About Tai Chi Chuan
Developed in China originally for martial arts purpose, Tai Chi Chuan has been used as a traditional exercise to improve fitness, health, and longevity for individuals of all ages. The free flowing & slow mindful moves of Tai Chi gradually improves one’s strength, flexibility, breathing, and balance make it especially attractive to mature adults. While there are several styles of tai chi, the Yang style Tai Chi is the most widely practiced due to its health benefits & meditative nature.
Yang Style Tai Chi is the most widely practiced style of tai chi in the world today. It ranks second in terms of seniority after Chen Style. The required stances are wide and low; however, individuals can adjust to a higher, narrower stance based on their own ability. Movements are big and mostly linear, and the pace is consistently slow throughout the entire form. The soft, graceful, and fluid movements of the style is why tai chi is commonly referred to as “Moving Meditation.”
Yang Style Tai Chi is suitable for many people, for example:
- You want to improve your balance to prevent falls
- You want an exercise that the whole family can participate in
- You have an injury or limitations, and need a slow, low impact exercise
- You want to meditate to calm your mind but cannot do it sitting quietly
- You want an exercise that does not require lying on the ground, equipment, or special attire, so you can do it anywhere, anytime
Health Benefits of Tai Chi: According to Traditional Chinese medical theory, tai chi movements allow qi to circulate throughout the body via channels or meridians. These energy pathways connect organs, joints, and muscle groups. Performed with deep breathing, Tai chi is a series of individual movements or forms, linked together to flow smoothly from one to another resulting in many health benefits like -
- 1.Mobility: Improves balance by involving interlimb coordination between lower & upper body
- 2.Overall flexibility: Flexion & extension of the hips & knees right up to the heel & foot
- 3.Posture alignment: Postural control and alignment, with and without arm coordination
- 4.Muscle endurance: Improve muscle strength through static and moving exercises
- 5.Whole body movement: Body and trunk rotation along with balanced weight shifting
“BE WATER MY FRIEND…… “All the Tai Chi movements are fluid like water & free flow in the next move. The moves look elegant & graceful like dance movements, but at the same time they are powerful. Focus and harmony of mind, body and spirit are called for. It can take quite some time before one can master all the movements.
TAICHI FOR HEALTH & MARTIAL ASPECTS
Start Learning “Yang Style Tai chi” with India Qigong Academy’s Instructors
HEALTH Aspects : Yang Tai Chi 08-Form & 24-Form
TAI CHI FOR HEALTH - Beginners can get immediate benefits of Tai Chi by starting with these 2 popular basic forms in Yang Tai Chi – the 08 Step form & the 24 Step form. Practicing these forms will lay a strong foundation for 13 energies of Tai Chi to giving you good health while developing a calm & focused mind.
A. 08-STEP YANG TAI CHI form
Duration: 2.0 to 3.0 months Online / Physical
Sometimes called the 10 form, the 8 Form is an ideal for beginners. The 10-Step form is a very compact Yang-style Tai Chi form that uses key steps from the longer traditional Yang Tai chi forms. It contains most of the elementary movements of Yang style Tai Chi Chuan. All the movements are repeated on both left and right sides of the body and the sequence requires only a small space in which to practice. Once learned properly under our detailed instructions it takes only minimum 3 mins to maximum 6 mins to practice these steps & getting the benefitted Tai Chi principles.
Also included
- Basic Joint loosening exercises – Preparatory warmups for loosening one’s joints for Tai Chi
- Basic Tai Chi walking series – 6 Tai chi walks based on the moves from Yang 08 Form
- Training reference videos – Short clips covering various aspects of training
B. 24 - STEP YANG TAI CHI form
Duration: 3.0 to 4.0 months Online / Physical
Simplified Tai Chi 24 is also known as the “Beijing Form” or “Peking Form” is the national standardized form of China. It is believed that 4 Tai Chi master instructors created and shortened the family style Tai Chi form (which was 85-108 postures) down to 24 postures. They removed most (if not all) repetitions while retaining all the “grace, beauty, and many fundamentals” of longer Tai Chi forms.
Yang 24 form is most popular Tai Chi form “worldwide” since it is less physically demanding than most other forms hence can be practiced by both younger & higher aged. Yang 24 gives beginners an opportunity to learn the foundation and elements without a great time investment or commitment. In fact, many practice only Yang 24 throughout their lives.
Yang 24 form takes approximately 6 minutes to perform and gives the beginner a chance to learn the foundation and elements of Tai Chi. It could also be taught to students of almost every age in a few weeks or months.
Also included
- Intermediate Joint loosening exercises – Preparatory warmups for loosening one’s joints for Tai Chi
- Intermediate Tai Chi walking series – Tai chi walks based on the moves from Yang 24 Step Form
- Training reference videos – Short clips covering various aspects of training
MARTIAL ASPECTS: CMS 37 Form & 108 Long Form
MARTIAL TAI CHI: Having spent a good amount of time developing strong foundations in the Health Aspect by practicing the 08 Step form & the 24 Step form it’s time to move to the next level. From here onwards one can develop the INTERNAL STRENGTH of TAI CHI by practicing the Intermediate form i.e. CMC 37 Form & progress to the final Long Form i.e. 108 Yang Form.
C. CMC 37-STEP YANG TAI CHI form
Duration: 6.0 months Online / Physical
Serious Tai Chi Practice: Developed by Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing, a highly respected Tai Chi master, to make the deeper aspects of Tai Chi practice more accessible to serious practitioners with limited time. Tai chi 37 Form (Taiji 37 Form) consists of 37 positions flowing seamlessly from one into the next. It’s movements are noted for their mindful calming qualities. It will provide you with a clear exercise routine, a focus and structure for practise. It can also be a basis from which to begin to explore Tai chi in more detail through the greater understanding of Tai chi postures and forces. Through this, you will begin to unlock the wider health benefits of the practise.
Traditionally Tai Chi was taught as standing postures with the aim was to activate the dantian (the body’s energy centre) and allow the body’s energy “Taiji-jin” (Tai Chi forces) to flow more freely. At the intermediate level i.e. at Yang Tai chi 37 movements level we develop the same Tai Chi forces to clear the body of sick information (binqi) through the body’s energy channels and meridians.
Also included
- Body opening exercises,
- Standing meditation (Zhan Zhuang),
- Loosening & harmonising (Song Shen Wu Fa) exercises,
- Push hands (Tui Shou), Neutralising (Hua) exercises along with reference videos.
D. 108-STEP YANG TAI CHI LONG FORM
Duration: 6.0 months Online / Physical
The classical 108-posture Yang family Long Form created six generations ago in the 19th century grandmaster Yang Lu Chang. The Yang family Long Form requires approximately 30 minutes to perform once learned, and is a most healthful moving meditation that integrates body and mind while teaching perfect natural movement in executing Tai Chi s martial art techniques.
The 108 moves are distributed in 3 sections (namely 18, 37 & 52 moves) for easy of understanding & practice. Three times longer than the 37 Step Yang Short Form, the Long Form consists of a wide repertoire of continuously flowing martial techniques palms, punches, kicks, throws, splits, locks, sophisticated counters and defensive maneuvers each with a poetic classical Chinese name (White Crane Spreads Wings , Grasp the Sparrow's Tail. Carry Tiger to Mountain ) and all based on the Tai Chi concepts of roll-back, neutralize, push and press.
For centuries, Tai Chi players have universally found that practicing two rounds of the Long Form effects a tangible increase of the body's internal energy (chi), accompanied by mental clarity and a pleasant rejuvenating glow of warmth and vitality through every cell of the body. Long Form practice on a daily basis ensures supreme good health and high energy levels.
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