forward or backward or tilt left or right. Stay relaxed but loose. Don’t be tight, but have a structure. Your mind should be empty and you should have good concentration.

In Chinese, we say that the “Bubbling Spring” acupuncture point at the bottom of the foot in the center of the sole is man’s connection to the earth. We say the “Hundred Meetings” is one’s connection to the sky and to the heavens. Once you’ve connected to the earth and sky, you can center your energy and let it move around. You can then empty your mind and you will be able to concentrate on your Tai Chi movements.

copyrights Huan's Tai Chi 2011

New Article up on Fall Tai Chi magazine on How to Relax

Hello All,

Thanks for checking my blog articles and giving feedback. I am pleased to announce that my new article is on Fall 2011 Tai Chi International Magazine. The title is Huan Zhang on How to Relax, Understanding the 8 sections and 9 joints


There are 6 pages of detailed explanations plus exercises to do to help you relax,
in addition to the introduction which I have written a while ago on my blog.

You should be able to find it on most newsstands around the country. If not, please feel free to directly order from my website.

Enjoy the article and feel free to give comments and questions here!

Huan Zhang
Chief Instructor and Executive Director
Huan's Tai Chi

Empty Your Heart and Fill Your Belly: Lao Tzu Reveals a Hidden Tai Chi Treasure

Lao Tzu, the sage who is said to have written the classic Chinese text, the Tao Te Ching, hasmany hidden messages in his words. In the third chapter of the Tao Te Ching, he writes

“… the wise one rules by emptying his heart. He fills his belly, weakens his ambition and toughens his bones…”


How are these words related to Tai Chi practice?

The concept of “heart” in Chinese is actually similar to the concept of “mind” in English, because in Chinese, the two are interconnected. To “empty your heart” actually means to “empty and quiet your mind.” Empty your heart and mind of concepts, judgements and desires. Think less to relax more. The key is to remove all thoughts from your mind. When your mind is full of a lot of thoughts, it’s easy to generate anxiety and stress. When you are stressed, you will waste a lot of energy which is not good for your health or your Tai Chi.


To “fill your belly” means your Qi (energy) should not remain near your head and upper body. Qi near the top of your body will raise your shoulder and elbows. Bringing all your Qi down to your Dan Tian (belly area) in order to make it solid will help you relax better and have more energy while doing Tai Chi. Your body is controlled by your Dan Tian which is your physical center of gravity. Your body will feel much more stable when your Qi has sunk down. As a result, your breathing will feel more even.


To “weaken your ambition” and “toughen your bones” both have to do with letting go of defending outer parts of the self in order to strengthen resolve and innermost intention.


How can Lao Tzu’s words help you?
Next time you practice Tai Chi, think about emptying your heart and filling your belly. Notice more even breathing, improved balance and stability, and much less stress as you execute your Tai Chi.

For further reading about Lao Tzu, you can read my article “Lao Tzu’s Secret to Extending your Life".



Copyrights 2011 Huan's Tai Chi

Understanding 3 Secrets of Central Equilibrium in Tai Chi Push Hands

Photo by Tony Roberts

What is Push Hands? Generally, Push Hands (or pushing hands) is a two-person training exercise practiced in internal Chinese martial arts such as Baguazhang, Xingyiquan, and Tai Chi. That said, it’s important to understand the purpose behind Push Hands. Instead of succumbing to the natural instinct to resist force with force, Push Hands teaches you to absorb force and redirect it. It is an exercise that can help you understand changes in direction of energy and the concept of maintaining a Central Equilibrium, which is the key to improving balance. As a form of martial arts, Push Hands is a way to put the Tai Chi movements you have learned to practical use.

Because Tai Chi is an exercise which emphasizes balance, maintaining a Central Equilibrium, or center of balance, plays a very important role. Central Equilibrium is the key to understanding Push Hands, because Push Hands is all about maintaining a center of balance. There are 3 secrets to understanding the role of Central Equilibrium in Tai Chi Push Hands.

1. Protect Central Equilibrium

When doing Push Hands, you want to make sure you maintain a Central Equilibrium at all times, so you are balanced and stable. The purpose of every move in Push Hands is to maintain your Central Equilibrium. To learn more about how to develop and maintain your Central Equilibrium, read: Develop Your Central Equilibrium in Tai Chi.

