July 1981

Our school does not talk about Tai Ji "Quan" because in the practice and in the names of the forms there are no fists. The fist-like uses of the hands are usually described as "holding a hammer", and the hand is never held closed into a tight fist. We do talk about Xing Yi Quan because Xing Yi is about fists and the names of its forms frequently include Quan. Ba Gua is about the use of the palms and is talked of as Ba Gua Zhang. But Tai Ji is not about the martial use of the fists or palms and is only talked of as Tai Ji "Jiazi", which is the Chinese word for "frame" or "skeleton": the key thing in Tai Ji being the overall framework of the form.

And this must be maintained ... even after you have fully learned it, do not let it fall apart. Like a plant growing, you will make big strides of progress in the early stages, but later only very small ones. But though only small growth, this is important as without it decay sets in and the form will fall apart. So keep working at perfecting very small points. The you will always have the form ingrained in you whenever you want to make use of it, and by this stage you will be in a position to say whether or not it is of any use. It is not allowable to say "this is no use" before you have fully learned it; only once the discipline has been fully absorbed (so that it can be used if you want it), can it be also set aside.

So it is not a question of vaguely waving your arms around in the air, but of moving between quite specific "sign posts", each of which has a martial significance. So work on figuring out what the forms mean and on stretching in full at each sign post.

Remember about the fingers: not too wide apart but closer together.

Feel the back leg in any form: is it as bent as the front one? if not, the centre of balance will be too far to the front.