Tai Chi - Techniques and Training
Tai Chi has two primary types of training: the solo form and the Push Hands form.
From the Taiji symbol which we in western cultures know as yin and yang, the art of Tai Chi is believed to possibly be the practice that preserved the oldest schools of learning which dealt with the receptive and active principles. There are two primary features of core training in Tai Chi. These are referred to as the solo form, which emphasizes a slow sequence of movements while maintaining a straight and firm spine, range of motion and trained abdominal breathing; and the Push Hands technique, in which the principles of movement are trained in a more practical and, perhaps, convenient way. In the solo form of Tai Chi, one person practices and perfects the movements. The solo form of Tai Chi takes the student through a natural and complete range of motion, balanced over their center of gravity. If repeated properly and regularly, the practice of the solo form can help the Tai Chi student maintain proper posture, maintain flexibility of joints and muscles, encourage proper circulation from any point of the student's body, and allow students to become more familiar with some of the important martial arts sequences that are usually suggested or mimicked by the different solo practice forms. Among the major styles of traditional Tai Chi you will find some forms that differ in some degree from the others. While some differ in actual practice, such as in the movement of the hands, the positioning of the legs, or the reaction of the body and the pace of movement, some differences may only be mildly superficial without detracting from the training and technique of Tai Chi itself. Most of these differences are essentially irrelevant because what is important in Tai Chi training is that it achieves its purpose of benefiting not only the body but the mind as well. You will find enough similarities arising from a point of common origin that make many forms of Tai Chi easily recognizable as having had a common parent and possessing a common goal. Solo forms of Tai Chi, whether with weapons or with only the empty hands, are movements that are, as the term "solo" implies, practiced individually in martial arts application and pushing hands. Practice sequences, or "forms", such as these are intended to prepare for, or improve, a student's training and performance in a self-defense mode. From a philosophical point of view. the student of Tai Chi believes and practices as follows: if one becomes stiff and also uses hardness in responding to violence, in other words, resisting "what is", then it follows that it is expected that both sides can be injured to a certain degree. An injury in that circumstance is the Tai Chi theory that meeting brute force with the same is far from the proper attitude and style of those dedicated to the proper practice of Tai Chi. Unlike most other martial arts, wherein force is applied to some measure to defeat an opponent, in Tai Chi, students are taught that instead of combating, or directly resisting, an oncoming force, they would best meet it with the most subtle movements and softness, following every attacking motion, in the end, exhausting the force of the attack, and the attacker. This is also done while remaining in a close-contact posture. This is the principle wherein the yin and yang is applied. If this method is understood, practiced, and applied correctly, the balance of yin and yang in a combat situation is the primary goal of Tai Chi training. Aside from that, Tai Chi schools also focus their attention on how the energy of a striking person affects his opponent. For example, the palm can strike physically looking the same and performing the same but has a different and dramatic effect on the target. A palm can strike and push the person either forward or backward. It is done in such a way that the opponents are lifted vertically from the ground thus breaking and deforming their center of gravity. After which, this technique can literary terminate the striking force within the body of the person with the intention of causing traumatic internal damage. |
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Tai Chi Techniques and Training
Page Updated 3:06 PM Wednesday, October 4, 2023
