by Rick Barrett | Nov 16, 2019 | Integration, Meditation, Taiji
“Push. No push.” “Punch. No punch.” In my many years studying with him, Grandmaster William C. C. Chen would often exhort us to let go of excessive effort with paradoxical words like that. Taijiquan is filled with paradox, which can be...
by Rick Barrett | Nov 2, 2019 | Jade Pillow Gate, Taiji
“When practicing the form, one should cause the yu-chen point at the base of the skull to stand out, then the spirit and ch’i will effortlessly meet at the top of the head.” Cheng Man-ch’ing, in Master Cheng’s Thirteen Chapters on...
by Rick Barrett | Feb 28, 2016 | Taiji
Yang Chengfu’s 13 Original Postures is a short, powerful form I learned from Master Yang Fukui. He learned it from his grandfather in Hebei, China. It is a large frame form, and contrasts nicely with my go-to taijiquan, the small to medium frame, Grandmaster...