Master the ancient Chinese art of Tai Chi Chuan with this informative guide. One of the most popular Chinese martial arts, Tai Chi Chuan is also one of the most effective stress relievers available. In China it is also used extensively for the prevention and treatment of illnesses, and its beneficial effects for health and fitness are now widely recognized in the West. The Complete Book of Tai Chi Chuan is a comprehensive and fascinating guide to the practical application and potential benefits of Tai Chi Chuan. Packed with step-by-step illustrations for practice at home, this tai chi guide covers everything you would want to know about this ancient art, including its benefits for mental, spiritual and emotional development. This tai chi book is both an ideal introductory guide and an invaluable reminder for those who have already taken classes. Topics in The Complete Book of Tai Chi Chuan include: Tai Chi Chuan as a Martial ArtThe Concept of Yin-Yang and Tai Chi ChuanThe Historical Development of the Various StylesAdvice from the Great MastersTechniques and Skills of Pushing HandsSpecific Techniques for Combat SituationsTaoism and Spiritual Development in Tai Chi ChuanAnd many more
Master the ancient Chinese art of Tai Chi Chuan with this informative guide. One of the most popular Chinese martial arts, Tai Chi Chuan is also one of the most effective stress relievers available. In China, it is also used extensively for the prevention and treatment of illnesses, and its beneficial effects on health and fitness are now widely recognized in the West. The Complete Book of Tai Chi Chuan is a comprehensive and fascinating guide to the practical application and potential benefits of Tai Chi Chuan. This tai chi guide is packed with step-by-step illustrations for practice at home and covers everything you would want to know about this ancient art, including its benefits for mental, spiritual and emotional development. It is both an ideal introductory guide and an invaluable reminder for those who have already taken classes. Topics in The Complete Book of Tai Chi Chuan include: Tai Chi Chuan as a Martial Art The Concept of Yin-Yang and Tai Chi Chuan The Historical Development of the Various Styles Advice from the Great Masters Techniques and Skills of Pushing Hands Specific Techniques for Combat Situations Taoism and Spiritual Development in Tai Chi Chuan And much more
The combat techniques of Tai Ji, Ba Gua, and Xing Yi were forbidden during China's Cultural Revolution, but the teachings of grandmaster Wang Pei Shing have survived. This comprehensive guide, written by one of his students, selects core movements from each practice and gives the student powerful tools to recognize the unique strategies and skills, and to develop a deeper understanding, of each style. It contains complete instructions for a 16-posture form to gain mastery of combat techniques. The book helps practitioners achieve a new level of practice, where deeply ingrained skills are brought forth in a more fluid, intuitive, and fast-paced fashion.
IF YOU WISH TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK AT A REDUCED RATE OF 20$ INCLUDING SHIPPING/POSTAGE, PLEASE VISIT OUR SHOP: https: //purplecloudinstitute.com/product/the-heart-treasure-of-taijiquan/ The art of taijiquan that Yang Luchan took to Beijing and Yang Chengfu later took to Shanghai represented a pinnacle of Chinese culture and martial arts. However, in terms of both form and application, what is now commonly called taijiquan seldom reflects the qualities that first made it a legendarily effective art for fighting, health, and inner transformation. The Heart Treasure of Taijiquan washes away the sands of time to restore public knowledge of taijiquan's brilliant core. Written for the modern reader, this book thoroughly illuminates the authentic inner teachings of Yang family taijiquan. From detailing contemporary misunderstandings of taijiquan and its place in Chinese culture, to explaining the correct meanings of fundamental concepts; and from elucidating classic writings, to recording an extensive Q&A with students, The Heart Treasure of Taijiquan enables the reader to understand the essence of this path. The principles presented in this volume can be freely integrated with training in any style of taijiquan, or used to deepen any internal or external martial arts practice. Master Ren Gang of Shanghai is a true inheritor of Yang style taijiquan. Deeply familiar with its philosophical marrow, he is recognized by his elders and peers as a master at the highest levels of practice, with formidable aptitude in its combat applications. His taijiquan is pure and free from elements borrowed from other traditions. Ren has gained the full benefits of the art physically, mentally, and spiritually. The translator, Mattias Daly, is a twenty-year student of Chinese martial arts, spiritual practices, and traditional healthcare. In order to ensure a highly faithful translation, he made numerous journeys to Shanghai to discuss the complexities of taijiquan philosophy with Master Ren and personally experience the training methods and martial applications he describes. The Heart Treasure of Taijiquan enables students to transform their own practices and retrace the footsteps of its foremost masters. A must-read for practitioners of Yang-style tai chi chuan and all thoseinterested in the philosophy of Chinese martial arts in general." - Kostas Dervenis, Headmaster of the Pammachon Cultural Foundation, author of The Martial Arts of Ancient Greece and The Magus of Java "Perhaps the best book translated into English on the real practice ofTaijiquan and what it takes to learn it. Within its pages is also the bestelucidation of the Taiji Classic, returning the words to their rightful placeas a practical guide to developing skill and not the esoteric text so manymake it out to be." - Andrew Nugent-Head, Founder of the Association for Traditional Studies, Chinese medicine physician and educator, practitioner of Yin style baguazhang
