Advanced Secrets of Tai Chi Chuan: Teachings of Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wond

Description

Sifu Doc Fai Wong’s Yang style Tai Chi comes from Sifu Hu Yuen-Chou, an immediate disciple of Yang Chen Fu. This entire book, set in a Q&A format, is dedicated to clarifying the type of information many teachers would love their students to bear in mind. There are short but thorough answers to questions such as the relation of martial arts to Tai Chi. He talks about body integration, and whole body movement. The book shows dozens of examples with typical Tai Chi mistakes. There are also sections on Tai Chi myths, Push Hands and Applications for fighting. There are appendices for teachers, and also a “lesson” with Doc Fai-Wong’s teacher, Hu Yuen-Chou.

Here is a type of short but comprehensive books that Tai Chi teachers must leave out in the lobby for waiting students to read. It covers a good proportion of the misunderstandings, questions and just unsuitable ideas that such a lot of Tai Chi practitioners labor under. Some of the answers to the perennial questions run about 100 words, just enough to reply to each question and keep things interesting. I would say that at least 85% of the answers to typical queries are pretty much what any qualified instructor would say. It’s nice to have everything in one place. The only weakness in the book is inevitable: in some cases, Sifu Wong jumps right into the question with the assumption that a beginner would even grasp the question. Like I said, unavoidable.