Hai Yang, I'm a young American who has been deeply interested in ancient Chinese Culture/Worldview/Philosophy, after discovering the Tao Te Ching. Just like you highlight here, there is a deep void of accessible and accurate translated material on pretty much all of Chinese culture. This deeply saddens me, especially with the Cantonese language dying. I am worried that a lot of ancient Chinese wisdom, culture, and philosophy will be lost if not accurately translated into English within this generation. Your videos are a HUGE source of enlightenment, and I want to express my deep gratitude. Please consider translating and publishing your own versions of Chinese culture. I'd love to read your translation of the Dao De Ching, and I'd really love a book that accurately outlines and describes the major themes of Ancient Chinese worldview and philosophy.
The Dao De Jing is one of the most translated texts in all of human history. Barely behind the bible. Cantonese is one of the most spoken in the world. Ranked 9th with 86 million speakers according to Wiki. Check your facts. By the way. Why the f* would Chinese wisdom, culture, and philosophy be lost if it's not translated into English? That is such an absurd statement.
Deep bow and salute. I'm glad you are making videos again. I appreciate and respect your style and practice, it is very authentic. please keep making videos, you are an important voice.
Thank you for your comments. For years, I have not working on adding new materials to YouYube as I should. Now, I have more time and I will keep posting new videos regularly.
I am grateful for your videos. They always leave me inspired to train hard, train with intention, and train authentically. It would be great if you did a video around living as a martial artist.
For anybody who was wondering, in Chinese, Neo-Confucianism is called 理学 which means the study of 理. Yang Shifu mentioned 理 at the beginning of the video along with 道 which is Dao .
Thank you so much for making these videos. I think from now on, I will always remember these characters: 天人合一。 What a great visual for such an important goal!
Thank you very much Master Yang...your lectures are most helpful. It is very generous of you to share your knowledge. Greetings to you from Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia...🙏🏻
Thank you for your wonderfully clear explanations. Firstly, I must commend you on your use of English, which is not your native language. I've been learning and teaching Taiji in Spain for about 2 years, previously I learned and trained in Tai Chi Chuan in London. It is a challenge in itself to translate from your own native language to explain such subtle concepts and principles. You are doing and excellent job, a you would make an excellent Taiji ambassador for your balanced and informed approach to the art. Regarding your 4 principles mentioned in this video. I have a few comments which maybe you could comment on, or address in a future video: 1. The sinking with relaxing ('sung') is a common problem, I agree, I'm always working on this principle. However, you seem to demonstrate the physical sinking only, but I feel it internally whether I lower my posture or not. It also has a lot to do with my feet and connection with the ground (rooting) which I have been working on with a another teacher for about 3 months now and it's really opened my eyes to this principle. 2. The upright head alignment principle requires more work than people imagine. Many people often start Taiji with various skeletal and muscular issues, let alone emotional tension and other things, that often need some help and correction before we can make these adjustments correctly. A Taiji teacher of mine refers to this as "correct sitting" - as if sitting on a small ledge or the edge of a stool. It seems to require special attention to the complete spinal column as well as the head, but particularly the sacrum and tailbone (which tends to stick out) and the cervical vertebrae that might already be leaning forward (especially with the advent of IT equipment and mobile phones causing people to develop potentially chronic problems of cervical and lumbar alignments). The relaxation aspect can also be difficult to achieve if there is mental tension or the joints are stiff. So meditation and relaxation of the mind can help the first part. Loosening and stretching exercises can help with the second part. 3. You mention at the end that this is just the tip of the iceberg, which is true. My focus on principles tends to be guided by Yang Chengfu's 10 principles and particularly as taught by the schools and teachers connected to the lineage from Zheng Manqing. I do practise some basic Chen style, 18 movement essence form only, but I have very little experience in that style. So for me, some of the other most neglected principles for improvement, which I too am guilty of, are the separation of substancial and insubstantial (in my opinion, a life's work in itself) and the smooth continuity of movement to generate correct flow of power/energy/chi (another very difficult concept to explain, for me it has to be experienced and felt to know what that means - that too is another lifetime's work). Finally, your 4th principle about seeing and hearing is very interesting, this is something I was taught in my early days of martial arts training in Kung Fu, I can remember clearly the day I learnt a very good lesson in a one vs three sparring session. The guy who got behind me delivered a very painful kidney punch that took weeks to recover. My mistake was that I was too focused on who was attacking from the front. I never made that mistake again! Something one of my first, but longest time, Taiji taught me was developing what he called 'skins', a kind of sensitivity/perception exercise to feel the presence of someone behind or to the side of us. We can use our hearing in a better way, we can also employ perimeteral vision techniques; but developing response to intuition and spirit is an absolutely vital element in any life or death situation - whether it might be a health issue or a personal attack situation. Techniques etc may or may not work, surprise can catch us unprepared and far too slow to react. Or we we react, but damage could be significant before we gain control or escape with our lives.
