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SC Traditional Sun Style Taijiquan (Saddleback College-CPSR)

I am not a regular student of Tim Cartmell--but this book makes me

want to be. My recommendation? Buy it. Buy the companion 5-! set. "earn from them. "earn how a good teacher breaks downand illustrates his sub#ect. Cogitate and apply what you$%e learned toyour own pursuits or your own teaching.

Traditional &un &tyle Tai#i'uan Course

C()T*)T&+

Introduction ,Cartmell--reworking of the introduction to histranslation of &un "utang$s book on tai#i'uan

Chapter + Biography of &un "utang ,an Miller--reprint ofbiographical account based on inter%iews with &un /ianyun0 &un"utang$s daughter

Chapter 1+ (rigin and e%elopment of &un &tyle Tai#i'uan ,/ake Burroughs0 student of Tim Cartmell

Chapter 2+ 3ealth Benefits of Tai#i'uan 4ractice ,Thome

Chapter + Important 4rinciples for 4ractice ,Cartmell

Chapter 5+ Basics ,Cartmell

Chapter 6+ 7orm 4ractice ,Cartmell

Chapter 8+ 4osture Testing ,Cartmell

Review

This book is the single most useful te9t on a tai#i'uan style published in the *nglish language in a long longtime. Together with the 5-! set where Tim and Troyce pro%ide li%e demonstration of the form and detailede9plication %ia solo performance0 posture testing and basic applications of the mo%ements0 I consider it to be themost %aluable educational ad#unct to li%e instruction for one of the Chinese internal martial arts e%er produced in*nglish.

Most tai#i te9ts do not successfully wea%e together clear statements of principles and the applications of thoseprinciples to the se'uence of mo%ements that make up the solo form. This is true whether we are looking at aninstructional te9t written by the author0 or a translation of a Chinese te9t. Most translations into *nglish are of:classic: te9ts that frankly suck from a pedagogical perspecti%e--and also sucked as instructional te9ts at the time

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they were written in the original Chinese.

Take0 for e9ample0 "ouis &waim$s translation of :The *ssence and ;pplications of Tai#i'uan: ,Tai#i'uan Tiyongheng Man'ing. Thetranslation is superlati%e ,so I am told and the translator$s notes are %ery interesting. The problem is not with thetranslation. )o one is going to successfully learn =ang style tai#i'uan from the underlying te9t. etails on keyelements such as postural principles and transitional mo%ements are utterly lacking. *9planation and illustration

of actual usage of the mo%es is laughable ,I$m one of those simple people who belie%es that the raison d$etre forpostural principles and mo%ements is best demonstrated by testing basic applications of the postural principlesand mo%ements. hat is lacking in =ang Chengfu$s book is also lacking in the source book for this studycourse0 &un "utang$s own :; &tudy of Tai#i'uan: ,Tai#i'uan @ue. In elegant contrast0 in the book under re%iew0Tim and Troyce clearly0 credibly and successfully teach both the :whys: and the :hows: for the principles wo%eninto &un$s form.

; re%iew of the indi%idual chapters shows how. In the Introduction0 Tim briefly addresses the conte9t of thede%elopment of &un$s tai#i'uan+ how &un recogniAed certain principles as central common denominators of the9ingyi'uan0 baguaAhang and tai#i'uan he$d studied how he endea%ored to wea%e specific propriocepti%e andmo%ement principles into his tai#i taolu how he was able to draw from a wider base of potential applications forthe tai#i mo%ements because of his pre%ious studies in 9ingyi and bagua how the se'uence$s mo%ements and

transitions are designed to be practiced in the solo form e9actly as they would be used in a fight ,this differsfrom e%ery other tai#i se'uence I$m familiar with0 e9cept perhaps 3ong /unsheng$s deri%ation of Chenshi "ao/ia and &un tai#i$s pioneering role in credibly establishing the connection between training internal martialpower through natural mo%ement and the attendant benefits for the practitioner$s health.

