My Current Reading List

“Don’t just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person. Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents.”
-  Epictetus, The Art of Living 

My current reading list includes the following:

Stoicism and the Art of Happiness.  By Donald Robertson.  New York, McGraw Hill, 2013, 2015.  Index, bibliography, notes, 245 pages.  Series: Teach Yourself: Philosophy and Religion.  ISBN: 139781444187106.  VSCL.  

Meditations.  By Marcus Aurelius.  Translated by Martin Hammond.  Illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith.  Introduction by Diskin Clay.  Hardcover Classics.  New York, Penguin Classics, Reissue Edition, 2015.  416 pages.  ISBN: 978-0141395869.  VSCL.

Stoicism Today: Selected Writings.  By Patrick Ussher.  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.  202 pages.  Volume 1.  ISBN: 978-1502401922.  VSCL.  

From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present.  By Professor Jacques Barzun.  New York, Harper Perennial, 2001.  912 pages.  ISBN: 978-0060928834.  VSCL.   

Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault  By Pierre Hadot.  Edited with an introduction by Arnold Davidson.  Wiley-Blackwell, 1995.  320 pages.  ISBN: 978-0631180333.  VSCL.  

I am going to participate in the Stoic Week online workshop from November 2nd to November 8th, 2015.  You can sign up for the free workshop starting on October 26th.  The theme of the Stoic Week workshop for 2015 is: Modern-Day Meditations on Marcus Aurelius.  


How to Live a Good Life

Notebooks of an Old Philosopher 

Virtues 

  

Chen Style Taijiquan Reading

The Essence of Taijiquan.  By David Gaffney and Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim.  CreateSpace Publishing, 2012.  Interviews, bibliography, 288 pages.  ISBN: 978-1500609238.  VSCL.  

Chen Style Taijiquan: The Source of Taiji Boxing.  By Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim and David Gaffney.  Berkeley, CA, North Atlantic Books, 2002.  Index, charts, 224 pages.  ISBN: 1556433778.   Provides an excellent introduction to Chen style Taijiquan history and legends, outlines the major forms, discusses the philosophy and foundations of the art, and gives very good information on training methods, push hands, and weapons.  Very well written, highly informative, and a unique contribution to the field.  Essential reading for all learning the Chen style of Tai Chi Chuan.  The Hand Forms (Taolu) are described on pp. 110-141.  [Sim & Gaffney 2002]  VSCL.  

Gaffney and Siaw-Voon Sim are advanced Chen Taijiquan teachers.  They studied for many years with Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang in China, and with many other top Chen Taijiquan teachers.  They are very knowledgeable and highly skilled in Chen Taijiquan.  

I have been rereading "The Essence of Taijiquan."  Highly informative!  Excellent information on Taijiquan training principles, methods, and progression.  Strong emphasis upon training for combat skills.  Interesting observations about everyday life in the Chen village, ancestor respect and rituals, and overcoming the repression of the Maoist Cultural Revolution.

Chen T'ai Chi Ch'uan:  Forms, Bibliography, Weapons, Links, Resources


Chen Style Taijiquan, Old Frame First Form, Lao Jia Yi Lu
By Michael P. Garofalo.  

This webpage includes a detailed bibliography of books, media, and articles.  Extensive selection of Internet links. 
List of movement names in English, Chinese characters, Chinese Pinyin, French, German, and Spanish; and citations for sources of the movement names. 
Detailed list of DVDs and videos available online.
Extensive notes on the author's learning the Old Frame, First Routine, Lao Jia Yi Lu; and on learning Chen Style Taijiquan. 
Record of performance times of this form by many masters. 
Breakdown by sections of the form, with separate lists for each section.  General information, history, facts, information, pointers, and quotations.  

Roads Go Ever On

As I walk 3.6 miles in the morning, four days each week, I enjoy the interplay of all the senses and the kinesthetic exuberance of the flowing movement.  The scenery along my safe rural walking path is beautiful and changing with the seasons.  While walking, I mostly am just walking, and sometimes thinking, reflecting, contemplating, or meditating.  These experiences are something I treasure.  Walking is beneficial for my heart, and helps me keep my diabetes under control.  Walking is an integral component of my regular Sadhana ... my "spiritual" practices.  

