Comparison of Four Styles of Tai Chi

Master Wells Ye of TaiChiAndMeditationDirect.com compares four styles of Tai Chi: Chen, Yang, Wu, and Sun.

[@yddub111]

I was taught tai chi about 40 years ago . over the years I have adapted a short personalized style using all four styles and Qi Gong...I do this almost every single morning and I think it has helped me a lot...I use it as a meditation, a beginning for a workout, and a life philosophy especially relating to the idea of being like water when confronting life in general. I do not remember ever being told the original form I was taught,but I believe it was Yang style. I really think most people would love doing it...you can do the moves hard and fast, or slow and gentle. or a mixture.

[@Ethylamine]

I started practicing Ta Chi Yang style and also Yin style about some weeks ago, and I didn't know some were intended to make you more lively and also have better health. Definitely I practice the movement alongside breathing exercises and it helps me a whole lot, I think its pretty good that it has this style of movement alongside being a form of meditation as well, compared to Zazen from Buddhism which I knew before its definitely quite interesting and makes me a lot more active and relaxed.

[@fikrihaikalmajid4010]

Explained simply and greatly.

[@dancinggrandmasharon]

Thank you for the comparison of the four styles of Tai Chi. It was very helpful. I’m going to share it with my senior friends.

[@richardmendiola1063]

This style is very interesting. Know and understand.you're never to old to study it .

[@BiltongJerky]

Thank you for this clarification. I was trying to find the style that I was taught at an acupuncture college but didn't know what it was called. It was the Chen style.

[@sammyli9456]

Thanks so much for the informative summary!! Respect!⁠🙏⁠

[@ThoughtProvokingVlogs]

I really appreciate the clarification! 💛

[@x-morones2330]

I do too. Now I know to NEVER learn something as useless as Tai Chi (at least not until I'm about old and brittle). 👍

[@dikshitadesai]

Thank you so much for this video, it was brief and helpful

[@nefersakhmet9]

Thank you for the info. I'm sure the movements are not limited to the use of only one style but it's good to have a general summary :)

[@anne-alexpackard4974]

Thank you so much.

[@montgomerymassotherapy6146]

Most people do not know or understand the martial aspect of Tai chi chuan. It should be performed at boxing speed with Tai Chi Softness.

[@Inkerella110]

Excellent video! Thanks a bunch, you did an amazing job with this, and your techniques are outstanding! Thank u! xoxo

[@Ancient_Ys]

I recently discovered tai chi for myself but it was neither self taught nor did someone teach me, it is a form of tai chi that i learned on my own. To elaborate a bit further, this tai chi came from within me my arms flow according to my feeling. I feel it in myself and move myself and have used it as meditation. Now i need some help because i want to expand my unique form of tai chi but since i neither learned it from somebody or somewhere i cannot just attend a tai chi course and expect to learn more about my tai chi if i cannot even figure out what form it is. Its very special to me and it has helped me through hard times.. i just have difficulty In identifying which form of tai chi my own tai chi belongs to. Please help me.. thanks!

[@sarthakmalunde12]

Try showing your style to some expert and ask them to guide you. Or take a video of yourself practicing and compare it with all the 4 styles. Not only compare on the bases of actions but also how you feel, which style feels strong and expressive to you personally.. I am wondering how did you learn Tai Chi on your own?..

[@mhillvo]

@@sarthakmalunde12 Same happened here to me. All of the forms have been blended into one it seems. Maybe a great master has passed on his gifts to the universe. I was ready however. Saw Sarthak's message after watching this video of various forms and seems I know them all here in the States. I did not study with anyone either, just came to me in my home so I do it daily and blend it with myofascial release to heal my 67 year old body using Earth gravity and Qi Gong putting Chi all over where needed. It has benefited my health greatly and I am very appreciative for the gift of knowing it now. Age now means little else since I can stay healthy for the rest of life here, however longer that seems. I feel timeless....I study with no one, but the martial arts portion has enhanced my balance and sense of personal wellness considerably. Peace to you and all...I love this now...I practice Wang Chun on decorative bars of my home in Compton. Very unexpected yet sets me apart from my peers....I try to help others feel pain free as well. But if I stand still, I can heal inside my body all aches and pains without a doctor involved now. Glad I saw the video and the comment. If anyone can explain, would be helpful. It's very welcome in my life now. Blessings....

[@andrewtrip8617]

Please post a video .

[@x-morones2330]

If this comment isn't a joke, then please see a doctor (a real doctor) and have your brain evaluated.

