Lincoln Taijiquan Association is a community based organization dedicated to the sharing and practice of Taijiquan as a martial art. Our training involves solo and paired empty hand exercises, as well as classical Chinese weapons practice. While Taijiquan (or Tai Chi Chuan, or Taichi) is also a popular low impact exercise, it is in fact a traditional Chinese internal self defense system which develops flexibility, trains balance, and enhances holistic health. Taijiquan emphasizes slow fluid movements in its form practice, while incorporating hard and soft techniques in its martial arts application. Classes are free and open to the public
In addition to and in line with our dedication to Taijiquan as a martial art, our group regularly incorporates our practice sessions with social and public events, with the objective of sharing our passion, knowledge, and skills, with each other, as well as with anyone interested in learning about Taijiquan.
Taijiquan, often shortened to Taiji or Tai Chi, encompasses a number of internal Chinese martial arts originally developed to train soft and hard defense techniques, executed slowly or quickly. Because soft and slow movements are emphasized in the training, people of all physical abilities can enjoy Taiji. Thus, Taiji is now widely popular as a type of exercise that benefits physical and mental health.
Most modern Taiji schools trace their development to at least one of the five traditional systems, or ‘styles’: Chen, Yang, Wu/Hao, Wu, and Sun, differentiated by their distinctive techniques and manner of movement. What is common to all styles is the training of techniques linked together in choreographies, or ‘forms’. All of Taiji styles emphasize solo hand forms, while some also incorporate practice with classic weapons (e.g. swords), as well as ‘paired forms’ which are choreographies involving interacting partners. In addition, some schools practice ‘push hands’, a type of exercise involving partners executing semi-choreographed or free interchange of movements.
The Lincoln Taiji Association primarily practices hand and weapons forms of the Yang style. To broaden our training, we also practice basic forms from the Chen style.
Common forms we practice include:
- 10 movement Yang style form (also known as the 8 form)
- 24 movement simplified (or Beijing) form
- Master Ding Shuide's 27 movement Yang style short form
- Master Cheng Man-ch'ing's 37 movement Yang style short form
- 48 movement form
- The traditional Yang style long form (aka the 108)
- “Paired” (2 person) form
- 18 movement Chen style short form
- Various Taiji weapon forms including dao (saber), jian (straight sword), and fan.
Most class sessions are led by Dr. Gary Yuen. He studied Yang Taijiquan in Hawaii with the late Francis Pang. Master Pang and his teacher Andrew Lum, were students of the Dong (Tung) family, one of the first to bring Taijiquan to the US. You can learn more about this lineage at www.dongtaichi.com. Dr. Yuen has taught Taijiquan for over 30 years. As a professor of plant pathology at the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), he was the founding advisor for the UNL Taiji Martial Art Association, a student club. That organization later expanded to include members from the Lincoln community, becoming the Lincoln Taiji Association. While now retired from UNL, Dr. Yuen continues to provide Taiji instruction at the university through the UNL Dance Program and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).
In addition to Dr. Yuen, other members of Lincoln Taiji Association also teach Taiji classes or lead portions of our classes. They include Jim Pratt and Robert Heist II.