Grandmaster Wu-mengxia learned Bagua from Han-muxia and Gao-yisheng, learned Taichi from Niu-chunming( Niu is a student of Yang-banhou).he also was a master of Xingyi.He was a full time martial artist and a milestone of his time. Like Han and Gao.He was a guy like to pick a fight,and when he talked everybody else better kept quiet.He was very straightforward,didn't know to save anybody's face.So he didn't get very good reputations except his skills. My teacher always tell us: learn his skills not his temper.
Wu-mengxia always said: train like a tiger not a cat. you always need to keep the tiger's predator spirit and ready to attack. We practice in "Hard ways", especially in the early stages. We twist our whole body like to twist a gaint rope,even in yang's taichi.to train like that you get a good exercise for your tendon system.(that is where to store the power). We pay less attention to "qi". We think Qi is like blood pressure and heart beats,you don't need to pay attention to it, and it will do its own job.
When you send a hand out it should like a steel file,it penetrates any thing in the way. when it comes back it should like a hook on a pole.it grabs anything with it. It's more like "I give you an offer and you can't refuse".
I just want to start the topic and let anyone knows better or is interested joins the discussion.
Wu Mengxia's book on Taijiquan is one of the best ever written.
That is a great book! He almost gave out everything valueble in Yang's taiji.But It's a little too samplified to the beginners.
I volunteered to teach Yang's Taiji for a group people(many seniors) in the mall I work, When I tried to explain the martial meanings of each movement.Some people got little upset.They asked me:" Are you teaching us violence?". After I talked more about'qi'and some imagination
stuff, Everybody happied. It make me think: If the art be passed like this,then the more people do it, the faster the art will be lost.
just a piece of my thought. thanks
Whats the name of Wu's book and where can i get a copy here in the US?
A translation by Tim's classmate, Marcus Brinkman, can be found here:
http://www.gaostylebagua.com/annotations_on_taijiquan.htm
Buddy