Yang style Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) curriculum consists of five core practices: Solo Form, Tâui-shou (Push Hands), Three Step Tâui-shou, Da Lu (Large Rollback), and Sanshou (Sanshou exercise).
Additionally, for those seeking further enrichment, the curriculum extends to weapon forms, providing an advanced exploration of martial arts techniques and philosophies.
Form
The first association anyone has with Tâai Chi Châuan is the solo form, remarkable for its slow speed of execution. Though based outwardly upon the movements of Shaolin Boxing, these movements have been subtly modified to facilitate the cultivation of various hidden skills. They are not, as most would assume, simply copies of high-speed techniques done in slow motion. The form is of tremendous importance, not only because it provides a physical foundation for Tâai Chi Châuan, but more because it remains the fundamental arena for the continued refinement of technique for the lifetime of the practitioner.
The classical long Yang Style form is a form of qi-gung. Technically a form of nei-gung, it is considered to be one of the most sophisticated and advanced exercises of this kind, associated with the circulation of qi and frequently prescribed by Chinese medical practitioners for both its preventative and curative attributes.
Applications of the form are an important element of Taijiquan training. Each formal movement contains between one and four distinct martial ideas referred to as the eight trigram postures.
âDo not âperfectâ the form.â It is not a performance to be perfected, but a workshop to which one constantly returns.
Yang Style Taijiquan Solo Form Movements
Tuishou
Tuishou, sometimes called hand pushing, is the first two-person exercise in the Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) curriculum. Here we learn in a non-violent and cooperative way to respond to the influence of another player without resistance or distortion. Both its name and appearance are rather deceiving. It looks like a contest in which two people attempt to force their partner/opponent backwards, an impression that is further reinforced by the name hand-pushing. In reality, actually pushing an opponent is literally the last thing a Taijiquan adept would or should ever do. The two formal modes of tuishou are elementary tuishou and penglujian. The most elementary tuishou, sometimes called one-hand pushing, cultivates basic responses of the body to force (yielding).
In the Penglujian exercise we explore four martial ideas â Peng (Ward Off), Lu (Roll Back), Ji (Press) and An (Push). The techniques blend one into the other, creating a continuous loop, which allows us to work on our skill without stopping and starting over all the time. Through slow and deliberate movements the qualities of softness and sensitive response are cultivated, leading to the skill of neutralization, through which the force of an opponentâs attack is rendered harmless, and the skills of yielding and adherence are gradually perfected. The extreme lightness of touch that is required for success at this endeavor results ultimately in the development of chin, or internal force, the source of Taijiquanâs legendary and almost mystical power.
Three-step Tuishou
This exercise extends penglujian to a three step forward, three step back version. Now it gives the student a first taste of proper foot work. Three step tuishou is a deceptively simple exercise appearing to be an unchanging dance step repeated over and over, but it’s designed to make one’s foot work responsive rather than preconceived. This repeating pattern designed to link the studentâs responses to the opponent’s moves and connect them firmly to the waist and legs. It serves as an important bridge connecting Taijiquanâs internal changes to footwork and as such is the doorway to the practice of Taijiquan as an actual martial art.
Da Lu
Da Lu or âBig Roll Backâ is considered to be perhaps the most important of the Yang Styleâs five major exercises. It extends the concepts of stepping while also exploring the four remaining martial ideas of Pull, Shoulder, Elbow, and Split. It is distinguished by allowing the greatest range of speed, from a slow minuet type dance to a rough and tumble exchange of high speed attacks, reaching the level at which lively legs evolve into actual discharges.
Sanshou Exercise
Sanshou Exercise is the highest level of formal exercise of the Yang Style. It is a collection of eighty-eight different movements and counter-movements that proceed without breaks to a final conclusion, mimicking the progress of a real combat situation. While still preserving the emphasis on softness and without any form of impact or excessive athletic strain, it is properly executed at a speed allowing for considerable aerobic activity. In this way its range of usefulness and relevance is extended to even that level occupied by sport and fitness training, as well as satisfying the demands of traditional Chinese medicine.
Weapons
Taijiquan training may be extended to embrace the following four traditional weapons, each focusing on developing a different basic fundamental element of the art: Staff â qi (circulation of breath), Saber â jing (internal force), Sword â shen (spirit), and Spear (all three).