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Yang the
Invincible
The Yang style of tai chi was developed by
the martial arts
legend
Yang Lu-chan.
Yang Lu-chan's nickname was 'Yang-the-Invincible'.
He is famous for teaching his tai chi to the
Manchu Emperor's elite
palace
guards.
1950's China
Faced with a major health crisis, the People's
Republic of China turned to Yang style tai chi for a solution.
Just think about what that means...
Yang style tai chi's reputation for fitness was so
well founded that the government of China
thought to employ the art officially as a means of improving
wellbeing.
The art was introduced to schools nationwide.
One should note that right from its creation, Yang tai chi has always
been combat-oriented. The set should be practiced with its martial
applications in mind. These applications may be taught through the set,
individual movement explanations, tui shou (push hands), san shou (fixed-step
sparring) and san da (free sparring).
(Alex Yeo)
Yang style?
People may look at different versions
of the Yang style of tai chi and
wonder whether or not they even qualify as Yang style.
There are so many interpretations being taught.
This is a reasonable question.
What are you observing?
When watching somebody perform
Yang style tai chi are you watching
form,
application,
combat
or partner work?
Which form?
What skill level is being demonstrated?
Is this a public form or a
martial form?
Has the teacher got martial
skill or do they only teach
tai chi for health?
Can you actually
understand what you are
watching?
Which version?
When a beginner learns a tai chi form they cannot conceivably start
with an advanced rendition of the form.
They learn a crude, introductory version: the slow/square form.
This is the version usually shown to the public. There are many
versions. Newcastle Tai Chi students explore an advanced version of the
old/classical Yang
style tai chi. We don't do the new kind.
Form changes
As the student gains
skill, the form
changes. It looks more rounded and flowing.
Eventually, the form becomes more
martial.
Which stage?
To learn any form, a student passes through
8 distinct stages:
The pattern
Shen (fighting spirit/martial intent)
Whole-body strength (neigong)
Whole-body movement form)
Whole-body power (jing)
Natural-feeling body use
These stages are inevitable and necessary.
Most people never reach stage 2 and few get past stage 3.
The Chen form derived from
battlefield military movements, where people wore medieval body armour that
had to be compensated for. The Chen-style stances were specifically designed
to achieve these compensations and obtain a workable position from which to
realistically throw an armoured opponent.
By the time Yang had reached Beijing, times had changed. With the advent of
firearms, battlefield armour became obsolete; hence, the need for techniques
to deal with armoured foes had passed.
Yang and his students had to deal with situations encountered by bodyguards,
not armies opposing each other.
(Bruce Frantzis)
Long Yang form
The classical Yang form may be called many different names.
This is OK.
However, the
order of the
movements should be fairly consistent
from school to school.
Long Yang or Long Boxing involves -
high frame, small circle, reeling silk and a notable combat emphasis. Cold
jing, chin na and shuai jiao are trained as integral features within this
version.
Agility, nimbleness and power are important. Usage is the key. Pragmatism
and practicality. Generation of force using minimal movement and
transmission of mass.
This is the Long Yang style sequence. It is not to be confused with tai chi
'fast form'.
Short forms
Simplistic forms are known as 'short forms'. They have many movements omitted and tend not to be
martial.
Yang Cheng Fu style
Some people believe that they are practicing "Yang Cheng Fu style"
tai chi.
Is this accurate?
Surely only Yang Cheng Fu practiced tai chi in the Yang Cheng Fu way.
Even the most faithful rendition cannot account for his proclivities,
personality, preferences. Is there any way of knowing if he even shared his most
advanced practice?
Yang Cheng Fu form
Most people only talk about one Yang Cheng Fu form.
What about his other material? His pushing hands? His combat applications?
His neigong?
Are you accurately
reproducing
this too?
Who can say for sure?
Your art, your version
Yang Cheng Fu was very big and
fat.
This fact will have influenced how he performed his art.
A smaller, more
nimble
person would not benefit from emulating Yang Cheng Fu.
They should instead train the Yang style in a manner that suits their
own body and their own aptitude.
Follow The
Tai Chi Classics.
Is it really Yang style?
A lot of modern classes purport to be
teaching Yang style tai chi, but are they? Common
approaches you may encounter:
Tai chi for health & fitness
Tai chi tailored for the elderly
Tai chi tailored for specific medical problems i.e. arthritis
Tai chi-style exercise
Tai chi as performance art
Numbered forms (i.e. 24 step)
Tai chi as dance
Tai chi offered alongside other martial arts by an instructor who practices a variety of external martial arts
Tai chi classes offered by a so-called instructor who 'learned it from a book' or has a 'fast track' or 'long distance' qualification
Tai chi as an add-on to something
else, e.g. Alexander Technique "Let's do a bit
of tai chi"
Common methods within Yang style tai chi
If you were to look on-line for examples of Yang style tai chi, you'd pretty
quickly realise that what Sifu Waller teaches isn't the common approach. It
looks unorthodox.
It certainly isn't what most tai chi teachers are doing. e.g. typically
Yang style exponents lean notably forward at the hip and straighten the rear
leg.
By contrast, we align vertically and relax the hip kwa and legs. We are
doing the 'Long Yang' version.
Yang style has something of the
feeling of 'killer energy' about it; it is more martial in appearance.
A
spectator can see the applications of the movements when they watch the
form.
(Master Xu Shu
Song)
What is the reason for the differences?
Most people are training a
'public'/outdoor version of tai chi. Also, usually tai chi for health;
whether they realise it or not.
There are very few examples of indoor tai chi on-line.
Some people show a little of their own indoor lineage (e.g. Richard Clear)
but most instructors either don't know the indoor stuff or are following
tradition (and decline to reveal it publicly).
Tai chi fighting method
The differences between Yang style
approaches are worth some consideration.
Remember: the old Yang style tai chi is a martial art.
It is an advanced method. Is this what you are learning?
Page created
1 May 1995
Last updated
18 April
2001
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