D_Glenn wrote:Of Yin and Yang, Yin is when you are walking down the stairs in the dark and you are positive you've reached the last step but there is one more and your foot takes a 7 inch drop which takes your whole body with it (falling into emptiness). Yang is when you're going up the stairs in the dark and you think there's no more steps and your foot slams onto the step 7 inchs higher than you expected. Taiji is trying to set up and get the opponent to fall into those same situations.
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Taiji in taijiquan is much less about you being yin and your opponent being yang and more about you understanding yourself. That's why we say such disciplines are "internal" styles.
Yin and Yang (陰陽) discuss a cosmic interplay between substantive and insubstantive, energetic and material. Taiji (太極) is a philosophical term, which ash nothing to do with a specific physical situation like martial arts. For example the "yin yang symbol" in chinese is called the "tai ji picture" (太極圖).
Keep in mind that Taiji Quan (太極拳) is a NAME given to a very famous martial art, thus the name taiji became famous and synonymous in the west with martial arts (particularly those from a certain area and time).
Yang is the husband who fell down the stairs and yin is the wife and taiji is when they get naked and go to bed together.