Rain swords

What are the martial skills (kung fu)?

In combat, tai chi chuan uses evasion, stickiness and sensitivity rather than brute force. 
The muscles remain relaxed at all times and the body moves as one whole unit (neigong).
There are many tai chi chuan martial skills in the syllabus, including shuai jiao (take downs), chin na (seizing), jing (internal power), san sau (fixed sets), san da (freeform combat), form application, weapons and self defence.

What are the benefits of learning tai chi chuan?

Daily practice offers a wide range of benefits that will affect your everyday life:

• Get fit
• Stay calm
• Feel balanced
• Increased stamina and endurance
• Stress-relief 
• Gain functional combat skills that rely upon intelligence rather than brutality
• Off-set the effects of aging (e.g. sarcopenia)
• The release of deeply-held muscular tension 
• Boost energy
• A way to use millennia old Chinese wisdom in everyday life 
• Meditation 
• An unusual form of strength 
• Emotional composure in the face of confrontation and crisis 
• Philosophical study involving some of the most influential books ever written 
• Cultivate confidence and resourcefulness

What is tai chi chuan?

Tai chi chuan/taijiquan is a style of kung fu once practiced by the Manchu Emperor's elite palace guards.
There are 5 traditional styles of tai chi chuan: Chen, Yang, Wu, Hao and Sun.

The art is quietly challenging; requiring patience, hard work, commitment, mindfulness and composure.
Students work towards the cultivation of a high degree of physical skill and can reasonably expect to practice the art for most of their lives.

We now offer a 'quick site' option for busy people...

http://www.newcastletaichi.co.uk/

How can I tell what a tai chi class is offering?

(i) Most classes are health classes

Virtually every tai chi class in the UK is teaching 'tai chi for health'.
Classes offering taijiquan (the martial art) are very rare indeed.

Some classes may advertise themselves as 'taijiquan' but are in fact teaching tai chi for health.


(ii) Martial proof

It is easy to determine if a taijiquan martial arts class is bona fide.
Ask the instructor about:

1. Their syllabus
2. Teaching methodology
3. The Tai Chi Classics
4. Tai chi principles (4 ounces, 6 balanced pairs, 13 postures, fa jing, folding, groundpath, opening & closing, reeling silk, shen, softness, substantial & insubstantial, sung, yielding etc)
5. Martial theory and application
6. Form application
7. Combat
8. Examples of shuai jiao, chin na and jing skill

A genuine taijiquan instructor will be able to prove their skill to you quite convincingly.

What do school members get for their money?

• Attend once or twice a week 
• Train up to 2 hours a night
• Fully-differentiated syllabus 
• Authentic skills 
• High quality tuition • Professional learning environment
• Extensive range of skills available  • Address individual health concerns & training requirements
• Extremely thorough exploration of the art(s)
• Study new material every week
• Work through the full curriculum
• Receive regular corrections, tips & pointers
• Request bespoke tuition
• Access to highly detailed school DVDs
• Discuss taijiquan theory and related philosophies with Master Waller
• Attend workshops, boot camp and class social events • Advanced level of understanding
• Follows the teachings of the Tai Chi Classics
• Explore 1300 page on-line taijiquan database with guidance from Master Waller

Pay-as-you-go

Pay-as-you-go students focus upon qigong, form and partner work exercises.
The benefits will affect your everyday life:

• Get fit
• Increase stamina and endurance
• Gain an unusual form of strength 
• Stress-relief 
• A calm mind and composed emotions
• Mobile joints, relaxed muscles and natural movement• Boost energy
• Improved balance
• Use millennia old Chinese wisdom in everyday life   
• Meditation 
• Confidence and resourcefulness
• Improved skeletal alignment, poise and coordination

The exercises are low impact, do not strain the body and can be practiced by people of all ages.
The training starts simple but becomes more challenging as you progress.

Tai Chi Master

Mastering tai chi requires the following:

• A lifelong commitment to the furtherance of the art
• Spontaneous demonstration of every and any aspect of the art
• The ability to train other people to become Tai Chi Instructors
• An embodiment of the principles outlined in the Tai Chi Classics
• Highly accurate rendition of every exercise/form/drill/application
• Extensive knowledge of every facet of every subject in the syllabus i.e. 'jing'
• An in-depth understanding of every facet of the exercise/form/drill/application
• How the exercise/form/drill/application links to other aspects of the curriculum
• The ability to dismantle and explain how and why the different components operate
• Grace, ease, subtlety, sensitivity, nimbleness, appropriateness, simplicity are all a given
• The willingness to train disciples to acquire every aspect of the teaching and perpetuate the art themselves
• Unselfconscious, skilled and utterly effective application of the art in combat employing chin na, jing and shuai jiao
• The ability to develop, improve and deliver a thorough, fully differentiated syllabus suitable for all ability levels and all ages
• The ability to dismantle and explain how and why every form posture operates and how it can be applied in at least 7 different ways
• Comprehensive theoretical knowledge and the ability to discuss and explain how taoism, martial theory and actual practice all tie together
• The ability to apply the tai chi principles (yielding, stickiness, peng, jing, composure, connection, 4 ounces etc) in every situation with absolute ease and certainty

Lineage disciple

Master Waller actively dissuades any student from seeking to become a lineage disciple.
The obligation is not for the half-hearted.

