Yang Style 37 Form Tai Chi (1VCD)

Author: Zhao Youbin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-07-01
Features: The Yang-style 37-form Tai Chi Chuan was conceived and created in the spring of 1997. Tai Chi Chuan is a precious martial arts cultural heritage of China, known for its rich dialectical thinking, unique health benefits, and elegant human movement. It has been widely promoted and developed in society. Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan is one of the outstanding forms among the many Tai Chi Chuan schools. Its founder was Yang Luchan, with a history of nearly two thousand years. His sons, Yang Banhou and Yang Jianhou, and his grandsons, Yang Shaohou and Yang Chengfu, as successive masters, made epoch-making contributions to the status and development of Tai Chi Chuan in Chinese martial arts. Especially Yang Chengfu, the master, who integrated the experience of three generations of ancestors, researched and standardized the 85-form Tai Chi Chuan, which has become a model for contemporary and future generations to inherit the Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan. Its movement characteristics and style are clear techniques, well-structured movements, uniform speed, smooth and continuous, distinct between solid and empty, soft and flexible, displaying elegance in gentleness and embodying grandeur in tranquility. Therefore, combined with its ease of learning, Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan has become a form suitable for all ages and the most widely practiced Tai Chi Chuan in China. The 37-form Tai Chi Chuan we will introduce is composed of non-repeating movements from the traditional 85-form Tai Chi Chuan, arranged in order. The purpose of simplification and adaptation is: 1) Shorter duration, with a set practice taking 4 minutes for the fast and 8 minutes for the slow, which is beneficial for mastering the basic skills of Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan in a short time and laying a foundation for further learning the 85-form Tai Chi Chuan; 2) It can serve as a performance and competition routine for Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan. The features of this routine are: A) Its practice characteristics and style are consistent with the traditional routine; B) The requirements and principles of the movements are the same as the traditional routine; 3) Movements are compact, content is focused, arrangement is smooth, and layout is reasonable, summarizing the movements of the traditional routine while aligning with national competition requirements. "The charm is endless, like willows swaying in the spring breeze; When practiced gently and beautifully, it flows like clouds and water." This is a poem on Tai Chi Chuan by the renowned Yang-style Tai Chi master, Zhao Youbin. Indeed, Tai Chi Chuan is beautiful. The routines look simple but actually contain elegance, like a flowing landscape painting or a lyrical poem, known as "living sculptures" or "flowing music." Practitioners of Tai Chi Chuan can reach a state of relaxation and joy, enjoying health through beautiful movement—this is the unique charm of Tai Chi Chuan. Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan, with its many advantages, has been accepted by more enthusiasts and has become one of the most widely spread styles both domestically and internationally. To achieve good fitness effects and a higher level of practice, in addition to mastering the Tai Chi Chuan routine, one must also work hard on understanding its principles, summarized as: 1) Empty and spiritual top advancement, where the head is upright, and the spirit is vibrant, with an empty and spiritual nature that avoids force, allowing the spirit to be lifted; 2) Containing the chest and arching the back, where the chest is like a straight pillar and the back like an arch, relaxing the chest and back muscles, and with a straight body, the natural sinking of Qi to the Dantian occurs; 3) Loosening the waist and contracting the buttocks, where loosening the waist gives strength to both legs and a stable lower base, while contracting the buttocks ensures a central body posture, with loose and flexible waist and hips, creating a continuous and circular movement. As the boxing saying goes, "If something is not achieved, it must be sought in the waist and legs." 4) Differentiating between solid and empty, Tai Chi Chuan considers this the key principle. If the rhythm of the whole body is on the right leg, the right leg is solid and the left leg is empty. At the same time, one must understand that the solid leg contains emptiness, and the empty leg contains solidity, allowing the body to rotate effortlessly; 5) Lowering the shoulders and dropping the elbows, where lowering the shoulders means not raising them, and dropping the elbows means not showing them, allowing the Qi to not rise, with relaxed and flexible arms and balanced weight. Throughout the routine, one must also achieve: 1) Coordination between upper and lower parts, continuous and unbroken, where movement is as if motionless, and stillness is as if still, coordinating hands, feet, waist, and head as a whole, and from the starting pose to the end, each movement must be connected without interruption, like the endless flow of the Yangtze River or the Yellow Sea; 2) Achieving internal and external integration, using intention without force. Internal and external integration means that when the movement opens, the mind follows, and when the movement closes, the mind follows too, achieving a harmonious connection between spirit and form. Using intention without force means that every joint in the body is open and relaxed, without the slightest stiffness, where intention leads Qi, and Qi leads strength. If Qi and blood flow continuously, practiced daily, over time, one will truly gain internal strength. In summary, Tai Chi Chuan has many principles to master, and one must gradually understand and feel them through practice, eventually grasping the essence of Tai Chi Chuan. Just as the great Tai Chi master Yang Chengfu once expressed the realm of Tai Chi Chuan by borrowing lines from the "Preface to the Red Cliff": "Vast and boundless, as if meeting emptiness, unaware of its direction; Floating and ethereal, as if standing alone, transforming into immortality."
