After practice Tai Chi for many days since last Tuesday, I am still can’t link up all the Tai Chi Chuan steps, even I watched the Tai Chi Chuan from Youtube and other Tai Chi Chuan video available in the Internet these few days. As I haven’t got chance to check with my Tai Chi Master yet.
Although I have finished practice Tai Chi every morning, but is not complete steps. I just try to move one step to another step that I remember, and even is not the right sequence, but I still finish practice it. If other people know about Tai Chi or my Tai Chi Master see I practice in this way, they sure laugh of me. Um.. I remember I watched one Tai Chi movie before, then Chang San Feng in that movie mentioned Tai Chi Chuan is no fixed movement. That is why we can see so many different Tai Chi Chuan forms in this modern world now. May be one day I create another new Tai Chi Chuan form! Ha ha..
Every morning, I will practice the warm up exercise first, which is 3 basic Tai Chi warm up steps. These 3 steps the main purpose is to relax our hands, body and legs before start practice Tai Chi. I need to practice or called exercise for 100 times for each step, and really after 3 basic steps then I can feel my body start warm, and may be this is called ‘chi’ start warm up inside my body but is not strong at all. Sometime not even can feel it.
After 3 basic exercise steps, then I start practice Tai Chi Chuan without proper steps, and just try to finish it and link up all the Tai Chi steps that I still can remember. After practice Tai Chi Chuan, then I stand in front of windows and practice Chi Kung, and concentrate on the breathing. So far I can’t really feel the ‘chi’ flow from internal body to different part of my body yet, and just feel warm for whole body.
I am learning the Yang family Tai Chi Chuan – Short 37 Form that formed by Cheng Man-ch'ing (Cheng Man Ching; 郑曼青; 鄭曼青). Cheng Man-ch'ing is learned from Tai Chi Master Yang Ch'eng-fu (Yang Chengfu; 杨澄甫; 楊澄甫).
I have been practiced Tai Chi Chuan for so many years, but just stop for a year plus, then forgot most of the steps. Oh man! Another important point is, I learn the Tai Chi Chuan movement since day 1, but I didn’t remember the name for those Tai Chi Chuan steps. I only know that Zhang Sanfeng (Chang San Feng; 張三丰; 張三豐) created 72 movement Tai Chi Chuan set, then after few hundred years, and today it become 5 major classical family styles.
- Chen style (陳氏) (founded by Chen Wangting, 1580–1660)
- Yang style (楊氏) (founded by Yang Lu-ch'an, 1799-1872)
- Wu or Wu/Hao style of Wu Yu-hsiang (Wu Yuxiang) (武氏)
- Wu style of Wu Ch'uan-yu (Wu Quanyuo) and his son Wu Chien-ch'uan (Wu Jianquan) (吳氏)
- Sun style (孫氏) (founded by Sun Lu-t'ang, 1861–1932)
