Class Content

To say that one “practices tai chi” means a  great variety of things to different people.  This is where taichi already heads down a path of ambiguity before the first movement even begins.  To “practice” means that you can be standing, doing vigorous exercise, meditating, or improving fighting application.  Simple postures can be extremely demanding on your body to the point that you are sweating or can be euphoric.  To do “tai chi” can mean that you are doing concrete, tangible movements, or that you are studying the process of a simple action (breathing) and debating abstractly how the process applies to unrelated events (finances).  How TaiChi is defined is based solely on a person’s intent.

Tai Chi’s beauty lies in the fact that people of different backgrounds, ages, and body types, can come together to partake in a mutual agenda and yet achieve completely disparate goals.  A secondary advantage of tai chi is that progress that is made in “practice” invades other areas of your life.  Proper practice does not exist in a two-hour block each week but is married to other daily events such as work and familiy life.   On the surface this seems extremely lofty and not so easy to accomplish (it is!).  However, progess is made by concentrating on the minute aspects of training.

The goal of the Chen Tai Chi Association of Austin is to pursue a complete curriculum that includes many activities that improve tai chi abilities.  Many practitioners use the forms as the sole focus of their practice.  We, instead, seek practice that builds energy, stability, strength, and flexibility and use the forms (open-hand or weapon) as a measure of our progress.

Austin Chen Tai Chi Class Flier

Class content:

1. Chen Taichi Warm-up Exercises (As taught by Chen Youze)
2. Qi Gong
   1. Zhan Zhuang  (Standing Qi Gong)
      1. Standing Presented by Chen Xiao Wang
      2. Pronounciation in Pile Stance
      3. Chen Qing Zhou on Youtube demonstrating tones and Pile Stance
      4. Standing Meditation Case Study Shared Example
   2. Standing Exercises for Qi Cultivation
      1. Guide to Standing Meditation
      2. Standing Article by Mark Chen
      3. Chen Youze Interview on Relaxation
      4. Three Standing Qi Gong Sets
         1. Lower Cycling Standing Qi Gong Set
         2. Circulating Qi Standing Qi Gong Set
         3. Standing Qi Gong
   3. Silk Reeling
      1. Complete Silk Reeling Set – Video:  54 minutes
      2. Silk Reeling Book by Feng Zhiqiang
      3. Three Main Silk Reeling Exercises with Notes
      4. Additional Sil Reeling Drills
         1. Forward/Backward Double Big Silk Reeling Drill (正反雙大纏絲)
         2. Forward/Backward Double Silk Reeling Drill (正反雙纏絲)
         3. Taiji Basic Practice Drills: Tai Chi Stepping Technique and 8 energy drills (太極基本勁路練法: 步法訓練, 掤捋擠按採挒肘靠訓練) 
3. Technical Practice
   1. Pole Shaking
   2. 8-Energy Movements (Pung, Lu, Gi,, An, Sai, Lai, Jo, Cow)
   3. Tai Chi Sphere (Ball)  Read about the history and use
      1. Tai Chi Sphere (Ball) Video
4. Open Hand and Weapons Frames
   1. Lao Jia Yi Lu (Old Frame First Routine) Great Video demonstration by Chen Youze
   2. Lao Jia Yi Lu (Old Frame First Routine) PDF
   3. Lao Jia Er Lu (Old Frame Second Routine, also known as Cannon Fist)
   4. 26 Movement Form (erh shyr lio)
      1. Chen Tai Chi Short Form Practice Follow-Along
      2. List of 26 Movements
      3. Chen Style Tai CHi 26 Movement Short Form Grandmaster Chen Youze 陳有則老師
      4. 26 Movement Form Video – Chen Youze Outside
   5. Broad Sword (Dao)  Broad Sword video with Grand master Zhu Tiancai
      • Chen Tai Chi Broad Sword Learning Example – Slow
      • Chen Tai Chi Broad Sword Learning Example – At Speed
   6. Chen Tai chi Sword Form – Grand Master Chen Youze (Jian) 
   7. Long Pole (Cháng gān)
      1. Long Pole Video Example
      2. Tai Chi Long Pole – What You Need to Know
      3. Chen Style Tai Chi Long Pole Beginner Basics – Here is a slow example of the Long Pole form with a high stance and minimal use of power to learn choreography.
   8. An Introduction to Tai Chi Pole Shaking
   9. Standing Pole-Shaking Exercises – 4 directions in a sequence
   10. Spear
       1. Spear Form Moves – (Li Hua Chiang)  –
       2. Spear Video
       3. Why You May Need to Learn the Tai Chi Spear Form
5. World Tai Chi Day Pushhands Demonstration
6. Pushhands (Tui Shou)   Notes on 5 Pushhands Patterns
   1. Single
   2. Double
   3. Double (Da Lu)
   4. Fixed-step
   5. Moving

This content was gathered throughout training sessions, workshops, and research by Scott Prath of Tai Chi Basics.