The Best
I was sitting in a tea shop enjoying a nice cup of hot peppermint green tea with honey. A group of my Tai Chi students along with several of their friends approached me. They apologized for the interruption and asked if I could answer a question. The question was this; which style of Tai Chi is the best? I agreed to offer my insight to the best of my knowledge.
I then proceeded to answer by first acknowledging that their question was well founded and asked quite often by tai chi students. I told them that I created my own style called the Master Woody’s yang style of Tai Chi which is blend of various styles taken from years of practicing and instructing Tai Chi. Let me make the disclaimer that by no means am I claiming that my style of Tai Chi is the best. However, it has allowed me to connect with my students and enhance my instruction of teaching the art of Tai Chi.
Getting back to the groups question about the best style of Tai Chi, there are many styles of Tai Chi worldwide. Each Tai Chi style carries with it a supporting philosophy and history of its own which creates a uniqueness of the various styles. Briefly, here are 4 different styles of Tai Chi that are the most popular and connected with each other, Chen, Yang, Wu, Hao.
The Yang style contains slow, even, gentle and large movements
The Chen style is both fast and slow together with some jumping and stomping movements
The Wu style lean to the side and adopted some movements from the Yang style
The Hao style resembles a combination of the Yang and Chen style
The Yang style of Tai Chi is the most popular style while the Chen style is the oldest style of Tai Chi.
I explained all of this to the group in an effort to say there is really no cut and dry way to determine “The Best” style of Tai Chi. Based on my over fifty (50) plus years of experience, I am comfortable in saying the best is found in the student and not the style. Personally, I feel a person’s ability from within to perform any style of Tai Chi at their highest level will determine the best outcome, not the style; it’s as simple as that. The group of Tai Chi students and their friends, all thanked me for sharing and walk away as I continued to enjoy my cup of tea.
In closing, continue to strive to be your best in all things and remember the only real competition you have, is yourself!
~To Your Continued Health; Master Woody