Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan

[Mulan]

Thank you all for your input. One more question, if I may. It seems in my area there's basically only Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan being taught, but the ones teaching it have trained with different Masters. One has been trained under Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong, the other under Grandmaster Wai Lun Choi.

Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong's big asset is that he is a second-generation disciple of Yang Cheng-Fu, grandson of Yang Lu Chan himself. But his site seems pretty desperate and amateurish in its self-presentation.

Grandmaster Wai Lun Choi seems to have focussed more on external Kung Fu in his training, has actually fought other people (not sure if Doc-Fai Wong did or not), is anti-mysticism and stresses the principles of physics.

Then again, this site says there are no more Grandmasters in Tai Chi Chuan (but I think the Grandmasters I mentioned above were more referring to their status in other Kung Fu disciplines) and that people who flaunt their credentials are usually lying.

Has anyone here heard of either Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong or Grandmaster Wai Lun Choi, or have an opinion on whose students would be more useful to learn from?

[2bob]

"It just seems that the Yang style was purposefully tailored to be like a Tai Chi Chuan-lite for health."

Try some research into the actual Yang family training rather than the other versions.

[guy incognito]

The power released is from ligament and tendon tension not muscle tension.Muscle tension slows you down.Yang is pretty good for martial applications but finding someone who knows them can be hard(Most know how to be at one with the universe and all that crap without ever knowing its a MA)

[Mulan]

Don't think that Chen must be "better" simply because they have some fast moves in their forms.

That's not why I would see Chen as better. The faster forms are meant to use energy released from muscle tension, aren't they? It just seems that the Yang style was purposefully tailored to be like a Tai Chi Chuan-lite for health.

[Nothingness]

If you are lucky enough to have a Sun style school in you area, you might want to check it out.

[2bob]

Depedns largely on the approach and knowledge of the teacher. Most Yang style you see has been simplified somewhat.

I've seen more "martial" work in Yang than I have in Chen, but the leading teachers in both styles seeem to be pretty much the same IME. Don't think that Chen must be "better" simply because they have some fast moves in their forms. If that were the case boxers would beat them all. Hmm, then again....

[Mulan]

I'm interested in training in Tai Chi Chuan (for spirituality/health/combat application), and have been doing research on its philosophies and various styles. It seems the Chen style was the one best known for its martial aspect and was the most strenuous in its training. Even Yang Lu Chan the "Ever-victorious" started with the Chen style. But, as I understood it, even though Yang Lu Chan fought using the Chen style, after he settled down he actually modified it into the less rigorous, more flowing, and primarily meditative Yang-style to teach to the general public as a path to greater health and better energy flow.

So, my question is, how effective is Yang-style vs Chen-style in martial application? I worry about this because most of the schools that teach Tai Chi Chuan seem to focus on the Yang-style. I don't know if this is because they think Yang Lu Chan used the Yang style in his duels or because the current trend is to practice Tai Chi Chuan more for health and less for its martial application...? I want to learn Tai Chi Chuan in all it's aspects, and frankly I could be doing a lot of other stuff for health alone, so it is the ideal balance between health and martial application that draws me to Tai Chi Chuan... perhaps even leaning a tad more towards the martial aspect.

Is Yang-style capable of applying Tai Chi Chuan's martial aspect with the same or higher efficiency as Chen-style?