This month I am publishing an article written decades ago, which has, I feel, no less relevance now than it did then. It concerns a particularly technical matter, one which is treated very differently by various martial arts, that of the use of the kick as a weapon of combat. As I state in the […]
Kicking in Taijiquan Read More »
Robert Amacker In Structural Fundamentals of Taijiquan, I posited eight areas of study and practice that I deem to be fundamental to a mastery of the art, namely: posture, chansijing, differentiating substantial and insubstantial, making taijis (civil aspect), martial techniques (eight trigram postures), taking steps (five element postures), discharge, and continuous or so-called “long” boxing.
Taijiquan: a Western Boxing Perspective Read More »
Let me say from the very start that this is not an attempt on my part to be cute, regardless of how much the title of this article might seem to support that case. Nor is it intended as simply a flattering comparison of adjectives sometimes applied to both subjects, of which invisible would be
How Doing Taijiquan is Like Flying a Stealth Bomber Read More »
We just posted the first of a series of informal videos in which I will discuss aspects of Taijiquan that do not require demonstration or advanced understanding on the part of viewers to understand and appreciate. These may be of either a technical or philosophical nature, the kind of topics that might come up and
Three weeks in a Moscow winter should qualify me for lots of sympathy – should, but then I’d have to get in line behind all those Russians. I was very impressed with the condition of the school and the Russian students, who have proven to me once more that their passion. When called in the
Three weeks in Moscow Read More »
I once wrote a poem called “A Dream of California.” I seem to have lost the poem, and it was longer, but it went something like this: I dreamed one night That life was long And roamed through golden hills Like fog I was a man I had a tan I moved easily Across the
California Dreaming Read More »
I have just this hour received word of the death of my “big brother” and former teacher, Ben Lo. When this famous student of my first teacher, Zheng Manching, arrived in San Francisco, I went to see him and declared that I would not continue to teach at my San Francisco School, The Inner Research
In memory of Ben Lo Read More »
I am very excited about the release of my new book, Taijiquan Meditations for the Solo Form. In the course of my fifty years of teaching, there is a question that I have been asked many times: “what should I meditate on while doing the form?” This usually indicates a concept of the form as
Taijiquan Meditations for the Solo Form is Published! Read More »
June 22 – June 24 2018 Taijiquan school Taiji Pod Lupou (Czech Republic) (http://www.taijipodlupou.cz) Penglujian and Da Lu variations, Yang Style Sword Form led by Olesya Amacker. In this seminar we explored Penglujian and Da Lu variations, such as cloudy hands, elbow, slanting flight, looked for connections between Penglujian and Da Lu exercises.
