Tag Archive | Tai Chi

Wednesday tai chi is moving!

Our Wednesday evening tai chi class is moving premises. From Wednesday 25th of October the class, which used to be held in Milton of Leys primary, will now be held at 34 high street (Yee’s hung ga Kung fu school). The time is also changing and is being brought forward to start at 6pm, the class will run until about 7:30pm. In this class we will now have time to do some qigong warm up before starting our tai chi practice which is a great bonus.

Prices remains as before, £7 for a single session or £35 for a 6 session card.

Just bring a warm jersey, maybe a yoga mat, some water, flat shoes and you are all set!

Please do get in touch if you have questions

07985983160

helenehealing@hotmail.com

Improver Tai Chi Class

Dec15

This class is open to all who attend the Friday class (or a tai chi class regularly) and want more practice and wish to improve their understanding of the form, breath work, how qi works… Currently we are working a qigong set at the beginning of this class and we will be developing our listening skills in the tai chi set over the next while, which will include some light partner work.

The Friday class is a beginner/ general practice class, where we introduce the form and it is officially our beginners class.

These classes are both part of your highlife membership if you have one.

Hope to see many of you there, happy practice

Beyond learning the tai chi set

Jan27

Great news! We had 5 students finishing the set last week! Well done to them, they have worked hard and have worked consistently for a year or a bit more for others. But what does that mean….? As we know Tai Chi is a lifelong practice. Learning the moves to any tai chi set in like taking a step into a much larger world. Our students have learnt the 108 moves of the yang style, long form tai chi set and now they are on the first rung of the ladder. The hard work starts now, working beyond the moves is what awaits them. Developing their energy, the flow of that energy, developing the connections in their bodies. That is their next step. And that is why tai chi is a lifelong practise. To me it is a bit like the air that we breathe. Personally, It puts me in phase with myself, activates my whole being, I could not be without it. And so we are going to begin ‘refining’ the set this week. I wish them all good luck, and many years of joyful practice.

Taichi Names of 108 moves

Sep14

By popular request I thought I would give you a list of the moves that comprise the 108 moves set. Keep in mind that you may well see them referred as 85, 103… The moves may also Vary slightly according to how they are counted, how many repeats are included…Names can also have slight variations.

The sequence is usually broken down into thirds.

Names of moves for the 1st third:

1- Preparation

2-Opening

3- Ward off Left

4- Grasp the bird’s tail

5-Single whip

6-Step up and raise hands (shoulder strike)

7- White crane spreads wings

8-Brush knee (left)

9-Strum the pei-pa

10-Brush knee and twist step (left)

11-Brush knee and twist step (right)

12- Brush knee and twist step (left)

13- Strum the pei-pa

14-Brush knee (left)

15- Step forward, deflect, parry and punch

16-Appear to close entrance

17-Cross hands

And here are the names of the 2nd third:

18-Carry tiger to the mountain

19-Grasp the bird’s tail

20-Fist under elbow

21-Step back and repulse monkey (left)

22-Step back and repulse monkey (right)

23- Step back and repulse monkey (left)

24- diagonal slant flying

25-Step up and raise hands

26-White crane spreads wings

27-Brush knee (left)

28- Needle at sea bottom

29-Fan through the back

30-Turn and hammer with fist

31-Deflect, parry, punch

32-ward off left (diagonal)

33-Grasp the bird’s tail

34-Single Whip

35-Wave hands like clouds (x5)

36-Single whip

37-High pat on the horse

38-Part leg at right (toe kick)

39-Part leg at left (toe kick)

40-Turn, kick with left heel

41-Brush knee and twist step (left)

42-Brush knee and twist step (right)

43-Step up and punch low

44-Turn and hammer with fist

45-Deflect, parry, punch

46-Kick with right heel

47-Strike tiger at left

48-Strike tiger at right

49-Kick with right heel

50-Strike tiger at both sides

51-Kick with left heel

52-Pivot, kick with right heel

53-Deflect, parry and punch

54-Appear to close entrance

55-Cross hands

And finally the 3rd part:

56-Tiger returns to the mountain

57-Grasp the bird’s tail

58- Horizontal single whip

59-Part wild horse mane (right)