"If you want to know if your brain is flabby, feel your legs." 
-  Bruce Barton   

"Think with your whole body."
-  Taisen Deshimaru

”If you want to find the answers to the Big Questions about your soul, you’d best begin with the Little Answers about your body.”
-  George Sheehan

"Isn't it really quite extraordinary to see that, since man took his first step, no one has asked himself why he walks, how he walks, if he has ever walked, if he could walk better, what he achieves in walking .. questions that are tied to all the philosophical, psychological, and political systems which preoccupy the world."
-  Honoré de Balzac, Theorie de la Demarché   

Walking: Quotations, Sayings, Facts, Lore, Poetry.  Compiled by Mike Garofalo.   

Somatic Practices for Health, Well-Being and Mindfulness

"Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains of the moon.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
An horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known."
-  J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Stand Up and Move

A typical American watches and average of 34 hours of television each week.  A few people don’t watch television and, of course, many people watch television more than 40 hours a week.  It has been reported that children aged 2-11 watch over 24 hours of TV per week, while adults aged 35-49 watch more than 33 hours a week. The average American watches more than five hours of television every day. Once we pass 65, the typical person watches more than seven hours a day.

 

Sitting and watching television for five to seven hours each day?? ... how tiresome.  And, sitting for long periods is very bad for your health.  Even more, most television programs and their incessant commercials are, for me, just boring, repetitious, and tiresome. 

So, a secret revealed:  You will get, on the average, 21 hours of “free” time every week by not sitting and watching more than 2 hours of television each day.  Even better, turn off your television for a month and you will get 136 hours of free time in that month.  And, another benefit is that by not sitting you will improve your health. 

"A monk asked Hsiang Lin, "What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?"
Hsiang Lin said, "Sitting for a long time becomes tiresome."

-  The Blue Cliff Record, Case 17, Translated by Thomas Cleary and J. C. Cleary, 2005, p 110




Standing Meditation

Walking Meditation

Gardening

Ways of Walking

Taijiquan Moving Meditation

It's Over When It Ends

Yogi Berra, baseball hall of fame player, coach and manager died Tuesday at the age of 90.  He won 10 World Series championships with the New York Yankees, an 18 time All Star player, and was a three time American League Player of the Year.  He took 21 teams to the World Series as a player, manager, or coach.  He also served in the Navy during World War II.  He was a decent and humorous fellow, and many Americans, especially Italian-Americans and New Yorkers, held him in very high regard.  

Yogi was also known for his humorous stories, jokes, quotes, misquotes, and malapropisms, to wit:

"You can observe a lot by just watching.
It ain't over 'til it's over.
I’ts like déjà vu all over again.
The future ain’t what it used to be.
We made too many wrong mistakes.
When you come to a fork in the road, take it.
You should always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise, they won’t come to yours.
A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore. 
Nobody goes there anymore.  It’s too crowded.
You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.
It gets late early out here.
Baseball is 90 percent mental.  The other half is physical.
I can’t think and hit at the same time.
I knew the record would stand until it was broken. 
We have deep depth.
If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.
I usually take a two hour nap from one to four.
I want to thank everyone for making this day necessary.
Never answer an anonymous letter. 
Pair up in threes. 
If people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.
You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there. 

His wife of 65 years, Carmen, once asked Yogi where he wanted to be buried, in St. Louis, New York or Montclair.  "I don't know," he said. "Why don't you surprise me?"

T'ai Chi Ch'uan Yang Style

Yang Family Style Tai Chi Chuan Traditional Long Form
By Michael P. Garofalo.
This webpage provides a list and brief description of the 108 movements of the Yang Style Taijiquan Long Form divided into five sections for teaching (.html and .pdf versions available). The webpage includes an extensive bibliography on the subject, scores of Internet links, historical notes, and quotations. 120Kb.

