Taking The Initiative In Taijiquan
Wu Yuxiang’s Taijiquan classic states “You must act according to your opponent, not try to do things from yourself, for if you go along with your opponent,
Training
Bad Training Partners
Training with partners of any kind will eventually lead to being paired with someone that keeps making mistakes, has their own agenda, or is too caught up…
Taijiquan – Moving Through Molasses
Some practitioners who are older or primarily practice for health practice as softly as possible. Some instead practice as if moving, or “swimming” through molasses.
Why I Think Everyone Should Learn Some Pushing Hands
I encourage all my students to learn Pushing Hands . Even if my students are learning Tàijíquán for health and insist that they never wish to learn fighting at all.
Do Your Breathing
Whenever I see my son about to scream or cry out of frustration and/or anger, I tell him “Do your breathing”. My two year old will raise and lower his arms
A Kowtow To The Boxers Of Old
This article is based on Sun Jian Guo’s book on the Taijiquan of Wu Yu Xiang (1812-1880), and some of it’s components. In It are included 3 traditional fist forms
Lessons from Taijiquan Interactive Weapons Practice
Many Taijiquan (太極拳) practitioners never learn interactive weapons, and some do not even study weaponless interactive principles.
Tai Chi: Not Just “Old People in the Park”
My first foray into the “internal” arts was when I took up Taijiquan around five years ago. Learning Tai Chi has taught me how to move from the inside out…
Multitasking? The Mind, Attention, and Intention in Taijiquan
When trying to focus on more than one task, we rapidly switch our attention from one task to another. Although it seems instantaneous, switching from one task to another is neither fast nor smooth. There is a significant lag of up to 40% longer than when focusing on a single task
Teaching Yourself
If you want to learn Tai Chi you need to have a teacher, hopefully a good one. You can’t simply copy the movements from a video or read about the principles in a book and expect to gain any skill whatsoever. Once you have found a teacher however, you need to practice what you’ve been shown on your own and this is the only way to learn Tai Chi.