tai chi

[stonecrusher69]

I noticed you study Chen style in NYC..Is your sifu Master Ren Guang Yi?

[Juniper]

(Isn't the ultimate purpose of martial arts to learn how not to fight? )

I do agree, though, that if the martial application of Tai Chi was being taught, the forms that are out there would definitely improve. I'm growing more and more concerned about this "feel good" and "improves the health" Tai Chi industry forming when the true application of the art is very martial and very deadly.

It makes my teeth hurt when I see those stupid arthritis pain relieving ads on t.v. that show people practicing Tai Chi , knowing full well that this is stylized stuff that does not even come close to illustrating what truly practicing the art is.

Finding a good teacher with many years of experience who understands this is very difficult nowadays.

[MenteReligieuse]

My sifu also teaches Chen Taiji at my school. When doing chisao (sticky hands) with advanced students who also learn taiji I noticed they are better at controlling my movements and are more fluid in doing so. You often hear it takes years/decades to be able to fight with taichi, but I think that if you apply taiji principles to an other style (like Wing Chun in this case) you can really improve much faster . I have yet to find the time to learn taiji on top of my wing chun .

Someone talked about the slow movements in taiji. I read somewhere that internal arts often are performed slowly so that it works out every muscle fibers. When performing quick movements your fibers work in "groups", while when you take several minutes to complete a movement each fibers gets worked out individually. I could be wrong, I'm sure someone will point it out if this makes no sense .