Chapter is an Miller$s biography of &un "utang based primarily on inter%iews with &un$s daughter /ianyun.This biographical account was originally published in the late :4a ua Chang /ournal: and in ;lbert "iu$stranslation of &un$s book on 9ingyi'uan. It is &un$s life from about as close to the monkey$s mouth as we$ll e%erget0 unless someone finds &un "utang$s stolen-then-lost training diary ,which itself would be a fascinating sourcefor a no%el0 but one we$ll probably ne%er see.

Chapter 1 is /ake Burrough$s account of the origins and de%elopment of &un style tai#i'uan. hile the history

described is somewhat suspect0 /ake does draw some important and %alid historical points from this synopsis+&un "utang learned and trained tai#i'uan in the conte9t of a fighting art cross-training with different teacherswas common in the era in which tai#i'uan de%eloped and the philosophical label attached to tai#i'uan ,as well as9ingyi'uan and baguaAhang was bestowed well after the de%elopment of the art by its founders. nowing thehistory won$t make you a better practitioner or more effecti%e fighter0 but it helps pass the time while sippingyour 7our "oko.

My criti'ue of the history described is relati%ely minor0 in that the chapter says that =ang "uchan came back tostudy with Chen haobao %illage in D6E0 after returning from Bei#ing where he was alreadyin%ol%ed in teaching the Imperial Fuards--without a source for this statement. The more common account is thatit is u =u9iang ,the grand-teacher of &un "utang$s tai#i teacher0 3ao eiAhen who sought out Chen

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security #obs0 so Chen Fengyun turned to his uncle0 Chen =ouben0 for instruction.

;s noted pre%iously0 history is good primarily to accompany the mood-altering be%erage of your choice.

Chapter 2 brings to light recent studies of the health benefits of tai#i'uan practice ,without reference to mood-altering be%erages0 and highlights specific attributes of &un style tai#i. Troyce Thome teaches tai#i to a wide%ariety of students0 including elderly folks0 and speaks from a balanced and practical point of %iew for why those

of us who are not Brock "esnar might want to train &un tai#i'uan. ;s &un "utang obser%es at the beginning ofthe chapter0 :The focus ,of &un tai#i'uan is on the beneficial culti%ation of one$s natural life force as the core oftraining. ;ll people--men0 women0 the old and the young--may practice in order to replace temerity with bra%eryand stiffness with pliability . . . : ,it turns out that &un "utang speaks *nglish remarkably well at se%eral pointsin this book.

In Chapter 0 Tim addresses se%eral principles of tai#i practice that can be seen to relate directly to the healthbenefits described by Troyce in the pre%ious chapter. Tim obser%es that :There is no NTai#i'uan$ until apractitioner thinks0 mo%es and breathes in accordance with a fi9ed set of principles . . . : including use of intent0correct structural alignment0 rela9ation ,song0 more accurately described as the correct or optimal amount of toneor tension in :all muscles rele%ant to the task at hand.: coordinated mo%ement and yielding to gra%ity ,this lastprinciple is a clue to why Tim characteriAes the e9ercises training principles of correct posture and alignment as

:power: e9ercises. :ith internaliAation of the principles comes freedom.: That is e9actly how I feel afterinternaliAing a fine pale ale. Many people familiar with Tim$s pre%ious writing and %ideo work ,e.g.0 his early:Tru-Balance: postural teaching0 :4rinciples0 ;nalysis and ;pplication of *ffortless Combat Throws0: etc. willrecogniAe the principles described in Chapter .

In Chapter 50 Tim applies those principles in describing postural alignments and mo%ement drills that introduceand train mo%ement principles that are wo%en into the &un tai#i solo form.

