Five Element Tai Chi?

[xingyiman]

Can anyone describe how the Five Elements concept is utilized in Taijiquan? Is there a specific form associated with each element like in Hsing-I? Is there a specific Five Element Tai Chi style? What are the similarities and/or differences in Tai chi's take on the Five Elements as opposed to Hsing Yi's?? Thanks.

[Sam Wiley]

Where Xingyi tends to focus on the 5 elements and Bagua tends to focus on the 8 trigrams, Taiji tends to combine them. I'm sure all three utilize both theories, of course, but Bagua and Xingyi seem to place a heavier emphasis on the 5 or the 8.

Taiji's 13 postures are said to utilize the 5 elements in the directions. Center (Earth), Advance (Fire), Retreat (Water), Gaze Left (Wood) and Look Right (Metal/Air). Hand techniques generally correspond to the 8 trigrams. For each direction, there are specific stepping methods said to activate different jings.

In addition to this, certain Taiji postures work on specific organs as qigong. In that they work on the organs/meridians, they work on balancing the interaction of the 5 elements as well. The postures are paired for each element, as the organs/meridians are paired for each element, so that we have a yin and a yang exercise for each element. It goes deeper, with a sort of "little yin and little yang" being expressed for the healing, as the pairs of postures can be done in one order to heal a yin state of one organ, and the opposite order to heal the yang state, while the order that heals the yin state of the first organ will heal the yang state of the second.

So, in this respect, working on a single movement in a certain manner will work on the corresponding element, just as in Xingyi. Some of the Xingyi fist postures are similar to Taiji postures that heal the same things, even.

[count]

I can't recommend anything higher than the book "The Invisible Web" by Dr. Su Yu Chang. And if you get a chance to do any workshops with him, he really shows how to bring the five elements into your Tai Chi Chuan practice. If you are near New York, stop by and meet him.

[TaoBoxer]

It is true that Taiji combines the 8 gates and the 5 elements, but to say that those are "Hsing I and Ba Gua" is a little off track.

I think you need to consider the energies of the individual fists of hsing i, and talke about how tai chi applies them..... The biggest difference of course is going to be how the Yi is used, as Yi is the defining factor in all of the nei jia. I have seen pretty soft Hsing I and pretty hard Tai Chi