Do As I Say; Not As I Do

 In Make Yang style Tai Chi Great Again I mentioned various problems with Yang style Tai chi, and  how and why it has degenerated so badly as a martial art. There is a very specific issue with Yang Style footwork that helps demonstrate another problem with passing down martial arts. But first, let me point out why I have an opinion on this specific subject.

Yang Chen Fu was THE Tai Chi master who made Tai Chi famous (largely by selling out and watering down the system to outsider students.) His top INSIDER student was Hu Yuen Chow, so that Hu Yuen Chow was the best FIGHTER Yang Chen Fu produced. Therefore Hu Yuen Chow's opinion on technical details regarding Yang Style Tai Chi would be VERY important.

My main Tai Chi teacher was Vern Miller, 1st Disciple of Doc Fai Wong. Doc Fai Wong was one of Hu Yuen Chow's top students in both Choy Li Fut and Yang style Tai Chi. However, Vern Miller did travel to Hong Kong to work out with Hu Yuen Chow and asked that master many detailed questions about Yang style footwork specifically, as Vern had noticed many different opinions on Yang style footwork.

I have studied several martial arts for more than a year each, and cross trained in several others still. When it comes to why different martial arts have different footwork, I have as much experience understanding the differences as anyone. So when Vern Miller lectured me extensively on EXACTLY what he got STRAIGHT from Hu Yeun Chow IN PERSON, I understood very well what Vern was saying.

Let's say we have a two dimensional rectangular box on the floor. In your basic Yang style stance (which is not unlike a Karate front stance,) if your left foot is forward, your left foot would be on the front left corner of that box and your right foot would be on the back right corner of that box. The width of that box would be the width of your shoulders, and the length of that box would be how far you can step in one stride without discomfort.

I am not going to try to explain here all the intricacies of basic Yang style Tai Chi walking, but the issue at hand is how far apart your feet are supposed to be when you walk forward. When you take a step forward, there would be a new box in front of the (and identical to) box you are standing on now. When you step forward onto the next box, what path should your right foot go in as it steps forward onto the front right corner of the next box?

• Should the right foot travel diagonally to the left foot before traveling out again diagonally?
• Should the right foot come up to knee level before going back down to the ground?
• Should the foot drag along the ground as you step forward?

None of the above. The right foot should travel right side of both boxes, with the right big toe about one centimeter off the ground. This is called "staying on the 3rd line," the "1st line" being the left side of both boxes, the "2nd line" being the exact center of both boxes.

This has significant impact on application of techniques. What happens to your feet in relation to your target's feet is very different if you are doing any of the bullet points above, and because so many techniques in Tai Chi are tripping, where your feet end up in relation to your target's feet is extremely important. Beyond this there are questions of efficiency, your foot goes faster from point A to point B in a straight line, and the kind of balance you train is different than intended if you are embracing any of those 3 error bullet points above.

Good luck finding ANY YouTube videos explaining this, and this kind of basic detail about foot path movement wouldn't be debated in Choy Li Fut or Karate, yet there is ZERO consensus on this basic fundamental detail in Yang style Tai Chi. It's so bad that I have found other people who's Tai Chi comes from Hu Yuen Chow who strongly disagree with me on this detail!

Let's actually look at Hu Yuen Chow's Tai Chi form for a few minutes:

He's not a little man, he's tall. If he takes a step forward while keeping his feet on the first and third line all the way through the step, and he takes a full step forward, his stance might look very long and rectangular rather than square. Another thing you notice is that his head is quite hunched forward. However as you see him adjust his student's Tai Chi form, you see that he is getting them to stand perfectly upright instead of being hunch backed! Likewise you see his students using that full box footwork structure in their stance without his apparently more narrow footwork.

When it comes down to passing on important details of martial arts, remember that it's not simply copying the moves of the master, imitating old black and white photographs. It's much more important to do as that master instructed rather than as that master demonstrated.