What should I look for in a Tai Chi instructor/school?

[SimSportPlyr]

I'm about to try out a Tai Chi school or two.

I don't know what to look for in terms of finding a 'good' school and instructor.

My interests are primarily in fitness/health, vs martial applications, although I would enjoy also learning the martial applications.

I hope that the question I'm asking is not over vague.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[Blaze Dragon]

I'm not an expert and many question the school I spent most of my time learning Taijiquan from...that being said. This is my personal take on looking for a taijiquan school...

I'm not big on origin or lineage, it's either good or it's not. The way you find that out is take a class. many places have free or reduced rate introductory stuff. Meet the sifu, see if you click.

Ask them to explain what taijiquan is and how it works.
Ask them what Qi is
Ask them if they do Qigong and or breathing and meditation

My sifu says "Without Qi, there is no Taiji." To truely get health benefit from taijiquan, and again this is my opinion. You need to develop your skills correctly, taijiquan is an internal art, the works on you from the inside out, the breathing and intent is just as important as the actual physical move.

Things to watch out for, does the teacher ONLY teach taijiquan? Many schools are slapping a taijiquan form into their school with no real training, you'll see 24 most often and is the go to, so that schools can say they offer it.

Ask what other forms of taijiquan they teach, ask what style of taijiquan. Wu? Chen? Yang? Sun? Wu? (yes their are two wus). There are other schools of taijiquan such as Wudang style, but the main five are those I listed.

Taijiquan for reference is "grand ultimate fist" I think they should know that, the quan part is fist and taiji and taijiquan are two different things. Taiji is a philosophy and path, where as quan is the fist martial part that we all know and love.Taijiquan and Tai Chi Chuan are the same thing. It's just spelling. I prefer Taiji vs Tai Chi, but Chi makes you think "Qi" and it's different. So to spell it ji is better in my personal view.Qi is also sometimes spelled "chi" for reference. It's also not pronounced "tie chi" it's pronounced "tie jee", and Qs in pinyin are pronounced similar to CH in English, thus Qi = Chi when speaking it...ANYWAY....

What how the school moves, they should not be using there arms, most of the movement is in the waist and there legs are involved.

Hopefully that answers your question, again this is just my opinion there are others here who have way more experience in the art them me.

best of luck to you.

 

[SimSportPlyr]

BlazeLeeDragon, you have been very helpful!

Thank you so much for the reply.

Ralph

 

[Xue Sheng]

You are interested more in health that the martial arts of it, meaning the martial arts is secondary.

Are there specific health issues you are thinking about as it applies to taijiquan?

 

[SimSportPlyr]

Hi Xue Sheng -

Thank you for the reply.

I am thinking of these health benefits [From webmd]:

improved strength and balance
arthritis relief
better sleep
reduced stress

Ralph

 

[Xue Sheng]

Arthritis relief: I would avoid Chen schools or Southern Wu schools unless you find a highly qualified and well trained teacher. Also there is Northern Wu style nut that is also sometimes hard to find and again the stances may be to low for what you are trying to do. The other Wu that BlazeLeeDragon was talking about is generally referred to as Wu/Hao in the west and it is a combination of Chen and Yang however I know little about it, but its stances are higher than Chen, however it is had to find unless you are on the West coast of the USA.

You are probably going to be happier with a Yang style school or a Sun school, however finding a Sun School, unless you are near Boston, or a few other select places, is rather difficult.

Now Yang style, or Traditional Yang style comes form the Yang family and generally traces its lineage back to Yang Chengfu. There are a lot of schools and teachers out there teaching what they call Yang style but it is 24 form which is a competition form that is more correctly labeled the Beijing 24 form. The problem with that form is that there are a plethora of teachers but very few that actually know anything about taijiquan so it is mostly just a dance. However the 24/48 form that comes from Liang Shouyu is rather good and if you can find a student of Li Deyin it is likely pretty good as well.

Are there any schools in your area that you are thinking about?

 

[SimSportPlyr]

Xue Sheng -

Thank you for the school recommendations.

I live in the Sacramento California area (actually, I am between Sacramento, Auburn, and Folsom) and am considering these schools (listed in random order):

• Renee Neal / Sierra College
• Lotus Garden Meditation Center / Instructor: Robert (land name not given)
  
• Eastern Ways Martial Arts (Folsom, CA) / Tai Sifu Hubbard and Tai Simo Molina
  
• Tai Chi Sacramento / Sifu Daniel Wold
• Sifu John Huie
  
• Grandmaster David Chin Sin Tien Wu Ji Tai Chi Association

There are significant differences in location, class time-of-day (some options involve rush-hour traffic for me), and cost, of course, so some of these options are more attractive than others, everything else (quality of instruction; style of art) being equal (which I realize they never are equal).

 

[SimSportPlyr]

Here's one more in my area:

• Tai Chi and Kung Fu Arden Manor. Instructors: Keith Saha, Henry Gardiner

 

[Xue Sheng]

Since I do not know who some of these people are and the rest I have no direct experience I can only comment on what I am reading on their website so take it for what it is worth

Renee Neal / Sierra College > Appears to be the Yang Long Form but you start with Laina Dicker & Lori Fee. However I have no idea where or who they all learned from so it could be good or bad and that is about all I can say here

Lotus Garden Meditation Center / Instructor: Robert (land name not given) > Guang Ping Yang style of T'ai Chi. I am not a fan of Guang Ping Yang, but many are so it would be best to check it out and see what you think

Eastern Ways Martial Arts (Folsom, CA) / Tai Sifu Hubbard and Tai Simo Molina > appears to come from Doc-Fai Wong and I have heard the Doc-Fai Wong is supposed to be good

Tai Chi Sacramento / Sifu Daniel Wold > Yang style Tai Chi Chuan 24 set which consist of 24 Tai Chi movements. This would be rather limiting to me, but again maybe it is what you are looking for

Sifu John Huie > free in park, talks more of Shaolin than Taiji but I will admit this interests me, but then any old Chinese guy teaching a martial art in a park, for free, I would find interesting enough to at least go check out.

Grandmaster David Chin Sin Tien Wu Ji Tai Chi Association > not sure what to say here, I have heard of David Chin but not in association with Taijiquan, more with external styles and from the site I see that is Hop Gar

There is also a Yang Family Taiji school 45 minutes south of Sacramento in Stockton, but that may be too far for you
Stockton Center Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Association

The best thing to do is go and check them out and see how you feel about it. There are things you can do to be better educated on what you are looking at. Look at yang Chengfu’s Yang Chengfu 10 essential points (essences). Look at videos of people like Li Deyin, Liang Shouyu, Chen Xiaowang, Chen Zhenglei, Tung Ying Chieh, Tung Hu Ling, Vincent Chu and Eddie Wu.

I am on the opposite coast from you and I am best at telling you about Yang Family, Tung Family and Chen family practitioners and although some of those are Yang style, without knowing their teachers it is not always easy to tell you much about them.

 

[SimSportPlyr]

Xue Sheng, thank you so much for the great advice!

I will do as you suggest.

 

[Flying Crane]

It's possible that it's a different David Chin than the hop gar guy. I thought he had left California.

 

[Xue Sheng]

It's possible that it's a different David Chin than the hop gar guy. I thought he had left California.

I have no idea.

 

[Flying Crane]

I have no idea.

Yeah, it's a lineage I don't really know much about.

 

[SimSportPlyr]

I found one more option nearby:

School: Extreme Martial Arts
Style Yang
Instructor: Sifu Ron Dillman
Lineage: Ron Dillman -> Allen Hubbard -> Doc Fai Wong

Any comments about this school/instructor?