# Types of Tai Chi and sound?



## Xequat (Sep 10, 2004)

OK, I've been all through my college stuff and the Internet and I can't figure this out. In college, I took a Tai Chi class and it wasn't Tai Chi Chuan. It was Tai Chi Something Else. I only started at the end of my school year and it was too demanding at the time to continue. But I remember the instructor using a bunch of different sounds for different moves. Does anyone have any idea what I'm talking about, heh? Because apparently, I don't.


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## bignick (Sep 10, 2004)

was it tai chi chih?


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## Xequat (Sep 10, 2004)

Yeah, I think it was!  I love you, man.  Know anything about the sounds involved?  I'm gonna try the internet again.


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## bignick (Sep 10, 2004)

sorry to get your hopes up...but i know very little about tai chi chih...and nothing about sounds it uses...the only reason i know it is that my university offers the same class...tai chi chih is not a martial art, but a modern form of relaxation...

for more info try:
http://www.taichichih.org/


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## Xequat (Sep 11, 2004)

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought.  I was just kind of curious about some of the healing aspects of it, but it looks like it's like most styles where you have to seek an instructor because trying to learn an art like that from a book or computer is kind of impossible anyway.  Thanks for the help, though.  That was the style.


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## pete (Sep 11, 2004)

dr. yang, jwing-ming talks about "hen" and "ha" sounds, coordinated with the breath and the movement of chi.  if i remember correctly, the hen sound is on the inhale and condenses the chi into your lower tantien (center of gravity). the ha sound is on the exhale and moves the chi out to your extremities.


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## Empty Fist (Sep 12, 2004)

Most practitioners do not make hen and ha sounds when practicing Tai Chi Chuan. However, the hen and ha sounds that Dr. Yang talks about has the same purpose to the Kia sound made in karate. And that purpose is breath/lung compression, which is very important in the transfer of power especially when one hits an object or an opponent. According to Master William CC Chen, all movements in Tai Chi Chuan are activated by pressure in the lower abdomen/Dan Tien. For further reading about this subject matter, refer to the current Tai Chi Magazine article "Compression Breathing" by Sifu Greg Brodsky. This is an excellent article that goes into much further detail about compression breathing.


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## Xequat (Sep 12, 2004)

Thanks, I'll try to find that article.


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