Best Taiji postures to train.

[johnwang]

Not all transitions make sense. The transition from "ward off" to "single whip" may make sense but the transition from "single whip" to "defending hand"s may not (defending hands is the beginning of a new sequence). This is why training part of the form is no different from training the whole form.

Ward off, Pull back, Press forward, Push, Double pulling, Single whip, defending hands, White crane flapping wings, ...

[DeusTrismegistus]

Not all transitions make sense. The transition from ward off to single whip may make sense but the transition from single whip to defending hands may not. This is why training part of the form is no different from training the whole form.

Ward off, Pull back, Press forward, Push, Double pulling, Single whip, defending hands, White crane flapping wings, ...

Does every transition have to make sense as an application? When you practice your jab cross roundhouse kick combo does the transition between the cross and roundhouse have to make sense as anything other than retracting the punch and preparing to kick?

[johnwang]

Does the transition make sense from move 1 to move 4?

1. punch to the east.
2. punch to the north.
3. punch to the west.
4. punch to the south.

It has no combat connection among 1, 2, 3, and 4. It will make sense to train kick, punch, grab, throw, downward punch because it's valid combo sequence.

[Walter Joyce]

if you want to work on two movements to improve all of your taiji, how about picking one that opens the body, and one that closes it? single whip and play guitar, for instance.

QFT.

[RobP2]

In any event wouldn't you be better practicing with a partner? Or is that not practical for you right now? Solo moves, however much you train them will only take you so far

[mixjourneyman]

In any event wouldn't you be better practicing with a partner? Or is that not practical for you right now? Solo moves, however much you train them will only take you so far

I practice with a partner as often as possible (which in the sunny season averages at between once and three times a week doing various exercises at various intensities). Solo exercises are to develop attributes that I can map on to partner work

[RobP2]

Have you ever considered looking at any of the two man sets in Yang style? You can practice them solo and they are geared to application. That way you get solo training plus the chance to practice with a partner when possible



cheers

Rob

[mixjourneyman]

Thanks for the thought.
I learned a section of the two man a long time ago.
The thing I didn't like about it was that the application was not really realistic.
So what I do instead is train realistic applications from single movements are movements that link together in a coherent way (I'm a xingyi guy, so I do a lot of single movement oriented training and then combine the single movements to make combos etc...).

[Iskendar]

Brush knee, repulse monkey, grasp sparrow's tail and cloud hands are standard line drills in our system. Others I like to train in this way are horse parts mane, fair lady works the shuttles, golden rooster on one leg, step, parry and punch. You get a quite complete system with those.

[Formosa Neijia]

What in your opinion is the most useful movement, or small sequence of movements in either Yang or Wu style Taiji?

If it's been mentioned already i didn't see it, but grasp the sparrow's tail is the keystone to Yang style. If you don't understand GST then you don't understand Yang style. Most of your time should be spent on it. Same should go for any Yang derivative like Wu2.

However, that's not my opinion. That's widely known in yang style.

Dave C.

[Dmitri]

"Most of your time should be spent on it"? Who said that, may I ask?

[mixjourneyman]

What in your opinion is the most useful movement, or small sequence of movements in either Yang or Wu style Taiji?

If it's been mentioned already i didn't see it, but grasp the sparrow's tail is the keystone to Yang style. If you don't understand GST then you don't understand Yang style. Most of your time should be spent on it. Same should go for any Yang derivative like Wu2.

However, that's not my opinion. That's widely known in yang style.

Dave C.

Thats more or less what I have heard too.

[johnwang]

"Most of your time should be spent on it"? Who said that, may I ask?

I don't believe that Peng, Lu, Gi, An should be treated any more important than brush knee, repulse monkey, or right separate leg. After all it's the finish moves that you will need to end a fight such as turn around hammer (a punch to the head) or separate leg (a kick to the nuts).

I prefer to spend more time to train my finish moves.

[Bao]

hi David,
Well I don't practice either Sun taiji or bagua. However, watching Auyang Feng do Repulse Monkey underscores Tim's point on that particular series (including transitions), for me. Tim wasn't saying that the single-palm change was the basis for Repulse Monkey in Sun's taijiquan--only that it very broadly served the same function (change in direction) and some of the applications could be worked in a similar fashion. Not a particularly shocking statement, and when he demonstrated what he meant, it seemed very clear.

Ok then, Tom. Thanks for explaining further what what you meant.

Perhaps a little more imagination.

When it comes to imagination I have sort of a restricted view, maybe you could call it boring. ...

I believe that imagination will serve you best if you know something really well. If you don't, it easily turns into specualations, and you will not know for sure if it will lead you in the right path (being useful and productive) or not (waste your time) until you have spent sufficient time exploring your thoughts in actual practice. Any kind of cold talk or intricate speculation that does not lead you further on your path is a waste of time and effort. But if you are willing to test ideas in a most practical manner, and not merely think or speculate about things, imagination can be very important. On the other hand, if intellectual work will help someone to break the barriers of in-action and help him to activate himself, I guess any kind of imaginary speculation can have a positive result for your practice.

Cheers,
David

[cdobe]

What in your opinion is the most useful movement, or small sequence of movements in either Yang or Wu style Taiji?

If it's been mentioned already i didn't see it, but grasp the sparrow's tail is the keystone to Yang style. If you don't understand GST then you don't understand Yang style. Most of your time should be spent on it. Same should go for any Yang derivative like Wu2.

However, that's not my opinion. That's widely known in yang style.

Dave C.

The GST of Wu2 style isn't the same posture as in Yang style. Only the name is the same.

CD