2. Use Central Equilibrium

In his famous work, The Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote, “Know yourself and know your opponent. Fight one hundred times, win one hundred times.” Knowing your own Central Equilibrium and understanding your opponent’s Central Equilibrium is the key to Push Hands. Use your own Central Equilibrium to destroy that of your opponent. Use your own balance and powerful moves to throw your opponent off his Central Equilibrium, so he/she loses balance.

3. Avoid Central Equilibrium

When your opponent tries to use his/her Central Equilibrium to destroy your own, you need to avoid the Central Equilibrium of your opponent. In other words, when your opponent tries to find out where your Central Equilibrium, or center of balance is, make sure to switch and change your center of balance, so you can yield to your opponent’s force and redirect it, without resisting force with force, or creating double weight; thus, you always remain stable and balanced.


Without your own Central Equilibrium, you will not able to feel and find your opponent’s Central Equilibrium during Push Hands. Keep your yin and yang balanced, maintain your Central Equilibrium, and let all of your Tai Chi permeate through into your Push Hands.

Copyrighted by Huan's Tai Chi 2010

Develop Your Central Equilibrium in Tai Chi

If you are well-versed in the language of martial arts, you may have heard the term “Zhong Ding.” You may have heard that developing Zhong Ding is crucial in order to correctly execute your Tai Chi forms. So what, precisely, is Zhong Ding? In Chinese, Zhong means center, in the middle or inside. Ding means stabilized, still, centralized and balanced. Together, Zhong Ding means central equilibrium. And it is the key to achieving balance in Tai Chi.

The basic idea behind developing Zhong Ding is that you must lift your Bai Hui point, the highest point on the crown of your head, towards the sky and keep your body centered and vertical, perpendicular to the ground. For beginners this is often very difficult to achieve. It’s easy to lose Zhong Ding while transitioning from one form to another.

In Tai Chi, we have Ding Shi (Still Stances) and transitions. Every form that Yang Style Tai Chi Founder Yang Chen Fu has in his book is a still stance. Any moves between two still stances are transitions. Think of each pair of still stances as dots. Our goal is to connect the dots using transitions. To achieve Zhong Ding we must first be able to hold the right two balanced still stances, and then connect them with transition moves.

In order to start with the right still stances, I suggest you learn Zhan Zhuang (“stand like a post,” 站桩). Zhan Zhuang is a method of training which uses static postures to develop efficiency of movement and perfection of structural alignment. In Tai Chi, we say: stay in the center to form a post; then root your foot. Here are some benefits of Zhan Zhuang:

• Although many Tai Chi practitioners don’t practice it, Zhan Zhuang can really help you relax your shoulders and the rest of your body.
  
• Zhan Zhuang can help you get rid of stiffness and help you develop softness.Your muscles will become soft and relaxed and will be more sensitive and better responsive for push hands.
  
• Zhan Zhuang will root your stance to the ground to make you more stable.
  
• Zhan Zhuang can help you memorize the movements since it’s easy to see and remember a still stance.
  
• Zhan Zhuang will help you circulate your blood and connect each part of your body.
  
• Zhan Zhuang can bring more Qi (energy) circling around your body.
  
• Zhang Zhuang can balance your Ying and Yang.
  

To practice Zhang Zhuang correctly, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• You must empty your mind. You shouldn’t be thinking of anything but resting your mind.
  
• Don’t change your stance too quickly; you must stay in one position and feel a little soreness in your arm, shoulder or legs to know that you have been standing long enough.
  
• Keep your eyes looking forward, your head supporting the sky and your body vertical.
  
• Keep your shoulders relaxed and let your elbow drop down.
  

To start practicing Zhang Zhuang and learn some basic post stances, check out my article called "Cardinal body parts to relax for Tai Chi and your life".

Enjoy and have a lot of Qi!

Copyrighted by Huan's Tai Chi

Centrifugal Force in Tai Chi

I have been really sick last few days because of food poisoning from a restaurant; thus, this week’s article will be very short.

One of the many secrets of Tai Chi in real fighting is turning your opponent’s centripetal force to centrifugal force. Think about this when you are doing push hands...

Copyrighted by Huan's Tai Chi 2010

Right-handed or Left-handed? Try Balanced.

Photo By Tony Roberts

"Are you right-handed or left-handed?" If you ask anyone this question, he or she will most likely affirm that he or she identifies with one side or the other. It is rare to find someone who is truly ambidextrous, who will tell you that he or she uses both sides of the body equally. Such is a weakness of human beings. We rely too much on one side of our body. For example, we may always use our right hand to push open a door, carry a bag only on our right shoulder or use more force on our right leg while running. We are not totally balanced and use only part of our body. As a result, one leg or arm often becomes stronger than the other. Consequently, we often get into the habit of using one side of the body much more than the other. This makes the other side much weaker. Even the organs inside are often weaker on one side of the body. That's why it's common that under pressure, sickness and even physical injury are more likely to affect, and occur on, the weaker side of the body.

