Attn:Sow Choy

[Fu-Pow]

Hello Sisuk Joe-

I saw in another thread that you said that you are studying Chen Taiji. How long have you been studying it? Who is your Taiji Sifu?
I've been studying it for about 3 years now, concurrently with my CLF. How do think it compares to CLF? Has it helped you CLF at all? I've found that they are very different in a lot of ways.

Peace

[Sow Choy]

Fu Pow,

Hello brother! I have been studying privately only about 2-3 months. I am learning under a student of Yan Gaofei, Professor James Cravens. Check out this site and tell me what you think:
www.americanchentaichi.com

The site has alot of info and videos. Professor Cravens was my 1st Chinese martial art sifu back in 89-92. I learned some Yang style Tai Chi, Wing Chun and techniques from some of the other styles he taught.

I LOVE CHEN TAI CHI! I think it is incredible. In such a short time I have noticed a big difference. 1st, my posture is so straight. I never realised before that it was just slightly off. It has made me more flexible. I have studied Fu style Tai Chi for a while, and even my practice of that has changed.

I understand the connections of the chi channels without thinking I am Luke Skywalker learning about the force from Yoda. My rooting and transitions feel 5x more relaxe and strong. I also find I am silk reeling in almost all my techniques. Master Li stresses the twisting in CLF which made learning the silk reeling easier, even though I have a long way to go.

I am just in amazement of everything about it. I have never been excited about Tai Chi until now. Now I can't wait for my next lesson. Professor Cravens is amazing, his push hands is awesome, and he knows his stuff. Very humble too, always shows variations and explains different theories, and helps me understand things better.

Well now we are TC brothers too Fu Pow, now you're the sihing!
:)

Joe

[Fu-Pow]

SiSuk Joe-

The school looks good. Good lineage and everything. But you probably already knew that.

Here's my school if you wanted to take a look. (It is Chen Taiji but it is a little bit different because my Taiji SiGung studied another internal style called XinYi (not to be confused with Xing Yi) before Chen Taiji.

www.taoiststudiesinstitute.org

They teach lots of other Taoist stuff too, but Taiji is definitely the focus.

Chen Taiji is definitely a cool martial art. Although I will say that it can be very confusing practicing it along side CLF.

The hardest thing that I've had to learn (or rather, am still learning) is to drop and relax the shoulders.

The place I've seen the most benefit is in sparring. Instead of blasting away at my opponent, I try to follow more and look for opportunities.

But I must say that I still have a long ways to go before I feel really comfortable using Taiji technique.

BTW, there is a really good intro to Chen Taij Book that just came out in December. It's called "Chen Style Taiji Chuan". I just got it for Christmas. I'd definitely Check it out. Also, there is another book written by my Taiji Sigung and Chen Xiaowang that is solely about Chen Taiji. Although I haven't read it yet I've heard it is a great application book, kind of like Lee Koon Hung's Dynamic Art of Fighting.

Peace