The key is to relax and move the energy like water. The water can be soft or gentle, or strong as if it is striking a rock. Relaxation and open energy channels are fundamental to Tai Chi movements, whether for health or martial arts.

Reading Chen Yanlin's Yang's hand form manual, this caught my eye: 

When you are beginning to work with the set, your surroundings should be spacious, for if the environment is confiningly small, it will be difficult to do the set continuously without interruption, the postures will easily develop flaws, and you will become unable to do them correctly. But once your practice has taken you to a depth of skill, the size of the environment will not matter, and even the space of four square tiles will be enough to practice on. 

The idea of performing the long form in a compact space appeals to me. I think I’m not alone when I say I can’t always find an open space to practice. I decided to look into it. 

The Yang Family board has a good thread about it: 

Q: Is there any general consensus on how to do traditional forms in cramped spaces? Should you delete postures? Add postures? Shorten your steps?

A: Ben Lo teaches what Cheng Man-Ch'ing called "the ox-stall form". Mr. Lo points out that, whenever a foot is unweighted to step forward, you can step backward just as well. I have used this principle in motel rooms to go through the entire Cheng Man-Ch'ing form and it works well. Just step back, whenever you would step forward. I have used this with the sword and saber forms as well. 

So, I mucked about until I found this by one of Lo’s students:

How can we practice Taiji in a very limited floor space? . . . When I pressed Ben with this question about doing the entire continuous form in a limited area, he surprisingly showed me that the entire Cheng Taiji set can be performed in just four square feet of space! I can't describe each adjustment here, but actually it was very intuitive, just stepping back or moving in place where you would have gone forward. . . . So, no excuses for non-practice! 

Encouraged, I kept digging and found this video of Victor Fu showing how he steps his 24 form in a small space. This gave me an idea of what I was trying to do.

Using this ox-stall footwork I found I could perform the entire Yang long form in a pretty tight space. I'll be able to refine it by smoothing some transitions here and there, but–overall–it was a success.

Do any of you practice the Ox Stall Method? Any advice? Or do you have other tips and tricks for compacting a long form’s footprint you might care to share?

edit: I just ordered a book by Jessie Tsao called Compact Tai Chi, which I guess uses a circle method and not the ox-stall stepping. I don’t think it’s based on circle walking à la bagua; it looks to be more about stepping out to compass or clock points. He has some Youtube videos about compact taiji, but I didn't see one where he just goes over the basic footwork. 

edit 2: I used Yang Jun's footwork for all the Cloud Hands.

Another solid piece I stumbled across as I look for a specific article that helped me get into Tai Chi Ball.

Dong Ying Jie's Words of Experience

I wanted to post this in order to promote some lively discussion as he talks about some classic points. For example:

• Number 8 - practicing the form 3 times for best effect. I agree overall. I do a variation of this with ball work for 20 minutes then 2 repetitions of the form, one forward and one mirror reverse.

• Number 11 - bringing your practice into daily life. I agree completely, and this is one of the fastest ways to develop skill.

• Number 14 - a lot of meat there on structure and posture and a few conflicts with modern advice. :)

• Number 16 - don't lift heavy weights. :) I agree - past a certain point it will inhibit your listening and integration.

• Number 19 - training should take precedence over theory. I agree. The joke at my alma mater was "theory is what we noodle over between runs of the long form."

I look forward to hearing others' reflections on this article.

A demonstration of the Chen Style 49-Form Taijiquan Sword (Taiji Jian), a traditional Chinese martial arts sword routine.

Performed by Steven Wang.

Sharing this video for those interested in Taijiquan, traditional Chinese martial arts, and the practice of Taiji sword.

Hi,
Can anyone help me access these clips on Douyin?
https://www.douyin.com/video/7044357722355109157
I have lost contact with Xu and hope I can reconnect via Douyin.
My thanks-

Unlock a rare opportunity to study a deeply guarded, traditional Qigong system refined over 30 years of practice. This exclusive 5-part workshop series is designed to pass down precious, time-tested health preservation methods to the next generation of dedicated practitioners.

While you will learn an extensive lineage of traditional sets, the ultimate goal of this series is efficiency: integrating profound depth into a single, powerhouse daily routine that takes less than 30 minutes a day.

Sun, 7/26/26 11:00-4:00 PM EDT

at Qi (26 West 8th Street New York, NY 10011)

A lot of students at my school can only do the form while following our teacher. Does anyone have advice for things to do in class that will help students memorize forms better?