The Yang Long Form discussed on this webpage conforms to the form developed by Yang Cheng-Fu (1883-1936) and documented in books by Bu Fu Zongwen (1903-1994) and Yang Zhenduo. The numbering of the movements varies from author to author, but the essential sequence and moves remains the same.

Doing some research on the Yang style of T'ai Chi Ch'uan (85 and 24). Two books have caught me eye:

Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan.  Bu Fu Zongwen (1903-1994).  Translated by Louis Swaim.  Berkeley, California, North Atlantic Books, 1999.  Glossary, bibliography, 226 pages.  Translations of many Tai Chi classics are included.  A list of the 85 movement long form and detailed notes and descriptions of each movement are provided.  251 movement analysis illustrations.  Over 76 of the illustrations are traced and drawn from photographs of Yang Cheng-Fu.  Detailed descriptions of the long form, pp. 26-162.  Push hands information.  Yang Tai Chi essentials.  ISBN: 1556433182.  I have found this to be an excellent book!  This book was first published in 1963 in China as "Yang Shi Taijiquan".  An informative introduction and good translation by Louis Swaim.  VSCL.    
 
Taijiquan.  By Li Deyin.  London, Singing Dragon, 2004, 2008.  In English.  402 pages.  ISBN: 9781848190047, 1848190042.  Includes a complimentary DVD.  Includes descriptions, with photographs, of the 81 Yang Taijiquan form, Simplified 24 Taijiquan, Competition 42 Taijiquan, Competition 42 Taiji Sword, and the 32 Taiji Sword.  The Yang long form (81 Steps) includes photographs of Li Yulin performing the Yang long form in 1931.  Li Yulin and Li Jinglin, under the supervision of Yang Chengfu, were preparing a book on the subject later published under the title "Textbook of Taijiquan."  The 81 form is described in detail in this new book by Li Deyin.  

Awareness of Unity

"For the Eastern mystic, all things and events perceived by the senses are interrelated, connected and are but different aspects or manifestations of the same ultimate reality.  Our tendency to divide the perceived world into individual and separate things and to experience ourselves as isolated egos in this world is seen as an illusion which comes from our measuring and categorizing mentally.  It is called avidya, or ignorance, in Buddhist philosophy and is seen as the sate of a disturbed mind which has to be overcome.

'When the mind is disturbed, the multiplicity of things is produced, but when the mind is quieted, the multiplicity of things disappears.'

Although the various schools of Eastern mysticism differ in many details, they all emphasize the basic unity of the universe which is the central feature of their teachings.  The highest aim for their followers - whether they are Hindus, Buddhists or Taoists - is to become aware of the unity and mutual interdependence of all things, to transcend the notion of an isolated individual self and to identify themselves with the ultimate reality.  The emergence of this awareness - known as 'enlightenment'- is not only an intellectual act but is an experience which involves the whole person and is religious in its ultimate nature.  For this reason, most Eastern philosophies are essentially religious philosophies."

-  Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, 25th Anniversary Edition, p. 24  


   In my experience, life is rightly characterized as diverse, complicated, varied, rich in multiplicity, saturated with the 'ten thousand things.'  Personally, I find little need to seek or to find or to have the "experience of unity."  This state of "unification," when actualized, is in most cases rather fleeting.  It may be profound, but no more so that the beauty of complexity and the fascinating reality of diversity.  I do not find the experience of the multiplicity of things distressing, disturbing, or disheartening.  

Just because all of the eggs today are in one basket does not make the colored basket more real or more interesting or more valuable than the eggs.  

Ignoring the facticity of the complexity of the natural and mental realms seems to me a more serious ignorance, not very sensible, and ultimately unwise.  I long ago gave up on any quest for "enlightenment" (in Hindu or Buddhist terms) and prefer the ordinary state of mind grounded in a world that is not simple, not one, not unified, complex, and rich in details.  To claim that our normal experience of complexity and variety is an "illusion" or "ignorance (avidya) seems to me a form of incorrect judgment.  

