Chen style Taijiquan

[mawali]

His performance is fantastic!
How can that display be transformed into application, tuishou, etc within the pajama nandu arena? Just arsking?

[Sima Rong]

I don't know much about Chen Taiji, but a lot of his movements look very...snappy. Not sure if it would be a good idea to try to grab this guy.

[YouKnowWho]

I have met many Chen Taiji teachers that they have never sparred in their life time. I just don't understand why they may think that solo form performance is so important. To me, the world that they live in is different from the one that I live in. I still cannot accept those who trains TCMA for "health only" as "one of us" no matter how beautiful their form may look like.

[Bacon]

I have met many Chen Taiji teachers that they have never sparred in their life time. I just don't understand why they may think that solo form performance is so important. To me, the world that they live in is different from the one that I live in. I still cannot accept those who trains TCMA for "health only" as "one of us" no matter how beautiful their form may look like.

I may not agree with everything you say but I certainly agree with this.

[Vajramusti]

This thread is for discussion of Chen Taijiquan in general.


To start with, what do folks think of this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPDrHZdDu7A

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A good video. First rate form combined with first rate push hands timing work makes Chen style superb for self defense as well as health.

[Tame The Tiger]

In my view the guy is good.

I don't know how old he is but he's no spring chicken either. He's a walking advertisement for Chen Tai Chi as a health exercise. I make no comment on whether he can fight or not. I don't know his background and haven't touched hands with him. Certainly, solo forms and push hands by themselves aren't enough to get him (or any one else) over the line.

His fajin is good, but then again I expect that from a sifu. I wouldn't say it was anything special, though.

I note he gets a bit of "back" into his fast strikes. Almost like White Crane styles.

[xinyidizi]

I have met many Chen Taiji teachers that they have never sparred in their life time. I just don't understand why they may think that solo form performance is so important. To me, the world that they live in is different from the one that I live in. I still cannot accept those who trains TCMA for "health only" as "one of us" no matter how beautiful their form may look like.

I know what you mean but there is something wrong with this logic: If they have never sparred then it means that they haven't finished the Chen system and therefore can not be called Chen Taijiquan teachers. Maybe they can call themselves taiji ticao or yangsheng but certainly not quan.
In Chenjiagou and other places that have legitimate teachers, they clearly teach combat skills to the disciples who want to finish the system and nowadays there are all kinds of sanshou competitions available for the students so that they can test their skills.

There are many people in the world who practice Taiji but even now there are very few legitimate teachers and there is only very few of their disciples who get to learn the whole system.

[OTD]

Everyone

Is there a "poem" for any particular Version(s) of the Chen T'ai Chi we are
discussing Here?... If so any one would Care/Want to Post a few Lines from the
Opening ?....

OTD

[taai gihk yahn]

here are some examples of a slightly more...well, shall we say, eclectic style of Chen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=Tuce0azK8ZE

you may not think this man is a skilled taiji practitioner, but if you read his comments, you realize that he is a Master of Evasion...


but that's nothing compared to his take on fa jing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8V-o...feature=relmfu

at ~1:35, he TOTALLY blew to shreds and re-organized my paradigm of understanding, with his comment that "ultimate softness (is) like a pile of t-shirts";

profoundly deep, and deeply profound...

[Sima Rong]

but that's nothing compared to his take on fa jing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8V-o...feature=relmfu

at ~1:35, he TOTALLY blew to shreds and re-organized my paradigm of understanding, with his comment that "ultimate softness (is) like a pile of t-shirts";

profoundly deep, and deeply profound...

Tragically amusing! But... what does this have to do with the original link, apart from making the 'Explosive Tai Chi Power Move' look more and more like a bottom explosion?

whew!.... I thought he was going to explode that dog with ultimate power for a second.

I wonder if any Chen Tai Ji practitioners or any more practitioners of the internal arts could comment on the original video. I also found this one online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WPMWutnSdc which shows some applications.

[YouKnowWho]

If they have never sparred then it means that they haven't finished the Chen system and therefore can not be called Chen Taijiquan teachers.

I agree with you 100% on this. Unfortunately that may be assumption but not reality.

[Empty_Cup]

...
I wonder if any Chen Tai Ji practitioners or any more practitioners of the internal arts could comment on the original video. ...

Here are the things I really, really liked about the original video:
Stances - his low stances were incredible. You could tell from the video that he could stay in those stances all day if need be. I don't know what effect it would have on qi circulation, but for a training exercise it looked excellent.
Fa jin - Very nice, powerful strikes. Really exemplified the "soft like a whip" mentality.
Transitional movements - Notice his footwork. When twisting the body his feet opened up and looked to me like he maintained nice balance through the transition.
Weight distribution - I liked that he never became too front or back-loaded and balance looked excellent.
Compactness - Notice his arms/hands rarely went outside the cylinder of his feet. This is what I have always been taught to do with Chen taiji. Keeps his rooting well within this cylinder.

Some things I noticed that weren't so great:
Posing - I have always been taught to think of taiji like a movie vs. a combination of still photographs. Seemed to me there were many "frozen" moments between postures.
Superfluous movement - Notice his shoulder/back movements at 4:00, 4:03, and 4:20. Seems like this is above and beyond "lead with the waist" and is unnecessary movement.
Waist/arm connection - Sometimes he did this well and sometimes not so much. Leading with the waist and arms follow.
Hands follow eyes follow hands - I've always been taught to focus on the hands as much as possible during taiji. Many moments in the vid where this wasn't the case.

Eager to hear what other specifics people liked/didn't like.

[Fa Xing]

Chen family book.


That is worthy of discussion. I think its 500 bucks on amazon and worth it.

There's a digital copy floating around on the interwebs. It's quite extensive, and quite nice.

[Jimbo]

Although I'm not a Taiji practitioner, I thought his form was excellent. I have no idea if he can actually fight or not, but I think it's easy for a lot of people to automatically assume that he can't just because his form is good. Incorrect assumptions can go either way.

**Edit to add:
I am referring to the video in the original post.

[Fa Xing]

This Jake guy's Taiji form is terrible, and anyone can see his disconnected from his body (which I mean is core/center), which is funny when I read that he is athletic because I know lots of athletes who move from their core and they don't practice martial arts.