Tai Chi

I've been practicing Tai Chi for nineteen years, having embraced this internal martial art after twelve years of karate, an external martial art.  In a 2021 post, "Internal martial arts have a lot to teach us," I quoted from a book by Ron Sieh: Typically the martial arts are characterized by how they arrive at power: the external, by muscular effort; the internal, relaxed and effortlessly. All "karates" are considered external, and most of the Chinese arts, plus Judo, Capoeira, and Kali, are lumped into the external category. T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Hsing I Ch'uan, and Pa Kua are the Chinese…

Today I heard about the death of Chris, a 46 year-old guy I came to first know during my Pacific Martial Arts karate days. Chris moved to the Portland area, but he'd return once in a while to take part in the Tai Chi classes that are now the focus of Pacific Martial Arts. He was engaging, positive, funny, and a pleasure to be around.  We were close in the way many men are: by sharing a love of a physical activity. I knew some things about Chris, but mostly I knew him through the martial arts classes we shared.…

After practicing karate, a hard style martial art, for about 12 years, in 2004 I shifted to learning Tai Chi, a soft style martial art -- albeit one with useful martial applications.  I've been fortunate to have an instructor here in Salem, Oregon who had a lot of experience in several karate styles before also embracing Tai Chi, which is all that Warren Allen teaches now. So he understands the martial side of Tai Chi. Warren began learning Tai Chi from a Chinese man who used to live in Hong Kong, where he learned the Water Boxing form, Liu He…

Tai Chi is viewed by most people as merely a gentle form of exercise. Which, it certainly is. But there's another side to Tai Chi -- the martial art aspect.  I'm familiar with Tai Chi as a martial art because I'm fortunate to have an instructor here in Salem, Oregon who is highly adept at self-defense applications of Tai Chi moves. Warren Allen came to Tai Chi after a lot of experience in hard style martial arts. So he is able to recognize how Tai Chi can be a soft style martial art like aikido, as contrasted with hard style…

Having trouble falling asleep? Too worked up over present-day politics? Tired of cute cat/dog videos on You Tube? Here's the answer to your problems -- a decidedly low-key and almost silent video of me doing the Compact form that we've been learning in my Tai Chi class. This is how I introduced the video in a post on my Church of the Churchless blog. As the title of a book says, Feel the fear and do it anyway. So I'm taking that advice and sharing a video I made today of me doing a Tai Chi form. Watching the video…

Recently TIME magazine had a story about how a Chinese MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter, Xu Xiaodong, beat up Wei Lei, a Kung Fu master in the discipline of Tai Chi, in about 10 seconds.  It doesn't take long to watch the thoroughly one-sided fight. Reading the story, "Meet the Chinese MMA Fighter Taking on the Grandmasters of Kung Fu," will require a lot more time. Nonetheless, about eleven years ago I wrote a blog post that I still stand by, "Tai Chi as a kick-ass martial art." I wrote that post after I'd been studying Tai Chi for three years,…

I've been learning Tai Chi for fourteen years. One of the things I love about Tai Chi is that it is Taoism in motion. Meaning, Tai Chi embodies Taoist (or Daoist) philosophy.  I can't think of any other form of movement -- dance, sport, whatever -- that similarly has deep philosophical principles reflected in it. Yin and yang, of course, are central concepts in Tai Chi. Softness (yin) and hardness (yang) alternate in the flowing movements. Of course, what passes for "hard" in Tai Chi is much softer than in other martial arts, so the "soft" is really soft.  …

After more than twenty years of martial arts training, I can confidently say that I've learned some highly effective self-defense techniques.  My favorite: run away from trouble. Second best: walk away from trouble. Third choice: defuse trouble from where you are. These approaches, of course, aren't what most people are looking for when they join a martial arts class. Punching, kicking, grappling, throwing, submission holds -- that's what sells in the worlds of karate, aikido, judo, tae kwon do, jui-jitsu, boxing, and such. What's most effective, though, in the real world? Not the dojo (training hall), boxing ring, wrestling mat,…

I love how Tai Chi demonstrates a hugely practical philosophy of life through physical movement. Other activities do this also -- ballroom dancing comes to mind -- but Tai Chi is unique in that it explicitly embodies philosophical Taoist principles. Tonight, I was paired up with my Tai Chi instructor, Warren, as his class practiced the self-defense application of the Fair Lady movements (with a follow step). Warren and I have a lot of marital arts experience -- he more than me, naturally. And his Tai Chi background is much deeper than mine. Yet both of us were surprised at…

Along with Eric and Connie, two Tai Chi classmates (we study with Warren Allen at Pacific Martial Arts here in Salem), I thoroughly enjoyed Master David Leung's workshop today at Cafe Noir -- which was sponsored by Oregon CHI. I'm a firm believer that chi/qi is stimulated productively, and easily if you have about $2, with a good cup of coffee. Cafe Noir didn't disappoint. Their locally roasted Tico's Coffee was terrific. But this wasn't the only way my mood was elevated during Leung's presentation. He was energetic, entertaining, and exuberant in a charming Chinese manner. Leung's English also is…

Tomorrow Oregon State plays Stanford, whose Heisman-worthy quarterback is Andrew Luck. A few days ago on the evening news, I saw a clip of Luck leveling a California defender during a run. It was so impressive I had to search out the play on You Tube for a closer look.   Like the announcer says, Luck absorbed the attempted tackle. (Watch the closeup at about the one minute mark for the best view.) This looks Tai Chi'ish to me. In my Tai Chi class there's a big guy who used to play high school football. Sometimes he talks about how…

With the Olympics opening ceremony being shown on American TV tonight, I'm enthused about the possibility of Tai Chi becoming trendy in this country. I've been learning Tai Chi for almost four years and do a modified version of the Cheng Man-ch'ing "short form" several times a week on the wood floor of a weights room at our athletic club. So far I've been asked what I'm doing exactly once – by a couple who took Tai Chi at the club until classes ended, and hoped that I could lobby the manager to get them reinstated (or, teach them myself).…

Proving that I'm on the edge of senility and losing my better judgment, I fired up my Flip Video camera yesterday, filmed myself doing a couple of Tai Chi forms, and then uploaded them to You Tube after adding some Tango music. This afternoon I had a locker room conversation at the athletic club with a guy I'd never talked to before. He told me about playing five games of racquet ball in a tournament against an opponent where he won a total of three points. "Sometimes I love getting my ass whipped," he said. I told him, "Well, if…

Like I said in "10 reasons for guys to like Tai Chi," this flow-with-it martial art doesn't have much of a macho reputation. Yet, it should. And does, among those who are skilled enough to look beneath the surface of the frequently femininely named Tai Chi postures, like "soft ladies hands" and "fair lady works the shuttle." The Yang style of Tai Chi (named for the family that founded it, not the yin and yang of Taoism) was taught to the Palace Battalion of the Chinese Imperial Guards by Yang Lu-ch'an, founder of the style. Pretty clearly, the Chinese Imperial…

I'll readily admit that Tai Chi doesn't have a macho reputation. You don't find many would-be street fighters aspiring to be a Tai Chi master who can kick butt. Partly this is due to the familiar photos of people doing Tai Chi in China. They usually look pretty darn old and harmless. Which is one side of Tai Chi, for sure. But Jet Li's The Tai Chi Master shows another side, along with a more recent movie with the same name. OK. I haven't seen either film. But I'm three years into thrice weekly Tai Chi classes at Warren Allen's…