Yang Tai Chi Chuan

Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan

Introduction

China Hand Kung Fu Academy is dedicated to passing on the ancient art of Tai Chi Chuan.  More specifically, the Yang Style Tai Chi System and even more specific, the Guang Ping Yang Style.  This is the rare style from the Yang System as handed down by Yang Lu Chan and his son Yang Pan Hou, which bridges Yang Style from Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan. 

As there are many paths in the world, so too are there many paths in Tai Chi Chuan. In order to properly understand Tai Chi Chuan one must first perceive it for what it is. Tai Chi Chuan is a tool, a man-made device designed to bring about harmony and balance between energy and mass. Through extension of this balance comes, as the Chinese say, "The Ten Thousand Things," a euphemism for everything.

An appropriate analogy to the "Paths" of Tai Chi Chuan may be drawn from the multiplicity of uses that any tool might be put. For instance, a screwdriver is a tool designed to insert and extract screws. However, I have seen it used as; a pry-bar, an awl, a chisel, its handle used as a hammer, a nail extractor, a scraper, a paint mixer, a can opener, an electrical circuit device, a shear pin, a wedge and even as a finger nail cleaner. If used improperly, it can cause injury to oneself or someone else.

You will be learning is the Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan through forms which are movements linked together in a continuous fashion so as to form a single continuous motion from beginning to end or in effect one movement.

The definition of Tai Chi Chuan is "Grand Ultimate/Supreme Fist." Solo forms are sometimes viewed as shadow boxing, however, this is a western assumption, and not relevant to the actual purpose.

 The definition of Tai Chi as a concept is the "Ridgepole" where the original meaning was taken from the I Ching (Book of Changes).  The Ridgepole supports the roof timbers. 

The Empty Circle is an expression of the emptiness that gives purpose. 

Yin and Yang is the natural energy divided into extremities, separate but complementary.

Tai Chi Chuan is the key to understanding the other Internal Styles (Nei Chia) and is ususally a prerequisite to learning Hsing Yi, or Pa Kua Chuan. Without experience in Tai Chi Chuan, Hsing Yi becomes too external (Wai Chia), and Pa Kua becomes too abstract.

Tai Chi Chuan is about 1,000 years old. Although the Chen Family were not the creators, we know that it was kept within their family for at least fourteen generations, before it was taught to an outsider about 1830 A.D. and that outsider was Yang Lu-Ch'an and he was taught by Chen Chang-Shen.

 Tai Chi Chuan should be practiced every day, it should not however be something that you have to make yourself do but rather be something that you want and like to do, it should be fun rather than a chore.

Feeling - Internal styles stress feeling over technique.

Yin/Yang Theory - contraction follows expansion.

One, when someone comes into your space (expansion), yield. When they retreat (contraction), follow.  

Two, balance - strike only when your opponent is unbalanced (i.e., when attacked, yield, the attacker becomes unbalanced by being unable to check his advance and at the point where his attack reaches its limit, strike).  

Three, one cannot be totally pure Yin or Yang, this explains the fish eye, or dot of the opposite included in the Yin/Yang symbol.  When one becomes too Yang, Yin will follow. Emptiness has nowhere to go, except to become full.

Slowness - One, performing tasks slowly, not only gives you more time to reflect on what you are doing, but also gives you more insight than if you performed it quickly.  Two, doing something slowly and repeatedly, allows you to absorb it at an unconscious level, so that it becomes second nature (like taking a walk).  Three, in Tai Chi Chuan, the better you get, the slower your routine becomes.

As A Health Exercise

The forms you will learn is a meditation in movement and exercise designed to massage internal organs (liver, intestines, stomach, spleen, kidneys, etc.).  Also to give flexibility to the spine, create a better sense of balance, stretch tendons and tone muscles in the arms and legs.

Tai Chi Chuan introduces the concept of balanced flowing movements.   When practiced Shaolin Chuan institutes a daily program of exercise which is cardiovascular in nature.

• Improves balance and coordination.  

• Provides suppleness and agility. 

• Stretches and strengthens the body. 

• Circulates the body's Internal Energy (Chi) to all parts of the  body in an even manner. 

• Calms the Spirit.

As A Performance or Mind & Body Exercise

When you practice you perform for yourself.  Performance is exercise for the Mind, Body, &  Spirit.

• There is a dance-like appearance, which results from the gracefulness of inner strength. 

• Transitional movements, which connect the postures are the key to Tai Chi Chuan.            

• All movements, whether or not they are martial, receive the same emphasis and attention to detail

As A Self Defense

There is a martial arts aspect involved in Tai Chi Chuan (the name after all means "Grand Ultimate Boxing").  Most of the movements will be described physically in terms of attack and defense for those who are curious about the meaning or reason for particular types of movement.  

Although it is practiced slowly, in application it becomes lightening fast.  All movements are done with coordinated effort of the whole body (weight, waist, and limbs).  Feeling and sensitivity are used to capitalize upon an opponents weaknesses. Focus your mind on what you want to achieve, not on how you will achieve it. By sensitivity, know your opponent, but don't let him know you.   Use your Internal Energy (4 oz. Can move 1,000 lbs).  Empty yourself (of preconceptions), clear your mind (of plans and schemes).  True understanding comes from practice of the solo form.

History Of Tai Chi Chuan

Learn more...

The most widespread story of the beginning of Tai Chi Chuan is that of Chang San-Feng (1279-1368 AD). The legend states that Chang San-Feng one day heard a noise outside his house, going to his window he ob served a snake with raised head, hissing at a crane in a tree. When the bird flew down and attacked with his beak, the snake turned away and attacked the crane's neck with his tail. Stabbing again and again, the crane was unable to land a solid blow. The snake twisting and dodging was always out of reach. From this Chang San-Feng learned the value of yielding in the face of strength.

Studying the movements of the snake and crane, other wild animals and natural phenomena, and taking what he learned, Chang San-Feng devised Tai Chi Chuan. Movements such as Cloud Hands, Snake Creeps Down, and White Crane Flaps It's Wings are vivid examples of natures' lessons. It is obvious that many years of observation, meditation and transformation were spent by Master Chang San-Feng in giving birth to Tai Chi Chuan.

The exact details are unknown, but eventually Tai Chi Chuan was passed to a family named Chen in Honan Province. The Chen clan kept Tai Chi Chuan a secret for fourteen generations. It was forbidden for anyone to teach it outside the family or to teach it to anyone with a bad disposition. Around the end of the eighteenth century, a young man named Yang Lu-Chan, having an active interest in self defense, learned of the Chen clan's secret. He went to Honan to the house of Chen and sought a job as a servant. Discovering where and when the Chen family practiced, he spied upon them and practiced when he was alone. One night old Master Chen himself discovered Yang Lu-Chan practicing and was so impressed by Yang's enthusiasm that he broke a four hundred year tradition by accepting Yang as a student.

The five primary styles of Tai Chi Chuan are Chen, Yang, Old Wu, Wu, and Sun. The Yang style is the traditional form from which many other Tai Chi Chuan forms were taken. Tai Chi Chuan went through several alterations as it was passed from master to student. Some alterations were so divergent that they were recognizably different. This is how the Wu Style and Sun Style systems were created. Even with-in the recognizable forms of Tai Chi Chuan, slight differences occurred which further divided even the five main styles. The form you will be studying will be the Tai Chi Chuan Short Form of Yang Pan-hou (third son of Yang Lu-Chan); he was much noted for his "sticking hand" techniques. The Yang style is the most traditional and popular form practiced in mainland China today.