Chapter 6 pro%ides detailed instruction in performing the solo se'uence. 7or &un style as well as other tai#istyles0 solo :form practice is the heart of tai#i'uan training . . . It is during form practice the student learns toalign the body0 coordinate the torso and limbs0 harmoniAe breath with mo%ement0 generate force correctly as wellas the specific patterns of mo%ement that make possible the technical applications of the style in one harmonious

practice.: I can appreciate how much effort0 often tedious0 that Tim put into writing down step-by-stepinstructions to accompany the photos illustrating the transitions and end-point postures of the K6 mo%ements ofthe &un solo form. The photos are %ery helpful. (ne impro%ement might ha%e been to pro%ide frame-by-framestills to connect the photos used in the book--but only if the book was the sole instructional product. &ince Timwill be releasing a -! instructional set as a companion to this book in #ust a couple of weeks0 the aspiring&un tai#i practitioner is best ser%ed by purchasing and training from both the book and the !s0 which willpro%ide far more %isual detail then se'uences of still photos.

Can you e%en learn a tai#i'uan solo form from a book? The con%entional wisdom is no. But actually0 with a bookas well-thought-out and clearly illustrated as this one0 the answer is . . . maybe. Certainly you can learn the shellof the solo form. But you actually need the %isual e9ample of correct mo%ement--from teacher and !s--and0in the long run0 to a%oid in#ury and to de%elop the propriocepti%e wisdom that is at the heart of any internal

martial art0 you need hands-on corrections0 from a good teacher . . . and from your practice partners. ;nd thatkind of correction is what Chapter 8 is about+ posture testing.

:7or any gi%en posture in the form0 there will be a N4ower "ine0$ or specific line of force. The 4ower "ine is thefocused direction from which the practitioner is issuing their force. The 4ower "ine is the line of force generatedthrough ones connection with the ground0 up through the feet0 the legs0 hips0 spine and finally out through thearms. This concept is introduced in the classic writings of Tai#i'uan . . . : Chapter 8 pro%ides guidelines forposture testing0 describing general tests and then tests for specific postures. The analysis can be applied to e%ery

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posture in the &un tai#i solo form0 between a practitioner and hisGher teacher0 fellow students0 domestic partner0or the person sitting ne9t to them at the bar ,buy them a drink first. 4osture testing is not a re%olutionary idea0but it$s an often-neglected element of effecti%e tai#i'uan training which can be of benefit not #ust to the beginning&un tai#i practitioner at whom this book is aimed0 but for tai#i practitioners of all le%els and all styles. Chapter 8concludes the book.

I ha%e some other miscellaneous obser%ations to offer+

OOOTim pro%ides 'uotes from &un$s writings at the opening of each chapter that gi%e brief glimpses into thethinking and attitude of &un towards training and martial arts. I hadn$t seen these rendered into *nglish before.

OOOThere are se%eral doAen minor but annoying typographical or grammatical errors that will hopefully becleaned up in the e%ent of a second edition or second printing ,and I hope this book does well enough that therewill be one. *9ample+ we learn on page that :"i ui =uan had been a ing =i

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te9t for the college and other tai#i classes that Troyce teaches in the "os ;ngeles area. ;nyone who haspurchased a college te9t knows that the limited demand--and the monopolistic collaboration of professors0authors and publishers--lea%e the student at the mercy of a rigid market dynamic. 4otential purchasers shouldrealiAe that the information in this book is good for a lifetime+ that the book will successfully introduce them to atai#i practice that they can engage in and train for both martial and health benefits ,e9actly as &un intended histai#i to be practiced0 at whate%er le%el of intensity0 at any stage of their li%es where they can stand on two feet.The clarity of the presentation and the straightforward insights into the whys and hows of &un tai#i are

remarkable %alue at any price. Compare this with the *nglish translation of Chen @in$s :The Illustrated Canon ofChen Tai#i'uan0: which you can buy a used hardco%er copy of for P255.EE ,or an e-book %ersion for PD.EE0which suggests a possible future medium for Tim and Troyce$s book. =ou will certainly spend a lot of timedigesting Chen @in$s book0 but you won$t get nearly the practical %alue for actual tai#i'uan practice as Tim andTroyce$s book pro%ides.

OOO&pecific martial applications of the form mo%ements are not co%ered in the book0 but simple applications aredemonstrated in the companion ! series. The book is about learning the &un tai#i'uan solo form0 and ser%es

this purpose admirably well.

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