Let’s get this straight – there’s no ”Ultimate” Tai Chi style. “Tai Chi Chuan” is just a set of principles. There is no perfect way to teach it, and there’s no perfect curriculum. Forms, teachers, schools all have their own pros and cons, and they only focus on different aspects, more of this or more of that. 

If you take a look at older teachers and masters, such as the students of Yang Cheng Fu, Wu Jianquan, Chen Fake and Sun Lutang, as well as the next generation, they were not strict stylists, or loyal to one teacher. Instead, they often practiced across styles, not only Tai Chi, but studied internal martial arts in general. Just this indisputable fact should give you a hint that focusing on one style, one school, or one teacher, is not the common road to mastery.

Also, it should give you a clue that there is not one simple recipe for mastering Tai Chi Chuan, as focusing strictly on this or that training method. In fact, you will find that different teachers have very different philosophies about what they believe is important to teach beginners, as well as for their own tai chi. They all have different focuses, as different focuses of principles and body mechanics.

Why does it differ so much in method and why are highly skilled teachers so different? Some of it has to do with personality, different in physique and also difference of taste. Some teachers focus on striking, others on throws and yet others on qinna and structural manipulation. 

Yes, Chinese martial arts and Tai Chi Chuan are complicated. The style becomes what you want it to be, what you want to focus on. Some of it comes natural though, and after all, we all have different physical traits. Some of us are bigger, some smaller, some leaner or more flexible, and some are stronger or more sturdy than others. What is common for most Chinese martial arts is that they are flexible and you can shape and form them according to your own taste and prerequisites.

So far so great, right? But they are also very rich and complex. And so it is with Tai Chi Chuan. It is said that you need to have at least 3 teachers to be able to grasp and understand a Chinese martial art. Why is it so?

Again, look at what I wrote further up. Most of the old masters had several different teachers. The reason is simple: you need it if you want to achieve a deeper understanding and to make an art your own.

When you start to really understand the Tai Chi world, you will start to realize that there’s different types of knowledge scattered here and there. You will also find that different teachers have better understanding of certain aspects or methods.

By my own experience I have also learned that you can find aspects and training methods in other internal martial arts that you can in Tai Chi Chuan, but not emphasized in Tai Chi. So in fact, by studying similar and related arts, you can achieve a better understanding of Tai Chi Chuan.

Studying other related arts should not take away your focus. In my own humble opinion, if your goal is to become as good as possible in Tai Chi Chuan, you should not try to master other styles. But you can train other related arts if you think it’s fun, and certainly study certain elements to achieve a better understanding of Tai Chi Chuan.

So there you have some good advice on your path if you want to become great in Tai Chi Chuan. However, if you think you should only become a master in a specific Tai Chi style, you are just fooling yourself and restricting your own development. There are no styles in Tai Chi Chuan, other than on a superficial level. Tai Chi is always the same, it’s the same principles. 

The wrapping around a birthday gift is not the gift itself. And the exact same gift can be wrapped up in many different ways. Everything you call “style” in Tai Chi is only paper wrapping, styles are only different ways to present the same content.

But then again, Tai Chi Chuan is too rich and complex to be fully represented by any school or teacher. So by limiting yourself to a specific style or to one teacher, you only limit your own path to a more full understanding, and to become good in Tai Chi Chuan in general.

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