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Chen-style has explosive movements (fajin), jumps, directional changes.. It is the style of Daiji closed to Bagua. The Yang style is more flowing, has bigger and more open postures (longer stances, arms open wider). It has a slow form and a fast form, thus separating concepts that are found together in the Chen forms. Wu style has a higher stances and ...

Classifying tai-chi-for-health What are we talking about when we talk about forms-based tai chi? Evaluating the practice as an ignorant outsider, it's essentially a slow dance. There are a number of one-footed balancing postures, deep lunges or otherwise low stances, and opportunity to stretch the limbs as well as flex and extend. In addition to the ...

I would argue that there is no such progression. While push-hands may look like a "slowed down" version of sanshou, it is an entirely different exercise on its own. The only way to progress to sanshou is to start doing it. Edit: To elaborate, the practice of sanshou (or free form sparring if you like) is an integral (albeit rarely practiced) part of ...

Because the motions are performed slowly, tai chi ends up being its own conditioning exercise. Holding stances increases overall stamina as well as helping find root. That said, at one point I'd taken to doing stressed forms, where I'd wear a weight belt, arm and/or wrist weights, used leg bands, etc. depending on what I was trying to work on. Other than ...

9 to 12 months. Just a guideline. I say this time frame because, simply from experience, thats about how long - after regular and quality training - before a student starts to see some of their training take hold as instinct. But the question itself is fairly unsophisticated, and isnt answerable in a way that'd be relevant to any given individual. Its ...

"Not tai chi" Many tai chi teachers espouse physical development through means other than tai chi, and reserve tai chi for the refinement of skill. Similar to pre-war Aikido (wherein students were required to have significant expertise in other arts such as karate, judo or jiujitsu), tai chi strength and conditioning is often mixed with other styles of ...

Tai chi can be best described as "mediation in motion." It is more slow-moving than tae kwon do and focuses more on internal energy development whereas tae kwon do is more external. However, that does not mean that tai chi itself will not provide a workout for you. It may not be as strenuous or physically demanding as tae kwon do, but you will see some ...

It depends on many factors. Tim Cartmell comes from one point of view (am referring answer given by Dave Liepmann), and from that point of view he is absolutely correct. I can imagine a Tai Chi teacher who'd teach you to fight with Tai Chi and you'd get proficient, certainly. There are many variables to take into account. I am here making the assumption ...

This seems like a tough question to answer to me because "health" is a vague term and it begs to be compared to other things. I would think one advantage forms based tai chi would have over the other things you mentioned (running, strength training) is an additional mental discipline / meditative aspect that would contribute to mental health and well-being ...

Are you looking for the origin of Tai Chi? Or of the many different styles of martial arts? Or of martial arts in general? Martial arts have existed as long as people have been fighting. And as often as people have been fighting, people have been figuring out better and more efficient ways of fighting, and teaching these methods to others. There is no one ...

Someone who is "rooted" to the ground is difficult to move or control and can use this property to move and control others more easily. It's all about body structure. Here is a video of a short demonstration of being rooted. Uprooting someone is when you break their connection to the ground or the structure that connects them to the ground so that they ...

Although, both answers so far have made good points I happen to agree with, I would like to weigh in with an alternative albeit perhaps not so very popular answer. I would argue that by selecting just a small subset of the whole system, you are already forfeiting some of the benefits that the whole system can offer. Or to quote the words of Yang Cheng Fu ...

My teacher Scott M Rodell advocates weapons training in addition to zhangzhuang for general conditioning. When using real-weight weapons like wooden (or steel) jian or long spear, they provide the additional weight for a simple yet focused workout as well as great resistance to "push against" when applying fajing. Additionally, it is not unheard of to ...

This won't be a popular answer. The goal of taijiquan (太極拳) push-hands isn't to push the other guy off-center. That's a side-effect of the real training. The goal of taijiquan push-hands is maintaining no-mind even through disruption by outside agency. You are training for: Accepting flinch responses Noticing your attachment to the notion of getting hurt ...

Being rooted means having a stable center of gravity (CoG). Uprooting someone means to go under their CoG and take control of it. Once that is done, defeat, throw, project, lift are just possible courses to follow. This answer to a question about a seated Daito-Ryu technique makes allusion to it even by the wording used - the teacher takes control of the ...

