I also received direct instruction from Chen Zhenglei on this form so I was able to ask him about the purpose of the form sections. The Old Frame contains most of the same-named movements of all the other styles so the explanations should be easy to understand and adapt to your own style. If you are a teacher, think about how to break the tai chi forms into segments to help your students’ progress. If you are a student, use this to give yourself permission to concentrate on sections and then glue them together. While all of us love the style we do, I will admit to being jealous of the number of resources and people to practice with across the globe.įor the purposes of this essay we are going to us the Chen Style Lao Jia (Old Frame) to talk through how tai chi forms can be broken into segments to be learned better. The tai chi chuan yang style long form with 108 movements is by far the most practiced form. What is the most popular form of tai chi? The one your teacher teaches! the joke goes. Grand Master Chen ZhengleiĤ Answers to Definitively Explain the Purpose Of Tai Chi Breaking the Tai Chi Forms Into Teachable Segments Let’s talk about what the tai chi long form is, use the Chen form as an example to discuss the purpose of the different sections, and then show a Yang style tai chi form video and many other styles to highlight the different arts. Teachers and students alike have the challenge of learning the entire sequence but the sections and explanations below create small successes and better understanding. There are 56 -108 movements depending on style. The tai chi long form is a series of movements that combine martial applications and soft, slow movements to improve health, increase strength, develop balance, and a create a calm mind. ![]() Those who have this “bible” can focus on a myriad of topics such as health (qi, meridians, flexibility, agility), martial applications (strikes, kicks, locks), culture (history, language, movement names), or philosophy. ![]() ![]() It is the culmination of thousands of years work by many contributors. The tai chi long form is the equivalent to a moving Bible. Learning the tai chi long form takes a while but it is a worthy pursuit because the payoff is huge. It was an eye-opening explanation of the purpose of each section and how they tie together. In a workshop with Grand Master Chen Zhenglei he presented the Chen Tai Chi Long Form Old Frame in a way that caught the significance of the overall form by breaking it down into digestible sections.
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