The Original Complete Form Of Yang Lu-Ch'an
Martial Art/Healing Art
At the core of the Taiji system is it’s form, consisting of many postures linked together through continuous flowing, circular movements, containing closed fist punches, open hand and finger strikes, kicks, locks and throws.
The Yang ‘Old’ Style represents the original complete form of Yang Lu-Ch’an and differs considerably from the widely practiced modified and shortened, forms of his grandson, Yang Cheng-fu and subsequent schools.
It retains the explosive strikes, leaps, flying kicks, changes of pace & shouts, which Cheng-fu had removed from his forms.
It contains slow movements for gathering Qi, fast movements for balancing Qi and explosive (Fa-jing) movements to disperse the Yang Qi, built up during practice, as opposed to the slow only style of modern forms, thereby, making it a completely balanced system. This is critical, as the slow movements of these modified forms, lead to an excessive build up of Yang Qi, which then turns to it’s opposite Yin state thus, causing harmful “Yin Dullness” within the body.
It is, obviously, self- evident that martial arts are a system of self-defence and it does not require genius to see the medical benefits of martial exercise! Taijiquan managed to fuse this with the inner alchemy of the human body, as well as, the meditative aspects of Taoism to help achieve self-realization, both physical and spiritual.
By generating, both, centripetal and centrifugal forces, the movements of Taijiquan encourage the flow of blood and life-force energy, or Qi, from the centre of the body, out to the extremities and back, along the acupuncture meridians. Thereby, allowing the body to heal and rejuvenate itself over a period of time.
Whilst practicing Taijiquan, one holds no physical or mental tension, or is said to be in a state of Sung (pronounced soong). Sung – a very important concept in Taiji - has been translated, slightly incorrectly, as to relax. However, a more accurate description would be to ‘move without feeling or being aware of the movement’ itself! For this reason alone, many people find Taiji as an attractive form of stress relief.
However, one should not mistake these soft movements for weakness or passivity! Each posture adheres to a specific martial principle and is linked to one of the acupuncture meridians. The movements are dynamic and resilient, encouraging decisiveness and confidence. During practice of the martial aspects of Taiji, we learn how to maintain our own balance while under attack, as well as distance, timing and natural body movement, the pre-requisites of any fighting art.
Today, millions of people all around the world practice some form of Taiji to gain its great physical and psychological health benefits, while a handful still practice and preserve the original fighting art of old!
However, to truly understand Taijiquan as a whole, we cannot separate the martial from the healing. In other words, only when Taijiquan is taught as a complete martial art – as its founders intended – can we really begin to understand the power of it’s healing!