Tai Chi-Heaven Man Earth Internal Arts-Utah

08/09/2025

07/10/2024

a centerpiece if not THE centerpiece to Yang Taijiquan practice, the concept of Central Equilibrium (Zhong Ding)...

07/04/2024

Curtis Brough, Sifu Mizner’s most senior disciple (>20 years) will be starting his US and Canada tour soon. For those of you in the Washington DC area he’ll be in Wilmington. Delaware in July and Washington DC at the end of September. Register on the link in the photo.

07/01/2024

The Yang fast frame of Yang Shaouhou

The so called fast frame or usage frame of the Yang style was transmitted by Yang Shaohou. It is said that very few learned this frame from Yang Shaohou and as a result there are a number of fast frames that were later made up by later teachers. Many of these later versions resemble Xing Yi or Baji more than they do the Yang family art.

The fast frame of Yang Shaohou was also transmitted through the Wu family as Wu Jianquan also learned this frame directly from Yang Shaohou. Looking at the frame it is very clear that the Wu version and the authentic Yang version are in fact the same frame, they differ mainly in the flavor they are played, each manifesting the characteristics of the given family style. The transmission of the Yang version is much harder to come across with the Wu version being more widely spread, mostly because of the efforts of Ma Yueliang.

Ma Runzhi was a disciple of Yang Shaohou and learned the fast frame alongside Wu Jianquan. Ma Runzhi transmitted the Yang fast frame to his son Ma PuAn and Ma PuAn to Huang XinHua. Huang XinHua is one of the few of Ma PuAn’s “ten big disciples” to inherit the fast frame and was kind enough to transmit it to me.

The Yang fast frame is not simply the slow or practice frame done quickly. It is dynamic and powerful yet light and agile, it has low and high stances and often employs the empty stance and following step, it manifests the various spirals and screwing Jin of the Yang art expressed through the animal body. All this must be achieved via the internal harmonies and mobilization of Qi rather than simply training external athleticism for its own sake as is so often the case. To say the training is grueling when done properly is an understatement.

06/10/2024

About 13 years ago Grandmaster Khalid became a dear friend, mentor and teacher. I have had very few relationships as impactful, life changing and enduring. Last week Grandmaster passed away. The grief I feel is cushioned by the joy it is to know him. Grandmaster is a grace given to my world.
Good bye sir.

05/21/2024

2nd generation Wu style Taiji successor, Ma Yueh Liang, pushes hands at a demo. Ma Yueh Liang was a student of Wu Jiang Quan and was a major influence in spr...

05/17/2024

In this clip from the Phuket Intensive 2024, Sifu Adam discusses the importance of being able to change when the primary energies fail due to lack of fullnes...

05/14/2024

The fact is, no matter what you’re doing (tai chi wise), it’s wrong. Further, if your practice is evolving in a similar way to mine, it’s going to feel like it’s moving around in circles. I have said before that I am a bad student. Even so I have managed to cultivate some modest ability for two reasons.
First, Sifu’s teaching is spot on. He holds nothing back. The most common mistake I make is assuming that I am following his direction when in fact I am making s**t up.
Second, what ever it is I’m working on, I try to do it the very best I can. I also try to do it the same way each time. Those two go hand in hand. This way of practicing has helped me to develop a detailed way of looking at myself as I’m “doing” what ever it is I’m doing.
It also gives me a repeatable platform that I can change easily when I realize those things I’m making up.
As I think about it everything I laid out in my second reason are things that Sifu said so I need to amend my earlier statement by adding all of this to my first reason.
Second, 2.a, practice practice practice until I started realizing I was practicing throughout the day what ever it was I was doing.
There it is, easy peasy, listen and watch intently to Sifu’s instructions , practice habitually, listening to and watching yourself intently.

05/06/2024

As one of my teachers ( Michael Phillips ) often said, Understanding comes from Standing. To go deeper, discover more of the insightful instructions and auth...

04/27/2024

In this video, Sifu Adam explains & demonstrates the near enemies of Nei Jin (internal power).To go deeper, discover more of the insightful instructions and ...