This is going to be the weirdest tai chi lesson you have ever had. I've never had a lesson in tai chi, you see, but my tai chi chuan is the best. I don't mean to be self serving, but let us see what you think after you have read how I came up with my tai chi.
I began learning tai chi with a book, Modified Tai Chi for Health by Lee Ying Arng. Every night I spent hours memorizing the form, trying to figure out the applications, trying to figure out the meaning. And, tell the truth, it didn't mean much.
So I went through books by Chen Man Ching, and I read Chen and Yang and Wu and Sun, but they all spoke this gobbledegook that didn't make sense. So I began doing my Karate, I had near ten years experience in Kang Duk Won karate, and the thing started to resolve. I was using good, old karate power to juice up the form, and it worked, and then I was able to make what was happening into Tai Chi power.
More important, I was throwing out all the mysticism and bushwah philosophy I read in the books and using something called physics. The martial arts, you see, as transmitted with eastern methodology, are taught through the memorization of random strings of data. In physics you look for a reason, and you find a logic, and you look for a concept.
Now, ancient stories claim tai chi was created in a dream by san feng after he watched a bird and a snake fight. Or, it was started by a general in a village, who was retired from war and wanted to make up games for the children. Neither of these concepts have much verifiable validity, but we can't just discount them out of hand.
Maybe the general in Chen village couldn't do the martial arts the way they should be done, and maybe he actually came up with something unique. And the vision of the snake and the crane, though I am a true believer in physics I would not speak ill of visions, for visions are the dreams and inspiration of the human race. Still, whether rehabilitation of the broken warrior, or the stuff of dreams, tai chi does not make sense without the application of physics.
So this is what I want you to do, I want you to go to a library and get a book on physics. Make it a simple book, kids pictures for illustrations, that sort of thing. It would really help if it was about a motor.
Now, peruse that book, and start comparing terms are the same as in tai chi chuan. Rooting is grounding, where is the generator, what are these things called leads and so on. Do that, and when the depths of your tai chi chuan start to alter, do not come complaining to me.
I began learning tai chi with a book, Modified Tai Chi for Health by Lee Ying Arng. Every night I spent hours memorizing the form, trying to figure out the applications, trying to figure out the meaning. And, tell the truth, it didn't mean much.
So I went through books by Chen Man Ching, and I read Chen and Yang and Wu and Sun, but they all spoke this gobbledegook that didn't make sense. So I began doing my Karate, I had near ten years experience in Kang Duk Won karate, and the thing started to resolve. I was using good, old karate power to juice up the form, and it worked, and then I was able to make what was happening into Tai Chi power.
More important, I was throwing out all the mysticism and bushwah philosophy I read in the books and using something called physics. The martial arts, you see, as transmitted with eastern methodology, are taught through the memorization of random strings of data. In physics you look for a reason, and you find a logic, and you look for a concept.
Now, ancient stories claim tai chi was created in a dream by san feng after he watched a bird and a snake fight. Or, it was started by a general in a village, who was retired from war and wanted to make up games for the children. Neither of these concepts have much verifiable validity, but we can't just discount them out of hand.
Maybe the general in Chen village couldn't do the martial arts the way they should be done, and maybe he actually came up with something unique. And the vision of the snake and the crane, though I am a true believer in physics I would not speak ill of visions, for visions are the dreams and inspiration of the human race. Still, whether rehabilitation of the broken warrior, or the stuff of dreams, tai chi does not make sense without the application of physics.
So this is what I want you to do, I want you to go to a library and get a book on physics. Make it a simple book, kids pictures for illustrations, that sort of thing. It would really help if it was about a motor.
Now, peruse that book, and start comparing terms are the same as in tai chi chuan. Rooting is grounding, where is the generator, what are these things called leads and so on. Do that, and when the depths of your tai chi chuan start to alter, do not come complaining to me.
About the Author:
Al Case has studied martial arts 4O years. He began Tai Chi Chuan in 1974, became a writer for the mags in 1981, and originated Matrixing Technolgy, which is the study of physics in the martial arts. You can get a free ebook on Matrixing at Monster Martial Arts.
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