Tai chi is about integration of the whole body and developing structure - ideally using every muscle in every move. Any strengthening "gym" type work will basically be about isolation of muscle groups, which kind of defeats the point unless you are addressing a specific weakness. In tai chi you should "throw away your hard strength". Doing specific ...

One application is to capture a punch. If you enter the puncher's space, there's an arm break and/or a relatively violent takedown. It can be very similar to some silat takedowns. It can be a deflection and striking/throwing entry without any capturing or breaks. One application Attacker steps in with a right-hand punch. Defender outward-deflects punch ...

There are many applications, depending on what part of the single whip sequence one looks at. There is hooking and pull-down and push with the right hand at the beginning of the motion. Then there is a potential albeit well hidden elbow strike when turning around. Then there is a combination of a ward-off, pull-down and push, the end of which can be seen ...

Permit me to reinforce what Matt Chan states. Style (tae kwon do or tai chi) (in my opinion) ought to be a tertiary selector. I believe that I'm not alone in stating that long term success/happiness in martial arts derives first from the instructor, second from the classmates and only third from the art. You may want to read one of my prior prolixities ...

If you're sedentary in a new city and looking for exercise, the best school to join is whichever one actually moves around vigorously that you will enjoy and stick with. Whether it's Tae Kwon Do, tai chi, yoga, lifting weights, or soccer doesn't particularly matter. Whether or not you sweat matters. Whether you like it and keep going matters. However, it's ...

Chris Chi asserts that seven stars refers to seven points of the body – head, shoulder, elbow, hand, hip, knee, foot – each can be used to deflect or strike. Alas, Chris Chi doesn't provide a graphic, and the seven star stance in my tai chi form is quite unlike the seven star mantis stance shown if I google for seven star stance. (Attempts to include ...

Part of this really depends on where you are learning, how often the classes are, how big the class is, and the curriculum and structure of the class. Given that you haven't mentioned what style of tai chi you are learning, the movements/forms, and what your instructor or class format is like, I can only draw so many conclusions. For instance, if your class ...

Needle at Sea Bottom is a fave for fixed feet push hands. Personally, I dont like the move but have been on the receiving end enough to know its effective in competition. You can see it in this video at about 33 seconds in. The initial body and hand positioning is reasonably close to tournament and you can see the hip turn whilst sliding the weight ...

1. Static Push Hands The purpose is to teach you to let go with your hips and your back, to allow flow, yielding and redirecting of energy properly. In addition, of course, you are learning to apply every other Tai Chi concept. I've found that Roberto Sharpe's videos on Youtube are amazingly detailed. He explains things very well, and most importantly, he ...

It all depends on several aspects. Are you practicing a martial aspect of the taijiquan Does your teacher/school teach the martial aspect of the taijiquan How much do you practice and what is the main focus of your practice Who you practice with What else do you do to advance your skill This is necessarily not a full list, but the main things should be ...

Well, let me preface everything I am about to say with "this is just my personal opinion" - I have only been practicing taijiquan for past 10 years and although this is enough to give me some insight to the art, it is certainly not enough to have any claim of accuracy on the more general history that has brought us where we are now. First of all, let me ...

Good and well thought out responses. Like the key on relaxation comments. My own training includes quite a bit of slow staff movement (twirling, thrusts, defensive blocks, strikes, slashes, etc), which is great for focusing the mind and body. Combining non-weapon kicks, punches, strikes and blocks with staff movement is a great change of pace and requires ...

If you are looking just for exercise and fitness, martial arts in general is probably not a good choice. Crossfit, P90X, walking, jogging, biking, swimming will work better. Most "lifers" don't rely on class for conditioning, and will tend to practice and condition on their own. Tai chi is good if you want to start correcting your posture but so can the ...

I used to teach tai chi before my family came along. The one thing nobody else has said is speak to your teacher. Tell them you enjoy the movement more than the stretching and ask why there's been less of the movement. Assume they did it for a reason. Problem is that until you have a certain number of people who can help keep beginners busy it's ...

This question is specifically about uprooting in tai chi chuan. "All strength comes from the ground". Your CoG is less important than your peng path or ground strength vector. As I said in other posts it's not a mystical experience it's a mechanical process - see for example the articles here http://ismag.iay.org.uk/. To uproot someone means to disrupt ...