60-Part wild horse mane (Left)

61-Part wild Horse mane (right)

62-ward off left

63-Grasp the bird’s tail

64-Single Whip

65-Fair Lady’s shuttle-left

66-Fair lady’s shuttle-right

67-Fair lady’s shuttle-left

68-Fair lady’s shuttle-right

69-Ward off left

70-Grasp the bird’s tail

71-Single whip

72-Wave hands like clouds (x5)

73-Single whip (descending)

74-Snake creeps low

75-Golden pheasant stands on left leg

76-Golden pheasant stands on right leg

77-Step back and repulse monkey-right

78-step back and repulse monkey- left

79-Step back and repulse monkey-right

80-Diagonal slant flying

81-Step up and raise hands (shoulder strike)

82-White crane spreads wings

83-Brush knee (left)

84-Needle at sea bottom

85-Fan through the back

86-White snake darts tongue

87-Deflect, parry, punch

88-Ward off left

89-Grasp the bird’s tail

90-Single whip

91-Wave hands like clouds (5)

92-Single whip

93-High pat on the horse

94-Penetrating palm

95-Turn and cross kick

96-Step up and punch downwards

97-Ward off

98-Grasp the bird’s tail

99-Single whip

100- Snake creeps down (2)

101-Step up to seven stars

102-Step back to ride tiger

103-Turn body and swing over lotus (kick)

104-Bend the bow and shoot tiger

105-Deflect, parry, and punch

106-Appear to close entrance

107- Cross hands

108- Conclusion

So keep in mind that although it only counts 3 repulse monkeys that it is in fact 5 repetitions that are in the set (twice!) and the same is true for parting wild horse mane, there are 5 of those also.

Happy reading and I hope you can work out which is which!

Tai Chi Lineage

Sep4

As you know Tai Chi is passed on from teacher to student and follows a lineage which enables you to trace back the roots of the style and form you practice.

The form we practice is:

-Yang style: which means that it relates to the Yang family lineage

-Large frame: which is wide and large in its movements

-Long form: the set comprises 108 moves which are known as long form (there are a lot of ways to count the moves so you may see them referred to as 88, 95, 103, these all essentially form the same set). There are other forms which are shorter such as 8 steps, 24 steps… There are also weapons forms!

As you may know our lineage has a Japanese background and my own teacher Rebecca Knowles studied Tai Chi from Grand master Fu Tamon Toyoki Nagao.

Here is the best lineage that myself and Rebecca have managed to put together:

Yang Lu Chan Yang Lu Chan

Yang Chien Hou Cheng Ting Hua Yang Chien Hou

Yang Cheng Fu Zang Zhao-Dong Yang Chen Fu

Fu Zhonwen Wan Shu Jin Zheng Ming(Yang Shou-Chung)

Master Fu Tamon Toyoki Nagao

Rebecca Knowles

Helene Fleming

As you can see two of master’s Fu Tamon Toyoki Nagao teachers where of the same lineage. You can look most of these masters up and you will find information on them. However here are a few more bits of information which you may find useful.

Yang Lu Chan

Yang Lu Chan was the 1st person of the the Yang family to learn tai chi from the Chen masters. Chen style is the oldest style of Tai Chi. It is different to Yang style in that it has changes in the pace and is seen often as more energetic. For a demonstration please ask me!

Yang Lu Chan passed on his knowledge to his sons (2nd generation) who passed it on to their own sons.

Yang Chen Fu

Yang Cheng Fu is the 1st master to have widened the circle of his students, he is also the person who started to practice Tai Chi for health purposes and he slowed the pace down and made it even.

The middle lineage is a very interesting one as these masters also practised other internal arts such as Bagua Zhang and Xingyi Quan.

Upon returning to Japan master Fu Tamon Toyoki Nagao started a school of Tai Chi known as Naishindo, 内神道 meaning Inner Sacred Way. There are branches of this school throughout Japan.

What makes our lineage special is that it is pre-cultural revolution tai chi, it has not been systematised or simplified. It has been preserved to the best of everyone’s ability, and that should give you access to a genuine and powerful form of tai chi.

I hope you enjoyed this post if you have comments and question please as always post them.