Tai Ji

Everyone tells you to exercise. You tell yourself to exercise. You feel yourself getting stiffer and worry about your future mobility as well as your health. You aren’t sure about gyms and you’re not sure about what to do. An alternative is the Chinese martial art Tai Ji.

Tai Ji started many years ago as a family self defense art that helped defend the Chen family from bandits and marauders. The Emperors armies didn’t leave the imperial city to defend villages. They had to defend themselves. The Chen family developed an effective art that let them defend against aggressors. This took many generations.

In the first part of the 19th century the patriarch of the Chen family, Chen Chang Xing decided to allow their long-time bond servant, Yang Lu Chan to become proficient in the Chen family art. After Yang Lu Chan’s bond period was up, he took his art to Beijing. He modified it and created what is now the most popular Tai Ji form, the Yang form. Later, one of Yang’s students, Wu Yu Xiang, who studied with both Yang and Chen Qing Ping, developed the Wu form which is the second most popular form in the world. Originally all the Tai Ji methods were true martial arts. They were used for defending and hurting if necessary.

Towards the end of the 19th century several Tai Ji teachers noticed that practitioners of Tai Ji were living longer healthier lives. They knew this meant they could get more students based on health concerns. They modified their teaching and added some Qi Gong to appeal to people looking to have healthier lives. This worked because Tai Ji improves the joints, it strengthens the legs, so the heart is healthier and breathing becomes deeper and more relaxed. Today millions of people study Tai Ji all over the world. It is easy to learn and creates an internal space of peace and health.

What we will be teaching in Dryden Community Center is the Wu form, specifically the Northern Wu Style Tai Ji Quan. We will be learning the substantial Wu 45 created by the lineage master Li Bing Ci of Beijing, who just recently passed.

What can you expect by studying Wu style Tai Ji? Over time you will start breathing deeper and slower, your joints will become more supple, your legs will become very strong. After some time, you will start moving as a unit, not in disparate parts. You will become more balanced and not fear falling. Your heart will become stronger. Maybe more importantly you will develop a positive view of yourself and view the world as something beautiful and amazing.

You will learn the form gradually with the whole class. You will learn some Qi Gong such as the Eight Brocades and practice chi cultivation that will strengthen and increase your chi field and perhaps extend your life. Slowly we will move into Push Hands to increase your ability to feel your balance with a fellow student as a foil. Push Hands is not competition. It is the art of increasing your ability to feel force and counter it by relaxing rather than resisting.

I’ve been studying and teaching Wu style for more than 25 years including the Wu 45, the Wu Long Form, the Wu Jian Sword Form and the Wu Saber Form. I studied the Yang Form for many years. My teachers of the Wu forms are Frank Allen and Tina Cunna Zhang of New York City. I am a 4th degree black belt (Master) in Hapkido and a 3rd degree black belt in Tang So Do under Grand Master Yong Man Lee. I studied with him until his death (more than 30 years). For many of those years I have taught. I love working with beginners because that is the foundation of all arts, with beginners. I will accommodate all levels of experience and make sure that the environment is friendly, open and creative. If you want to change your life and your life’s trajectory, come join us in the adventure of learning Tai Ji.