Adult Tai Chi Class
- Who:
- This is the class for the majority of learners, who are interested in learning tai chi to maintain an active and healthy body for their whole lifetime. Beginners are welcome to join any time.
- When:
- Sundays: 9-11 am
- Where:
- Los Altos High School (for July 8, 2012 through September 2, 2012 only)
- Address: 201 Almond Avenue, Los Altos, CA 94022
- Hillview Community Center (regular location)
- Los Altos High School (for July 8, 2012 through September 2, 2012 only)
- Cost: $70/month.
General Curriculum
We teach with a traditional tai chi training regimen that includes the following:
- Forms:
- 49 Forms: Grand Master Hao S haoru derived this form from the 96 Forms, originally for tournament demonstrations. It takes 8-10 minutes to complete.
- 96 Forms: this is the complete Wu (Hao) forms as documented in Hao Shaoru’s book, The Wu (Hao) tai chi (collected in The Complete Collection of tai chi Books). It takes about 20 minutes to complete.
- (Hao Weizhen’s) 81 Forms, a.k.a. the Old Forms: this is the oldest of the 3 forms and was invented by Hao Weizhen. It takes about 10 minutes to complete.
- Tai chi requirements and theories:
- The general requirements and theories of tai chi have been well-established and documented in all the tai chi classics, including those by Wu (Hao) style founders Wu Yu-xiang and Li Yi-yu. We teach these cardinal principles along with the forms, as they are integral parts of any tai chi style,
- Supplementary exercises and trainings:
- These include warm-up, zhan zhuang (horse stance), qi gong exercises, and push hand that aid in the training
Teaching Methodologies
- Wu (Hao) style is very methodical and meticulous in its teaching methods. This usually results in very efficient and effective learning.
- The essential skills consist of many so-called tai chi requirements or principles, such as “sinking qi to the dan tian,” or “suspending the head top.” These are the building blocks on which the learner establishes his/her tai chi foundations. All form practices should embody these tai chi requirements, or they would degenerate into light stretch exercises.
- Every new tai chi requirement is introduced only after the previous one has been absorbed. And every new requirement is accompanied by exercises that help its learning. This is as opposed to just throwing the requirement ‘sinking qi to the dan tian’ to the learner and expects him/her to just pick it up after gazillion times of repeated practicing.
- The students are expected to pick up these requirements one by one and work them into their forms. Each requirement builds upon the previous ones and it’s very important that the students practice at home regularly to keep the ones they’ve learned before. The teacher can only teach new requirements effectively when the old ones have been acquired by the students.
- Group practice is more effective than solitary one. Therefore we recommend that people who cannot come to the class regularly to at least join the class once a month. This also gives the teacher a chance to monitor the progress of each student.