The 10 Essences in Taiji, an essential part of this ancient discipline, can also be applied to piano playing.

When asked what he meant by 'lift your head, raise your spirit', Coach Pei wrote this article "The Warrior Spirit" to explain.

We can never forget that we are practicing Taiji with this goal of achieving a good spirit.

"Let me see your neck," Coach Pei instructed, as we prepared to do the form in our Saturday morning class. I thought to myself, my neck, see my neck, this is not one of the Ten Essences Coach had talked about and it definitely was not part of what I thought I needed to work on today.

If you are going to travel to a new city, and all you know is your destination is westward, so you hop into your car and just start to drive toward the west. You probably will reach where you wanted to go with a lot of mistakes, and wasted time with the wrong roads. It is the same, if you study Tai Chi without a detailed road map. It will take you a lot longer to reach your goal. The traditional Yang Style Tai Chi originally evolved from the Chen Style Tai Chi. Every time a c

As a student of Taijiquan, you are probably familiar with the Ten Essences, or guiding principles, of this martial art. You may be less familiar with Taijiquan's five levels of attainment, or skill levels. You cannot successfully practice the Ten Essences without knowledge of the five skill levels, or without understanding the level that you have reached. Knowing what the skill levels are helps to guide your training. Below, I describe the five levels with the hope that you w

After we have learned the ten essences and understand its concepts, then we study how Tai Chi uses the body structure to produce a stronger frame. At the end of a posture, we can adjust the body to find the correct feeling. To find the feeling, adjust the body until you feel the structure is strong enough to encounter your opponent's energy. By without using muscle power, or you can just transmit your opponent's energy through your body into the ground.