Hello, thank you for your comment. Yes, I have to keep working on my English so that I can express myself clearly. I will talk about your questions in my next Q&A video. And I like your Tai Chi too.
Thank you for teaching these principles. I found these detailed and essential information particularly useful to look back into every time one practices.
I am hoping to teach Taiji someday. I am a very long ways off, but I do enjoy my practice. Thank you so much for these pointers and corrections. There were certainly things here that will help me correct my practice. Xie xie! 🙏
Your vision and hearing along with your dissertation on the raising and lowering of the had and the correct sinking and raising are paramount understandings to most people who don't live in the mountains. In the mountains you use these techniques alot like if you are resting beside a drop off you sink if you are moving downhill you rise. If you look at the horizon you raise your chin and set your head and sight. And you use your ears to listen to the woods for wild animals. As the area that 200 years ago might have been a little more wild than nowthat spawned this training they might have been well versed in how mountian people moved around. Just a observation. Its kinda like spotting a wild cat your internal instincts turn on for self preservation. Alot of these techniques are used for the same things when walking around in the woods of the mountains.
Thank you for focusing on taichi again Mr Yang! :) I really enjoyed the other videos you made recently, and was quite impressed with the ideas of Xingyi especially, but taichi is where my heart is. The system is so broad and large I'm afraid I'll never properly learn it even though I'm trying to devote a lot of time to it for 15 years now, hehe. I'm going to repost a question I asked before in another video, but I hope I'm not pressuring you to answer it: I understand you are very busy, but you are one of the few people in the world I would trust to competently answer it. Again, please, pardon my re-asking this question: "With regards to our vision following the opponent: The vast majority of the time I understand that idea and execution - but I still sometimes wonder about some movements (like movement 8 - xie xing) where the vision follows the right hand (near the end of the movement), rather than where I would imagine my opponent's body might be. Again, because I feel that way, I'm pretty sure that I am interpreting the movement incorrectly due to a lack of martial practice." More directly - can we sometimes vary where our vision is depending on where the opponent is (even if most taichi masters and teachers perform a movement with a specific fixed vision pattern)? Or should we strictly follow their vision movement as well, even if we feel that in some movements (like in Xie xing) the body of our opponent is in a different place?
Hello, I think you asked some very good questions here. Regarding the first one: the application of the form Xie Xing should be on the right forearm, not the palm. Normally, we use the palm to lead the force but to attack with the forearm area since we step inward or to enter the opponent's "weight-supporting area". When we return to the neutral stance or state, we will focus on the area in front of chest with a relaxed manner, breath-out, sink down and so on. Regarding your second question, we always can adapt our attention, focus and other aspects in practice. But in the beginning, we should pay attention to those details of focus, angle, and so on. In Chinese we say that "Starting from a method and end up with Non-method...or Wu Wei...". I hope I have answered your question. :) Be happy in Shanghai.
@@HaiYangChannel Yes, thank you for your clear answer. I understand where the confusion was: many teachers I've seen have been following the hand (palm) and not the forearm, which didn't look that great if they performed a movement like Xie xing a little high (because they were then looking at "birds in the sky"). If they focus on the forearm, it makes a lot more sense. I also understand the idea of being able to adapt in practice - I've been able to achieve that state in other activities - but Taichi is very complex, and I'm definitely not there yet. I'll keep on following standard practice then, until I'm ready, hehe. Very much enjoying Shanghai - great city, especially for new parents like us. Come visit sometime (when restrictions are lifted) :)
Another great video. Relax with sinking... What about silk reeling? Is there relax- sinking- breath in? If so, how could we relax at silk reeling with fajing? Isn't problem the reverse diafragmatic breathe to relaxation?
