Tai Chi Lineage & Instructor
Yang Style Tai Chi
Yang Style Tai Chi Lineage
Lineage distills the essence of a martial arts tradition.
How Lineage Produces Benefits
Lineage is a time-tested method to insure quality control in instruction. You start with one of the great martial artists of all time. That highly realized practitioner certifies his students to go out and teach. The knowledge is passed from one generation to another with teachers standing behind the instruction given by their students. If a student has a serious problem and is considered unqualified to teach, their teacher withdraws support. As Bruce Lee once said, martial arts are not about fighting. It is a way of life. To insure all of the benefits can be transmitted, the instructor needs to be evaluated not only in terms of physical technique, but in terms of character as well.
Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan
Yang the Unbeatable - one of the great martial artists of his time
Master Yu trained under 2nd generation disciple of the great Yang Lu Chan
He then studied with Cheng Man-ching, a student of Yang Cheng Fu
Master Yu Describes his Background
Master Yu vividly distinguished his system from that of Cheng Man-ching by explaining that in tai chi everything is not soft and relaxed. You must be able to use force. The point is to learn how to control it. When asked how he knew his understanding was more correct than those with the opposite view, he pointed out his experience with them in push hands explaining simply, "they fly."
Master Yu Discusses Evolution of Tai Chi
"First, you must be understand that the main purpose of tradition is the moving your body to the correct location. Second, if you know how to move your body it is important to understand where the force come and what support the movement of the body. Don’t forget it is the joint. "
"For a long time I have learned yang style tradition and I got the technique just from the forms. This means that I have learned to match the form skill with my body together. You know the American idiom, “no pain no gain.” I want to emphasize that it is incorrect to practice the form soft and relaxed."
"I hope you will watch very carefully every form of yang style tradition."
Steve Kanney Trained with Master Yu for 10 Years
During his continued training with Master Yu, he also studied an 81 move form from Wutang mountain style of tai chi, whose main focus was health. In addition, he studied Chen style tai chi, including basic forms as well as the older long forms and weapons.
As he found the style of Cheng Hsiang Yu to be the most effective as a martial art and also the best for health, he is only teaching this style. He continues his studies by taking classes with a senior student of Master Yu, and the Westchester class takes periodic trips into Manhattan for exposure to this instruction as well.