New Format
TaiChiNotebook is almost ten years old! I posted the first blog entry—on 32-sword—in July 2014. I was at the beginning of my journey, studying traditional Yang and Chen style Tai Chi at a local school. I was just discovering the modern forms, starting…
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Traditional Wu-style Long Form
[See my previous post introducing Wu-style Tai Chi] Each of the major styles of Tai Chi has a traditional long form, and all of the long forms follow the same deep logic. The Wu-style long form tracks the Yang 108 quite closely, so…
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Yangtze River
Before I left for China in 2017, I tried to tell my Chinese friends where I’d be going. This was, as always, a challenge, since I speak almost no conversational Chinese (only Taijiese!) and only a few of them speak any English at…
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Wu-Style Tai Chi
I started learning Wu-style Tai Chi a few years ago, but it wasn’t until this year that I really started to feel I was getting the hang of it. I love it! The Wu name comes from 吴全佑 Wú Quán yòu (1834–1902), who…
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Yang/Chen Side-by-Side (3)
Continuing the Yang and Chen style comparison project (scroll down for the first and second posts in this series), the third video starts with the second set of Cloud Hands and finishes with 收势 Shōu Shì (Closing Form). Again, I am an old…
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Yang/Chen Side-by-Side (2)
Continuing the Yang and Chen style comparison project (see the first post in this series), the second video starts with the Single Whip before the first Cloud Hands and finishes with the Single Whip after Fair Lady Works the Shuttle. This segment was…
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Yang/Chen Side-by-Side (1)
I’ve just completed a study comparing the Yang and Chen styles of Tai Chi. The two styles look and feel quite distinct, but the one (Yang) is derived from the other (Chen) and retains much of its essential content. In an earlier post…
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New Tai Chi Books
This year, I have acquired a couple of books that I can recommend. One is an instructional manual by Chen Zhenglei for Laojia Yilu and Erlu. I’ve been using it as a review of Laojia Yilu, in connection with a video project comparing…
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Yi Jian Mei Revisited
I first learned this beautiful sword form in 2016. It is unusually dramatic and theatrical, having its origin in a hugely popular song and both television and film dramas, the latter dating back to 1931. This time around I found the following video…
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The Sword of Li Jinglin (3)
Continuing from The Sword of Li Jinglin (2), chapters 6-11 of the treatise (I am using the Brennan Translation) describe how training progresses from solo practice to two-person sparring sets and then to free-sparring. Here, Li Tianji demonstrates a two-person sparring set in…
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The Sword of Li Jinglin (2)
Continuing from The Sword of Li Jinglin (1), the 1931 treatise defines 13 essential sword techniques and eight grips. In the treatise, the word 势 Shì, meaning forms or powers, is used for the sword techniques. Usually, I see the word 法 fǎ…
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The Sword of Li Jinglin (1)
Li Jinglin (1885–1931) was a military leader during China’s Warlord Era. The Qing Dynasty, China’s last, was overthrown in 1912, and regional armies controlled the country for a couple of decades after that. The political history of that period is kalaidescopic and tumultuous,…
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Huawu Fan Review
This has come to be my favorite fan form, partly because this time around I found and used the teaching videos of Master Zeng Nailiang himself, creator of the form. Read about him here: Kung Fu Magazine-Professor Zeng Nailiang. To me the most…
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28-Step Tai Chi Fan
After a year and a half of isolation, my long-time neighborhood weekend practice group has resumed its routine, and I am so glad. At a nearby park, we start with about a half-hour of basics: baduanjin (the eight brocades qigong), 24, 42, 32-sword,…
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Xi Yang Mei
This famous fan form was created in the early two thousands by Li Deyin as part of the pageantry that surrounded the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is the second of two fan forms that Li composed for that occasion. The first was Kung…
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