People are drawn to Tai Chi
Chuan for a number of reasons; the beauty of the forms, fascination with the
philosophy, the well documented health benefits, "low impact" exercise or
simply as an enjoyable social event twice a week.
Although everybody
involved in Tai Chi practice is (or should be) aware of its martial origins,
this side of the art receives the least attention in the majority of schools. I
refer here to the Yang style in particular. It's interesting to note that the
very people who would gain the most from this training (women, the physically
small or weak, anybody shy or timid by nature, the over thirty five to forty
age group or anyone who has never practiced, or isn't interested in, sports)
are the first to raise their eyebrows at even the mention of something they
perceive as much too rough or strenuous, rather vulgar, difficult, threatening,
dangerous, unnecessary or only for the younger crowd, "I'm much too old for
that sort of thing". I must admit that when I signed on for my first Yang style
course at the age of forty three with no martial background and a general
disinterest in anything even vaguely athletic, I too held pretty much the same
opinions, in fact, for the first couple of years I wasn't trained in methods
which to my mind had a direct connection with "martial arts" at all. I studied
the Yang Cheng Fu long form, practiced standing Chi Kung and a bit of "Push
Hands". I followed this program religiously and constantly reviewed what I was
learning in my spare time.
During the first twelve months I managed to
get over the "burning legs" syndrome, my balance and co-ordination improved and
for the first time in my life, eliminated chronic backache and recurring knee
problems. Much to my chagrin, this period came to an abrupt end when my first
teacher was no longer available. Not wanting to lose ground, so to speak, I had
no alternative but to look round for another school. This was easier said than
done when I was living in southern Italy some fifteen years ago, not exactly
the hub of the Tai Chi world! Not to be dismayed, I continued my training at
home and began doing a bit of research.
Slowly, I came to the following
startling conclusion, i.e., the introductions to the books I managed to get my
hands on, were at odds with the training methods that followed! I must have
ordered twenty or so books on Tai Chi, mainly from the USA and no matter what
the ethnic origin of the authors, the net result was the same in that the
introduction to each and every book was spiced with seemingly outrageous (and
in many cases, disconcerting) anecdotes of the martial capacity of the founder
of the Yang style, Yang Lu Chan and his sons Ban Hou and Chien Hou, whilst the
rest of the book didn't seem to have much in common with the legend of the
"Invincible Yangs"! Not knowing anything about martial arts or having the
faintest idea what I was looking for, I assumed that the "Chuan" was only
taught in certain schools; so, I did the rounds and spent a fortune on
phonecalls only to find that the clubs I visited and contacted were projections
of my growing book collection! Although the air was thick with well worn
sayings, "internal energy", "Chi power", "soft martial art" etc, nobody I came
across could demonstrate any of them (at least to my satisfaction), nobody
taught Tai Chi for self defense and some instructors went so far as to say that
it wasn't a martial art even when I insisted on showing them the introduction
to "Yang Style Tai Ji Quan" by Yang Zhen Duo (Hai Feng Pub.Co. Hong Kong and
Morning Glory Press, Beijing).
Here are a couple of quotes about Yang
Cheng Fu taken from the introduction by Gu Liu Xin. "When he gave Tai Ji Quan
exhibitions at the Zhirou Wushu Association during his early days in Shanghai,
he performed the movements of kicking with speed and force", and, "though his
punches were delivered in a gentle manner they were hard as a steel bar wrapped
in soft cloth" but the stories about his older brother, Yang Shao Hou, are even
more intriguing. "With lively footwork and well knit small movements,
alternating quick with slow actions…"
This is a brief description of a
way of performing the Yang style form that nobody seemed to know about and I
couldn't find one teacher who even recognized the following as having anything
to do with Tai Chi. "He (Shao Hou) was swift and powerful in delivering his
blows and, with eyes blazing like torches, a grim smile on his face and roaring
and howling as he darted back and forth, he was held in awe by others" Well,
I'm not surprised!
But the best has yet to come...
"The
technical features of this kind of Tai Ji were: overcoming strong attacks with
soft movements, adapting oneself to others movements and following up with
quick attacks, using the motion of "sudden connection" to defeat the opponent
with surprise attacks. The hand movements included; catching, pushing and
capturing, injuring the attackers' muscles and harming his bones, attacking the
opponents vital points and controlling his arteries and veins, using
"continuous" and "sudden connection" force to throw the attacker to the ground
with lightning speed". Now, that sounded like a martial art to me! However,
none of the "Tai Chi Players" I met had been even remotely trained as follows
"When teaching his pupils Yang Shao Hou would attack them without pulling his
punches. His attacking movements were swift and ferocious and his facial
expression was changeable and varied". I was puzzled and frustrated that I
couldn't find any information on Shao Hou. There were reams of material on
Cheng Fu and if "…the two brothers enjoyed an equally high reputation
during their lifetime…", why was nobody teaching what Shao Hou had
taught?
