Link Section

1 school:
The Magic Tortoise Taijiquan School : Run by Director/Shifu Dr. Jay Dubar (Ph.D.) and located in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina.

1 shameless plug:
Tai Chi in a Chair : This is a friend of mine who combines modern and ancient medicines as a solution to health care in the 21st century.

Fa jin, fajin or fa chin (fājìn, 發勁) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Yin and Yang Breathing Exercise -- This helps you coordinate your breathing

Everyday Tai Chi - Tai Chi exercises for everyone, any time, any place -- This is always updated with new things. Don't miss out! Also look at their ancient chinese wisdom link. Tai Chi is an ancient art with many of its fundamental principles reflecting ancient Chinese wisdom. To get you started on the path here is a collection of quotes and sayings from Chinese sages.

http://www.everydaytaichi.org/ - with Lucille Chun

Lucy and her husband Ken taught tai chi for many years on the island of Oahu in East Honolulu at Kileauea Recreation Center.  They taught Yang style tai chi including Yang 10, 24, 16 and the 88 form. 

This website is the product of Lucy's hard and diligent work as a teacher.  Unfortunately in October 2020 Lucy passed after a sudden acute brief illness.  Her program of teaching tai chi has transitioned to a smaller venue with Ken continuing to teach Yang  Style taichi 10, 16, 24, and 88 form at Anakoa Pavilion

In spite of her passing one can still learn more about Lucy and enjoy her tai chi aloha at her website everydaytaichi.org.  It still offers access to a large library of previous lessons as well as notes and information concerning tai chi.

The Six Part Walk

Friends,

This is a long time in coming. You have been waiting patiently for this. Feel free to ask questions about it any time. We will be doing this over & over to get proficient, so you should know this. Please note the weight shifting aspects of this (denoted with a dashed arrow). You can only move an "empty" foot.

I take no credit for this drawing. It was given to me from one of Dr. Jay's students. :)

9 Temple Exercises

Just thought I'd scan a few pages and get these out. They are really good. If I ever get enough time, I'll type in the text for those exercises that are illegible. They are simple enough to do anytime. I especially like the "Prayer Wheel" one. You can do this alone in an elevator, waiting for your coffee to get warm in the microwave or anywhere you find yourself standing around with nothing better to do. Personally, I am guilty of all of the above. Hope you will be too! :)

Addendum:
Oh, by the way...I have a scanned version of this in PDF format and if you contact me here, I will e-mail it to you. For some reason (security related?), I can't upload that kind of file. Luckily I have can convert it to jpg format. You get 12 images,

	Intro
	Image 1
	Image 2
	Image 3
	Image 4
	Image 5
	Image 6
	Image 7
	Image 8
	Image 9
	Image 10
	Image 11

Tai Chi Books

Here are a few books that I've found helpful:

The Tao of Tai-Chi Chuan - Way to Rejuvenation by Tsung Hwa Jou (ISBN 0-8048-1357-4)
The Tao of Meditation - Way to Enlightenment by Tsung Hwa Jou (ISBN 0-8048-1465-1)

T'ai Chi Ch'uan - The Basic Exercises by Shing Yen-Ling (ISBN 087040-942-5)
Tai Chi Chuan by Marshall Ho'o (ISBN 089750-109-8)

Taijiquan - 24 step form

This looks pretty close to what we do. Don't ask me why there are 28 figures in a 24 step form!

Body Basics

The body has 4 major groups: legs, torso, arms and head. A discussion of each of them & how they relate to Taijiquan follows.

Legs: Keep knees bent. Don't put your knee past your ankles. Your knee has a dynamic range. Constant placement of the knee will lead to knee injuries. Even worse - you will not be balanced!

Torso: Also known as the "center" and different from the "waist". Should be thought of like the trunk of a tree. The powerhouse of the body & holder of the chi. Visualizing your pelvis as a bowl of chi (chi-tos?), try to keep it level & don't let the chi spill out. All movement arises from here. This will become easier as you progress.

Arms: With your arms down at your side, notice that they don't hang just straight down like stiff iron rods. They have a bit of curvature and are supple and more rope-like.

A quick mention about the shoulders is in order here especially since they connect your arms to your body. The shoulders should stay loose and relaxed, not stiff.

Head: Look straight ahead with your nose pointed straight out. Imagine a string connecting the top of your head to the heavens.

Body: Look at yourself in the mirror. Do you notice a nice rounded shape when your arms hand down? What do you see? If you are standing as instructed above, with your arms hanging naturally at your side, you should see a rounded shape for your body. The body should not be stiff & straight. Avoid harsh lines - stay circular.

Circles & Swirls

Taijiquan is very circular in nature. The arms and legs move circularly. Even the knees and elbows are perceived to be moving in smaller circles. The next time you're out walking and your arms are swinging at your side, bring them up a bit and move them in small circles along with your elbows. Have your knees make small circles too.

You can practice this all day as you move about. Feel free to concentrate on leg movement sometimes and then on arm movement at others.

When you feel ready or adventurous - do them together!

Swirls: What about swirls? Well for example, take a look at the yin yang diagram and follow the red dashed line upwards.

It is full yin, so if you trace this pattern out, you should be in full yin too (back weighted). At the top is full yang and again, you should be at full yang (front weighted). Continue following the line and at the center of the diagram, the line becomes solid. Follow it until you "end at the beginning". Now try it the opposite way and start by going up the right hand side.

This yin yang you see is just a two-dimensional object. Now just think about doing this in 3-dimensions. Many of the skills needed to play taichi are encompassed by traversing the diagram.