Taijichuan Documentation Project (v0.1) Compiled by Gregory Pfister Copyright © Gregory F. Pfister 2009 Taijichuan Documentation Project (v0.1) Contents Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Forward ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 9 Why Do Tai Chi Chuan? ........................................................................................................................... 10 What Do You Call It? ............................................................................................................................... 11 The Meaning of the Words “Tai Chi Chuan” ........................................................................................... 13 The Rest of This Book .............................................................................................................................. 16 About That Melon ................................................................................................................................... 17 Universals .................................................................................................................................................... 19 Connection: The Parable of the Hand ..................................................................................................... 19 Common Terms and Concepts ................................................................................................................ 21 Stances ................................................................................................................................................ 21 The Medium Stance ............................................................................................................................ 21 The Bottom of the Feet ....................................................................................................................... 22 The Small and Large Stances ............................................................................................................... 23 Bow Stance .......................................................................................................................................... 23 Cat Stance ........................................................................................................................................... 24 Body Parts: The Dantien and the Quas ............................................................................................... 24 Shoes or no shoes? ............................................................................................................................. 25 The Rules of Breathing ........................................................................................................................ 25 Biomechanics .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Relaxation and Sinking ........................................................................................................................ 26 Getting into the Basic Stance .............................................................................................................. 26 Shoulder Position ................................................................................................................................ 27 Elements of Relaxation ....................................................................................................................... 28 Elements of Sinking ............................................................................................................................. 28 Speed of Relaxation ............................................................................................................................ 28 Turning ................................................................................................................................................ 29 Pulling Into the Foot ............................................................................................................................ 30 Push Up Through Back, Pull Down With Front ................................................................................... 30 Meta-Topics ............................................................................................................................................ 30 2 tai chi documentation v0.1.docx 6/17/2009 12:40 PM Copyright © Gregory F. Pfister 2009 Those Who Can, Do; Those Who Can’t, Teach Better ........................................................................ 30 Concerning Practice ............................................................................................................................ 31 Other Topics ............................................................................................................................................ 34 Balance ................................................................................................................................................ 34 The Seven Bows .................................................................................................................................. 38 Suspend the Head, the Real Story....................................................................................................... 39 Suspend the Head, the Other Real Story ............................................................................................ 39 Avoid Momentum ............................................................................................................................... 40 The Leg and Hip Arch .......................................................................................................................... 41 Visualization ........................................................................................................................................ 41 Sink Your Chi and Mind to Your Dantien ................................................................................................ 42 Ten Principles .......................................................................................................................................... 43 One Through Six .................................................................................................................................. 43 Seven: Unity of the Upper and Lower Body ........................................................................................ 43 Eight: Unity of the Internal and the External ...................................................................................... 43 Other Things to be Expanded On ............................................................................................................ 44 Sequence Preliminaries ............................................................................................................................... 47 Names and Their Meanings .................................................................................................................... 47 Move Notation ........................................................................................................................................ 47 Directions (Orientation) .......................................................................................................................... 50 Chi Gong ...................................................................................................................................................... 51 Basic Yang Chi Gong ................................................................................................................................ 52 Neigong ............................................................................................................................................... 52 Taiwanese Set ..................................................................................................................................... 55 Eight Silk Brocades .............................................................................................................................. 58 Five Elements ...................................................................................................................................... 62 Advanced Yang Chi Gong ........................................................................................................................ 66 “Chen-Style” Silk Reeling ..................................................................................................................... 66 Wu-Style Spiraling ............................................................................................................................... 66 Wuji (Wu Chi) ...................................................................................................................................... 66 Teacup ................................................................................................................................................. 68 Grass Blowing In The Wind ................................................................................................................