Symmetrical movement! That's what Tai Chi offers. When we move to the right, we move to the left first. When we want move up, we need to move down to balance. Upper body and lower body are coordinated; left side and right side are symmetrical. It's important not only to balance our body and mind, but to balance our life by breaking the bad habit of moving only part of our body. Doing Tai Chi will allow you, when presented with the above question, to proudly answer: "I am not right-handed or left-handed. I am balanced."

Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi 2010

8 Benefits of Practicing Tai Chi in Slow Speed

Photo by Peter Batty

I often heard my uncle say, "When sickness comes, it's like a mountain falling down, fast and strong. When its time for the sickness to go, it's like pulling silk from a silkworm's cocoon; it takes time."

When we look at all the Tai Chi sets, we see that Grandmaster Ma Yue Liang has contributed a fast Wu Style form; however most Tai Chi sets still must be done slowly.

Let’s look at the benefits of performing a slow Tai Chi set rather than moving quickly through the movements.

1. You can exercise the energy as if you were pulling silk; you can really sense and feel the
energy moving around.
2. You can pay attention to every small detail.
3. It’s easier to form roundness and arcs with your body.
4. You can easily quiet your mind.
5. It’s easier to relax your body.
6. It’s easier to breathe slower and hold each breath longer, an exercise which brings more oxygen into your lungs.
7. It’s easier to coordinate your upper and lower body and balance your body.
8. It’s easier to “find the feeling” of each movement, to really internalize how each movement feels when you do it correctly.

When it comes to push hands or real fighting, Tai Chi moves do need to be very fast. So we can say practice your Tai Chi as if you were pulling silk; then apply your Tai Chi like lightning!

Copyrighted by Huan's Tai Chi 2010

Does Simplified Tai Chi mean Simplified Benefits?

This fall as new classes began, I heard a student ask a very popular question about how long it would take to finish the whole Tai Chi form and if we are teaching the simplified form. My answer, of course, is that we are teaching the long form but simplified form. Doing Tai Chi is just like cooking Chinese stew. If you simplify the recipe and skip a few ingredients, it doesn’t taste the same as the original. If you want all of the health and martial arts benefits of Tai Chi, then you need to learn the whole form.

I have heard from some old Tai Chi masters in China that the best way to learn the forms is through private instruction. Usually it takes a week or two to learn one or two movements. Sometimes it takes longer if you don’t get your movements right. With private instruction, you don’t learn a new movement until you get the current movement right. The disadvantage of taking a group lesson is that it goes too fast. Teachers need to follow the schedule and make sure you learn a certain number of moves in a session. In a group class there may be many students who know what’s going on, but there can also be slower learners. But even if you take a private lesson from your teacher every day, it takes at least two years to master the complete Tai Chi set. Now you can assess the quality of somebody’s Tai Chi set if he says he took two years to finish it or just six months.

copyright by Huan's Tai Chi 2010

Can Learning Chess Improve Tai Chi Push Hands?

There are several similarities between Tai Chi Push Hands and the game of chess. Both require similar strategies to move from beginner to expert. Here are 8 chess strategies that can be applied to Tai Chi Push Hands.

1. Be prepared - At the beginning stage of a chess game, you normally move into a pyramid shape to defend yourself. With Push Hands, say single Push Hands, you need to have one arm protecting your knee and lower body, and another arm protecting your chest and upper body. Like the stable pyramid in chess, make sure to create a nice stable form before you start Push Hands.

2. Rely on an observer – Observers watching a competitive chess game can often identify the best moves better than the players themselves simply because they are outside the game. Your teacher will be better able to tell if you and your partner are making progress in your Push Hands technique because he is an outside observer.

3. It’s all about losing – In chess, you always gain experience if you play with a person who knows more about the game than you. The same is true for Push Hands. If you push with some one who is better than you, you can always learn new things. It’s not about winning but about losing.

4. Concentration – More concentration and less talk always helps in chess. Same for Push Hands.

5. Play it Slow – You need to think before you make a move in chess, and playing it slow helps. Moving slowly when doing Push Hands will also help you to understand and feel the listening energy.

