Why Tai Chi Chaun
Homage to Chang San-feng for his creation of Tai-chi because it is the foundation of this thing I practice called karate.
As we already know, Okinawan’s had a close connection with China, thus Chinese boxing. Much like the Japanese, the Okinawan’s had this wonderful nack to pull out what they could make rapid use of and discard that which was not of immediate use.
There are many parallels between China hand and empty hand; such as China’s changes around 1954 to bring Tai Chi or Gung-fu into a more singular form for sport and education, etc., as well as gaining more control over these martial arts.
Much like the proverbial educational version of karate of Okinawa, much was removed and when karate was created from China’s Gung Fu the Okinawan’s also took much of Gung Fu’s “bite (teeth)” out of it.
In my ongoing studies of karate I began to wonder why I felt I was missing something important so I began to stray and then I began to study Tai Chi for health along side of Chi Gong. A few years later I ran into the “Essence of Tai Chi” and found some very interesting principles and concepts opening a door 🚪.
For instance, “Yang’s Ten Important Points.” No, not gonna go there and if you are curious you can find more with a small effort of research 🧐.
A prime lesson reinforcing an already established principle, the importance of the mind as I have written about in many articles that basically states, “train the mind and the body will follow thus creating one’s spirit!”
You see, the mind training is everything in karate and martial arts like Tai Chi and karate.
When I speak of mind I speak of the ninth wonder of nature- the brain! Psychological and somewhat symbolic as in the “human-monkey-lizard” brain 🧠.
It does us good to remind ourselves that if we sever that cord at the base of the brain, the disconnect would leave us utterly paralyzed from the neck down - or worse, instantly dead ☠️.
So, as originally taught to the Chinese for centuries one must train the mind so the efficiency of the body will prevail in stressful and potentially violent situations.
- a calm mind in the present moment means a calm relaxed body.
- a slow body in the present moment means deep diaphragmatic slow breathing making a calm mind and body.
- a calm present body of positive relaxation means ease of movement.
- calm movement in the present moment means slow smooth movement.
- slow smooth movement in the present moment means fast movement.
- Calm, agility, breathing, balance and spirit as the flow of yin-yang ☯️ (wholeheartedly one).
[Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Slow down, do it right the first time.]
Strength and brute force are part and parcel to karate 🥋. When they try to explain karates “chinkuchi” they fail to explain that if you apply the dynamic tension so many assume is strength, the flow of “ki” is restricted so does not flow adequately through the blood vessels, muscles, bones, tendons, sinews, etc., thus inhibiting agility, sensitivity, naturalness, movement and power/strength wasting energy depleting resources and so on.
Karate tends to use brute force in a stiff and unnatural way, i.e., jerking in a stop and start way creating energy depleting movements with voids or spaces between creating openings for your attacker.
Herein lies a key 🔑 to fully realize your martial prowess in karate by embracing the “kyu” stage and implementing the those points found in the essence or treatises of Tai Chi and Gung Fu.
There is so much more to the universe than what we have here on Earth 🌏 and if we reach past the moon 🌝 and set our sites on the stars of interstellar space …
———————— More:
Yang style (楊氏) “the system of tai chi I practiced”
Tai chi, short for T'ai chi ch'üan or Tàijí quán, sometimes colloquially known as "Shadowboxing," is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits, and meditation. - https://tinyurl.com/y7zpaefd
Taikyoku [太極拳] Taiji Boxing: Medical studies of t‘ai-chi support its effectiveness as an alternative exercise and a form of martial arts therapy.
The physical techniques of tai chi are described in the "T‘ai-chi classics", writings by tai chi masters. The techniques are characterized by the use of leverage through the joints based on coordination and relaxation, rather than muscular tension, in order to neutralize, yield or initiate attacks.
Meditation: The focus and calm cultivated by the meditative aspect of tai chi is seen as necessary for maintaining health (in the sense of relieving stress and maintaining homeostasis) and in the application of the form as a soft style martial art.
neigong and qigong (breathing, movement and awareness exercises and meditation)
The term taiji is a Chinese cosmological concept for the flux of yin and yang.
Tai-Chi: the relationship of Yin and Yang.
Most Westerners often shorten this name to t‘ai chi (often omitting the aspirate sign—thus becoming "tai chi").
Yang family hand form to 24 postures.
In 1956 the Chinese government sponsored the Chinese Sports Committee (CSC), which brought together four wushu teachers to truncate the Yang family hand form to 24 postures. This was an attempt to standardize t‘ai-chi ch‘üan for wushu tournaments, because many tai chi teachers had either moved out of China or stopped teaching after the Chinese Civil War. They wanted to create a routine that would be much less difficult to learn than the classical 88 to 108 posture solo hand forms.
Tai chi's health training concentrates on relieving stress on the body and mind. Tai chi's low-stress training method for seniors.
The philosophy of Taiji is to keep Yin and Yang in flux. When two forces push each other with equal force, neither side moves. Motion cannot occur until one side yields. Therefore, a key principle in tai chi is to avoid using force directly against force (hardness against hardness).
Lao Tzŭ provided the archetype for this in the Tao Te Ching when he wrote, "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."
Traditionally, tai chi uses both soft and hard. Yin is said to be the mother of Yang, using soft power to create hard power.
