Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan – 楊式太極拳

Tai Chi Chuan, or Taijiquan (太極拳), is one of China's most famous internal martial arts, combining health, meditation, internal energy development and sophisticated fighting methods within a single system. Although today Tai Chi is often associated primarily with slow, graceful exercise, its original purpose was the development of a highly refined martial art based upon relaxation, sensitivity, balance and efficient whole-body power.

Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan (楊式太極拳) was founded by Yang, Luchan (楊露禪, 1799–1872), one of the most celebrated martial artists of nineteenth-century China. Yang studied Taijiquan with Chen, Changxing in Chen Village before developing and transmitting the methods that became associated with the Yang family.

Yang Luchan's exceptional fighting ability earned him the famous nickname "Yang Wudi" — Yang the Invincible. He later taught in Beijing, including members of the Imperial household and military establishment, helping establish Taijiquan as one of China's most respected martial arts.

The art was subsequently transmitted through generations of the Yang family, particularly through Yang Jianhou and his sons Yang Shaohou and Yang Chengfu (楊澄甫, 1883–1936). Yang Chengfu became one of the most influential Taijiquan masters of the twentieth century and was largely responsible for popularising the large-frame Yang Style practised throughout the world today.

Training Methods

Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan training develops the practitioner progressively from relaxation, posture and correct body mechanics to internal power, sensitivity and practical fighting ability.

Training within YMAA typically includes:

Taiji Qigong – Internal Energy Training: Breathing, relaxation, body alignment and coordinated movement are used to develop internal awareness, improve circulation and establish the physical and energetic foundations required for Taijiquan.
Yang Style Barehand Form: The traditional sequence teaches posture, balance, coordination, rooting, stepping, body connection and the continuous circulation of movement and power throughout the body.
Jin – Martial Power Training: Rather than relying primarily upon muscular strength, Taijiquan develops trained power (jin) through correct structure, relaxation, waist movement, rooting and whole-body coordination.
Martial Applications: Every movement within the traditional form contains fighting principles. Applications are practised with partners to understand striking, kicking, throwing, controlling, Qin Na and defensive techniques hidden within the sequence.
Pushing Hands – Tui Shou: Partner exercises develop sensitivity, balance, timing, rooting and the ability to recognise and redirect an opponent's force. As skill develops, pushing hands becomes increasingly mobile and spontaneous.
Two-Person Fighting Sequence – Taiji San Shou: A traditional partner sequence teaches distance, timing, defensive reactions, angles, neutralisation, counterattack and the practical use of techniques from the solo form.
Qin Na: Joint locking, controlling, seizing and manipulating an opponent form an important part of Taijiquan's close-range fighting methods.
Weapons: Advanced YMAA Taijiquan training includes traditional weapons, particularly the Taiji straight sword (Jian) and Taiji saber (Dao). Weapons training further develops coordination, intention, body connection and the ability to extend power beyond the hands.

Combat Specialty – Sensitivity, Neutralisation & Internal Power

Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan's particular area of expertise is close- to medium-range fighting through sensitivity, neutralisation and whole-body power.

Rather than meeting strength directly with strength, the practitioner learns to recognise the direction and intention of an opponent's force, yield or redirect it and immediately exploit the resulting weakness.

This principle is often summarised by the classical Taijiquan idea of using softness to overcome hardness. Softness, however, should not be confused with weakness.

Traditional Taijiquan alternates between extreme relaxation and sudden, coordinated expression of power. Through correct structure, rooting, waist movement and whole-body connection, force can be generated without excessive muscular tension. At an advanced level this develops into Fajin (發勁) — the explosive issuing of trained martial power.

Pushing Hands develops the ability to feel changes in pressure, balance and intention through physical contact. Instead of relying solely upon visual reaction, an experienced practitioner learns to "listen" through touch, neutralising incoming force while simultaneously finding openings in the opponent's structure.

At close range, Taijiquan combines strikes, elbows, shoulders, Qin Na, sweeps, throws and takedowns. The apparently gentle movements of the solo form therefore conceal a sophisticated fighting system based upon timing, sensitivity, balance and efficient generation of force.

A skilled Taijiquan practitioner should therefore be difficult to control — remaining relaxed under pressure, sensitive to changes in an opponent's movement and capable of changing instantly from softness and neutralisation to decisive martial power.

Our Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Lineage

Our Yang Style Taijiquan tradition at YMAA comes through an important twentieth-century Chinese martial arts lineage:

Yang, Luchan (楊露禪)
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Yang, Jianhou (楊健侯)
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Yang, Chengfu (楊澄甫)
↓
Yue, Huanzhi (樂奐之)
↓
Kao, Tao (高濤)
↓
Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming (楊俊敏)
↓
YMAA

Yang Luchan was the founder of Yang Style Taijiquan and became legendary for his martial ability. His teachings passed through the Yang family and eventually to his grandson Yang Chengfu, whose large-frame method became the foundation of most modern Yang Style Taijiquan.

Master Yue, Huanzhi was an indoor disciple of Yang Chengfu and transmitted the art to Master Kao, Tao (1932–2024) in Shanghai.

Master Kao began studying with Yue Huanzhi in 1944, when he was approximately twelve years old. His mother had witnessed public demonstrations by Yang Chengfu and encouraged her son to practise Taijiquan primarily for health and personal development.

After moving to Taiwan, Master Kao became an important teacher of traditional Yang Style Taijiquan.

At sixteen years of age, Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming began studying Yang Style Taijiquan under Master Kao while attending high school in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Dr. Yang trained regularly with him for approximately two and a half years before moving to Taipei for university.

Dr. Yang subsequently continued his Taijiquan training and research with other experienced practitioners, including Master Li, Mao-Ching and Wilson Chen, while simultaneously developing his knowledge of Shaolin Long Fist, White Crane, Qigong and Qin Na.

Over decades of training, research and teaching, Dr. Yang developed an extensive understanding of the traditional Yang Style curriculum including the barehand sequence, Taiji Qigong, Pushing Hands, martial applications, martial power (jin), the two-person fighting sequence, Taiji Sword and Taiji Saber.

Dr. Yang later brought this knowledge to the West and founded Yang's Martial Arts Association (YMAA) in Boston in 1982.

Through his teaching, international seminars and extensive body of books and instructional material, Dr. Yang has played an important role in preserving the martial as well as health and Qigong aspects of traditional Yang Style Taijiquan.

Within YMAA, Tai Chi Chuan is therefore taught not simply as a slow-moving health exercise, but as a complete internal martial art.

Form, Qigong, martial applications, Pushing Hands, Qin Na, power training, partner practice and weapons progressively develop the qualities at the heart of traditional Taijiquan:

relaxation, balance, sensitivity, internal power, mental focus and the ability to use softness and skill rather than brute strength.