Announcement - Note the changes

We are invited to perform in the "Charity taiji-wushu Appreciation Night" . Held at West coast Community Centre.It aim to raise funds for its welfare projects as well as for the following oreganisations : Tentatively Red Cross.

The guest of honour for the evening will be Mr. S Iswaran , Senoir Minister of state for Trade & Industry and MP for West Coast GRC.

Tickets are sold at $10 , and $20.00 . You can purchase them at the West coast CC or email me .

Address :

Charity Taiji -Wushu Appreciation Show

c/o West Coast Community Centre

no. 2 Clementi West st.2

Singapore 129605.

BBQ on 28th june (Saturday )

I am organising a BBQ on 28th june (Saturday). All students are welcome . Venue will be disclosed during lesson or by Sms. BYO alcoholic drinks. It will be a poolside BBQ , So dress casually .

Continuation of the golf session

Here is another video on the golf session . I tried to upload another video , but was facing some problems . Will revert back to the topic of taijiquan after this post .

Golf Tips from the chairman of AMGTA(American Golf Teacher's Association )

Ok , Lets take a break from Taijiquan . Lets talk about Golf !!!! YES, GOLFFF!!
This afternoon , its the second time i had the honor of getting coached by
Mr. Phua , Chairman of American Golf Teacher's Association. "Simplicity" , thats the word most appropriate word to describe the lesson.

"Throw the club head on the ball ,do not scoop the ball , if the club head contacts the side of the ball before the ground, the ball has nowhere else to go except shooting straight to the front", thats what Mr. Phua kept reminding me.
Its that simple .Finally , not only did my longer irons improved tremendously, my short game as well. All these while ,i have been trying to airborne the ball through scooping. I guess its a mental block . It reinforced that, understanding the physics in any kind of games or sports before your practice, will save you alot of wasted time and money in fruitless practice. In the past, I would spend hours hitting hundreds of balls in the driving range trying to figure out where i went wrong with my strokes instead of learning from a proper coach. I am all too eager to just hit the balls, and not taking a step back to understand the physics involved .

In any case , I would like to thank Mr. Phua for his precious time and precious golf tip. A few more practices and i hope i will be ready to challenge the green again .

- TaichiBug.

The Form（拳架） and Pushing hands （推手）and Sparring （散手）

The Form（拳架） and Pushing hands （推手）and Sparring （散手）

As mentioned earlier, this form of taijiquan is also called 3 in 1 taijiquan. The form itself is the practice of the techniques of pushing hands and sparring. All the strokes are applicable during pushing hands and sparring.

Most practitioners have a misconception that once they have learnt the form, they proceed to learn pushing hands and eventually start to neglect practicing the form. This is the biggest mistake a practitioner can make.

Pushing hands starts with learning the parity circle, whereby, neither of them have an advantage over each other. Within the parity circle both parties will begin to look for each other’s center of gravity and through the applications of the strokes within the form, uproot (leading the opponent to the state of unstable equilibrium) and expel the opponent out of the parity circle. Pushing hands should only be viewed as a yardstick or a check on one’s accuracy and flow (roundness, 圆) of one’s form, its does not improve one’s skills. It’s a tool of measurement of the whole spectrum of taijiquan. It serves to help you identify which part of the component within the spectrum is missing. After which, one should go back to practicing the corrected form relentlessly in order to enhance one’s skill.

Most practitioners , fails to understand this point .The moment they start doing pushing hands , they think that practicing the form is for beginners, so they stop practicing the form and concentrate on just doing pushing hands .Eventually, their skills gets stiffer and stiffer, ended up relying on brute strength which completely defies the principles of taijiquan.. The form and pushing hands serves as a bridge over to the level of Sparring skills. The level of accuracy and the flow (roundness, 圆) of one’s form will dictate one’s skills in pushing hands and sparring.

－ TaichiBug

Unstable state of equilibrium

The difference between “练” practice taijiquan or “修” study tajiquan ?

“修” encompasses “练” practicing the form, and “悟” researching and authenticating and understanding the form. Therefore, “修”is a more complete curriculum. So what is there to research and authenticate on taijiquan ? ..Physics!!! Philosophy!!!

Taijiquan (physical aspect) should be viewed as the art of importing physics into your physical body through practicing the form.

The taichi classic says：“四两拨千斤”, throwing a 100 kg (hypothetically) opponent with just 250 grams (hypothetically) of strength. So how is that possible? Now we come to the philosophical aspect of it. “引进落空” is the phrase that is often neglected.

“引进落空，四两拨千斤” means inviting or luring your opponent to a state of unstable equilibrium (emptiness), then u are able to move a 100kg opponent with merely 250 grams of strength. So what is a “state of unstable equilibrium? “ It is like standing a can of coke slanted, standing yet not stable, blowing onto the can will topple the can of coke. Besides this, I would like to add that you have to repel with rotational force in order to achieve such a ratio. In any case, all taijiquan classics are written to either create awareness or depicting the presence of physics.

How do we achieve inviting or luring one’s opponent into a state of unstable equilibrium?
Minimal resistance! Meeting an incoming force with a strong resistance will only result in the weaker force being thrown off its ground regardless of which of the force is the initiating force. This merely becomes a competition of strength, which completely defy the principles of taijiquan.

Defining minimal strength: Upon contact, the amount of resistances should only be an accompanying force and not a direct opposing force. Such kind of force adheres to the direction of the incoming force, it is subtle and yet constantly providing small resistance to the opponent in order to encourage a continual flow of force from the opponent to a point where the opponent’s balance (center of gravity) is lead to the state of unstable equilibrium. At this juncture, the opponent will be at its weakest, repelling him with a slight rotational force will produce a tremendous force that will send him off the ground.

Of course, such skills will only be attained through numerous rounds of practice and relentless effort to look for all the rotations within the form.
This is base on my shallow understanding of taijiquan , we hope to see more guidance from masters out there.. Thank you.

-- TaichiBug

Me and some of the students

Front row : Mr and Mrs Phua and Me
back row : Cheng , Mr. Ian , Mr Huang , Mr. Sum .

Still trying to upload a video , having alot of problems with that .. ARGGGHHHHH .
anyway will post some articles later thiw week .
Meantime the video is uploaded to youtube . You can watch it there .