A friend of mine once told me about something he heard from one of Fong Ha’s seminar in which he discussed the concept of “hotel taiji”. Basically, it’s a terminology used to define a small number of movements that could be done in the confines of a small space (Kinda like my previous post on being able to do the form in the space of a cow sleeping). Anyhoo, FH used the beginning sequence of the yang long form up to the single whip. This ends up being:
- Commencement
- Ward Left
- Ward Right
- Roll Back
- Press
- Push
- Single Whip
- Commencement
If you start facing north, you will end this sequence facing west. Rinse, repeat until you’re back to north. This creates a little square and I feel quite an easy way to get some decent training during a small block of time. I did the square sequence yesterday for the yang form in the hot sun over the shade and it was quite refreshing.
TT Liang says that all you need to do Taijiquan is 3 sq feet. Never understood this myself…however, i did learn whatshisnames half-step beng quan which he came up with while in prison. (watch jet li in “the one” to see this being re-enacted)
Hi LGS. I hadn’t heard that saying from any folks in the TT Liang camp I encountered. This also seems quite interesting as most of the time when I trained under the Liang camp with his disciples, not a lot went into explaining redirection and stepping methods, but I guess that’s probably due to them having a huge space to train
You can definitely drill the elements of xingyi in small confined areas. WLC has xy drills standing in one place. You can then alternate with foward/backward stepping to drill and easily work angles. Unfortuneately, I’m not really a xingyi kinda guy
When I travel I tend to just do standing or a couple of movements over and over. Sometimes though I do Ren Guangyi’s Compact Canon Fist which is perfect for getting a hard work out in a confined space.
Hi Robi. A buddy of mine insists on doing zhan zhuang first, like yourself, before doing ANYTHING else! I have to admit, I need to be more like that
Nice site, wujimon. It’s my first visit . . . thanks for making it available. This is my first post here.
When I was training the large-frame Yang solo form, I liked doing the sequence of moves through the first apparent closure, then Jade/Fair Lady Weaves Shuttles as a segue into a mirror image sequence back through apparent closure. I did this with somewhat smaller steps and more of a medium frame, in a space about 2.5 meters by 1.5 meters (I usually didn’t have to move too much furniture in the hotel room to be able to do this). I’d run through this a few times, then do zhan zhuang with wuji/preparation stance, play pipa and raise hands, and single whip (on both sides).
Then I would go downstairs to the hotel bar and trash a few customers, just to get the bouncer motivated to do some tuishou with me (just kidding).
With the Zhaobao small frame form I’m studying now, the stepping and frame are much more compact than Yang or Chen Da Jia, so I can go through more of the traditional sequence in small spaces without bumping into furniture.
As the quality and feeling of taiji movement work into my body, I find myself playing with moves in the elevator and even in the shower, or sitting at a stoplight while driving. A true taiji nerd. ;- )
Hi Tom.
I like the idea of doing a mirror image sequence. I had trained like this before, but the practice hasn’t kept up
Like you, I can often be seen doing weird stuff while standing, walking or sitting in public places