No doubt, trying to simplify one's life has its benefits, reducing sensory overload can reduce stress, and not becoming overly infatuated with novelty can be helpful; but, pushing on this strange path towards the "enlightenment" or "realization" of a pure and uncluttered "Unity" can produce its own distressing and disturbing predicaments for a person.  

Many philosophers, ancient and modern, have made a sharp distinction between appearances and Reality, the many and the One, the phenomena and the Noumena, and multiplicity and Unity.  For me, it is muddled thinking to call all of our experiences "just fleeting illusions" and fabricate a true realm of being outside of our personal and social and practical experiences.  Indeed, we can't "see" in any ordinary sense of "see," the cells, molecules, atoms, and the subatomic particles that constitute the objects of our macro-cosmic world; but, this in no way means the multiplicity of objects in our ordinary environment are in any way "illusions."  The meaning of "objects" is much more complicated, varied in linguistic usage, and functional in many practical contexts.  Again, complexity is closer to the truth.  

"I, who make no other profession, find in myself such infinite depth and variety, that what I have learned bears no other fruit than to make me realize how much I still have to learn.  To my weakness, so often perceived, I owe my inclination to coolness in my opinions and any hatred for that aggressiveness and quarrelsome arrogance that believes and trust wholly in itself, a mortal enemy of discipline and truth."
- Michel de Montaigne, "Of Experience," 1588

Our selves are, to Montaigne, "wavelike and varying" - ondoyant et divers. 


Complexity and Diversity 

Nature Mysticism:  Resources, Quotes, Notes

Gardening and Mysticism

Temple Chi Kung Exercise Set

The Temple Qigong (Chi Kung) form consists of nine exercises.  It was popularized by Grand Master Marshall Ho'o (1910-1993) of Los Angeles, California.  It is also referred to as the Nine Temple Exercises, or the Marshall Ho'o Temple Exercises.  

My webpage on Temple Qigong provides a bibliography, links, the names of the movements, and an explanation of each movement.  

Standing Meditation, Resting Position: Wuji

1.   Turning the Prayer Wheel

2.   Rotating the Knees

3.   Crossed Arm Rotation

4.   Picking Fruit

5.   Swinging the Leg

6.   Leg Bounce

7.   Retreat and Advance   

8.   Grinding Corn

9.   Polishing the Mirror

Closure: Collecting and Storing Energy 

Marshall Ho'o wrote a book 1968 which included an explanation with photographic illustrations of the Temple Qigong set.  The black and white photos in that book were of poor quality and the editing was unsatisfactory.  An instructional DVD also teaches this form.  

"Dr. Ho'o was instrumental in the certification of acupuncture in the State of California. He was the first Tai Chi Master to have been elected to the Black Belt Hall of Fame.  He was Dean of the Aspen Academy of Martial & Healing Arts, on the faculty of California Institute of the Arts, and taught Tai Chi and Acupressure at many educational institutions.  In 1973, he created a series for KCET public television, in Los Angeles, teaching Tai Chi.  He was a consultant to Prevention Magazine's The Doctor's Book of Home Remedies.  A Chinese American, Dr. Ho'o was America's first Tai Chi Chuan Grandmaster.  His influence is far-reaching in both the fields of healing and martial arts."
-  The Lineage, Teachers of Two Birds Tai Chi

Tai Chi Chuan  By Marshall Hoo.  Burbank, California, Ohara Publications, Inc., 1986, 1993.  111 pages.  ISBN: 0897501098.  VSCL.  The Nine Temple exercise set is briefly described in this book on pages 18-42.  Each movement is clearly illustrated by four to eight clear black and white photographs of a woman doing the form.  The Taijiquan is the Standard 24 Form in the Yang Style. 

Tai Chi Chuan: The 27 forms by Marshall Hoo .   Instructional DVD, released in 2005, by Marshall Ho'o.  Black Belt Videos, 90 minutes.  Includes the Nine Temple Qigong.   