Thank you for video, Mr Yang. Helpful in reconizing why things seemed to work better in my practice with your outside feedback. Do all tai chi style use eatch enemy and hear behind? With chen form learning with you, that is what I did, but in wudang tai chi, the masters were very adament on eyes following the hand?
Glad it was helpful! Sorry, I'd like not to comment on wudang tai chi. When things are strange, normally, I will keep a distance from it. I hope you understand my reponse. Thanks.
Hai Yang, Let’s say there is no Chen Style school available but there is a Yang tai chi school. Would it be helpful or wise to begin Yang style and hopefully find a Chen school someday? Or, would this be creating a confusing base for tai chi? Thanks.
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Hai Yang, I'm a young American who has been deeply interested in ancient Chinese Culture/Worldview/Philosophy, after discovering the Tao Te Ching. Just like you highlight here, there is a deep void of accessible and accurate translated material on pretty much all of Chinese culture. This deeply saddens me, especially with the Cantonese language dying. I am worried that a lot of ancient Chinese wisdom, culture, and philosophy will be lost if not accurately translated into English within this generation. Your videos are a HUGE source of enlightenment, and I want to express my deep gratitude.
Please consider translating and publishing your own versions of Chinese culture. I'd love to read your translation of the Dao De Ching, and I'd really love a book that accurately outlines and describes the major themes of Ancient Chinese worldview and philosophy.
Good suggestion. Thanks,
@@HaiYangChannel Thanks Sifu!
The Dao De Jing is one of the most translated texts in all of human history. Barely behind the bible. Cantonese is one of the most spoken in the world. Ranked 9th with 86 million speakers according to Wiki. Check your facts.
By the way. Why the f* would Chinese wisdom, culture, and philosophy be lost if it's not translated into English? That is such an absurd statement.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I deeply appreciate it.
As a dedicated follower, let me state that this particular lecture was a milestone.
Respect and salute from TR.
Glad you like it
Deep bow and salute. I'm glad you are making videos again. I appreciate and respect your style and practice, it is very authentic. please keep making videos, you are an important voice.
Thank you for your comments. For years, I have not working on adding new materials to YouYube as I should. Now, I have more time and I will keep posting new videos regularly.
I am overwhelmed by this gift of knowledge you share with us.
I am learning so many concepts Which I try to include in my practice.
非常感谢。
It's my pleasure。
Thank you Master Hai Yang. Your lectures are concise and illuminating.
Thank you for your comment, It's my pleasure.
I am grateful for your videos. They always leave me inspired to train hard, train with intention, and train authentically.
It would be great if you did a video around living as a martial artist.
For anybody who was wondering, in Chinese, Neo-Confucianism is called 理学 which means the study of 理. Yang Shifu mentioned 理 at the beginning of the video along with 道 which is Dao .
Thanks,
A great thanks for your time and effort to explain . It has helped a lot to understand better my Chen Taichi practice.
Thank you so much for making these videos. I think from now on, I will always remember these characters: 天人合一。 What a great visual for such an important goal!
Glad you enjoy it!and you are very welcome.
Thanks so much, Sifu! You are giving me much to work on and think about. I really appreciate your teachings.
thank you for your comments. It's my great pleasure to share it with you!
thank you very much! not having a teacher, these videos are a godsend!
Happy to help!
There should be more focus on the principles in teaching in general, and MA in particular. Your efforts to raise the standards are highly appreciated!
Thank you for your comments. I think it's the time to improve the overall Tai chi practice level in the community.
Thank you master, a very precious lesson :-)
Thank you very much Master Yang...your lectures are most helpful. It is very generous of you to share your knowledge.
Greetings to you from Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia...🙏🏻
Glad to hear that and thank you for your comments. I will add more materials online in the future. Take good care at Australia! Thanks, agian.
