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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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Great answer Matt! Couldn't have said it better myself. I sometimes wonder what is hardest: being the instructor and hitting the right level for most students most of the time; or being a new student, unaware of the overall picture by the very nature of being a beginner in what is essentially a complex an subtle art. Of course, there are good instructors ...

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 ...

This answer is in reply to @Dave Liepmann's query, and is in support of Trevoke's answer. No need to upvote this one. Dave Liepmann asked, "So, unbalancing and locking, or unbalancing or locking?" This is a common way to frame this concept. When your body has not learned this stuff, your mind wants to put this into neat boxes because the underlying ...

I have found it extremely good at dealing with RSI (tendonitis). Daily practice of Tai Chi helped me reduce nodules on an almost unusable right wrist to the point where the problem is a distant memory. My late mother also benefited hugely from some very simple Tai Chi, not much more than warmup and about half the short form, for her balance. As a long-term ...

As has been mentioned here, when studying Tai Qi, you need to study the system as a whole. When studying any martial art for only health benefits, you lose the majority of the benefit of that art. That said, the primary benefit of Tai Qi, health or otherwise, is strong Qi development. As this occurs, health will improve. The problem I have with Tai Qi ...

David Gaffney (co-author of the excellent Chen Style Taijiquan) has an article on chen tai chi strength training (PDF) that mentions methods such as stone lifting, pole shaking, the taiji bang (short stick), taiji ball (akin to a medicine ball), and training with intentionally heavy weapons. While it may come as a surprise to many, strength training is ...

Karel Koskuba, tai chi instructor and co-author of "Tai Chi for Every Body", describes the taiji syllabus as follows, leading to free sparring at the summit: Taijiquan forms practice Fa Li (Release of Power) learning how to 'release' power by using phasic muscles supported by postural muscles (learning how to produce Jin by combining Qi with physical ...