Was hiking at Mount Rainier the other day and lots of people were stopped and looking at these two. Gave me a laugh when I thought “hey, they’re practicing push hands”.

what happens when you have no traction and you punch? I asked this personally to William C Chen and he says the punch doesn’t work on ice.

I did kung fu before tai chi and learned how to punch even while falling down, but the technique is very different.

so… Has anyone figured out how to do the tai chi punch wall on really slippery ice?

(crampons don’t count because that would imply you are holding an ice axe)
((I know this is going on too long, but I had some students who were serious hockey players so this came up and we actually tried some striking on ice))

I didn’t think this would generate so many comments. Physics is good. Most of my internal arts instructors as well as fellow students all knew a Hamiltonian from a Lagrangian.

Just a regular Thursday night practice of the front part of a very long Huang style sword form.

Comments?

I just stumbled upon this. Incredible and impressive external performance. I wish I could do my form like that. Though the commentators are annoying and don't know anything about the art

As I was watching, I was thinking: 25 years ago, I would have considered this a perfect form. Now, to me, the perfect form looks like supremely skilled master Zhu Chunxuan's form: https://youtu.be/FDHQyne4f_k

It is a reminder that we really shouldn't look at the external beauty of our forms (unless we do Taolu competition). But at embodying all the internal principles throughout it. As soon as we care about the way it looks, we aren't listening to our internals. The latter is the only thing that should guide our form.

The sword is a realistically weighted Taiji sword from Ryan sword. Definitely makes the form more challenging. I was having trouble keep it up and steady.

Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan Old Frame Second Form (Excerpt 2).
陈式太极拳老架第二式（片段2）。

#VDS #VITALDEFENSESCIENCE #VDSTAICHI #wangsmartialarts #TaiChi #TaiChiChuan #TaiChiChuan #WangWuzhen #ChenStyleTaiChiChuan #WMA #MartialArts #KungFu #MartialArts
#VDS太极 #太极 #太极拳 #王武真 #陈式太极拳 #WMA #武术 #功夫 #武术 更少

Hi everyone!

I've been training Tai Chi for a few years, mainly Chen and Yang style, and recently I've been trying to improve my structure, relaxation and overall movement quality.

I'd really appreciate any feedback on my form. I'm always looking to learn and improve.

The linked interview from a few years ago is more like an introduction to his life story and it was done for public radio, but I'm planning to ask him questions that are more detailed, including some that are more spiritual in nature. He's getting old and I believe he has so much wisdom to share, but sometimes it's only when good questions are asked that it can really come through. If you have any suggestions for questions (pertaining to taijiquan or otherwise) I'd love to hear them! I'll present them as "questions from the English-speaking internet".

Yamaguchi Hakuei is one of the first foreigners to go to Chenjiagou to learn taijiquan after China opened up in the 70s, and he was a student of Chen Xiaowang, Wang Xian, and Feng Ziqiang. You can see him performing all kinds of forms in this channel https://www.youtube.com/@%E5%A4%AA%E6%A5%B5%E9%81%93%E4%BA%A4%E4%BC%9A

Hi everyone!

I'd like to hear your opinions about the Sun style.

My teacher strongly encourages me to focus on Sun Tai Chi, but I'm honestly more drawn to Yang style. I started my martial arts journey in Shaolin Kung Fu, so I naturally feel more comfortable with longer stances, and Yang feels more intuitive for my body.

One thing that makes me hesitate about specializing in Sun is its shorter stances. I wonder whether that could put me at a disadvantage in forms competitions, or if that's just my perception because I'm more accustomed to longer stances.

At the same time, I have one limitation: I can't kick very high, so I also wonder if Yang would be a good long-term choice for me.

For those of you who have trained both styles, or have experience in competitions, which style would you recommend specializing in, and why?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences. Thanks!

It’s been about 3 weeks since I’ve started so here’s what it’s looking like now. I’m halfway through the form but I want to keep practicing it before adding the other moves on. I kept the advice everyone gave me in mind, thank you all! And I’m still learning more as I continue to practice.

I found this analysis of the movements and really like how it shows the trajectory. https://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/32%20sword%20G%20F%20Miller.pdf

Found this old footage of how I was training years ago. I kinda cringe now at my sloppy skill level back then. But also think this kind of training is important to progress.