If the student is neglectful with their training and commitments, they will no longer be an indoor student.

Partner work

Benton class

Learning

Students begin by learning how to perform a whole series of qigong/neigong exercises which lay the foundation for reeling silk.

Later, the same exercises are then reconsidered with a different emphasis.
Coordination and timing become the focus, as well as alignment.
By moving the body in an increasingly integrated manner, the strength increases and the correct muscles are used for the production of power.
Lines of force are critical at this stage. In particular the maxim: square on the inside, round on the outside.

This builds up a lot of physical power and every movement feels to come from the muscles of the central torso, back and legs.

Eventually, the exercises are re-considered.
Now that the correct alignment exists and the muscles are working effectively, the focus shifts to rhythm and flow.
Instead of feeling muscular, the muscularity has been internalised and can no longer be felt.
The kinetic wave is the onus.

Reeling silk skills will not emerge in the beginners syllabus.
It is only later when reeling silk becomes a neigong that the full power is apparent.
The graded student must master the exercises introduced in the beginners syllabus, for these hold the seeds of what is to come later.

A skilled student demonstrates reeling silk in every single movement.

A master internalises reeling silk until only the most subtle kinetic wave is left.
Be advised that reeling silk can never be completely internalised.
If you can see no evidence of it in somebody's tai chi, then it most likely does not exist.

Circles and spirals

Tai chi gains its strength by way of the curved, and every movement involves spiralling.

The twisting and turning of the body in tai chi is usually quite subtle, with only the barest hint of spiralling evident to the observer.

It is important not to exaggerate the use of spiralling, otherwise the joints will close and freedom of movement is lost.
As with everything else in your practice, intent is essential.
Chen style uses reeling silk in a more explicit manner than the Yang system.

Inexperienced exponents simply twist their disconnected limbs instead of unifying the complete structure for every movement.

The use of reeling silk is essential during self defence, where the wave-like undulations are used to absorb and redirect incoming force.

Winding

Reeling silk is markedly different from mere connection.
Its unique quality is the use of circularity.
Spiralling and twisting provide the underlying physical framework for this type of movement.

'Winding' or 'drawing' refers to action of bringing force towards you and is reflected in the jing of rollback and pluck.
'Reeling' is the reverse of winding; in which force is projected (fa jing) from the body by the use of spiralling.

When you perform reeling silk, your body should move like a caterpillar; undulating, feeding an energy wave through the entire structure.

What is reeling silk?

In tai chi the body needs to sustain a consistent vector of force in a given direction.
This is achieved by aligning the body so that a path is provided for the force to travel along.

The path is called 'inherent peng'.
It cannot be broken when the body moves or turns, otherwise the ability to transmit power is lost.
Reeling silk is a means of utilising the connective tissues of the body, along with soft muscles, spine and waist - in order to provide this path.
The energy wave needs to use your body as a conduit.
If the channel is weak or tense in any way, the wave will be blocked within.

Your body must be internally strong and loose from the ground to fingertips.

Drawing

The thread must be drawn from a silk cocoon in a very particular way in order to avoid damaging the silk.
If it is drawn too quickly, the thread will snap.
Too slowly and it will sag.
The action must be slow and smooth, without any gaps and deficiencies.

Tai chi takes its strength from this operation.

A living art

A living art must address the needs of times, the opponents of the age, the weapons of the era.
Right now that means: multiple opponents, knives, sticks, baseball bats, batons etc...
You (the defender) will be unarmed.

Most of your life will not involve physical combat.
You will be faced with psychological, emotional and physical challenges every day: stress, health, work, family, fear, driving.
A living art must address the nature of your interaction with life.
It must furnish you with the means to adjust to a wide variety of attacks; very few of which will involve physical combat.

It is what it is

If you reconsider the purpose of a martial art, then it is worth asking whether or not your own training reflects this.
A performer can learn to dance.
A sports person may play tennis.
A 'feel good' person may take a walk in the country.

Martial arts training is concerned with something else.
Many well-meaning instructors have twisted the nature of martial arts practice into something else.
They accommodate.
They compromise.
And somewhere along the way the true nature of the art is forgotten.

Why did martial artists learn to use a sword in 16th Century Japan?
Because it was the weapon of choice.
It was a necessary survival skill.

What weapons are you carrying today?
In the UK you are not allowed to carry any weapons.
Your arsenal of improvised weapons is also pretty limited.

'Feel good' groups

Feel good groups are harmless enough in themselves, but really should not pretend that what they practice is a martial art.
Most of the tai chi classes taught in the UK are not martial in nature.
They may be more accurately labelled 'tai chi-inspired exercise'.

It is possible to feel good in a martial arts class without losing the plot.