Sun Style Taijiquan Short Form
Introduction
Sun style Taijiquan is one of the five major schools of Taiji that are most widely practised around the world today. It is characterised by quick, nimble movements, good co-ordination between the opening and closing of the hands, rigorous method of performance and graceful bearing.
It was founded by legendary master Sun Lu-Tang in the early twentieth century. Grand Master Sun was a very bright, diligent and talented martial arts student and he was first inspired by the effective fighting theories and tactics of Xingyiquan (Hsing Yi Ch'uan). He studied with the great Xingyi master Guo Yun Shen for many years and consequently became very skilled in the discipline.
At the time, his teacher, Guo, had become friends with Bagua master Cheng Tin Hua and agreed that top students from each system should study with the other in order to refine their skills. Therefore, Sun began his study of Bagua Zhang.
His love for martial arts never ended; he began his Taijiquan (T'ai Chi Ch'uan) study when he had already gained martial arts fame. His modesty touched Hao Wei Zhen (who practised Hao style, also known as the Wu Style Taijiquan from Wu Yu Hsiang). Hao later became Sun's Taijiquan teacher.
After devoting over 40 years of research and study to Xingyi, Bagua and Taiji by 1916, Sun had completed his famous books on both systems: "The Study of Form-Mind Boxing" and "The Study of Bagua Boxing".
However, Sun's talent did not stop at only Xingyi and Bagua. He was to achieve the greatest of all, a Taijiquan system that absorbs and draws strength from all three disciplines and reflects the essence of martial arts. In 1919 he completed the manuscript for his third book "The Study of Taiji Boxing", which is now referred to as the origin of Sun Style Taijiquan today.
Sun Style Taijiquan is an internal martial art discipline that combines characteristics from Xingyiquan, Bagua Zhang and Taijiquan.
As a style of Taijiquan, Sun Style stresses the importance of the internal aspect: using mind to lead qi and qi to lead the body movements. They are used together with correct breathing technique and relaxed concentration. Sun Style greatly emphasises self-rejuvenation and meditation when practising movements. For example, Sun Lu-Tang wrote in his book: "...men were born with original qi, but (they grow up) without the external physical training or the internal mental discipline. The result is that yang and yin are disunited and external and internal is uncoordinated." From this comment, you can draw a clear message that the rejuvenation of qi is undoubtedly important.
As for the movements, Sun Style Taijiquan was derived from Hao Wei Zhen's Hao Style, which has the smaller movements and frame, unlike Yang Cheng Fu's Yang Style - big and open postures. However, it has different features from Hao Style Taijiquan, too.
Sun Style movements require constant transferring of balance by bringing the empty foot closer to the solid one, whereas Hao Style movements tend to have less changes in foot work and are using more of a bow stance. Moreover, Sun Style movements encourage the use of waist movements and changes in hand movements, whereas Hao Style movements require one arm to protect half the body, with the hands always aligning with the outer line of the feet.
If you study Sun Style Taiji movements closely, you will find many postures are less open, with both feet close to each other, with the hands closer to the body, too. When its movements do have a wider stance, you will find the stances tend to have some similarities to Xingyiquan stances.
Sun Style Short Form
Sun Style short form was compiled by Professor Li Deyin based on the traditional routine. It is designed and should be used as the prototype for those who are new to the style. It gives a good flavour of the original art yet it can be learned and performed in a short period of time.
This short form is a foundation and will pave the way for one to study further afield with Sun Style Taijiquan. It takes about 10-12 hours of instruction to learn the form. With this short form as a foundation, you can further your study of the traditional form or the competition form easily.
From Professor Li Deyin's 35 years of teaching experience, he feels people who are interested in advanced training in Sun Style Taijiquan will have little difficulty with the short form as a stepping stone.
Instructor for this course - Faye Yip (Li)
Faye's training began at the age of eight under the guidance of her father, Professor Li Deyin along with additional and valued teachings from her granduncle Grand Master Li Tian Ji and Grand Master Sha Gou Zheng from Yunnan province, China.
As well as traning at home under the watchful eye of her father, Faye has also trained together with the Chinese national team's elite ahtletes such as Gou Jia Min and Chen Si Tan.
Faye is practised in many Chinese Martial Art Styles including Shaolin Quan, Xing Yi, Pa Gua and Taiiiquan (Yang & Sun Style). Faye's dedication to her training can be measured by the numerious
gold medals in "Universities competition" in Taijiquan and taijijian (sword).
Faye is the founder of Deyin Taijiquan Instite (UK) which is mainly based in Wolverhampton area of the England, specialising in the teaching of Standardised Taiji routines, Yang & Sun style.
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Access to lessons within this course is only available to members, but you may wish to check out some of the free lessons available in the 10 Step and Huang Jifu Simplified Taiji Form courses.
10 Step Simplified Taiji Form
Huang Jifu Simplified Taiji Form
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