Tai-chi Stories From the Trenches
1. My First Tai Chi: Sophia Delza Wu StyleAs I've come to learn, it doesn't matter so much where you start as much as that you start.
2. Tai Chi Memories: Bob Klein And The Long Island School of Tai Chi Chuan
Here are some memorable stories from "back in the day". Bob Klein was a direct student of William C.C. Chen and incorporated his zoological experiences into his Tai-chi teaching. Lots of wonderful memories with a great core group!
3. Tai Chi Memories: My Meeting With Gabriel Chin
I was privileged to experience in person some of what Gabriel Chin hinted at in the Nei Jia Quan book in which he is featured. Here's my favorite Gabriel Chin story.
4. Chen Xiaowang Seminar 2004: Journal Notes #20
Notes from a seven day Chen Xiaowang seminar which covered: six word qi-gong, silk reeling, and the entire Lao-Jia Tai-chi form. The essence of his teachings.
5. Gary Torres: Journal Notes #10
I loved Gary's direct and practical teaching of Tai-chi. Lots of goodies here.
6. Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi: Martial Stances
Some great pointers on the primacy of stances in your Tai-chi forms.
7. Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi: Basic Training
Some great explanations and foundational concepts for Tai-chi training.
8. Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi: Martial Intent
More great practical martial aspects of Tai-chi forms.
9. Guang Ping Tai Chi: Push Hands Forms
Some push hands notes from Gary's Tai-chi class.
Tai-chi Functional Training Tips
1. Tai Chi - Bottom Heavy, Top LightYou won't feel the top light until you drop your weight into your legs. And you won't get either feeling imagining roots growing out your feet or imagining hanging from a string.
2. Relaxing the Pelvic Floor For Tai Chi And Zhan Zhuang
A lot of Tai-chi and Zhan Zhuang people talk about the need to relax the pelvic floor. This article offers some practical methods of how to relax the pelvic floor.
3. Sink the Chi - How To Sit Down While Standing
Here's a practical and functional method to help you experience the feeling of dropping your weight into your legs.
4. Lower Back: Arch, Drop, And Tuck
Tai-chi teachers who instruct students to "tuck" are violating the other Tai-chi principle of relax. Learn to distinguish which of these is congruent with relax.
5. Rounding Crotch For Tai Chi And Zhan Zhuang
In Chinese culture "round" has both quantitative and qualitative properties. Learn how the bio-mechanics of rotating the femur heads forward leads to a "rounding" of the crotch and improved stability in your stances.
6. Tai Chi Principles: Muscular Quality Of Sung
Sung is not an imagined state of mind nor a belief about oneself. Sung is a palpable muscular quality!
Tai-chi Perspectives
1. Tai Chi: Where We Are and a Hope for the Future (written October 2010)Even though Tai-chi broke the bamboo ceiling with its debut in the August 2010 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, I take issue with the study. There's too much sham Tai-chi and too little real Taiji.
2. Fibromyalgia: Is Tai Chi The Prescription?
The same sort of mindset that promotes Tai chi as an alternative health exercise is using the NEJM study to promote Tai chi as a prescription for fibromyalgia while wholly ignoring an accompanying editorial. Here's the problems I've identified.
3. Tai Chi Teacher Certification Pros And Cons
If you are in a school or looking for a school or looking for a teacher that boasts certification, this article provides the least you need to know about Tai-chi teacher certification.
4. Tai Chi Research
Most research on Tai-chi Chuan is based on the assumption that there is "something" inherent in the Tai-chi form itself which manifests health improvements in its practitioners. I believe that this position is flawed and perpetuating this belief in a research setting is bad science.
5. Internal Martial Arts Lineages and Psychosomatic Genealogy
We are extremely lucky to have videos of two of the earliest practitioners responsible for modeling Tai-chi Chuan in the U.S. Seeing these practitioners together is hugely instructive if you can see what you are looking at!