[@Genethagenius]

My advice? Take serious time to study maybe Yang style TC, for a few years, and THEN create your “own” Tai Chi if necessary. Nothing to say you can’t add the techniques or movements you created. But, if these forms have been practiced by millions for decades if not hundreds of years, why “re-invent the wheel” and give yourself more work. Smh. Stand on the shoulders of Giants, don’t get stepped on.

[@VANJAKKOSTJUK]

What about the wu/haostyle?That is an official /5th style of tai chi

[@ecnivmarng7163]

Also the Li's 李式

[@petersilie2100]

i guess wu-hao should be covered by sun (just trolling), however zhao bao is as old as chen and obviously missing too.

[@damianooi8261]

Which style should I learn first? I've never learned before. I am 31 years old. Did some HIIT workouts. Which one is an active style among all of them?

[@monyet82]

Chen is more active.

[@x-morones2330]

If you're 31, you don't need Tai Chi. If you're 31 (& healthy) you're better off learning basic boxing instead of Tai Chi; at least with boxing, you'll have a chance of defending yourself.

[@alanpaepke7535]

Nice!

[@weoninteresante]

Great video!

[@christinemarina1]

can someone tell me the name of the song please? I'd love to hear the whole song or anything similar at least. It's so beautiful!

[@FranciscoFernandesJr]

I know I am 3 years late, but this beautiful song is Maenam by Jami Sieber.

[@christinemarina1]

@@FranciscoFernandesJr thank you:) i really like this kind of music, relaxes me and gave me non stop goosebumps the first time i listened to it

[@syslibrarian]

I tried going to your website but it wants me to install something to even view the website. NO

[@Nofarewell]

I like the video and don't approve of the mindless negative criticism. But at one point I'd disagree. Imho Chen is not the strongest in martial arts, first, I cannot really understand this statement as all of them can be applied very effectively (Sun too I guess though I don't know about it) - but as a Wu practitioner (northern Wu, Wang Peisheng lineage) and someone who knows some parts of it's history, I can confidentially state that Wu is the most martial of all. It is the most linear and the most refined; it was and for some, still is a military art. Otherwise congrats and keep up the good work!(Very nice of you to include Wu's imaginative part - that's something really important.)

[@katsura1982]

It might be hard to back up your claim as Wu Style being the most martial. Wu Style, regardless of lineage, is based off of Yang and therefore has moves derived from only one of the Chen Style forms, Lao Jia (Old Frame). Lao Jia is a basic form, but still contains some wonderful ideas in it. Many of these are lost or degraded in the derived styles due to changes in posture and movement. Wu Style’s bow stance is especially problematic, for example, because of it’s emphasis on putting one’s weight on the front foot. There are some extremely cool Qin-na applications in Chen Style that are absent due to the posture and arm/hand movements in the opening moves alone of Wu Style, without even taking into account the rest of the form. Wu Style also misses some deeper concepts of classic Chinese martial arts like Yin and Yang in speed and forcefulness, as well as a focus of linear as opposed to circular movement, that are deliberately included in Chen Style’s Lao Jia and refined in future forms. Silk reeling, a key Tai Chi concept, is also shoehorned into a lot of Wu Style as an additional exercise and not in the form. This isn’t to say Wu Style is bad. Movement and focus are great, but it’d be really difficult to claim that it’s the MOST martial.

[@yesiownfrodo]

Thank you. This was just what I needed.

[@user-zh4yw4kn1u]

Very good

[@ellehjames5809]

Website doesn't work. =(

[@wiser.kinder.calmer.6530]

Where does wudang taiji such as 28 form come into it? I heard wudang taiji is like the trunk and all other styles are branches?

[@shujiling213]

Excellent style

[@yogasamrat]

Unfortunately he is not good at any of them!

[@frbud]

It is impossible to be learn 4 family taichi style. A student will take 10-20 years to master 1 style. And the principle and the practicing of each style were differrent as well. Its not easy to find the right Taichi master which able to explain the details and applicable in real.

[@dsbond8048]

This fellow is OK at Yang style. Bad to mediocre at Chen, Wu and Sun style.

[@andrewtrip8617]

ds Bond can’t speak of the other styles .but the yang style in this video is appalling.

[@x-morones2330]

Q. - When to use Tai Chi? A. - When you're old (pretty much useless as a way of self-defense).

[@fikrihaikalmajid4010]

Explained simply and greatly.