A friend told me his friend practices Yin Tai Chi Quan. I have never heard of this style, but then again, I am not a Tcq guy. I was wondering if anyone has heard of this or can give me any information about it. I am very interested in learning this style. Thanks a Million!
Never heard of it. The four main flavors of taiji are Yang, Chen, Sun, and Wu, if I recall correctly (someone jump in if I'm wrong).
I believe that there are actually five recognised styles: the four that you list plus another Wu style which isn't related to the other Wu style. There are of course other 'unrecognised' styles such as Lee. Personally, I've never heard of Yin style.
I've been told it is very rare. My friend told me good luck finding it. He met a guy who practiced it, but it was a a business convention and he doesn't have a way to contact him. So, I am doing all I can to find it. I know there is Yin Baguazhang, but I can't find out if they are related. The is nothing on google about Yin taichiquan. I'm up **** creek without a paddle.
Why not just find a teacher who does one of the recognised styles and study that, instead of hunting high and low for something obscure which might not even be any good?
It could be- 1)Not actually T'a Chi 2)A variant/combo of of one or more of the 5 main lines 3)A combo of one of the 5 main lines w/something else 4)Basically a recognizable version of one of the 5 main lines which some family named Yin has held for some years and just casually refers to it by their family name.Which is how the 5 lines got their names. No connection w/TC to Yin Fu's Pa Kua.There is a system called Pa Kua T'ai Chi Ch'uan created by one of the sons of Cheng,T'ing-hua,the creator of Cheng Pa Kua.It's a combo of Cheng's PK and Yang TC.Rare,but still exists. Any particular reason you're so interested in it?Is it just because it's supposed to be a rare system,or did you hear something especially intriguing about it from your friend?
My friend has been doing martial arts for years and has sparred with this guy and was blown away with his skill. He was hard to fight and unpredictable( Baguazhang like) and his internal strength was " otherworldly ". If my friend was impressed than it must be good, considering my friend's skill level. I have always been interested in the internal styles and figured it was one that I should check out.
You sure it wasn't Yin style bagua ? Maybe he got his yin and yang mixed up and it's Yang style tai chi lol. Otherwise the low down from Doc is spot on. It will have likely come from theh styles we know of. Personally I would add Zhao Bao to the main lines too. There's also the style from Wudang mountain, but most recognise that as an amalgamation anyways. I'm pretty gobsmacked about one thing though. Doc let you get away with spelling it "taichiquan"!! LOL. Jordon, Can't you find out more ? You got me all curious now. Oh well.
Nah, I only corect peeples' spillinng wen it mite leed to confuzon. Like when one person meant Chen but spelled it Chun.Or when another meant Cheng and wrote Chen.Stuff like that. Heck,my Anglicization-(is that an "i" or an "a" after the "c"?)- of Chinese isn't exactly pristine.I still use Wade-Giles and have since the 1700s,and I screw that up enough at times.Especially when I've forgotten how a name is pronounced,and so can't remember whether I need to insert an apostrophe after a letter or no.Not to mention there's various legit ways to spell things/names which can vary from writer to writer in publications. Zhao Bao raises a lot of questions.It has external moves like Chen but at least nowadays lacks the blatant joint spiralling.An offshoot?A very direct common ancestor?The ancestor of Chen?Some of its varieties are much less athletic than others and seem as mild in external form as some Hao style,its descendant. I find it more convenient at this time to lump it w/Chen.But new Wu is still so closely related to Yang the case could be made for not giving it its own compartment on the train. OK,now everybody hates me.
If it's Bagua, I'd really recommend going. In one of my Northern Shaolin Kung Fu lessons, a instructor who had trained with mine came in, and we learned basic Bagua...freaking amazing practice!