Do you own your Taijiquan?

The last few months I've been on the road, taking in France, China and Slovenia like some kind of Taiji gypsy. One of the fascinating things you can't help but notice is the different perceptions of the art that many people hold. Here I'm talking about serious Taijiquan practitioners, if we judge seriousness in terms of dedication and time spent actually doing it (as opposed to talking about it!). Beyond the common martial art v health distinction, there are many different ways a person can approach Taijiquan and get a good return for their investment of time and effort.

CTGB 2014 group in Chenjiagou L-R:  Crawford Currie, Viki Lloyd, Dragan Lazarevic, Davidine Sim, Chen Xiaoxing,  David Gaffney & David Murray

The time honoured method of training in Chenjiagou places great emphasis upon realising fundamentals before progressing to the next level. That said, one of the things that struck me during this recent trip was the many different ways Taijiquan can be practised depending on the age, fitness and goals of the person: 

• One group of young guys in their teens and early twenties started every day training Laojia Yilu with Chen Ziqiang before going training weight training and sparring sessions to prepare some of them for a repeat of last years challenge match with a team of champion Thai boxers from Thailand.  Others to prepare for full contact sanda competitions.

  

  Two of the Chenjiagou Taijiquan School's top young fighters

• A group of more mature students were training the Guandao (halberd) everyday with Chen Hui, another of the school's senior instructors. Using heavy weapons they were building strength in Taijiquan's traditional way while mastering the favoured weapon of Chen Wangting, creator of Taijiquan. 

• One elderly character who comes to Chenjiagou for a few months every year and delights in walking around bare chested (or in a vest in severe weather), as well as doing his forms, was constantly stretching to keep his mobility in later life. 

• An elegant young woman was training everyday in the double sword form - one of the most aesthetically beautiful weapons in the system.

My sword group in Slovenia

• One of the Chinese students who joined our group with her husband is an expert in Chinese tea culture and a member of China's traditional painting society. Each day after training she would go to her room to work on a long term project of doing a calligraphy copy of the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine - one of the defining classic texts that underpins many of the theories of Taijiquan. To her Taijiquan practice is a natural extension of a deep study of China's culture.

It's vital to learn from someone who really understands Taijiquan

Each of us has our own unique body and temperament. Throw into the mix age, fitness, past experience... Different people who learn from the same teacher must ultimately bring out their own particular strengths. In Chen Zhaokui’s widely circulated article “Training for Sparring”, he urged practitioners to consider carefully their own physical and mental advantages and disadvantages and train accordingly: 

"After a reasonable mastery of sparring techniques, you should specialise in one or two techniques, the exact ones will be defined by your build, stamina, reflexes, and other factors.  For example, a tall person should put emphasis on cai, or plucking, and lie, which means splitting… A short person should mainly practice shoulder, elbow, and leg techniques in order to attack the lower part of the opponent.  He must be fast and agile…For the powerful, emphasis should be on cai, lie, and zhou.  Strikes should be so powerful that the first strike eliminates all possible attacks…For the agile, emphasis should be on fake moves.  The opponent should be tricked in any way possible… Then …hit with fast moves…For those with slow reflexes, emphasis should be on defence, i.e., when the opponent strikes, the strikes should be blocked and then countered". 

Chen Zhaokui - "Specialise"!!

The important point is that at some point we need to make the Taijiquan we train our own. Of course it's vital that you learn from someone who really understands Taijiquan and put in some serious training under their guidance. BUT if your idea of doing "good Taijiquan" is being a clone of your teacher, ask yourself why all the most highly skilled practitioners express their own distinct flavour? If you've followed a teacher for fifteen or twenty years and still depend upon them, rather than your own understanding then have you really learned anything?