Tai Chi has 2 purposes

 

Here's why I wrote that much Tai Chi is nothing more than "choreographed yawning":  I worked for the U.S. Customs Service and studied Wu Style as a "knock em down and drag em out" martial art in Toronto.  I found out (in a roundabout way) that the Wu family name is "Ng" in Manchurian.   My supervisors at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo said that someone named Ng was there with a dozen Chinese Canadian people who had swords in the trunk of their cars. He said that Mr. Ng said he knew me, and I expected him to demo at the "Y." I said to ask him if he uses the Chinese name Wu which fortunately was the case. Customs was concerned because there was a BOLO for an "Ng" mass murderer in Canada.

I'm not a diplomatic teacher, and that sometimes turns people I can make no apologies, and I am not diplomatic here. There has been too much belittling of Tai Chi, and I explain that below. I teach students also to check their reasoning in Tai Chi. My teacher does not pussyfoot with me either; he calls me on it when my reasoning is wobbly or way off. We both have also explained in the video and in great detail why there is great reasoning behind video learning over classroom learning. I have also written of my own experiences in learning from his videos.

When you read my blog and Facebook in-depth, I think you'll find the raison d'etre of Classical Tai Chi is not stress and inner peace. Many things call themselves Tai Chi but are merely exercise or "wine and cheese" excuses to socialize...they are not Tai Chi. In my experience, those so-called Tai Chi's all cut corners in the learning. Take out movements here, take out moves there, pretty soon it does not resemble its original purpose.  You do all that cutting of corners, and the whole logical structure collapses. There has been way too much of that.

In my experience, stress relief is "perks"; however that comes with much, much time, not a fad of the month club. The reason for Tai Chi's existence is to enable one to attain longevity while living like a young person ( while living in the springtime of one's life). These benefits do not come overnight.

Many people don't think Tai Chi is a martial art. Young Wabu (my teacher's teacher) was a top-notch martial artist when he met Wu Chien Chuan. Young was already a Master of Pekkwar Monkey Boxing and versed in numerous other external style martial arts. He was notable in Hong Kong. Young told my teacher that he could not mount an attack against Wu because Wu would keep him off balance. That is Tai Chi as a martial art.

I talk to many people who not only don't think Tai Chi is a martial art; they run the other way when you tell them it is. There are many byproducts of the original Tai Chi purpose:  Tai Chi for seniors, Tai Chi for spiritual growth, Tai Chi for stress relief, Tai Chi for idiots (name of a book on Amazon), Tai Chi for arthritis, Tai Chi for Fibromyalgia, Tai Chi for kids, etc. is there any wonder why people think that way? I am a martial artist, but above all, I'm here to "right the Tai Chi ship,"  not cater to Heinz 57 varieties of Tai Chi.

Tai Chi has to achieve two purposes, be there for martial ability and be there for health. It comes from martial artists; for instance, members of the Wu family were bodyguards in the Imperial Palace and officers in the Manchurian Banner Guard. BTW, "Ng" is Manchurian. They learned from the Yang Family (martial instructors of the emperor's family), Yangs learned from Chen Family.  Wu Chien Chuan (bodyguard/soldier) was the teacher of Young Wabu, the teacher of Stephen Hwa, who is my teacher. I am the teacher of those present and past students who wanted the art for martial arts and health purposes.