The course
This course centres around the 24 Posture Simplified Form of Tai Chi Chuan as listed in the Form section.
To kill all discussions at once; there are so many styles of Tai Chi Chuan in the world today with as many schools which all have their own approach. Some are proponents of a traditional style, some are not. To argue which style or form is better or worse is a futile and useless attempt to demonstrate superiority over one another. The 24 simplified form I chose to use is simply the most universal one I know, taking about six minutes to perform and it gives a beginner an introduction to the essential elements, yet retain the traditional flavour of Tai Chi Chuan. Forms have always been notoriously arbitrary in the counting of their movements and the most important thing is to practice Tai Chi Chuan considering all its elements in order not to dilute or depreciate it.
I believe in an all-encompassing approach rather than dividing a course into too many parts. What this means is that a module within a course will focus on a movement, and within that movement we will touch on all the elements of Tai Chi Chuan, from form to application.
Underlying theories like principles and postures will simultaneously be introduced. And sometimes I will touch on practices which do deserve their own course (like Sanshou, Tuishou, or Neigong). This way we will gradually accumulate our understanding in its totality.
I am using the word movement deliberately here to create a division between the postures as mentioned in the 13 postures of Tai Chi Chuan. Some call the latter hand forms or kinetic concepts, but the idea is to make it easily accessible, therefore:
Form > (x) amount of Movements
(includes Principles and Postures (hand forms/kinetic concepts) of Tai Chi Chuan)
Example: Yang Style Short Form (Cheng Man Ching) > 37 Movements
(includes essentially all 13 Principles and Postures throughout the form)
Without further ado, let’s practice!