Category: taiji

  • The All-Round Standing Pole Exercise

    Stand with feet apart at shoulder width, toes point forward or slightly outward. Bend the knees and sit down slightly, weight centered firmly on the soles of the feet. Keep the head and spine erect from tip to tail, chest empty (i.e. relaxed and slightly concave, never stuck out) and stomach full and relaxed, not…

  • Chen Wei-Ming on Agility

    If the body is clumsy, then in advancing or retreating it cannot be free; therefore it most be agile. Once you raise your arm, you cannot appear clumsy. The moment the force of the opponent touches my skin and hair, my mind is already penetrating his bones. When holding up the arms, the chi (breath)…

  • Expositions of Insights Into the Practice of the Thirteen Postures

    by Wu Yu-hsiang (Wu Yuxian) (1812 – 1880) sometimes attributed to Wang Chung-yueh as researched by Lee N. Scheele The hsin [mind-and-heart] mobilizes the ch’i [vital life energy]. Make the ch’i sink calmly; then the ch’i gathers and permeates the bones. The ch’i mobilizes the body. Make it move smoothly, so that it may easily…

  • Four Character Secret Transmission

    Spread. To spread means that we mobilize our chi spread it over our opponents energy and prevent him from moving. Cover. To cover means that we use our chi to cover our opponents thrust. Check. To check means that we use chi to check our opponents thrust, ascertain his aim and evade it. Swallow. To…

  • Grasp Sparrows’s Tail is like two men sawing

    This is the push-hands sequence of Wardoff, Rollback, Press and Push. The action is that of sawing. When you saw, the force at both sides should be equal; then the action is smooth. If one side tries to change the force, the saw’s teeth will bind. If my partner binds the saw, then even if…

  • Wu-Yü-Hsiang Body Principles

    Relax the chest. Raise the back. Enclose solar plexus. Protect the cheekbones. Lift the head. Suspend the solar plexus. Loosen the shoulders. Sink the elbows. Be evasive. Avoid conflict. Reference: Tai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions by Douglas Wile Sweet Chi Press, April 1989 ISBN: 091205901X Page: 27

  • Head Upright – Basics of Taiji Quan

    ( tai chi, principles, head, posture, structure, energy, unification of body ) Technical Methods and Postures Head Upright To prop up the head is to raise the crown of the head properly. In Taiji Quan, make sure that the head is upright, the crown flat, the neck straight and the chin drawn in. It is…

  • Sam Tam – 2006 Copenhagen Summer Workshop

    Master Sam Tam comes to Copenhagen from the 2. to 4. of June 2006 to give a workshop at Ole Eskildens Ichuan Standing Meditation School. Master Sam Tam travels around the US and Canada giving workshops in pushhands in Ichuan and Taiji. Ichuan people would properly know Sam Tam by name from Jan Diepersloot’s book…