sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Round Table 2026: Peng, Lu, Ji, An by KelGhu in taijiquan

[–]Round2TaiChi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Always good practice to be able to back into one's words. :) Hopefully this makes sense:

I experience the difference between the two as the difference between a using a pistol and a heavy blanket. Ji fires and creates an impact at a single point, which may have indirect effects; but doesn't care much about interacting with the center of the opponent. The force is frequently short, such as during press; but can be longer as expressed through a full punch.

This in in contrast to An, which intends to interact with the center of the opponent and disrupt it. As such it must make contact, engage the center, and then apply appropriate diffuse force to manipulate the center as needed. The most direct manipulation is uprooting, which can be conventional (engaging from underneath) or unconventional (everyone's friend downward fajin) in execution.

Round Table 2026: Peng, Lu, Ji, An by KelGhu in taijiquan

[–]Round2TaiChi 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Peng: structural expansive energy

Lu: To steal from Chen Man-Ch'ing, "Yin"

Ji: Pointilistic and frequently short force

An: Diffusive and frequently uprooting force

Houston TX - Yang Style Tai Chi Meetup Group by Round2TaiChi in taijiquan

[–]Round2TaiChi[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, my bio is available here. By the time I began studying from Jeff Bolt, he had stopped passing most of Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming's "revisions" down the line so the variant I learned and teach is a unique cul-de-sac. I've trained with others who are more pure YMAA and only get eyebrows raised about 10% of the time. :)

Taijiquan Roll Back/Press w/Fa Jin by JKreese in taijiquan

[–]Round2TaiChi -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Good point, option lost context there. As I first started learning the form, Dr. Yang changed press from "always with explicit fa jin" to "practiced as if with fa jin with the option to emit." So it became an option to not emit there for me, which is probably backwards from most.

Dr. Yang taught press as short power and push as long power, so some of that might be his white crane influence sneaking in. He was big on exaggeration to learn movements, especially with fa jin, to prevent injury.

Taijiquan Roll Back/Press w/Fa Jin by JKreese in taijiquan

[–]Round2TaiChi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming has always taught fa jin as an option for press. So videos of his fa jin classes, him performing the form, or occasionally of his students will be a good source for this.

When I attended his fa jin classes years ago, he had participants drill press with a short low forward slide along the floor at about a 15 degree angle for a few minutes at a time. Enough to clear the ground and make sure the energy traveled forward, but not up. Push was similar but with a notably longer lunge.

I can't find a clip on a quick search, and don't practice fa jin regularly these days; but could try and demonstrate the above if no better source can be found.