The Rising Sun School of
T'ai Chi Ch'uan

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Toronto T'ai Chi Classes at

The
Rising Sun School of T'ai Chi Ch'uan

We have no more than 8 students per instructor and you progress at your own rate. If you miss a class, you pick up where you left off the last time. We specialize in personal coaching!

Come to a free introductory class and find out about how to get one month of free classes!

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On Form

"When the hand moves up you think down

When the hand moves down you think up"

Master Lee

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Commentary

This mindfulness of opposition helps one to stay level. One must be careful that the outer circle of the hands and their mind intent, does not draw the inner circle of the shoulders and centre off their plumb line or rootedness respectively.It is very easy to fall forward with your hands if you are pulling down. It is just as easy to rise up with the ascending hands in a movement such as 'White Crane Cools Wings'. Opposition helps maintain a balanced expression of power.

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"Many times to do and you can do the Boxing (also)"

Master Lee Shiu-pak

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Commentary

I always found this affirmation of practice very soothing to my under confidence.

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You will find many T'ai Chi books and reviews at

If you have comments or suggestions email
Paul McCaughey at:

taichitoronto@rogers.com

General Notes on
Important Form Practices

These are just some highlights of a much larger written work in progress on a pan stylist approach to T'ai Chi Ch'uan. The central theme of the book is about embodying the original and essential principles of our human form in movement as uniquely expressed in the internal martial art of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Although Form practices vary, we all move within the same evolutionary human form and so the essentials are transferable from one style to another. All I ask of you, as a student of any style is to keep your thinking open and to beware of prejudice based in the idiosynchrasies of style rather than the substantive.

Students are welcome to correspond with personal inquiries about these writings on T'ai Chi Ch'uan and I are willing to travel to teach workshops on movement principles applicable to all forms, styles and schools. This service need not be restricted to T'ai Chi Schools and can be applicable to any Schools of Movement or Somatic Arts.

Whatever form you are studying, there are some fundamentals common to all human movement and then more specifically some principles which differentiate the Internal Schools of the Martial Arts from the External Schools. The principles that govern these schools can be applied to any form of movement.

Whatever system or teacher you hail from there are some basic things about Form that each of us has to train for. First and foremost we have to make a good accurate study of placement and timing of our Form. Study the alignments carefully. The map of your teacher's form is the repository of both his and her intent and it is also the record of the teachers who passed before. Once the map is established as a basis for study, then as students we need to walk the road of T'ai Chi.

Our teachers all refer to T'ai Chi principles and to their literary record, The T'ai Chi Classics. Here we deepen our study by looking between the points of reference that is our map to T'ai Chi, at the landscape and nature of movement itself that is the road of understanding. Our body in movement, whether in Form or in Boxing (also in Massage, see the Four Aspects of T'ai Chi Ch'uan) becomes the study. Here there is no lineage, nor master, only the moment and how near or far we are from Wu Wei (not doing). The three pillars of progress are: correct oral transmission of a master teacher, diligent practice and the heart to learn. It is a tradition of T'ai Chi Ch'uan to teach students to think for themselves.

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How does 'long power': the sending your power out through a direction, create more effective extension and flexion in movement?

Yang Style is defined by its 'long power', which involves an art of full extension and flexion that creates fluid joint rotations, while maintaining both the openness of the joints and the softness of the movement.

How does 'sinking qi' (gravity) enable your movements to become softer and more engaged at the same time?

If a student investigates all the larger and smaller applications of the principle of 'plumb erect', softness is assured. If a student also explores the horizontal plane of movement and adds this to their knowledge of 'plumb erect', a multi-dimensional experience of engagement will result. In this way one gains the virtue of relaxation without incurring its defect, collapsed joint spaces and imbalanced muscle engagement.

How does the 'center qi' unite and dispose the differentiation of Yin and Yang in movement?

A thorough study of T'ai Chi walking clarifies the disposition of Yin and Yang in the legs and the phases of change which give rise to various dispositions of Yin and Yang in any movement. When a student understand their relationship to the Earth, then they can understand what message is being translated to the hands and to the top of the head at any given time. The center is the 'grand terminus' through which we come to see how our state of power (Wu Chi), our relationship to the Earth, is translated into T'ai Chi. We have "Ch'uan" when we take that differentiation of Yin and Yang and express that as combat application. Otherwise, all movement and it's changes are essentially T'ai Chi.

Some teachers say breathe naturally. Some teachers refer to post-natal breathing and others refer to pre-natal breathing as being most desirable. What if I told you that in our system, both occur quite naturally?

Some questions worth answering: How is the inhalation and exhalation of air promoted by T'ai Chi? How does this influence how we move? How does the Yin and Yang of the breath correspond to the Yin and Yang of movement? How does the timing of the air flow relate to the timing of the movements?

The Form you learn from your teacher is the 'outer form' based in what is solid. The breath teaches you about the 'inner form based in what is spaceous. Outer and Inner, solid and spaceous, are like looking at positive and negative space in a drawing. Where you look influences what you perceive and whereever you place your focus, you are always dependent upon solid or empty, light or dark, to support what you perceive.

At first your mind shapes all movement to conform to the 'map' your instructor teaches you. Later, the mind shapes movement less and less, as other movement generation principles such as long power, gravity, center and breath 'shape', direct and generate movement. So what is the role of the mind in T'ai Chi?

Mind awareness and presence is essential to being able to encompass all the dimensions that T'ai Chi represents in all its aspects. Specifically one's 'mind intent' fine tunes the application of each movement, bringing the correct presence of muscle engagement, breath, eye focus, center and rootedness, whether one is in a Yin or Yang cycles of movement.

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At first, one does all movements according to a map, a sense of moving from point "A" to point "B". This illustrates the time of "doing" in learning, where the mind is learning about timing and placement and shapes all movement accordingly. One feels the movements as "T'ai Chi" during this period by practising softly, slowly and smoothly.

Later, one begins to discover the principles of "not doing" where movement in the hands is generated via proper muscle engagement, gravity, centre, breath and mind. Each of these aspects resolves movement into a process that reflects relationships, not destinations. In this way the student evolves from rote practice of techiniques and into an understanding and experience of the inner principles of T'ai Chi.

"The Yin from the self to do." means only you (the self) can be receptive...it has to be a concious choice on your part. This invariably is a challenging act. "The Yang from the Yin to do..." means that if one chooses to find the Yin within one's self, then your Yang can always be balanced by your Yin perspective, as it emerges from the Yin of self, a place of stillness, receptivity, waiting, gathering and listening.

This then is T'ai Chi philosophy, the Yin and Yang of the Self in movement as it relates to Form practise. As Master Lee used to say, "Inside, outside, same thing." Here you can see how Philosophy and Form become one process in practise of T'ai Chi Ch'uan.

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For the student of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, the above elements can begin the process of describing and embodying the constellation, dimension and dynamic, that are possible in human movement. The state of unity and diversity is a rich one. I think this expresses the essence of Taoist thought, which seeks to find the natural centre of balance and harmony that is intrinsic to any constellation of the universe at any given time.

The art of Taoist living is to remain in harmony, constantly re-creating balance as the diversity of the universe give rise to constant change while always remaining plumb and integral within the given structure and preponderances unique to each of us. We are after all an expression of universal diversity and yet we are united by the commonalities of being human and the challenges, tasks, and joys of fulfilling our given form through movement.

Step like a cat
Move the Qi like reeling silk from a cocoon

The T'ai Chi Classics