Death Comes and Whispers to You

"Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers."
-  Carl Sandburg, Under the Harvest Moon

"In that open field
If you do not come too close, if you do not come too close,
On a summer midnight, you can hear the music
Of the weak pipe and the little drum
And see them dancing around the bonfire
The association of man and woman
In daunsinge, signifying matrimonie—
A dignified and commodiois sacrament.
Two and two, necessarye coniunction,
Holding eche other by the hand or the arm
Whiche betokeneth concorde. Round and round the fire
Leaping through the flames, or joined in circles,
Rustically solemn or in rustic laughter
Lifting heavy feet in clumsy shoes,
Earth feet, loam feet, lifted in country mirth
Mirth of those long since under earth
Nourishing the corn. Keeping time,
Keeping the rhythm in their dancing
As in their living in the living seasons
The time of the seasons and the constellations
The time of milking and the time of harvest
The time of the coupling of man and woman
And that of beasts. Feet rising and falling.
Eating and drinking. Dung and death.
Dawn points, and another day
Prepares for heat and silence. Out at sea the dawn wind
Wrinkles and slides. I am here
Or there, or elsewhere. In my beginning."
-   T. S. Eliot,  Four Quartets, East Coker No. 2, 1, 1940 

Autumnal Equinox in Red Bluff California, North Sacramento Valley, California, U.S.A. is on
Wednesday, September 23, 2015.  

Full Moon, September 27, 2015

Autumn Equinox Celebrations, Mabon

Months and Seasons Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Verses, Lore, Myths, Holidays Celebrations, Folklore, Reading, Links, Quotations Information, Weather, Gardening Chores Compiled by Mike Garofalo
Winter	Spring	Summer	Fall
January	April	July	October
February	May	August	November
March	June	September	December

  

Tai Chi Chi Kung Shibashi

The Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi Series was created by Professor Lin Hou Sheng from China.  Part 1, 18 movements (Shi Ba Shi) was created in 1979.  Part 2, 18 movements, was created in 1988.  Four more Tai Chi Qigong 18 movement sets were created in the 1990's.  Professor Lin's best selling book, Qi Gong is the Answer to Health, was first published in 1985 in China.  

The movements are done slowly, gently, and deliberately.  Deep breathing is coordinated carefully with each movement sequence.  There is little or no movement of the feet.  Suitable for persons of all ages.  A number of the hand movements are similar to those used in Yang style Taijiquan.   

Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi: Bibliography, Links, Videos, Lessons, Resources. 
By Mike Garofalo.


The Theory and Practice of Taiji Qigong.  By Chris Jarmey.  North Atlantic Books, 2005.  192 pages.

Part 1, Eighteen Movements (Shibashi) Qigong, Tai Chi Qigong

1.   Awakening the Qi
2.   Opening the Chest   
3.   Painting the Rainbow
4.   Separating the Clouds
5.   Cycling the Arms
6.   Paddle a Boat 
7.   Lifting the Sun  
8.   Turn the Body and Look at the Moon  
9.   Push the Palms  
10.  Rolling Tai Ji  
11.  Lift and Spray the Water  
12.  Push the Wave  
13.  Let the Dove Free  
14.  Punching the Mud  
15.  Flying Wild Goose  
16.  Hug and Swing the Sun  
17.  Bounce the Ball  
18.  Quieting the Qi  

Turning Away from Useless and Stressful Thoughts or Beliefs

 
Disputing Irrational Beliefs:
Questions to Ask Yourself  

"1.  What self-defeating irrational belief do I want to dispute and surrender?
2.  Can I rationally support this belief?
3.  What evidence exists of the falseness of this belief?
4.  Does any evidence exist for the truth of this belief?
5.  What are the worst things that could actually happen to me if I don't get
     what I think I must (or do get what I think I must not get)? 
6.  What good things could I make happen if I don't get what I think I must
     (or do get what I think I must not get)?" 