It would have been acceptable if these methods had been lost or
misinterpreted sometime way back when but we're talking about the 1920's and
30's. With my appetite suitably whetted, I continued my search and after almost
a year found a newly opened school. "What d'you teach?" I asked the instructor
over the phone. "The Yang style transmission of Yang Shao Hou", he said, "
Classes begin next Tuesday". Before going any further, I should, perhaps, make
a few things clear. I am in no way suggesting that this training is "a must for
everybody" nor am I saying that it's the only way of doing things. As I
observed at the beginning of this article, people come to Tai Chi for very
different reasons and instructors teach Tai Chi for very different reasons.
"Each to his own and respect for all". So, instead of comparing the pros and
cons of one approach with any other, I'll just give a brief run-down of how I
was taught and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
There
were three, hour and a half lessons per week, Tuesday and Thursday evenings
classes being loosely divided as follows. Ten to twenty minutes of stretching
exercises or Pa Tuan Chin (the eight pieces of brocade) or Chan Chuang
(embracing the tree) standing Chi Kung, followed by thirty to forty minutes of
form practice and revision. The remaining times was devoted to combat training
which I'll describe in a moment, first, the form, known as the "Old" Yang
style. This contains all the recognizable characteristic moves and positions to
be found in all versions of the Yang style, however, there are radical
differences. Speed for speed, it takes much longer to complete than any other
long form I'm aware of and is much more complicated and physically demanding,
having for e.g. a leaping double kick and a greater number of low squatting
positions. You'll excuse my terrible pun but the most striking difference is
the use of Fa Jing (explosive energy expression), which punctuates the form at
strategic points throughout. Due to space limitations, it's not possible or
feasible here to describe all and everything that was taught, or in detail,
however, I'll try to give an overall picture of combat training methods which,
right from the first lesson, were practiced parallel to form training. These,
once learned, were constantly reviewed and the more advanced students then
taught them to the beginners. We were introduced to: "Push Hands", which was
practiced very close to the partner in a normal standing position using
rotational waist power with virtually no backwards or forwards movement
whatsoever.
All attacks and counters were realistic; there was little
or no "pushing" or "pulling". "Push Feet", to train kicking techniques and
defense against them. This exercise also builds stamina, as being practiced on
one leg, can be very tiring. "Sticking Hands", again with realistic attacks.
The more advanced method has both partners on the move and anything goes
including kicks and take-downs. We practiced all types of striking techniques
with all parts of the body on hand mitts, the sack and each other and
considerable time was spent on falling, rolling and break falling methods which
were then applied during "Chin Na" (seizing and controlling) practice and form
applications. "Shao San Shou (or Sao)", a two person combat form teaching
economy of movement, body angling for maximum power with minimum effort,
rooting, footwork, entering and self defense applications. "Long Hsia (or Har)
Chuan", (dragon prawn, or lobster, boxing). This is a method of training Yang
style self defense strategy and not, as the name may suggest, a style or school
of Kung Fu. "She Fa", a short partner set training the "folding principle".
"Eagle Vision", or the use of wide-angle peripheral perception to speed up
responses and train sub-conscious reflex actions. (For a detailed explanation
see the May '98 issue of T.C.I.)
We were taught massage, meditation,
advanced breathing techniques, various Chi Kungs and Chi visualization methods.
This program was further supplemented with a fighting applications class on
Saturday afternoons where a move, or series of moves, was taken from the form,
analyzed at various martial levels, then practiced over and over again with a
partner. At least once a month we had a Sunday get together and learned Ba Gua
Zhang Chi Kung (stationary and moving), several eight-palm-change forms, circle
walking, body conditioning, partner sets and got to workout with the Tang Lang
(mantis boxing) students. We were expected to do our homework on Taoist
Philosophy in general (the Tai Chi Symbol, the Five Elements, the pre and post
heaven trigram arrangements) and had to swot up on Traditional Chinese
Medicine; not that we were aiming to become acupuncturists but a minimum of
working knowledge was obligatory to the introductory study of Dian Xue (better
known as Dim Mak), a subject so vast, complicated and far reaching in its'
implications that more than a mention here would be futile. In closing, I must
stress that though the training was (and still is) tough going and taken very
seriously, it was conducted in an enjoyable, relaxed and easygoing atmosphere.
There were no "contests", or "sparring" of any kind and even if the
"attack-defense" methods solicited the occasional bruise, nobody was hurt or
injured, nor was any student cajoled or pushed into doing something they
weren't comfortable with or that was beyond their capabilities. The onus was on
collaboration, not competition. If I managed it and I'm no spring chicken, I
reckon almost anybody can give it a try. I can assure you that it's not
necessary to be an Olympic athlete or a genius before attempting this material,
plus, it's great fun and opens up totally unexpected horizons in the ongoing
study of this most sophisticated of arts. |