Martial arts master Yang Chengfu’s seminal work on the techniques and applications of Yang-style taijiquan—now available to Western practitioners for the first time The publication in 1934 of Yang Chengfu's book, The Essence and Applications of Taijiquan (Taijiquan Tiyong Quanshu) marked a milestone in the modern evolution of the art of taijiquan. Using what is best-termed demonstration narrative, the author presents form postures and suggested applications from his own perspective, as he performed them. This methodology renders Yang Chengfu's direct, hands-on teaching of the art with such immediacy and liveliness that the reader experiences the master’s teaching much as his students did. This English translation finally makes Yang Chengfu's classic work available to taijiquan enthusiasts in the West. It includes notes and commentary that clarify the author's frequent classical and literary turns of phrase and elucidate the philosophical and political underpinnings that shape the text. The translator investigates and compares several early taijiquan books in order to help explain the roles played by two of Yang Chengfu's students, Dong Yingjie and Zheng Manqing, in bringing Yang Chengfu's words and teachings into print. Serious students of taijiquan, and those wishing to deepen their knowledge of taijiquan history and theory, will find this seminal work indispensable to their study and practice.
Provides a step-by-step photographic guide to each posture in the Before Heaven T'ai Chi form and illustrates the 64 postures of the After Heaven T'ai Chi form. Also includes discussion of the universal principals of the pratice of T'ai Chi and the philosophy of the I Ching.
This book constitutes the third installment of the five-volume series that is collectively titled The Principles and Practices of Taijiquan. Volume one deals with the principles and practices of taijiquan as related to the performance of the solo form, which many practitioners consider to be the primary activity of taijiquan. However, as a complete martial art, taijiquan includes a number other complementary practices and training methods, such as stretching, loosening, single-posture training, internal strength training, weapons training, and martial applications. A number of these ancillary training methods are addressed in the second volume of this series.This book, which is the third volume in the series, is relevant to all taijiquan aficionados who want to expand their practice to include pushing hands as an important aspect of the martial art of taijiquan. The dual-person training activities that are broadly referred to as "pushing hands," or tuishou in Mandarin, bridge the gap between the single-person practices such as the solo form, single-posture training, body conditioning, and internal strength training on the one hand and true martial applications on the other. As explained in this text, the practice of pushing hands was initially developed to train practitioners to apply the principles of taijiquan while interacting with another individual. As such, pushing hands is not intended to directly teach practitioners to employ taijiquan for fighting or self-defense. This is an important distinction and one which is clearly and repeatedly stated in this volume.What this volume does accomplish is to review the principles of taijiquan as they apply to the practice of pushing hands. The author takes the position that practitioners engaged in learning pushing hands must adhere to the principles of taijiquan as elucidated in the Taijiquan Classics as well as in the classical literature of taijiquan. The text employs copious references from the Classics as well as from such important texts such as Chen Kung's Discourses on Intrinsic Energy, the Yang Family Forty Chapters, Li Yaxuan's commentaries on pushing hands, and Chen Xin's Thirty-Six Pushing Hands Sicknesses in order to illustrate how to practice pushing hands according to the principles established by the founders and past masters of taijiquan. The book also includes the wisdom and experience of more contemporary authorities on taijiquan in general and pushing hands in particular, including insights from Dr. Ping-Siang Tao's Tai Chi Push Hands and C. P. Ong's Taijiquan - Cultivating Inner Strength, to cite two specific references. Additional insights and practical training tips are presented based upon the author's own investigation into this fundamental aspect of taijiquan along with the tips and training methods imparted to the author by his many teachers, including his primary teacher, Grandmaster Jesse Tsao, with whom he has trained for the past fifteen years.This volume covers single-hand and double-hand pushing hands patterns, fixed-step, restricted-step, and moving-step pushing hands, along with the progressive development of the skills of sticking, following, listening, interpreting, receiving, neutralizing, and issuing. Specific topics include concepts such as maintaining central equilibrium, rooting, the four sides techniques, the four corners techniques, the five steps, the six directions, using consciousness rather than strength, giving up oneself to follow the other, knowing yourself and knowing your opponent, storing and releasing, alternating soft and hard, employing silk-reeling energy, the secret of the free circle, employing momentum and leverage, controlling the opponent without being controlled, and issuing internal power (fajin).