Thank You Master Yang...I will look forward to it...🙏🏻
Thank you for your wonderfully clear explanations. Firstly, I must commend you on your use of English, which is not your native language. I've been learning and teaching Taiji in Spain for about 2 years, previously I learned and trained in Tai Chi Chuan in London. It is a challenge in itself to translate from your own native language to explain such subtle concepts and principles. You are doing and excellent job, a you would make an excellent Taiji ambassador for your balanced and informed approach to the art.
Regarding your 4 principles mentioned in this video. I have a few comments which maybe you could comment on, or address in a future video:
1. The sinking with relaxing ('sung') is a common problem, I agree, I'm always working on this principle. However, you seem to demonstrate the physical sinking only, but I feel it internally whether I lower my posture or not. It also has a lot to do with my feet and connection with the ground (rooting) which I have been working on with a another teacher for about 3 months now and it's really opened my eyes to this principle.
2. The upright head alignment principle requires more work than people imagine. Many people often start Taiji with various skeletal and muscular issues, let alone emotional tension and other things, that often need some help and correction before we can make these adjustments correctly. A Taiji teacher of mine refers to this as "correct sitting" - as if sitting on a small ledge or the edge of a stool. It seems to require special attention to the complete spinal column as well as the head, but particularly the sacrum and tailbone (which tends to stick out) and the cervical vertebrae that might already be leaning forward (especially with the advent of IT equipment and mobile phones causing people to develop potentially chronic problems of cervical and lumbar alignments). The relaxation aspect can also be difficult to achieve if there is mental tension or the joints are stiff. So meditation and relaxation of the mind can help the first part. Loosening and stretching exercises can help with the second part.
3. You mention at the end that this is just the tip of the iceberg, which is true. My focus on principles tends to be guided by Yang Chengfu's 10 principles and particularly as taught by the schools and teachers connected to the lineage from Zheng Manqing. I do practise some basic Chen style, 18 movement essence form only, but I have very little experience in that style. So for me, some of the other most neglected principles for improvement, which I too am guilty of, are the separation of substancial and insubstantial (in my opinion, a life's work in itself) and the smooth continuity of movement to generate correct flow of power/energy/chi (another very difficult concept to explain, for me it has to be experienced and felt to know what that means - that too is another lifetime's work).
Finally, your 4th principle about seeing and hearing is very interesting, this is something I was taught in my early days of martial arts training in Kung Fu, I can remember clearly the day I learnt a very good lesson in a one vs three sparring session. The guy who got behind me delivered a very painful kidney punch that took weeks to recover. My mistake was that I was too focused on who was attacking from the front. I never made that mistake again! Something one of my first, but longest time, Taiji taught me was developing what he called 'skins', a kind of sensitivity/perception exercise to feel the presence of someone behind or to the side of us. We can use our hearing in a better way, we can also employ perimeteral vision techniques; but developing response to intuition and spirit is an absolutely vital element in any life or death situation - whether it might be a health issue or a personal attack situation. Techniques etc may or may not work, surprise can catch us unprepared and far too slow to react. Or we we react, but damage could be significant before we gain control or escape with our lives.
Hello, thank you for your comment. Yes, I have to keep working on my English so that I can express myself clearly. I will talk about your questions in my next Q&A video. And I like your Tai Chi too.
Another great video, thank you Master Yang.
Glad you enjoyed it, Thanks.
Thank you for teaching these principles. I found these detailed and essential information particularly useful to look back into every time one practices.
You're very welcome! Those details are very important. Unfortunately, many tai chi teachers even neglect them.
nice video and I can tell you really love this stuff.good info as well. thank you for posting.
Thanks for watching!
I am hoping to teach Taiji someday. I am a very long ways off, but I do enjoy my practice. Thank you so much for these pointers and corrections. There were certainly things here that will help me correct my practice.