-  Albert Ellis, Ph.D.  The Albert Ellis Reader: A Guide to Well-Being Using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, 1998, p. 140 



The Work: Identifying, Questioning, and Turning Around a Stressful Thought or Belief 

1. Is the thought or belief true?
2. How can I absolutely know that the thought or belief is true?  What evidence or facts can justify saying the thought or belief is true? 
3. How do I react and what happens when I have that thought or belief? 
4. Who would I be without the thought?  How would my life be better or improve without the belief or thought.
5. How can I turn-around, reverse the thought, change the thought, modify the thought or belief, use different language to describe the thought, reverse its truth value, not take it personally, reject the thought or belief, trick myself into thinking otherwise, or go beyond the thought or belief.   

-  Refer to "The Work" by Byron Kathleen Mitchell.   

How to Life a Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Character Development and Virtues

Good Mental Health

Walk and Be Happy

"The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy, walk and be healthy. "The best of all ways to lengthen our days" is not, as Mr. Thomas Moore has it, "to steal a few hours from night, my love;" but, with leave be it spoken, to walk steadily and with a purpose. The wandering man knows of certain ancients, far gone in years, who have staved off infirmities and dissolution by earnest walking,--hale fellows close upon eighty and ninety, but brisk as boys."
-  Charles Dickens  

The Ways of Walking


"It’s all still there in heart and soul. The walk, the hills, the sky, the solitary pain and pleasure–they will grow larger, sweeter, lovelier in the days and years to come." 
-   Edward Abbey  


When I am not scheduled to work at my part-time job for a elementary school district, I get outdoors and start walking at the first light at daybreak - around 6:30 am at this time of year.  I try to walk four miles. 

In between each lap of my walking track (.6 miles round trip [pictured below]) I practice Taijiquan forms [e.g., Sun Style Single Whip Left pictured below].  The photographs were taken in the month of May when green dominates.  In September, everything takes on a dull and dry brown cast.  

Sun Style T'ai Chi Ch'uan

"The natural course of things is always followed. This prevents one from harming their post-heaven strength. Focus is on beneficial cultivation of one's natural life force as the core of training.  All people - men, women, the old, and the young - may practice in order to replace temerity with bravery; and stiffness with pliability. Those of you who are weak, who suffer from fatigue and injury or illness, or who have weakened your qi from the practice of other martial arts to the point that you no longer have the strength to train, all of you may practice Tai Ji Quan. With practice, the qi will quickly return to a balanced state and will become strong, while the spirit naturally returns to a state of wholeness. Disease will be eliminated and the length of life increased."
- Sun Lu-Tang, A Study of Taijiquan, 1924. Translated by Tim Cartmell, p. 60.
Sun Style Tai Ji Quan

Style Internal Martial Arts

Sun Style of Taijiquan International Standard Competition 73 Movements Form. 

Research by Michael P. Garofalo, M.S..  Notes from 2005-2012.  

This webpage includes an introduction, information on the Sun Taijiquan form, a large collection of quotations about Sun Taijiquan, a detailed bibliography, extensive links, references to video and DVD resources, and suggestions for learning the international competition Sun 73 form.  A detailed comparative list of the names of each of the 73 movements is provided, with source references, and the movement names are given in English, Pinyin Chinese, Chinese characters, French, German, and Spanish.  A detailed description of the first 40 movements is provided along with instructions, commentary and general comments.  Black and white line illustrations for each movement sequence (1-40) are provided. This is the most detailed and complete webpage on the subject of the Sun Taijiquan 73 Competition Form available on the Internet.  

I will complete my study and analysis of the Sun Taijiquan International Competition 73 Movement Form by 2018.  I only know and regularly practice movements 1-50 of this competition form at the present time.   

Sun Lu Tang's Internal Martial Arts: Taijiquan, Baguazhang, Hsing I Quan, Weapons, and Qigong

Students of Sun Taijiquan now have more English language resources on the Traditional 98 Form created by Grandmaster Sun Lutang and published in 1921.  For examples: 
 
Traditional Sun Style Taijiquan  By Tim Cartmell and Troyce Thome.  Boston, McGraw Hill Learning Soulutions, 2010.  222 pages.  ISBN: 0078039142.  This is the most detailed instruction that I have seen on the Traditional Taijiquan 98 movement form created by Grandmaster Sun Lutang.  Saddleback College Course CPS7, Mission Viejo, California.  VSCL. 

