West Coast Taiji and Qi Gong

I often have students ask me how they can judge whether or not a particular teacher is of a high standard. The best answer is that an accomplished teacher will be supple and strong.  

Taijiquan (often called Taiji) is an Internal art partially based on Qi Gong and shares the attributes of Release, Root, Balance and Rotation. When you combine these you soon realize they can only be cultivated in a supple yet strong body. People that tend to embrace rigidity, locked joints, shallow breathing and lost balance have not adequately trained and cannot be said to display Taiji attributes in their movements.  

A released body is one in which all joints in the body not only bend and align but stay so, and are capable of a full range of motion. Locking ones joints, which is a default habit of many Westerners, prevents Qi flow and defeats the quest for Root and Balance.  

The roots of Taiji go back several thousands of years but were only realized as a recognizable art in the 1600s when Chen Wangting combined an existing martial art with Qi Gong, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taoist breathing techniques, meridian theory and meditation. His goal was to create the ultimate martial art and his thinking was that rather than mimic powerful animals or other creatures of the natural world, as others were doing with the development of such Gong Fu styles as Preying Mantis, Tiger, White Crane, Dragon and so on, that he would attempt to combine his existing martial art with the most all encompassing universal Principles, The Tao or Taiji.  

Taiji is an ancient Chinese philosophy about the natural world and is one of the central elements of traditional Chinese culture. The word Taiji itself refers to the “great primal beginning” of all that exists, and is often translated as the ‘Supreme Ultimate’.

The name Taijiquan combines Taiji with the Chinese word Quan which translates as fist or martial method.  

That Chen Wangting was successful is evidenced by the fact that so many Taijiquan practitioners became famous not only for their martial skills but also for their very robust health.  

My first encounter with its healing abilities came about when working with Master T. T. Liang and his students over a period of roughly 14 years. Master Liang had been diagnosed as close to death in his forties, and had been given only a few months to live. By adopting the methods of Taijiquan and in other ways changing his life he managed to live to 101.

Taijiquan was a jewel of Chinese culture and one that helped maintain the health of the entire nation. Under Mao Tse-tung it and many other ancient arts were halted causing a great loss of knowledge. Along with that many Westerners have created their own versions of Taijiquan that display none of the attributes discussed here. Embracing Taiji as a way of life not only leads to a long and healthful life but can help to bring this beautiful art back to its full glory.  

Back in 2006 I wrote a book about my time with Master Liang. I include chapters on his writings as well as a guide to every posture of the Traditional Long Form along with text describing how to perform the postures.

While this will not take the place of a teacher it is a good reference for the form and contains chapters that describe Yang Taiji and why it is unique among exercise systems.

This link goes to the Canadian website.

And this link goes to the U.S. version.

To bring your health to its highest level and to achieve mastery of The Internal Arts there are three main systems we use; Meditation, Qi Gong and Taijiquan.

Qi Gong contains elements of Meditation and Taijiquan contains elements of both. If you only practise Taijiquan you may still become quite proficient but without a very good teacher guiding you your progress will either stall or be slower than necessary.

Meditation combines breath control and mental focus. It is the best exercise to isolate the Release of body tension and does so in a setting where we do not have to be concerned with complex physical movement.

Qi Gong builds on Meditation and combines physical movement with breath control and mental focus. It also introduces the concepts of Rooting, whole body movement and Internal stretching.

Taijiquan contains all of the above concepts and builds on them by introducing complex physical postures. To maintain breath control, mental focus, rooting, whole body movement and internal stretching while performing complex physical postures.

The relationship between these two arts has been going on since the creation of Taijiquan by Chen Wanting who lived from 1580- 1660. It is believed that his breakthrough was to combine the existing martial art of Chen village with meridian theory, Qi Gong, Chinese Traditional Medicine and Taoist principles.

He was successful in creating a martial art who’s movements and theories owe a lot to the principles of Qi movement in the body as developed through the practise of Qi Gong.