The leading proponent in America of the Wu style discusses the spiritual and aesthetic meanings of t'ai chi ch'uan.In her previous book, T'ai-Chi Ch'uan: Body and Mind in Harmony: The Integration of Meaning and Method, Sophia Delza describes the Wu Style with careful directions and illustrations for learning the practice of the exercise-art of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan. In this new book, Ms. Delza, the leading proponent in the United States of the Wu Style, offers succinct and illuminating comments from her viewpoint as both teacher and practitioner. She expresses the substance and function of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan that lie behind the movement and that are manifest in the movement to only the most discerning eye. She provides insight and inspiration for entering into a path, a way, a dao, that integrates body, mind, beauty, and goodness. Those students beginning to study T'ai-Chi Ch'uan and those who have studied it for a number of years will benefit equally from the guidance provided in this book.
Sophia Delza is a master of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan and was Director of the First School of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan in the United States.
List of Illustrations and Tables Foreword by Robert Cummings Neville Preface Introductory Note: As a Beginning Experience Classified Chapters I. THE CENTERED MIND 1. The Mind Must be Willing2. The Mind-Body Connection3 Mind-Alert4. The Unifying Principles5. What Gives a System Validity?II. THE TANGIBLE SPIRIT 1. The Moving Spirit2. The Eloquence of Silence3. With an Air of Innocence4. Spontaneity: The Look of Ease5. The Student Is Forever; Learning Is Forever6. The Ending Is a New BeginningIII. THE EVER-PRESENT SUBSTANCE 1. Landscape of the Self in Action2. The Long Journey3. The Harmonious Anatomy4. What Is the Nature of "Soft"?5. The Integrated Exercise6. A Glimmer of Insight into the Substance of T'ai-Chi Ch'uanIV. THE BALANCED SCALE OF STRUCTURE 1. A Miracle of Movement2. The Constant Curve: The Circle and the Wave3. The Historically Accurate T'ai-Chi Circle4. The Landscape of the Self in Spirit5. Finding the Straight in the Curved6. Form and Transition: Dual Themes in T'ai-Chi Ch'uan StructureV. THE ORGANIC FLOW OF PHYSIOLOGY 1. How Slow is Slow?2. The Life of the Hand: Its Significance in T'ai-Chi Ch'uan3. The Presence of the Eyes in the Action of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan4. The Quiet Control of the Head5. Some Distinguishing Features of the Wu and Yang Styles6. The Exercise-Art as It Functions Creatively for the ActorVI. THE INTRINSIC LOGIC OF PHILOSOPHY 1. A Harmony of Change2. The Spirit of Adventure in T'ai-Chi Ch'uan3. Two Portraits of the Exercise-Art of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan1. As the Viewer Sees T'ai-Chi Ch'uan2. As the Player Lives T'ai-Chi Ch'uan4. A Refreshing Technique: Action and Thought5. Perspective on My Experience with the Art of Classical Chinese Theater (Opera)6. Inherent Qualities: Form, Grace, StabilityVII. THE STEADY FRAME OF HISTORY 1. Chinese Exercise Techniques: Kung Fu and T'ai-Chi Ch'uan2. From Youth to Old Age3. The Art of Wu Shu: Innovations are Changing Traditional Exercises4. Chinese Exercise-Arts from Antiquity to the PresentVIII. CAUTIONARY COMMENTS 1. On the Necessity of Never Omitting Ch'uan in T'ai-Chi Ch'uan2. Is T'ai-Chi Ch'uan "Martial ?"3. On Martial Art "Experts"4. A Letter on the Subject of Music5. T'ai-Chi Ch'uan Is Not Moving Meditation6. On the Spirit in Teaching7. Street Scene at Dawn: People Exercising8. On the Abridged Version of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan9. On Traditional Clothing for PracticeIX. LIGHT VERSE ON SERIOUS THEMES 1. Images of Equanimity2. The Spirit of the Way in T'ai-Chi and the Ch'uan3. The Nine Elements: A Trinity of Threes in the Structure of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan4. A Three-Way ConversationMind Speaks Its MindEmotion States Its FeelingsThe Body Expresses Itself5. Ch'i Explains Its Presence: Objectively6. Aspects of Self-Awareness7. The Way of T'ai-Chi Ch'uanThoughtless ThoughtsInstant SpaceOne over TwoThe Nowness of the Now8. The Essential Quality9. A Message on Non-Violence to the Northeast Wind (The Yin and Yang of It)10. The Opposites Balance in the Chinese Theater11. A Friendly WayX. THE EXPANDING SCOPE OF AWARENESS 1. The Art of the Science of T'ai-Chi Ch'uan2. The Promise of Things to ComeAcknowledgments Illustration Credits Index