Tai Ji Fundamentals
This course is designed as a training companion for all levels of Tai Ji practice. Each class will be a one hour continuous flow of exercises to develop or maintain proficiency of movement based on fundamental principles specific to Tai Ji. We will begin with warm ups and stretching followed by a focus concept of the day, repeating short phrases or drills that develop the expression of the internal principle.
This course includes 8 class recordings of 1 hour each, plus 8 Q&A sessions of 15 minutes each, for a total of 10 hours of instruction.
Week 1: Rooted Stepping
Week 2: Circles within Circles
Week 3: Three Harmonies
Week 4: Relaxation and Expansion
Week 5: Fire Method: Power
Week 6: Water Method: Fluidity
Week 7: Emptiness and Fullness
Week 8: Spirit
Content in this course:
-across floor method, how to shift the weight and pivot
-strengthening the five basic stances (ma bu, pu bu, gong bu, xie bu, xu bu)
-rising and sinking gong for conditioning the base
-single leg balance
-how to grip the floor and drill through the legs
-chan si jing (silk reeling, legs aspect)
-phrases: celestial horse shakes its mane 天马抖鬃, lifting the robe advancing three 撩袍进三
-moving from center
-coiling around the ball shoulder warm up (yè lǐ cáng huā 叶里藏花)
-snake coiling
-yun shou (cloud hands), stationary and across the floor
-high leg stretching
-front kick, side kick, inside/outside crescent kick
-shuang long bao zhu standing pillar
-spring swallow returns
-seven star pai da
-full body zhou shen pai da
-hand and finger quality and position for peng 掤
-chen jian zhui zhou (sink shoulders, drop elbows) 沉肩坠肘
-song yao (relax the waist) 松腰
-phrases: withdrawing three ten mile steps (tui rang san she 退让三舍）, scooping up qi irrigate the summit (peng qi guan ding 捧气灌顶）
-horse stance punching
-fa jin/ fa li drills 发劲/发力
-generating wave power
-harnessing sinking power
-flexibility and stretching
-returning power (hui li)
-following the breath, freeing the channels
-empty stance hold
-elixir qi opens and closes
-alternating substantial and insubstantial （虚实） in legs, arms, and center
-cloud hands (yun shou)
-phrases: dancing with long sleeves, up down blocking breaking off
-expression of vitality and spirit (jing shen 精神)
-intention yi 意
-personal cultivation, practicing brightness
-primordial chaos and emptiness （hun dun wu ji 混沌无极）