I love taichi, i just don't like to practice it.

[mixjourneyman]

I don't get this 'fighting' thing with Taiji, I don't 'fight' or 'spar' with it because then it wouldn't be Taiji, it is however a highly effective form of self defence and extremely good for arrest and restraint.

Duck!

[mixjourneyman]

Could this thread be the reincarnation of test no topic?

[klonk]

I have gotten a lot of wonderful material from taiji, both the classics and the forms. But I have the feeling--and it's been recurring for years--that it has been a matter of doing archaeology on a former fighting art that has turned into a qigong.

This may owe to my lack of exposure to taiji teachers who think it's fisticuffs, of course. A great deal of what has been meant by taiji, when I have encountered it, has not been combat practical, but more of a cultivation practice or a health and wellness deal. Which is okey-doke. It has somehow become the world's most popular qigong. Hard to argue its success there.

But, no, I don't greatly enjoy doing it either. To me it is more a library of neato ideas than a matter of dedicated ongoing practice. The categorization of eight jins is very good, but can serve as a starting point for a more general view of energy generation...eight seems to be one of those arbitrary Chinese numbers.

[Steve James]

It's hard to enjoy doing tcc. However, imo, either one "needs" to do it or one doesn't. If you need it, there's the enjoyment comes what it gives or enables in your life. Tcc became popular because of the "health" benefits, specifically post Yang Cheng Fu. Many of the most respected masters after that period wrote that they were on death's door or grew up sickly until they discovered Tcc (Yang style, that is). Anyway, the only way to understand that argument is to be in that position, or in a condition where Tcc is one of the few things you can do. If you can run sprints, jump hurdles and do splits, doing a form can get to be boring.

[Steve Rowe]

I don't get this 'fighting' thing with Taiji, I don't 'fight' or 'spar' with it because then it wouldn't be Taiji, it is however a highly effective form of self defence and extremely good for arrest and restraint.

Duck!

I think it stands up extremely well as both a health and martial. I've worked in and taught in the security field since 1971 and teach people from law enforcement to night club doorman, many of my long standing students (20 yrs plus) now hold senior positions in law enforcement and security and my system is taught in some European forces and companies. I've practiced many years in kickboxing and karate (40 years and 8th Dan) with Dan grades in Ju Jitsu, Iaido and Jodo as well and fully understand what 'fighting' and 'sparring' and 'groundwork' etc mean, but the skills of Tai Chi are extremely good for self defence and different, I don't try and convert my other martial arts 'applications' into Taiji, but I do put the 'internal' from Taiji into the other arts.

Put on the gloves and you won't be doing Taiji, 'fight' means that two people are struggling to do the same thing, that's not Taiji. Push hands, dynamic pushing and apply the principles and then the technique of Taiji and there is no fight.

Just my tuppence worth.

[mixjourneyman]

good to know your experience.

I just said duck because I can see where your original comment could end up with some of our more "colourful" posters

And of course YMMV

[GrahamB]

Quotes from Chungliang Al Huang:

You often see people practicing tai chi quite concentrated. There is a hush and everything stands still except the moving body.

Don't make it an antiseptic, sacred, exotic oriental thing.

Is your body moving like the sound of the ocean? Like the crackling of the fire log? The wind? The space between leaves on a tree?

Or are you moving like arranged pieces of furniture, very consciously put-together?

-----

As we work, we use the form as a guide. It is something we work with, not something you learn to show off.

The form is a process that serves you, not an adornment you bring back to hang on your wall.

-----

One of my friends studied judo for years and years. She was waiting for a chance to use it, but for a long time nobody tried to attack her. Then one day somebody grabbed her in a parking lot - and she slugged him with her purse!

And then she thought, "Oh! What happened to my judo?"

She must have been practicing judo as if it were an isolated thing. We should always practice to let the immediacy of the moment come through. Then you always have a sense of what you are doing now.

------

[chimerical tortoise]

Not intending to make fun of the guy, I like the quotes... but what a name! Chungliang al Huang... I just snorted coffee.

[everything]

I think the height of it these days is push hands that gets protracted as soon as someone falls on their ass.

lol perfect for soccer/football players you get pushed a little tiny bit, fake fall, then complain about it.

[Michael Babin]

I have always enjoyed the interactive side of taiji much more than the solo side of it though I have "forced" myself to practise solo forms with greater or lesser success over the decades that I have been studying this discipline/art.

Perhaps how much one enjoys the solo stuff depends partly on one's basic nature as the meditative, solo performance side of it tends to attract individualists [aka "loners"] while the martial side of it tends to attract those interested in exploring relationships. Preferably martial interaction during class, not as foreplay with your cuter class mates.

There's also the masochist side of those who swallow the nonsense of having to study the solo form inside out in super slow-motion as a way of somehow magically living to be 117 or being able to transcend all human needs.

[GrahamB]

Not intending to make fun of the guy, I like the quotes... but what a name! Chungliang al Huang... I just snorted coffee.

You can call him Al.

[ShortFormMike]

I was quoting what my buddy said about woody Allen on taichi. But I don't like doing the form one tenth as much as I like push hands so I have to force myself to do it everyday. I like rooting better even. But I like knowing I can always intellectualize about taichi instead of practicing and still get the same benefit.

[mixjourneyman]

I was quoting what my buddy said about woody Allen on taichi. But I don't like doing the form one tenth as much as I like push hands so I have to force myself to do it everyday. I like rooting better even. But I like knowing I can always intellectualize about taichi instead of practicing and still get the same benefit.

Funny, I like rooting too....

[Chris Fleming]

Some of you guys are crazy. I love taiji AND love to practice it.

[brennanos]

I started by learning the 150 posture T.T. Liang Yang form. I really had to force myself to practice. I honestly grew to hate it, so I quit practicing taiji. Recently I started learning Chen style, and I enjoy that quite a bit. It's definitely a better fit for my personality and training goals.