Yang Style Short Form

T'ai Chi developed as a style of ch'ang ch'uan (long boxing); so named because the form sequences had a great number of moves, all of which flowed seamlessly together like a long river. The traditional Yang style T'ai Chi form, for example, contains between 85 and 150 postures, depending on the method of counting. There are actually only around 40 unique postures, however, and shortened forms are commonly taught which eliminate a lot of the repetitions.

Of course, one does not need to learn the whole long form before learning one of the shortened forms. Each of the individual moves can instead be learned as single movement exercises (i.e. walking T'ai Chi) prior to beginning learning the form. Afterwards, the learning of the form consists of memorizing the sequence and working on the transitions from one posture into another.

Even though I had learned the entire long form, I realized that a short form fit better into my daily routine. Of course, others realized the same thing a half-century ago as shortened forms were developed to allow more people to learn and practice the art. Don't get me wrong, doing the long form is very profound; especially doing it both right and left handed. Unfortunately, in my case the time required would limit my ability to perform the other aspects of the art that I also love, such as partner practice and weapons forms. Do I need to perform these other aspects in order to realize the health benefits of T'ai Chi? Probably not; but I want to.

Cheng Man-ch'ing Form

This is the short form that I've settled on as my main form. It was developed in the 1940's by Cheng Man-ch'ing to better facilitate teaching college-level martial arts. You see, he had a lot of material to cover in a short time. Professor Cheng's counting method lists 37 postures; but if you actually count each posture and repetition individually you'll end up with approximately 60.

There are several books available that show Professor Cheng himself performing the art. Of these, the text Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan includes excellent photos of Cheng performing the art at a much younger age than do the other texts. Additionally, T'ai Chi: The "Supreme Ultimate" Exercise for Health, Sport, and Self-Defense, a joint effort between Cheng and Robert W. Smith, shows the pictures mirrored. This approach is rare among T'ai Chi texts, but could conceivably be helpful for learning the opposite hand version of the form once you've mastered the normal version.

There are also some very good full instructional videos available of this form. Among the best choices available are those from Terry Dunn (www.taichimania.com) and Tricia Yu (www.taichihealth.com).

You'll also find valuable footage available on YouTube of Professor Cheng himself doing the form.

A famous student of Professor Cheng named William C.C. Chen added back some of the moves that the professor had eliminated from the long form, thus creating his own version. You'll find several instructors certified to teach this form by Master Chen all across the U.S. (www.williamccchen.com) plus a couple of instructional videos for it listed below.

Simplified Form

This 24 posture routine was developed in the 1950's by a committee organized by the Chinese government in order to bring an official version of T'ai Chi to the masses. I learned this form early in my T'ai Chi career but no longer practice it. I like it in the sense that it provides both right and left side renditions of all the postures. Therefore, it is unique among the forms I list here in that you don't need to do it twice in order to exercise both sides.

Unfortunately, it completely deviates from the sequence of the long form. You see, many shortened forms start with the long form as their basis and then eliminate repeated movements, keeping the basic sequence much the same. This one doesn't take that approach. If someone started by learning a short form and then progressed to learning a long form, it would seem to me easier to fill in the missing pieces rather than to learn a completely new sequence. Regardless, some instructional videos available that teach this form are listed below plus a clip from YouTube.

Abstracted Yang Style Form

This is a very nice form consisting of 32 postures. I was introduced to it by Sifu Rob Peterson at Master Tony Yang's school in Akron, Ohio (www.wutangcenter.com/wt). Master Yang's teacher, Liu Yunqiao, abstracted forms for both the Yang and Chen styles of T'ai Chi for teaching in colleges in Taiwan. Instructional videos are available from Master Yang; his classmates Master Su Yu Chang (www.pachitanglang.com) and Sifu Wu (www.secretsoftheorient.com); and Master Yang's student, the late Sifu David Schenk (www.bodymindharmony.com). You'll also find a very good rendition of this form on YouTube from a practitioner in Taiwan.