Xie xie! 🙏
You are so welcome。
Your vision and hearing along with your dissertation on the raising and lowering of the had and the correct sinking and raising are paramount understandings to most people who don't live in the mountains. In the mountains you use these techniques alot like if you are resting beside a drop off you sink if you are moving downhill you rise. If you look at the horizon you raise your chin and set your head and sight. And you use your ears to listen to the woods for wild animals. As the area that 200 years ago might have been a little more wild than nowthat spawned this training they might have been well versed in how mountian people moved around. Just a observation. Its kinda like spotting a wild cat your internal instincts turn on for self preservation. Alot of these techniques are used for the same things when walking around in the woods of the mountains.
no idea, will read it later.
Thank you for focusing on taichi again Mr Yang! :) I really enjoyed the other videos you made recently, and was quite impressed with the ideas of Xingyi especially, but taichi is where my heart is. The system is so broad and large I'm afraid I'll never properly learn it even though I'm trying to devote a lot of time to it for 15 years now, hehe.
I'm going to repost a question I asked before in another video, but I hope I'm not pressuring you to answer it: I understand you are very busy, but you are one of the few people in the world I would trust to competently answer it. Again, please, pardon my re-asking this question:
"With regards to our vision following the opponent: The vast majority of the time I understand that idea and execution - but I still sometimes wonder about some movements (like movement 8 - xie xing) where the vision follows the right hand (near the end of the movement), rather than where I would imagine my opponent's body might be. Again, because I feel that way, I'm pretty sure that I am interpreting the movement incorrectly due to a lack of martial practice."
More directly - can we sometimes vary where our vision is depending on where the opponent is (even if most taichi masters and teachers perform a movement with a specific fixed vision pattern)? Or should we strictly follow their vision movement as well, even if we feel that in some movements (like in Xie xing) the body of our opponent is in a different place?
Hello, I think you asked some very good questions here. Regarding the first one: the application of the form Xie Xing should be on the right forearm, not the palm. Normally, we use the palm to lead the force but to attack with the forearm area since we step inward or to enter the opponent's "weight-supporting area". When we return to the neutral stance or state, we will focus on the area in front of chest with a relaxed manner, breath-out, sink down and so on.
Regarding your second question, we always can adapt our attention, focus and other aspects in practice. But in the beginning, we should pay attention to those details of focus, angle, and so on. In Chinese we say that "Starting from a method and end up with Non-method...or Wu Wei...".
I hope I have answered your question. :) Be happy in Shanghai.
@@HaiYangChannel Yes, thank you for your clear answer. I understand where the confusion was: many teachers I've seen have been following the hand (palm) and not the forearm, which didn't look that great if they performed a movement like Xie xing a little high (because they were then looking at "birds in the sky"). If they focus on the forearm, it makes a lot more sense.
I also understand the idea of being able to adapt in practice - I've been able to achieve that state in other activities - but Taichi is very complex, and I'm definitely not there yet. I'll keep on following standard practice then, until I'm ready, hehe.
Very much enjoying Shanghai - great city, especially for new parents like us. Come visit sometime (when restrictions are lifted) :)
@@taijitaijiquan Great! Congratulations to be a parent now:)
@@HaiYangChannel Thank you!
Thank you for sharing 🙏🏽✨
You are so welcome
Another great video.
Relax with sinking... What about silk reeling? Is there relax- sinking- breath in? If so, how could we relax at silk reeling with fajing? Isn't problem the reverse diafragmatic breathe to relaxation?
I have some videos talking about the questions in my channel.
Start at 11:00 for the good stuff.
Thank you for video, Mr Yang. Helpful in reconizing why things seemed to work better in my practice with your outside feedback.
Do all tai chi style use eatch enemy and hear behind? With chen form learning with you, that is what I did, but in wudang tai chi, the masters were very adament on eyes following the hand?
Glad it was helpful! Sorry, I'd like not to comment on wudang tai chi. When things are strange, normally, I will keep a distance from it. I hope you understand my reponse. Thanks.
Hai Yang,
Let’s say there is no Chen Style school available but there is a Yang tai chi school. Would it be helpful or wise to begin Yang style and hopefully find a Chen school someday? Or, would this be creating a confusing base for tai chi? Thanks.
Well, Tai Chi is Tai Chi.
💞🙏🙏 very informative
Glad you think so!
Please accept my humble apologies
no problem.