Confessions of a Tai Chi Snob

 

Embrace Tiger, Return to the Mountain

 

January 2022. Covid year three. At least we have Zoom, Google Meet, Facetime, and Duo. I may have mentioned that I studied the Yang Long Form (Xiong Style) when I lived in New Mexico near Santa Fe. Moving to the Midwest, I found no one nearby teaching the 103 Long Form. I have nothing against the Professor’s Short Form or the Beijing 24 Form, both provide the Essentials and have the advantages of a shorter execution time in less space than the 103 Form. But, as a former teacher said to me after watching me perform a newly learned Sun Style Form, “That's nice but it won't help you with your form.” This month begins instruction in Parts One, Two, and Three of the Yang Family Traditional Long Form using Zoom (including Qigong, Essential form, Straight Sword and Saber) by Yang Chengfu Seattle  http://yangtaichiseattle.com/classes. The classes are free (with registration) and videos of previous Zoom sessions can be viewed on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/ycfseattle/videos.

So I am finding myself Returning to the Mountain to refresh the form I think of as “my form.” I’m starting in the middle with section two as I am fairly proficient in section one. I have practiced section one often but have not remembered much of section two (short term memory loss extends to muscle memory, I suppose). Last night the class began with Embrace Tiger, Return to the Mountain.

This follows from Cross Hands, the ending of section one and involves turning, circling the hands as they open, a brush knee and palm strike. If you think of the Cross Hands position as facing north, then this movement turns you toward southeast. Your weight, evenly distributed in Cross Hands, ends in a Bow Stance with about 70 percent on the right foot which has stepped out during the movement.

 

Sounds simple, but there is a lot of subtlety here. To quote Yang Cheng-fu, “Coordinate the upper and lower parts of the body. The T'ai Chi Ch'uan Classics say ‘the motion should be rooted in the feet, released through the legs, controlled by the waist and manifested through the fingers.’ Everything acts simultaneously. When the hand, waist and foot move together, the eyes follow. If one part doesn't follow, the whole body is disordered.”

 

From Kungfu Magazine’s forum thread on Embrace the Tiger, this snippet:

 

“The move is applied as if someone is attacking from the rear with strike and/or kick.The description of application offered in Yang Cheng Fu's 'Essence and Application of Yang Style Taijiquan' explains that the opponents hand and foot attack is fast and you can only brush them off which is followed by their counter-attack. As they counter, you move into Lu (Roll Back) which is stable and secure.”

http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?44081-Embrace-Tiger-Return-to-Mountain

 Lineage:

Chen

Changxing

(1771~1853)

Yang

Luchan

(1799~1872)

Yang         Yang

Banhou      Jianhou

(1837~1890)    (1839~1917)

Yang           Yang

Shaohou      Chengfu

(1862~1930)      (1883~1936)