Thursday, December 11, 2014

Coming Soon - HeStyle Taijiquan Manual

Great....another How To book on Taichi! Not quite. This book started as a guide for my students and evolved into something much bigger. It covers the history and theory of this type of Taijiquan but also, at the suggestion of the He Family, has the Form in detailed photos and description (not my original intention). 
Why is this book relevant? That's a bit hard to answer in such a short space but I'd say ask any Taichi practitioner you know about what styles of Taichi are out there and most will say five (then add there are other offshoots and a gazilion branches). But, in China (this is quoting Chen Xiaoxing the Headmaster of the Chenjiagou Taijiquan school), they say there are six recognized styles: Chen, Yang, Wu, Wu/Hao, Sun and HE. This is a huge step forward for Taijiquan and Martial Arts in general. As covered in the post on the origins of Taijiquan, no one will ever agree on where this art came from. The two main opinions are that: 1, Chen Wanting created Taichi in Chenjiagou and that the others came from students of this method. 2, Zhang Sanfeng created Taijiquan and it was passed down to Wang Zhongyue. He taught Chen Wanting (who combined it with his maternal lineage's Martial Arts to create Chen Style) and Jiang Fa who kept to the original teachings, they now known as Zhaobao Taijiquan. He Style Taijiquan is a branch of Zhaobao (but we start our lineage from He-Style's creator, leaving the Zhang Sanfeng/Chen Wanting debate for a time when it can be academically proven either way). The fact that Chen Family is saying He Style is a major method of Taichi means the ties are strengthening in Taijiquan circles. 
With that in mind, this manual is very important. Look around the Internet and you will see a lot of speculation as to what is He Style and what are its methods. This manual is the first ever time that the history and theory has been covered in the English language in this much detail (or any detail, for that matter). This simple book is a huge leap forward for the bridges that bring practitioners of Taijiquan closer together. 

The He-Style Taijiquan Manual will be released through Satalyte Publishing in very early 2015 (originally set for late 2014, the book's release has been moved back to include important photos that will be taken at the end of December 2014).