r/taijiquan

Another solid piece I stumbled across as I look for a specific article that helped me get into Tai Chi Ball.

Dong Ying Jie's Words of Experience

I wanted to post this in order to promote some lively discussion as he talks about some classic points. For example:

• Number 8 - practicing the form 3 times for best effect. I agree overall. I do a variation of this with ball work for 20 minutes then 2 repetitions of the form, one forward and one mirror reverse.

• Number 11 - bringing your practice into daily life. I agree completely, and this is one of the fastest ways to develop skill.

• Number 14 - a lot of meat there on structure and posture and a few conflicts with modern advice. :)

• Number 16 - don't lift heavy weights. :) I agree - past a certain point it will inhibit your listening and integration.

• Number 19 - training should take precedence over theory. I agree. The joke at my alma mater was "theory is what we noodle over between runs of the long form."

I look forward to hearing others' reflections on this article.

One day when I was taking a class with William C Chen in New York I was squatting and stretching out my spine. He came over to me and squatted down next to me and then from that position quietly announced to the class that not only is this important but that you really shouldn't begin to practice of tai chi until you can squat comfortably. We both had our feet flat and our spines pretty vertical.

I had never heard this before so I was curious what others here have been taught or experienced. In my experience any problems have actually been helped with proper squatting.

A lot of students at my school can only do the form while following our teacher. Does anyone have advice for things to do in class that will help students memorize forms better?

Unlock a rare opportunity to study a deeply guarded, traditional Qigong system refined over 30 years of practice. This exclusive 5-part workshop series is designed to pass down precious, time-tested health preservation methods to the next generation of dedicated practitioners.

While you will learn an extensive lineage of traditional sets, the ultimate goal of this series is efficiency: integrating profound depth into a single, powerhouse daily routine that takes less than 30 minutes a day.

Sun, 7/26/26 11:00-4:00 PM EDT

at Qi (26 West 8th Street New York, NY 10011)

what happens when you have no traction and you punch? I asked this personally to William C Chen and he says the punch doesn’t work on ice.

I did kung fu before tai chi and learned how to punch even while falling down, but the technique is very different.

so… Has anyone figured out how to do the tai chi punch wall on really slippery ice?

(crampons don’t count because that would imply you are holding an ice axe)
((I know this is going on too long, but I had some students who were serious hockey players so this came up and we actually tried some striking on ice))

I didn’t think this would generate so many comments. Physics is good. Most of my internal arts instructors as well as fellow students all knew a Hamiltonian from a Lagrangian.

I just stumbled upon this. Incredible and impressive external performance. I wish I could do my form like that. Though the commentators are annoying and don't know anything about the art

As I was watching, I was thinking: 25 years ago, I would have considered this a perfect form. Now, to me, the perfect form looks like supremely skilled master Zhu Chunxuan's form: https://youtu.be/FDHQyne4f\_k

It is a reminder that we really shouldn't look at the external beauty of our forms (unless we do Taolu competition). But at embodying all the internal principles throughout it. As soon as we care about the way it looks, we aren't listening to our internals. The latter is the only thing that should guide our form.