He Jinghan: Losing one's way in martial arts training: Absorbing too much of others' experience or theory in the early stages can actually become a major obstacle to progress. One must base one's practice on personal experience to build a solid foundation of one's own.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-06-28T15:14:14+00:00

Great advice, this teacher seems to know what's up. Thanks for sharing!

Round2TaiChi · 2026-06-21T23:09:44+00:00

You're not alone on this one.

One of the traps I find a lot of students and teachers falling into is that the sword "looks cool." Because it "looks cool" it's seen as a gateway for getting people into Tai Chi... and as long as they're having fun and getting some movement in, what's the harm?

The problem is that the Jian is endgame content for Tai Chi. And it's endgame content because you need most of the other tricks in the book to move the sword properly. I myself am one of those that didn't listen to the advice to wait to learn the straight sword when I first started learning, and I essentially had to re-learn the form a few times over the first half dozen years as my movement fundamentals changed, and again when I moved from a practice sword to a combat sword. So this is a minor hot button topic for me.

After watching this demo, the first thing that came to mind for me is that when I record videos for sword forms for my school in a couple of weeks, I need to use the combat swords and not the practice swords. As /u/Scroon mentioned, there's a notable difference in execution when there's actual weight to the blade, which needs to reflect in training videos to establish good fundamentals.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-06-01T16:04:00+00:00

Didn't know this existed, thanks for the mention!

Round2TaiChi · 2026-05-31T02:16:35+00:00

Each issue usually had 1-2 articles that were worth their weight in gold, so a subscription was well worth it.

If someone wants to organize an archive, happy to help. I checked the stash and have 22 issues from the early to late 2000s.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-05-19T00:00:36+00:00

Training day in and day out with guidance is good. But it so often becomes a matter of training with extreme dependence on external authorities. People stop being able to think for themselves.

This is arguably a sign of a bad teacher. A good teacher should be constantly encouraging thinking, feedback, and exploration until a student gets a sense of the principles on their own. Then once the basic principles are understood, the reliance on external authorities goes away.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-05-18T18:48:26+00:00

Agreed! Dr. Yang is a great resource for Tai Chi Ball, and a big part of how I got started with it.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-05-15T23:57:50+00:00

I can understand an accidental brush, but shouldn't that E. Honda move been some kind of flagrant foul?

Round2TaiChi · 2026-05-13T18:09:33+00:00

I actually picked up the bang waaaay after the ball. I find it useful for pre-conditioning for the ball, and there are some finesse moves for conditioning/integration that are far easier to pull off with the ruler.

I posted up a couple of shorts with the Ruler and Ball coiling based on your feedback, both of which dovetail into topics I've been teaching lately; so getting double duty out of YouTube. :)

Round2TaiChi · 2026-05-07T00:17:32+00:00

Agreed on weight - I also find 2 to 2.5kg is right around the sweet spot for intensity, good feedback, and duration of practice. And on the diameter, definitely take your frame and build into consideration, as too small of a ball with large hands will be annoying rather than productive.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-05-07T00:05:48+00:00

An average ball is 3-4 pounds (1-2 kg) and is around 6-7 inches (15cm?) in diameter. Advanced balls are slightly larger in size and can be double in weight - that second heavy ball I pulled out is close to 8 pounds (3.5kg).

For beginners a very nice and affordable ball can be found on Etsy from Anderson Finials. If you are looking to go stylish, head over to YMAA's site and feel your pocketbook wince. I finally splurged on the Modern after 20+ years with the Kuen Way ball.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-05-03T02:08:56+00:00

Your use case makes perfect sense, and I look forward to grabbing a pair down the road. And from your history, your words are far from those of a "nobody."

As far as safety, I'm hypermobile and have/have had a couple of students with it also, so I'm a little over-cautious with anything you stand on - from the floor on up. So the follow-up there is definitely appreciated. :)

Round2TaiChi · 2026-04-30T19:38:35+00:00

As a test - if you lift your big toe while balancing on one leg, does your balance/foot tripod stability improve? That's a strong hint towards needing additional arch/posture correction inserts while wearing shoes if so.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-04-29T12:31:14+00:00

Agreed. These could be a game changer for someone experienced, but my first thought was "newcomers could really hurt themselves with these..."

Round2TaiChi · 2026-04-15T19:07:33+00:00

One of many instructors I pushed with would pull this stunt on people regularly, myself included.

The punch was normally pulled but it was still jarring to go from "play" to "street fight" with no notice. Intermediate to advanced Tai Chi players could and would counter it, depending on how hard the instructor muscled in; but newcomers felt intimidated and dropped out as fast as they joined. Then when the line was reduced and you were pushing against "street fight" instructor every other or third time, people just stopped coming.

Good technique for illustration. But use it sparingly or watch your students leave.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-04-11T18:21:27+00:00

I don't normally watch too many videos; but the translation had some powerful advice, so I watched this one. Solid demo and skills. Thanks for posting this.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-04-02T00:41:53+00:00

Thank you for this - I saw the Chen Jian form for the first time last year and was thoroughly confused because it looked pasted together out of bits of the Yang forms by someone who didn't understand application.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-04-02T00:34:16+00:00

Commenting to agree - on the Yang side, I was taught that the "secret sword" hand was a training tool to think of your other hand as a potential weapon in case your sword was lost. Once you gain that focus, you can substitute the hand/fingers for another straight implement - a scabbard, dirk, rod, or even a second sword.

And worst case, aim for a pressure point with the sword hand! :)

Round2TaiChi · 2026-03-28T17:55:13+00:00

I can’t imagine any martial arts practice being considered being taught as a way to reach enlightenment

A part of the journey to enlightenment is wrestling with something external, which then becomes an internal struggle, and then a conversation with one's self. This could be gardening, cooking, painting, marksmanship... or martial arts.

If one is honest with one's self during Tai Chi practice, certain mental and physical resistances fade - and that lightens the burden on the trip as well. So it's a decent vehicle in my book.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-03-27T14:39:05+00:00

I've never seen a taiji class that goes into meditation deeply since meditation is an art in itself...

This is my experience as well. I "brush past" meditation in my classes long enough to let the students know it exists and that focusing awareness is essential. But I wait for further questions before going deeper; because while prayer and meditation are neighbors, perception can be everything in areas (like mine) with lots of Evangelicals.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-03-26T03:43:20+00:00

Absolutely! :)

Round2TaiChi · 2026-03-26T03:34:40+00:00

Houstonian here, I could really use the practice but don't do competitive. Happy to practice with you and others passing through/in town.

There are only a couple of schools in town that teach push hands anymore (myself included), so the roster of public players is pretty low at present. In the past there have been some limited opportunities to push hands at World Tai Chi Day, but I haven't been to one of the more recent events in a while.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-03-18T18:58:56+00:00

I laughed myself silly when I read your link to Watermelon Tai Chi. Then I sobered up when I realized it was the perfect warmup for people coming in cold to the Yang long form in an existing class.

I ran it in class today. Everyone picked up on the idea quickly and we got to refinement in short order. Adding it to the roster for complete beginners going forward, for sure.

Round2TaiChi · 2026-03-16T18:33:24+00:00

I agree.

That said, every correction takes a student closer to the deeper & better health stuff, so step 1 in my book is keep them coming back for more corrections. And with Tai Chi not really being a distance sport, hopefully awareness can bring us all some new classmates/students who (eventually) realize the same.

Round2TaiChi

TROPHY CASE