This book, which is the first in a three-volume series, represents the accumulated knowledge and understanding that are the result of nearly thirty years of dedicated study and diligent practice of the art of taijiquan. Focusing on the solo (or empty-hand) forms of the five major family styles (Chen, Yang, Wu, Hao, and Sun), the author presents fifty distinct yet related principles that are essential to the correct practice of taijiquan. These principles range from the basic, such as "Suspend the head-top" and "Level the pelvis," to more esoteric concepts like "Use consciousness, not strength" and "No shape, no shadow."Accompanying each individual principle, the author has included one or more training exercises designed to assist the reader in cultivating that specific principle and incorporating the essence of the principle into the reader's solo form practice. These training exercises include simple stretching and loosening exercises, zhan zhuang standing, seated and standing meditation, repetitive single-posture training, silk-reeling, and fajin training. Each of these exercises is intended to increase the reader's skill and supplement his or her solo form practice. Although many of the principles come from the collective works known as the Taijiquan Classics, which are generic to all family styles of taijiquan, the author has also included principles that have been excerpted from the works of past and present masters of the Chen, Yang, Wu, Hao, and Sun styles. The insight transmitted to the author from his primary teacher, Grandmaster Jesse Tsao, is that those principles and concepts that would appear to be specific to a given family style (such as the coiling of Chen style or the follow-stepping of the Sun style) are universally applicable to all family styles.Even if one only practices a single style of taijiquan, recognizing the universality of the principles and practice methods that underlie all family styles can broaden the practitioner's understanding and improve his or her skill. Acknowledging this generic approach, the author has produced a book that is comprehensive and universal in its approach to presenting the principles and practice of taijiquan. The general knowledge and practical information contained within this book will be of value to practitioners of all levels who wish to increase their understanding and improve their skill at performing the solo form(s) from their preferred family style of taijiquan.
A longtime teacher and Harvard researcher presents the latest science on the benefits of T’ai Chi as well as a practical daily program for practitioners of all ages Conventional medical science on the Chinese art of T’ai Chi now shows what T’ai Chi masters have known for centuries: regular practice leads to more vigor and flexibility, better balance and mobility, and a sense of well-being. Cutting-edge research from Harvard Medical School also supports the long-standing claims that T’ai Chi also has a beneficial impact on the health of the heart, bones, nerves and muscles, immune system, and the mind. This research provides fascinating insight into the underlying physiological mechanisms that explain how T’ai Chi actually works. Dr. Peter M. Wayne, a longtime T’ai Chi teacher and a researcher at Harvard Medical School, developed and tested protocols similar to the simplified program he includes in this book, which is suited to people of all ages, and can be done in just a few minutes a day. This book includes: • The basic program, illustrated by more than 50 photographs • Practical tips for integrating T’ai Chi into everyday activities • An introduction to the traditional principles of T’ai Chi • Up-to-date summaries of the research on the health benefits of T’ai Chi • How T’ai Chi can enhance work productivity, creativity, and sports performance • And much more