Yang taijiquan qigong

Discussion on the three big Chinese internals, Yiquan, Bajiquan, Piguazhang and other similar styles.

Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby wdhc Taijiquan on Sun Sep 01, 2019 11:17 pm

What I was taught to be yang Family Taijiquan Qigong. Comments, questions and feedback welcome.
https://youtu.be/za3I6oEx8Qk
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Re: Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby charles on Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:29 am

First, this should be posted in the "Video" section.

You asked for comments, so here are a few general ones.

The choreography of the exercises is the same as or similar to a variety of exercises taught in various other styles, depending on the style, labelled as "qigong", "neigong", jibengong or silk reeling. Some, obviously, are form movements. There is nothing "right" or "wrong", per se, with the choreography. What matters is what one puts in, or "fills" the choreography with, what motivates the movements and produces the choreography. My comments are about "the fill", how the exercises are performed. Wether or not the exercises are "authentic" Yang family qigong, is largely irrelevant.

One interpretation, an error, in my opinion, is what motion the "waist" produces. Many use turning of the ankles and hips to effect rotation of the body and call that the turning of the waist. Throughout your video, I see nearly no evidence of twisting of the waist: it is twisting of the ankles and hips. Twisting of the hips prevents opening and closing of the kua, not to mention little use of the waist, itself.

Every motion must reach a conclusion before it starts again or continues. You frequently don't let the movement reach that end or conclusion, but gloss over it or hurry past it. One result of that is that "qi" doesn't reach the extremities - often hands. One aspect of that is, in my opinion, you have too much tension constantly held in your hands. Another aspect of that is that you often lead a motion with the "wrong" part of the body, say the elbow, rather than the hand. "Qi" then reaches the elbow, the forearm/hand moves unsupported by the rest of the motion, since the movement finished at the elbow, and "qi" doesn't reach the hand: the movement is broken at the elbow. This causes a variety of your movements to be "broken" and discontinuous. Elbows often being raised contributes to that.

Movement must be a continuous series of open/close, open/close, extend/retract, extend/retract, exertion/relaxation, exertion/relaxation. For the most part, I don't see that in your movements. They are what produce "whole-body" motion and continuity of movement without "gaps and deficiencies".

I suggest slowing the movement way down, perhaps 1/2 speed of what is shown in the video, and pay more attention to feeling opening and closing, extension and retraction, exertion and relaxation, twisting and untwisting. Feel the finishing of each move, allowing and feeling the "qi to sink" at the end of each move. Also, explore rounding the crotch (dang) the use of the kua and rotation of the waist. In my opinion, one of the most difficult basic skills is that of learning to truly relax or "let go" (fang song): work on that. Taijiquan isn't the choreography but how the choreography is achieved.
Last edited by charles on Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:43 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby Giles on Mon Sep 02, 2019 10:37 am

Some very considered and constructive remarks from Charles. :)

I'll add a couple of my own observations_

Maybe even do the movements at quarter speed, not just half speed. When you are still not too familiar with the movements, then the slower and more song you can move without stagnating, the deeper you can go into your body, into your tissues and your own mind. After this phase and the development it promotes, you can speed up again.

When you stand in the parallel stance, you consistently load your right leg more than you load your left leg. In other words, your weight distribution looks to be roughly 52/48 %. This is reflected in your stepping into the bow stance: when stepping forward with your left leg/foot you sink into your right hip/leg/foot fairly well before stepping, creating an 'empty' step before letting your weight flow into your left leg. Which is good. But when you step forward with your right leg you don't sink as much into your left leg so much, with the result that you fall forward slightly with each step, effectively losing your balance each time. Not so good. --- It may be that this is because you're standing on a slight slope all the time while filming. But even if that is the case, I think the discrepancy between your left and right hips is to some extent in your body and not just because of the terrain.
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Re: Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby wayne hansen on Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:28 pm

I agree with both the above
That is why I said on your YouTube site that a beginner should not teach
In that video with the kettle bell you talk about not turning the hips then go ahead and turn them
Making mistakes doesn't matter we all do it
However when you make a mistake that you have already pointed out and the put out the film it shows a lack of awareness
As for it being a traditional set it doesn't follow a natural sequence which is in most traditional sets
You say you don't know where your teacher got the set as though you disbelieve him
What is his lineage as I have never heard his name before and never seen this set
Don't put power into the form let it naturally arise from the form
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Re: Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby wdhc Taijiquan on Mon Sep 02, 2019 8:41 pm

Thank you for the feedback I have had the same feedback about the waist and was able to narrow down the issue. I have had knee injuries in the military and am still dealing with them. The issue is my IT Band is tight, so if I relax my hips, moving my waist causes my hips and consequently legs to move. With that being said, easy fix and will take the feedback into consideration. The speed is because this qigong can take over an hour. I have had complaints about the length, so I tried to shorten it. The slant in my yard does make it more difficult to shift weight. And my left knee is worse than my right. But I will post a Chen qigong next week. I am currently working on fixing my knees.
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Re: Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby Giles on Tue Sep 03, 2019 1:43 am

Injuries to the knees 'make sense' with respect to the issues we mentioned. And it's a bummer, because long-term issues in the knees will propagate up the legs into the hips, lower back and entire spine. And often vice versa. You are clearly very motivated and train hard, which is great. It might well be an idea to work on the "less is more" principle until you have made more progress in your basic body structure. Focus on fewer, simpler exercises where you open and close your kua and keep connecting in a relaxed way from crown to feet, from feet to crown. Much as Charles describes. If you do a few well-chosen "simple" exercises a lot, slowly, in the "right" way, this can have a healing effect on old injuries, dysbalances, etc. If you aim too high too soon, doing many different more complex exercises, then you probably won't see - or feel! - the wood for the trees and unfavourable patterns in your tissues will tend to be reinforced. There's that line in the Classics about it being important to start your journey with the right orientation, "missing it a little will lead many miles astray". This is very true of correct body structure/use. And as Wayne says (if I understand him correctly), work more on these basics before putting out lots of videos for other people.

The good thing about Tai Chi is that if you do lots of the "simple" things with your spine, hips, legs for a healing effect, aiming to sort out old injuries, then at the same time you're building your gongfu at a deep level. This will really benefit you in the future (see the above quote).

If you have access to some good bodywork such as osteopathy, craniosacral therapy, Feldenkrais Functional Integration, Rolfing etc. this would be a good thing to do in parallel.
Good luck!
Last edited by Giles on Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby H2O on Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:49 am

Sean, you need to go train with either Schu or Gary Stier. Both are close to you. Both have what you want.
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Re: Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby wdhc Taijiquan on Sat Sep 14, 2019 2:16 pm

I train with Mike Graves. He has been teaching me what u want
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Re: Yang taijiquan qigong

Postby H2O on Sat Sep 14, 2019 6:55 pm

I’m thinking you took my comment the wrong way, Friend.
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