Hello, all! I have recently begun training in Chen style xinyi Hunyuan and am wondering if the principles shared from YMAA sources applies. Less specifically, individual techniques, but rather, the principles. I am hoping crossover of concepts between Yang and Chen are not so dissimilar that they cannot still be of value (eight moving patterns, directional movement, etc). I understand there are significant differences in the two, but (because I am quite new) am wondering if the Yang based material can still serve as a good resource or reference material.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Out of curiosity, do you stretch before practice? Do your masters and teachers recommend it?

One of my masters said we shouldn't do it (basically, I understood that it complicates combat readiness outside the training).

I recall another master saying that the Yi Lu already counts as stretching.

On the other hand, in my early practice with a more sports-aligned group, stretching was strongly encouraged.

EDIT:

Thanks for the comments, everyone. My initial curiosity was more about the different approaches between traditional and modernized practice groups, but some things you said encouraged me to read further about preliminary stretches.

Hello everyone,

This week I am hosting a free Taiji class on zoom that anyone is welcome to join. This is part of an online Daoist community that I run. Everyone should be able to experience Taiji!

I have been practicing and teaching Daoism for 15 years and I love nothing more than seeing people benefit greatly from these precious teachings.

Class time and day (8:30am Sydney Australia time on Saturday).

Time converter:

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20241108T213000&p1=240

If you want to join just let me know. :)

Any studios that are legit in the chicago land area, I would actually prefer the south west suburbs around Naperville aurora bolingbrook etc.

Hi all, I have been relatively inactive for the last few years and my relationship with exercise is very on and off. I wanted to look into physical activities that could get me moving but also something I can sustain for decades. I've only ever heard about tai chi here and there so just looking for general insight. Is this a good starting point? what should I expect? How do I get involved with it, YouTube videos or find a studio or local community center tai chi classes etc? any insight would be great. I also am in my 20s, I always see tai chi practitioners be a bit older, I dont think age matters but do I have to take that into consideration? Thanks

Hi All, I'm a yoga teacher who is fond of learning Tai Chi and Qi Gong. Any suggestions for certified schools to learn this art in South Asia? TIA

I found an easy two step way to translate youtube videos that is working very well for me. If you find a video in another language, you can have it transcribed to text by using Turboscribe: https://turboscribe.ai/dashboard

Turboscribe allows you 3 free transcriptions a day. You simply provide the URL and in a few minutes you have a beautiful time stamped transcription.

Next, copy/paste the text into chatgpt. So far, Chatgpt has been very accurate in translations. Turboscribe has a translation option, but it's not as good as goint to chatgpt directly.

With chatgpt you can interact and ask questions if you don't want to follow the time stamp. Not sure if it helps but I tell chatgpt it's a martial arts/tai chi video transcript for context.

Enjoy the new world opened up to you! I'm very grateful for this technology. If you recall the Feng video I posted a short time ago, it was pricelesss to watch him teach a student, but the translation opened another dimension to it. This also helps in videos where the teacher might be saying "don't do it like this" and I have already seen this in multiple videos.

hi all, I keep reading that sun style is a fusion of the two plus TaiChi, but beside the follow step (that I can see in some wu forms too, and I reckon lutang learned this style of TaiChi before developing his own style) are there other principles borrowed from those two MAs?

looking at the forms I can't see much of them, but then again, without a competent teacher of this style (or any style, sadly) I've no one to ask.

any idea?

Please help to clarify a question I’ve had for some time nagging at my brain. We know that the name ‘Taijiquan’ was only coined in the mid nineteenth century (by Weng Tonghe?), then why is it that the Taijiquan classic & treatise were named that way if they were supposedly written even earlier?

I’m not questioning the authenticity of the salt shop manuals (at least that is not my intention right now, that’s a whole other can of worms); I just want to know if there’s a good answer I’m just not aware of.

Hey!

