The primary purpose of this course is for you to learn the 24
Posture pattern of Tai Chi. This is the pattern almost all of the
people are doing when you see them in TV commercials or movies that
include scenes of the parks in China. I will not assume that you
have any previous experience with Tai Chi but, for those of you who
do, note that the majority of this pattern is based on the Yang
style.
Please wear loose and comfortable clothes to class.
The history of Tai Chi is as complex as you would expect of something
that has developed over a thousand years. There are not only competing
stories about its genesis but there have also been numerous
fragmentations as students decide to change what they have learned from
their masters. At this time there are at least five major "styles" of
Tai Chi: Chen, Yang, Wuu, Sun, and Wu. Other important styles are Tsao
Bao, Li, and Heh.
Even though it is unclear how an when the precursor to Tai Chi
originated, it is agreed that Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan was the first to
be recorded in formal documents in the mid 1600's. Fourteen generations
later, Yang Lu Chan developed Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan from Chen Style.
The pattern we are learning was commissioned by the Chinese government
in the 1950's. It is based on the Yang style and is called by some
"Standardized Tai Chi" because the postures are common to all the
major styles.
I will give you a handout with a brief summary of the historical
development of Tai Chi.
There is no required textbook for this course. However, for those of
you who, like me, are steeped in the intellectual approach here is a
list of some books you might find interesting or useful. I do have
one caveat: my personal experience is that reading too much about
Tai Chi at any one time is detrimental to my understanding. It is
too easy to get lost in intellectualizing about Tai Chi
rather than immersing oneself in doing it. Personally, I
prefer the latter.
At the end of this document is an annotated list of the books. I
include a link to them at Amazon.com for your convenience.
You can find information pertinent to all of my classes (office
hours, office location, etc.) at the link below and, once there,
information specific to this class by clicking on the PE 147 link.
http://math.ups.edu/~bryans/
There will be no written examinations. Since this is a Pass/Fail
activity course I will base your grade on the activity. In order to
pass the course you must, by the end of the semester, be able to
perform the entire 24 Posture pattern (which takes 5-10 minutes)
from memory. This should occur for most of you about 1/2 to 2/3
of the way through the semester.
2.5 Final Examination: Wednesday May 9 at 4:00 P.M.
I would prefer to use the final examination period as a time for you
to alleviate stress by playing Tai Chi midway through finals week.
Tao Te Ching, various translations
Written by the founder of Taoism, this book is not about Tai Chi
so much as it is the foundational book of the philosophical
underpinnings of Taoism from which Tai Chi developed.
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