Which family of Tai Chi?

[unclaimed effort]

Of all the more popular families of Tai Chi, which do you prefer? If you want, tell me why.

If two tigers fight, the result will be one injured tiger.

Stillness in stillness is not real stillness. Stillness in motion is real stillness.

[Daniel Madar]

Hao

Merciless is Mercy.

[unclaimed effort]

Wu is the same as Hao. If you were intended to be sarcastic then sorry. :)

If two tigers fight, the result will be one injured tiger.

Stillness in stillness is not real stillness. Stillness in motion is real stillness.

[GLW]

Unclaimed Effort,

NOT TRUE....

There are TWO Wu styles. They are "Spelled" differently and have slightly different tones in pronunciation.

The first is Wu from Wu Jianquan. This is the style that Ma Yuehliang and Wu Yinghua did.

The second is Wu from Wu Yuxiang (sic). this is the same Wu character as that in Wushu (Martial). Wu taught Hao Weizhen hsi art (wu having no sons)....hence the term Hao style. Wu, Wu/Hao, or Hao style is correct for this style but it is vastly different from the other wu style. then you have Sun style that was based upon a combination of Wu/Hao style, Bagua, and Xingyi from sun Lutang.

[unclaimed effort]

Thanks for the info though. :)

If two tigers fight, the result will be one injured tiger.

Stillness in stillness is not real stillness. Stillness in motion is real stillness.

[Daniel Madar]

Sorry, wasn't trying to be sarcastic.

Hao is also the parent form of Sun, btw, so it still deserves to be up there.

Merciless is Mercy.

[wujidude]

I wonder if Sun style is more "popular" (Unclaimed Effort's standard) than Hao.

Wu Yu-hsiang's style (more appropriately, Wu/Li, from Li I-yu) is still practiced. The Hao style really deserves to be called a style on its own, since the form and techniques are quite distinct from Wu Yu-hsiang's (which really shows a strong resemblance to the Chen Shi Xiao Jia form which it derived from, based on Wu's studies with Chen Qing-ping).

Thanks as always for your insights and efforts to clarify things, GLW.

[wufupaul]

In the original 4 choices, Wu style is left without specifying which one it is. Unclaimed Effort: you said that Wu is the same as Hao. Wu Hao style is the least practiced style of the 5 main styles, Wu Chien Chuan style is the second most practiced after Yang. Just wanted to clarify, :)

[Mr. Nemo]

Yang style probably has the highest ratio of "health schools" to "combat schools." If you choose Yang, make sure it's a good school that teaches the combative side of tai chi.

Boycott new age crap tai chi!

[GLW]

Nemo,

Chill out just a bit.

While it is good to have a teacher who knows and can teach the martial aspects of Taijiquan, it is not the be all end all.

It would be better for a beginner or even an intermediate student to find a teacher who knows basics, body mechanics, fundamental Taijiquan principles, and the form VERY VERY well than to find one who focused on applications right off and not much on basics or the routine.

It is great to find one who knows it all but not easy ...especially for a beginner who usually doesn't know what to look for at first.

In this way, the student can build strong legs, a good balanced foundation, theory, principles, and avoid injuries while learning how to make friends with their body. These are ALL prerequisites for learning martial applications.

With good basics, you can do anything. With poor basics, everything is a struggle.

A teacher who only teaches form - but does it well can be of more value than a Ma Ma Hu Hu (mediocre) teacher who teaches all aspects.

Also, not everyone will continue but if they do the form well, at least the spiritless Taiji crap goes away...and thy are exposed to the work that goes into it.

Without the form, Taijiquan is nothing more than training to fight..it is martial technique but NOT martial art. The magic of this is how the two combine to make something greater than the sum of the parts.

I personally hate unqualified hyperspace teachers...but not all teachers who focus on form only fall into this category.

[unclaimed effort]

Didn't you know that Tai Chi was practiced without forms for a long while? The Tai Chi moves were practiced seperately in a certain sequence after another untill someone actually had to make them into the forms that we know now. :)

If two tigers fight, the result will be one injured tiger.

Stillness in stillness is not real stillness. Stillness in motion is real stillness.

[GLW]

Duh.....

but the key there is they practiced the movements until they got them right....

Typical class with many who want to do fighting...

Beginner - basics, learn postures....go home
Intermdiate - learn postures, push hands, go home
Advanced - push hands, fight, go home.

The point here is that at NO time should basic training be dropped. At NO time should the learning postures be dropped.... but that is what many people do - and why many stop progressing.

For beginners, finding a teacher that will develop good basics and an good understanding of what to do is more important. "First step wrong, the journey is wrong"

There are many GOOD teachers who can teach beginning, intermediate, and even advanced levels of form, theory, and such who choose NOT to do fighting. They HAVE something to offer. There are also many teachers who claim that form is worthless...and everyone I have ever seen looks like crap.

A person can learn to fight, push hands, what have you without doing any bit of Taijiquan training. They can even get good at it...but they will never be a qualified teacher of anything but that limited scope and maybe not even that. There are those who can fight naturally and even naturally do push hands...but could never tell you how to do it yourself.

Dissing people because they do not do what you do is a waste of time...and you may miss something valuable in the process.