Yang Tai Chi

Summary: The Yang Tai Chi is one of the older forms of Tai Chi and was founded by Yang Lu Chan.

Since early times the Chinese culture has always been passing many of its rich and colorful heritage to the world. And Tai Chi is one of those elements that made the greatest impact. It is the forerunners of martial arts, it sparked different branches of its thinking, and the most noted is the Yin and Yang and of harnessing Qi.

The Yang Tai Chi is the one of the prevalent styles, and many recent manifestations are offshoots of this form, like the Wu style. The Yang style of Tai Chi was first developed by Yang Lu Chan in circa 1800 from its Chen origins. Yang Lu Chan was originally a Chen style Tai Chi practitioner, but he became very proficient of the art. Eventually he became famous and later would be called as “Yang the Invincible”.

Yang Lu Chan passed down his knowledge to his two sons, Yang Pan-Hou and Yang Chien-Hou. His sons in turn taught their sons. Yang Cheng Fu, Chien-Hou’s third son was the one responsible for standardizing the art. He is in large measure responsible for the promulgation of the teachings to the eastern and western world where it took such publicity and the teachings were then later known as the Yang Tai Chi.

The Yang Tai Chi Chuan is a complete system of martial arts, and more refined since it was an adaptation of an old system and molded into a newer one. The Yang Tai Chi Long Form consists of 108 series of movements, which are characterized by an even tempo and slow graceful movements. The Yang Tai Chi also utilizes weapons, which consists of saber, sword, and spear, the movements of which are practiced with a alternate tempos of slow and fast movements. Posture is still observe, in fact the Wushu (art form that involves using a chien, a sword) is one of the aesthetic movements found in the Yang style Tai Chi. There are also various single and two-person training exercises to complement the system. The Yang Tai Chi Chuan is widely taught for its benefits of health, meditation, and self-defense. So taking up classes in Tai Chi, especially the Yang Tai Chi is never a bad idea to begin with.