Traditional Sun Style Taijiquan.  Instructional DVDs by Tim Cartmell.  "This 5 DVD set includes complete and precise instruction of the entire traditional Sun style Taijiquan form. Every posture and movement of the long form is covered in full detail, in addition the DVDs also include detailed instruction of postural alignment, power building exercises, footwork, methods of partner testing for every posture in the form and numerous demonstrations of the martial applications of the form movements." 

Yang Style Taijiquan

If you are learning the Yang Style Taijiquan long form, you might find the following webpage useful to you as you study and practice:

Yang Family Style Tai Chi Chuan Traditional Long Form
By Michael P. Garofalo.
This webpage provides a list and brief description of the 108 movements of the Yang Style Taijiquan Long Form divided into five sections for teaching (.html and .pdf versions available). The webpage includes an extensive bibliography on the subject, scores of Internet links, historical notes, and quotations. 120Kb.

The Yang Long Form discussed on this webpage conforms to the form developed by Yang Cheng-Fu (1883-1936) and documented in books by Bu Fu Zongwen (1903-1994) and Yang Zhenduo. The numbering of the movements varies from author to author, but the essential sequence and moves remains the same.

The Apple of My Eye

"A friend's son was in the first grade of school, and his teacher asked the class, "What is the color of apples?"  Most of the children answered red.  A few said green.  Kevinn, my friend's son, raised his hand and said white.  The teacher tried to explain that apples could be red, green or sometimes golden, but never white.  Kevin was quite insistent and finally said, "Look inside."  Perception without mindfulness keeps us on the surface of things, and we often miss other levels of reality."
-  Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation

"It takes a little talent to see clearly what lies under one's nose, a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ."
-  W. H. Auden    

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."
-  Edgar Degas   

The Five Senses

Vision, Perception, Observing, Seeing

 

Tao Te Ching Concordance

Daodejing Concordance


Chapter Index to the Tao Te Ching

Concordance to the Tao Te Ching

English Language Versions of the Tao Te Ching - Translator's Index

Thematic Index to the Tao Te Ching

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Bibliography

Cloud Hands Blog Posts About the Daodejing

Tao Te Ching  Chapter Number Index Standard Traditional Chapter Arrangement of the Tao Te Ching Chapter Order in Wang Bi's Daodejing Commentary in 246 CE Chart by Mike Garofalo Subject Index
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81

A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo for each one of the 81 Chapters (Verses) of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes 25 different English language translations or interpolations for that Chapter, 3 Spanish language translations for that Chapter, the Chinese characters for that Chapter, the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin Romanization of the Mandarin Chinese words for that Chapter, and 1 German and 1 French translation of that Chapter.  Each webpage for each one of the 81 Chapters of the Tao Te Ching includes extensive indexing by key words and terms for that Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization.  Each webpage on a Chapter of the Daodejing includes recommended reading in books and websites, a detailed bibliography, some commentary, research leads, translation sources, and other resources for that Chapter.   

The Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy

The Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy

A   Attention
B   Beauty, Being Present
C   Compassion, Connections
D   Devotion
E   Enthusiasm 
F   Faith, Forgiveness
G   Grace, Gratitude
H   Hope, Hospitality
I   Imagination
J   Joy, Justice  
K   Kindness 
L   Listening, Love 
M   Meaning
N   Nurturing 
O   Openness  
P   Peace, Play  
Q   Questing  
R   Reverence  
S   Shadow, Silence  
T   Teachers, Transformation  
U   Unity  
V   Vision  
W   Wonder 
X   The Mystery 
Y   Yearning, You  
Z   Zeal 

-  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life, 1996, pp. 19-25.  

How to Live a Good Life - Advice from Wise Persons