When you mention TJQ to someone, you can be fairly certain that the first thing that comes into their mind will be the image of someone in a park waving their arms around, possibly with a smile set rigidly across their face.

It's unfortunate but sadly true, to 99% of the population TJQ is a strange slow motion dance done by old people in China!

Whilst there is much more to TJQ practice than learning the hand form, particularly if you are interested in martial skilll. I'll start here as it seems to be expected and anyway it's as good a place as any.

The Slow Hand Form

The traditional hand form consists of over 100 different positions, the exact total varies, in part depending upon how you actually count the postures, but most schools get it to around 108.

In recent years most schools have created short forms. These were created in recognition of modern life and the time pressures many people find themselves under. Whilst short forms certainly have a place, I used to teach them in several health club classes, however more recently I prefer to teach the traditional long form, which presents a greater challenge both physically and mentally. It also contains a wider range of martial techniques, which of course was one of its original purposes.

The other reasons that TJQ includes form practice are: to develop coordination, balance, flexibility and Yi 意 (intent). The concept of Yi is discussed in greater depth in the Xingyiquan section of this site, but it should be remembered that Yi is no less a vital aspect of training in TJQ.

In order to assist the student to learn the long hand form it is traditionally divided into six sections. By adding an opening and closing sequence to each section they can be practiced as independent routines and learned thoroughly before being joined together to create the entire long sequence.

Learned thoroughly, in the martial context, should mean having a good understanding of the applications within each section and the ability to use some of them competently. Sadly the vast majority of teachers claiming martial skill in TJQ lack any skill above the most rudimentary ability. Some are able to demonstrate some knowledge of the theoretical applications and that is pretty rare! Others can demonstrate some skills in pushing hands. But the ability to use the skill in any real practical way is very rare indeed and sadly that's true in all schools.

The six routines progress logically, the first being quite short and containing the most

fundamental skills, the second section is of similar length, it contains some repetition from the first section and introduces some new ones. The third section is the longest section and contains some of the more difficult postures including kicks. The remaining sequences continue to develop and contain increasing numbers of repetitions of the most fundamental techniques.

As I mentioned in the Wudang TJQ section, over the years I have taken the opportunity to train with a number of teachers outside of my direct lineage. One of those was Master Wang Haoda a practitioner of the Shanghai branch of Wu style TJQ.

Master Wang was fascinating to work with, partially because of his remarkably soft and subtle skill and secondly because of his interesting version of the Wu fast form. I have included this form into my practice and will teach it to students who have developed the slow form and bladed weapons forms. The fast form is taught after the weapons forms as they contain similar methods of stepping and jumping.

Fast Hand Form

Although the fast form that I practice is based upon Master Wang's form there are a number of small diferences that take into account some of the differences between the Wu and Wudang styles.

It should be understood that the fast form is not just an accelerated slow form. Because of this the form has to be learnt in a similar way to the slow form, because the sequence is very similar to the slow form this is not a lengthy process. The real challenge comes in the next two phases of practice.

Phase two is speeding up the performance. Moving from one posture to the next quickly, whilst maintaining a secure root can present a significant challenge in the early stages of practice. Phase three is learning to include power in the strikes (Fa Jing). The tendancy when carrying out this practice is that most people develop tension and stiffness. This is the real benefit of practicing the fast form, being able to move quickley and issue force with poise and without tension.

As mentioned above there are a number of differences in both sequence and the execution of individual postures. But the main difference is that the slow form is a form of concept where many of the applications are implied rather than specific. The fast form expresses more clearly the actual application in mind. Again we are talking about Yi.