Just found some fellow winter practitioners! In fact, that is just one of a series called Tai Chi Through the Seasons.
And these gents really get out there in the weather, doing the Yang-style 108 movement long form. That is the blizzard episode, filmed up in Bangor, Maine.
The narration is some of the best I have heard. Highly recommended.
Today’s practice
Speaking of weather, a steady wind from the northeast had us huddling at first on the south side of the restaurant, where we were a bit in the way of the joggers. Things seemed milder, so we moved back out to our usual spot, but wind got to us so we sought shelter in the lee of the gazebo pillars.
We were joined by a relative newcomer, while a veteran had a question about the Step Up sequence in the final section, so I decided to concentrate on an early stretch, starting with White Crane, that includes the earlier Step Up.
Deflect in Step Up, Deflect, Intercept, and Punch
The question was about the Deflect component. In the latter occurrence, we end up with the deflecting hand high, and it stays high for the punch. In the earlier occurrence, the deflecting hand continues down to the left thigh.
I had not really thought about it, but on the stop could imagine two applications, one for each variation.
Note that the tai chi form is merely a stylized fight, not a real one. The inventors crafted each movement to keep the performer always balanced, with hands and feet well-positioned for defense or attack. They left the actual application to our imagination.
Finishing high, we can deflect an opponent’s right-hand punch by knocking it to the right of our head and following with a left hand strike of our own.
Finishing by the thigh would result from blocking an opponent’s right foot kick to our thigh.
A new approach to instruction?
With the question on Deflect addressed, and with our newcomer now looking comfortable with the sequence from White Crane through Step Up, we carried on to Needle at Sea Bottom through Crossing Hands.
Altogether, the group felt super comfortable with the two chunks of the form as a unit of practice. We avoided chopping up the form too finely, which inhibits learning the larger sequences, but avoided simply repeating the whole form, which is not focused enough for learning the details of each movement. We still repeated a nice long chunk of the form.
Let us see how well this scales as a regular model for instruction:
- pick a movement to study; then
- identify the containing larger sequences (“chains”) to practice, with just the right granularity…
- …skipping long sequences of repetition that appear, say, after Fair Maiden.
Possible Chains
Let us brainstorm the larger sequences. Having these as fixed sequences will help muscle memory, practice, and instruction.
- Ward Off Left through Single Whip
- Lifting Hands through Step Up
- Needle through Spread Hands Like Fan
- Back Fist through Crossing Hands
- Skip Retreat through Single Whip
- Fist Under Elbow through Single Whip
- Snake Creeps Down through Strike the Ears
- Skip through to Single Whip
- Four Fair Ladys, skipping trailer to Single Whip
- Snake through Lotus Kick
- Bend the Bow through Crossing Hands