6. Linking and Protecting – In Chess, a well-known strategy is to link all the chess pieces together so they can protect each other. In Push Hands, body parts need to stay connected to defend each other.

7. Trap in – In chess, we often give up the small pieces or trap opponent’s pieces in order to put the king in check. In Push Hands, we don’t resist our opponent, but absorb and trap his/her energy in order to control it.

8. Practice makes perfect – The more you play chess, the better player you will become. Similarly, the more you practice Push Hands, the better your Tai Chi will become.

Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi 2010

Plus and Minus Method for Tai Chi Footwork

Photo: yofx

As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once told us, “A huge tree is grown from a small bud; a nine-storey high tower started as a small pile of dirt; a journey of a thousand miles begins with the right first step.”

Lao Tzu’s wisdom is directly applicable to Tai Chi. It is hard to do Tai Chi well without the right step of your feet. In Chinese, we say, “if you want get your Tai Chi right, you must relax from your head to your toe.”

If you want have a relaxed foot, you must relax all your toes at once. When you are doing a movement such as Brush Knee or Repulse Monkey, you need to transfer your weight in the right way. You need to apply your Ying (empty energy) and Yang (solid energy) to your feet. This means shifting your body weight from one foot to the other. Because your body weight is substantial (100 - 200lbs), you need to transfer your weight slowly, but definitively. As you shift your weight, you will need to use the Plus and Minus Method.

The Plus and Minus Method means when you release (or subtract), for example, 2 pounds of weight from the right foot, then you should receive (or add) the same amount of weight to the left foot. There shouldn’t be any extra weight remaining in-between. Extra weight in-between may cause you to hurt your knee or you will be double weighted (lifting weights). Once you have transferred all your weight to one foot slowly - which means one foot has become solid - then this solid foot should feel rooted like a tree grabbing deep into the earth. When you are well-rooted, your body forms one line vertical to ground, and your head supports the sky. Now your form has a good structure and has become stable.

When we talk about Tai Chi, we always return to many of the same principles: Empty and Solid, Ying and Yang, Double Weight, Advance and Retreat, Left and Right, Balancing, Rooting, Centering. All these terms above are related to our feet. To get our Tai Chi right, we need to start from our feet and start our thousand-mile Tai Chi journey with that single, solid step.

copyright 2010 Huan's Tai Chi

8 Ways to Find out if You are Really Doing Tai Chi

Chinese martial arts can be divided into two different divisions, internal and external. Each one tries to arrive at the same destination, but they get there by different routes. External Kung Fu uses physical strength and speed. Internal Kung Fu (Tai Chi) uses balance, awareness, sensitivity, and an opponent's force against them.

I am going to list 8 differences between Tai Chi and external Kung Fu to help you better understand them.

1. Against Vs. Following Power:
External Kung Fu: External Kung Fu involves a lot of blocking. That’s working against power.
Tai Chi: Tai Chi follows the power and energy instead of blocking against it.

2. Whole body movement vs. Partial body movement:
External Kung Fu: In External Kung Fu, you move your arm or leg to block or attack.
Tai Chi: In Tai Chi, you move your whole body together in a fluid motion.

3. Goal of Attack: Partial damage to the body vs. Unbalance of the whole body
External Kung Fu: The goal is to attack your opponent’s body parts such as his face or ribs.
Tai Chi: The goal is to throw your opponent’s whole body off balance.

4. Separating Offence and Defense Vs. Combining Offence and Defense
External Kung Fu: In Kung Fu, a kick is an offensive move and a block is defensive. Each move has its own usage.
Tai Chi: In Tai Chi, offence and defense are mixed. Peng (outward expanding energy) and Lu (receiving energy) often work together in the same move and even reverse. Like Ying and Yang, they are often changing.

5. Straight vs. Circular
External Kung Fu: Straight line punch and kicks
Tai Chi: All energy moves in a circle.

6. Fast vs. Slow
External Kung Fu: Speed and fast moves are the key to winning
Tai Chi: Slow, direct movements are the key to control

7. Break Moves vs. Continuous Movements
External Kung Fu: There is break time between offensive and defensive moves
Tai Chi: All movements are continuous. The whole form continues in one motion.

8. Power vs. No Power
External Kung Fu: Power dominates the fighting
Tai Chi: Does not emphasize force and power. The transfer of energy dominates the fighting, such as leveraging your opponent’s energy.

Copyrighted by Huan's Tai Chi 2010