So Im wanting to start getting into Tai Chi, Ive read a lot of people suggesting you have to find a good teacher, which im open to doing, but my question is, what does a good tai chi teacher look actually look like?

In my area (Brisbane, Australia), all i can find are $10 classes in the park for elderly people, no information about the instructor or anything like that, Im not sure where to look for a teacher or how to determine if they are good,

I really want to learn Tai Chi correctly and avoid mistakes with self teaching. I am interested in it because of my growing interest in Daoism and as such im very happy to find and pay a teacher so i learn correctly, I just dont know where to look and what to look for

TIA!

hi all. what do you think about sifu Chester Lin mastery courses on internal TaiChi skills? you can find them here https://www.phoenixmountaintaichi.com/pages/online_courses_page (I'm referring to the mastery ones, not the qigong ones or the form)

I'm halfway through the fascia mastery program and really liking it.

it's quite expensive (particularly if you look at the whole "mastery curriculum") but he seems to teach some of those "closed door disciples" secrets.

the fascia course is the most basic one, but trying what I'm learning there I can tell it does really work like 'magic' as you see in certain videos.

tapping opponent fascia is not easy (you have to be extremely light, else you go for muscles or bones, thus failing in the connection with them) but if you do it well enough (there's margin of error but it's not big) you can use his fascia to disrupt their equilibrium and control, thus with any kind of even very light leverage (weight shifting, waist turning etc) you can move a stronger non compiling person.

the song mastery one will focus on our own song (which is not exactly 'relax' as often described) to move someone without the use of strength at all.

I'll tell you if that one works as well as this one once I save enough.

the teacher is good at explaining everything, promptly answer questions (in his own online community or youtube) and seems very knowledgeable.

you can check his YouTube channel here https://youtube.com/@phoenixmountaintaichi?si=9-dgPjFlJrVwF5xw

also one of his most known students is Susan Thompson https://m.youtube.com/@InternalTaiChi she has some demos of moving random strangers she find on the streets using those skills.

I suffer from MDD, and Anxiety. I was looking to treatments past my current treatment plan, which involves a psychiatrist, therapist, and medications.

I've been suffering with both of these, including OCD and a few other issues since I was a child, and stumbled across tai chi. I have never tried meditation, or any kinds of exercises like this, but it said it helps a lot with stress.

I would like to know of a few beginner moves, or what people with more knowledge think would be a good starting point for me, that I could try on my own, before deciding weather or not to go and actually sign up for this, especially because it can be expensive, and hard to find a good trainer.

Any information would be appreciated.

hi all, I've been studying with the taoist wellness academy for one and half year for several reasons (Daoism + TaiChi + cheap + no decent instructor in a 50km radius)

now I'm not willing to delve into the controversy of whether what they teach is decent TaiChi for combat or it's 'authentic old wudang' (I don't think it is)

what I'd like an opinion about is if you think master gu (15th generation wudang Sanfeng pai) and master yunlong (14th generation sanfeng Pai and his teacher) teach the same style.

now, the forms themselves ( I've learned 33, 28, 13) are clearly the same, however there are striking differences between them.

I get that maybe Gu simplified them a bit to teach online (but in demo videos, even previous to the online academy, he was doing them like this) but some mechanics are very different.

the easiest one to spot is the vertical spine (something akin to CMC style) vs yunlong often leaning forward doing circles (like wushu or chen style)

now, if master gu was an ordinary person learning a style and then modifying it, teaching it as his own, that would not surprise me... but he is close to his master academy, teaching sanfeng Pai TaiChi (supposedly with yunlong explicit permission) as next generation inheritor... that's the thing that get me confused....

it's not small difference that can happen between generations, they are mechanical differences...

Yunlong 13 form https://youtu.be/t6C1tFbQ5-w?si=FgzzCRsXixxgfr6u

Gu 13 form https://youtu.be/S3qtsShGkbQ?si=peDOlZsgrZsoaAJ3