Repost from 2012 from Red Bluff, regarding some of the Taijiquan Practices when I was 66 years of age. Now, at the age of 78, my energy levels are lower. Slow Taijiquan, qigong/yoga, moderate strength training, and walks on flat ground are more my style now. Heart disease has slowed my pace.
For two decades I have practiced the Yang style of Taijiquan at a slow, steady, even, smooth and meditative pace. The Sun style of Taijiquan is a bit faster with short quick steps. Since I began to practice martial arts routines and forms with a cane weapon, and with my beginning the practice of Chen Style Taijiquan, I have been increasing my speed and power while doing these forms. This has posed a new challenge for my cardio-vascular conditioning level, for my physical agility and coordination levels, and for my 66 year old body overall. I really enjoy the new challenge.
"Chen Style Taiji is perhaps the most overtly martial of all Taijiquan styles. Most Chen Style forms are fast. These include Second Form (Cannon Bashing), saber, double saber, spear, long staff, short staff, three-opponent staff, flaive, punching bags, and several combat exercises. The only two forms that are decidedly slow are the First Form and the straight sword.
Kinetic movements (meaning, again, movements that depend on momentum) must be trained at speed. Any time you have a weapon in your hands that swings or spins, you must actually swing it or spin it in order to learn its behavior. If you try to practice it slowly, you will not receive feedback from the weapon's own kinetic properties, and will consequently never learn how to exploit them. Without kinetic training, you will always be fighting the weapon.
In certain situations, you need to wield your own body kinetically. Chen Taiji's Second Form (Cannon Bashing) is designed for exactly that purpose. Any movement in which you sweep, leap, close quickly with the opponent, change orientation in mid-air, or swing around to attack from a different direction must similarly be trained at speed. These are all movements that exploit the body's mass and momentum."
- Mark Chen, Old Frame Chen Family Taijiquan, p. 86
- Mark Chen, Old Frame Chen Family Taijiquan, p. 86
In the branch of the Wu style I practice, we practice the square form slowly, and the round form quickly.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I have seen and briefly practiced a Yang Taijiquan fast form. The Chen Taijiquan has, as mentioned above, some vigorous forms with both soft/slow and hard/fast variations. I sometimes do the Standard 24 Taijiquan form quickly and with bursts of Fajin power.
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