Master Tse’s Taiji Fist #28

Warm Up for Taijiquan

Taijiquan太極拳 is Kung Fu功夫, so this means it is a fighting skill, even though most people practise it for health. Whenever my Sifu, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang陳小旺, demonstrates Taijiquan there is so much power when he does Fajing. This is almost his favourite part, although his movements are also gentle and very beautiful. When he performs his Taijiquan it is a work of art that is both beautiful and exciting. There is a lot of physical training in that form. The gentler we move the more power and strength we have inside.

To study Taijiquan properly we need our bodies to be in good physical condition. We need to be flexible and have a good strong stance, so we need to prepare ourselves before we train. To do this our training covers some physical warm ups. There are three levels. The first level is basic and stationary, we stand in one place and warm up our waist, legs, arms and neck. The second level involves walking and has lot of kicking. It also trains the coordination or the arms, legs and waist. The third level involves stretching and we do the splits in all directions. We also place on leg is a raised position, for example on a table or something higher, to stretch the hips and legs. The more we prepare the better we are able to perform our Taijiquan.