The Yang-style 37-form Tai Chi Chuan was conceived and created in the spring of 1997. Tai Chi Chuan is a precious martial arts cultural heritage of China, known for its rich dialectical thinking, unique health benefits, and elegant human movement. It has been widely promoted and developed in society. Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan is one of the outstanding forms among the many Tai Chi Chuan schools. Its founder was Yang Luchan, with a history of nearly two thousand years. His sons, Yang Banhou and Yang Jianhou, and his grandsons, Yang Shaohou and Yang Chengfu, as successive masters, made epoch-making contributions to the status and development of Tai Chi Chuan in Chinese martial arts. Especially Yang Chengfu, the master, who integrated the experience of three generations of ancestors, researched and standardized the 85-form Tai Chi Chuan, which has become a model for contemporary and future generations to inherit the Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan. Its movement characteristics and style are clear techniques, well-structured movements, uniform speed, smooth and continuous, distinct between solid and empty, soft and flexible, displaying elegance in gentleness and embodying grandeur in tranquility. Therefore, combined with its ease of learning, Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan has become a form suitable for all ages and the most widely practiced Tai Chi Chuan in China. The 37-form Tai Chi Chuan we will introduce is composed of non-repeating movements from the traditional 85-form Tai Chi Chuan, arranged in order. The purpose of simplification and adaptation is: 1) Shorter duration, with a set practice taking 4 minutes for the fast and 8 minutes for the slow, which is beneficial for mastering the basic skills of Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan in a short time and laying a foundation for further learning the 85-form Tai Chi Chuan; 2) It can serve as a performance and competition routine for Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan. The features of this routine are: A) Its practice characteristics and style are consistent with the traditional routine; B) The requirements and principles of the movements are the same as the traditional routine; 3) Movements are compact, content is focused, arrangement is smooth, and layout is reasonable, summarizing the movements of the traditional routine while aligning with national competition requirements. "The charm is endless, like willows swaying in the spring breeze; When practiced gently and beautifully, it flows like clouds and water." This is a poem on Tai Chi Chuan by the renowned Yang-style Tai Chi master, Zhao Youbin. Indeed, Tai Chi Chuan is beautiful. The routines look simple but actually contain elegance, like a flowing landscape painting or a lyrical poem, known as "living sculptures" or "flowing music." Practitioners of Tai Chi Chuan can reach a state of relaxation and joy, enjoying health through beautiful movement—this is the unique charm of Tai Chi Chuan. Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan, with its many advantages, has been accepted by more enthusiasts and has become one of the most widely spread styles both domestically and internationally. To achieve good fitness effects and a higher level of practice, in addition to mastering the Tai Chi Chuan routine, one must also work hard on understanding its principles, summarized as: 1) Empty and spiritual top advancement, where the head is upright, and the spirit is vibrant, with an empty and spiritual nature that avoids force, allowing the spirit to be lifted; 2) Containing the chest and arching the back, where the chest is like a straight pillar and the back like an arch, relaxing the chest and back muscles, and with a straight body, the natural sinking of Qi to the Dantian occurs; 3) Loosening the waist and contracting the buttocks, where loosening the waist gives strength to both legs and a stable lower base, while contracting the buttocks ensures a central body posture, with loose and flexible waist and hips, creating a continuous and circular movement. As the boxing saying goes, "If something is not achieved, it must be sought in the waist and legs." 4) Differentiating between solid and empty, Tai Chi Chuan considers this the key principle. If the rhythm of the whole body is on the right leg, the right leg is solid and the left leg is empty. At the same time, one must understand that the solid leg contains emptiness, and the empty leg contains solidity, allowing the body to rotate effortlessly; 5) Lowering the shoulders and dropping the elbows, where lowering the shoulders means not raising them, and dropping the elbows means not showing them, allowing the Qi to not rise, with relaxed and flexible arms and balanced weight. Throughout the routine, one must also achieve: 1) Coordination between upper and lower parts, continuous and unbroken, where movement is as if motionless, and stillness is as if still, coordinating hands, feet, waist, and head as a whole, and from the starting pose to the end, each movement must be connected without interruption, like the endless flow of the Yangtze River or the Yellow Sea; 2) Achieving internal and external integration, using intention without force. Internal and external integration means that when the movement opens, the mind follows, and when the movement closes, the mind follows too, achieving a harmonious connection between spirit and form. Using intention without force means that every joint in the body is open and relaxed, without the slightest stiffness, where intention leads Qi, and Qi leads strength. If Qi and blood flow continuously, practiced daily, over time, one will truly gain internal strength. In summary, Tai Chi Chuan has many principles to master, and one must gradually understand and feel them through practice, eventually grasping the essence of Tai Chi Chuan. Just as the great Tai Chi master Yang Chengfu once expressed the realm of Tai Chi Chuan by borrowing lines from the "Preface to the Red Cliff": "Vast and boundless, as if meeting emptiness, unaware of its direction; Floating and ethereal, as if standing alone, transforming into immortality."