Stances
In teaching new students I am continuously reminded that the stances in Taiji can be hard to get at first.
Maybe they are not strange to dancers, fencers, boxers and other athletes, and they are definitely not foreign to martial artists. ‘Refugees’ from other martial arts come to taiji classes well versed in stances and they can see the differences and understand their importance.
In my typical qigong ‘warm up’, three of the moves use the horse stance (mǎbù (馬步) in Chinese, kiba-dachi (騎馬立ち) (or shiko-dachi (四股立)) in Japanese, and juchum seogi (주춤 서기) or annun seogi (lit. sitting stance) in Korean - Wikipedia). This is really excellent strength training for the legs.
Fair lady weaves at shuttles - four corners
This is a challenging section for beginners and intermediates alike. Lots of turns, lots of footwork. In an attempt to help you make progress at home in between lessons, I am setting out nine steps that take you from single whip to single whip.
Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail
Peng - Ward Off, Lu - Roll Back, Ji - Press, An - Push.
The familiar moves have specific vectors of movement.
Do you know what they are?
Cheng Style Taijiquan
Wutan’s version of Cheng’s form as adapted and considerably shortened from the Yang Long Form.
My own notes are here and are more detailed and potentially more confusing. This presentation might suit a more confident and/or experienced student.
Presented verbatim from The Path of the Complete Martial Artist (sometimes referred to as the ‘White Book’), Wutan KungFu International (WKI), They SoonTuan, pp 69-70, March 1991, £10.
Short Form - deeper
There are five main family styles of Tai Chi, and Wutan schools start by teaching the Yang family style (link).
Specifically, the head of our school, Master They Soon Tuan, recommends we initially teach what is colloquially called ‘Short Form’.
The Short Form comes in many variations. The one we teach consists of thirty seven ‘postures’, and is much abbreviated from Yang’s original ‘long form’, but can still take anywhere from six to ten minutes to complete when focusing carefully on technique and breathing.
Wutan’s ‘Yang’ short form is actually derived from a form created by Cheng Man-ch’ing (Zheng Manqing and sometimes referred to as ‘CMC’) (link), who studied with Yang Chengfu for a number of years.
Short Form - An Aide Memoir
Tai Chi ‘Short Form’ after Cheng Man-ch'ing (or Zheng Manqing).
Always forgetting the sequence of moves? We hope this helps.
Each ‘section’ finishes / starts with Single Whip.