Wu Style Tai Chi

Weapons Training Without Weapons

I’ve been practicing my double fan form and the other day I was at a picnic in a park and forgot to bring my fans along.

So I searched around for a couple of sticks about the same size of the fans in length, and practised the form.

I try and practice on a regular basis and if do not have my Tai Chi weapons I improvise and practice a weapon form without the weapon.

It certainly makes you concentrate on other parts of the body when you do this. Sometimes when you practice a weapons’ form you can focus too much on the weapon itself and not enough on your body balance or movement.

Eventually you just ‘do’ and not focus on your weapon. But every now and then it’s good to focus on other aspects of your weapon form.

So when you ‘do’ it all comes together.

Besides using sticks you can also imagine you are holding a weapon and practice a weapon form either mentally or physically.

So the next time you forget or can’t use a weapon in a particular space – why not practice your weapons training without weapons.

Get On With It!!!

By Chris Leave a Comment

I was cleaning up and discovered my old clip board which had a Tai Chi training plan written in permanent texta.

The training plan was created about twenty years ago when I was training with two friends of mine on a Sunday morning. I decided to write the plan because we were spending too much time on analysis and not enough time on training.

Here’s the plan;

10.00am – Sabre

10.25 – Break

10.30 – Refresher

10.45 – 9 castle, Da Lu

10.55 – break

11.00 – Push Hands

11.25 – Break

11.30 – Application: Drills

12.00 – Optional

12.15 – Push Hands

12.45 – Free

1.00pm – End

And on the bottom of the clipboard are the following words – ‘Get On With It!!!

Fajin Training

By Chris Leave a Comment

Just finished practicing some fajin training on my punching bag in the garage.

Fajin translates to ‘issue or discharge power explosively’.

One of the postures I worked on was ‘As If Closing the Door’ posture. Particularly the final movement where the hands issue the power into the punching bag.

One of the ways to determine if the ‘discharge of power’ has been successful is that upon impact the bag should hardly move.

If the bag swings wildly after impact then it becomes just a push.

The other principles of Tai Chi of relaxtion, centred, focused etc., also need to be applied to be able to discharge power explosively.

I can now confidently say that if I’m ever attacked by a punching bag I can now defend myself!

The Best Tai Chi Style?

By Chris 2 Comments

When I first started Tai Chi I couldn’t tell the difference between Wu Style and a slice of bread.

It was only after I had started that I discovered that there were several styles of Tai Chi and I was doing Wu style Tai Chi.

And I continue to practice Wu style Tai Chi. Atlhough I have dabbled in Michuan Tai Chi and Yang Tai Chi.

I’ve discussed and read many points of view on which Tai Chi style is the best. And some of those views have been controversial.

What is the best style?

Well, with my limited experience and talent all I can come up with is this.

It would take several lifetimes to comprehensively review and practice all the styles of Tai Chi available. Unless you believe in re-incarnation then this is not possible.

As long as the Tai Chi you are doing obeys the Tai Chi principals then that is ‘the best Tai Chi’.

So the best style of Tai Chi is the style you are doing right now.

Regardless what style you practice, we all part of the Tai Chi community.

Separated by name only.

Footnote: Imagine the possibilities of Tai Chi if more time was spent on practicing rather than arguing which is ‘the best Tai Chi style’ 😉

Push Or Shove Tai Chi

By Chris Leave a Comment

One of the techniques I practice each day is the ‘push.’

And there is a difference between a push and a shove when it comes to Tai Chi.

In the Tai Chi Chuan Treatise by Chang San Feng there is a line ‘…. if there is a front there is a back’ (‘When attacking or defending on one side, you must be aware of the other side’).

Here’s my interpretation of this in regards to a push.

When you are pushing an opponent forward be aware of the reverse direction.

Try this concept on a punching bag.

Hold your arms out in front of you, elbows bent and push the bag and see what happens.

If upon contact the bag swings away from you then you are shoving and not pushing because you have not paid attention to ‘the other side’ i.e. the reverse direction.

Now try it again by focusing on the reverse direction while you are pushing forward.

If the bag hardly moves then you are correctly pushing and not just shoving.

It took me many attempts to get to a basic skill level.

It’s not easy, have a go and let me know what happens.

Footnote: Quote from Dr Yang Jwing-Ming Advanced Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Vol. 1