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Why does a form that looks so soft ask you to produce power? Many students put this question to us in their first week. They have learned the opening postures, they can follow the sequence, and then they wonder what to do at home so the movements become strong rather than merely correct. The answer in Chen Style Tai Chi is rarely "more repetitions." It is better structure: a clear posture, an even tempo, and a body relaxed enough to let force pass through it.
This guide gives you that structure. It is written for students who already know the basic outline of a Chen tai chi short form and need a plan they can follow on a mat, a living room floor, or a quiet corner of a garden.
Traditional teachers often say that the form is a vessel and the body is what it carries. A long routine can hold a beginner's attention with its variety, but variety also hides weakness. A compact routine, such as the Chen 15 form that some students use as a first sequence, gives you fewer places to hide. The same turns, weight shifts and spirals return again and again, so every flaw becomes visible and every improvement is easy to feel.
Master Shen Jiangfei, founder of SJF Kung Fu School, is the 11th generation inheritor of Chen-style Tai Chi and a descendant of Liuhe Quan. His teaching follows an old principle: refine a little, then refine it again. Power is not added on top of a form. It grows out of alignment, patience and the daily habit of returning to the same movement with a calmer mind.
There is a cultural side to this as well. In the martial tradition, Wu De, or martial virtue, begins with humility and perseverance. Repeating a short form quietly, without chasing impressive results, is itself a lesson in Wu De.
Where this approach fits: students who have learned a first sequence and want to practice alone. Where it does not: if you have never been shown the basic stance and weight shifting, begin with a teacher first. A written guide cannot see your knees.
Use the sequence below in order. Each step has a checkpoint, and each has a typical way it fails. Do not move on until the checkpoint feels honest. This is how to practice Chen Tai Chi so that power is built on something stable.
| Step | What to do | Checkpoint | Common reason it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Set the posture (3 to 5 minutes) | Stand with feet about shoulder width apart, knees softly bent, tailbone dropping, crown of the head lightly lifted. | Your weight feels settled in the legs and you can breathe low into the belly without lifting the shoulders. | Knees collapse inward, chest pushes forward, or the lower back arches to "stand tall." |
| 2. Release tension (5 minutes) | Hold a simple standing posture. Let the shoulders sink, the elbows hang, and the hands stay light. | The upper body feels heavy and loose while the legs stay active. | You hold the arms up with the shoulders. Fatigue then appears in the neck rather than the thighs. |
| 3. Slow, even tempo (5 to 8 minutes) | Perform two or three movements from your short form at the same speed from start to finish. | No sudden acceleration, no pause where the weight "drops" into place. | Rushing the transitions and slowing only the end positions. The speed looks even but the effort is not. |
| 4. Connect waist and limbs (5 minutes) | Practice a spiral movement where the waist turns first and the arms follow, without reaching with the hands. | The hands arrive because the waist arrived. You could not move the hands without moving the waist. | Arms move by themselves, so the turn is only decoration. |
| 5. Vary tempo (5 minutes) | Repeat one movement slow, slow, then slightly quicker, keeping the same shape. | The posture does not change when the speed changes. | The quicker repetition becomes a different, tenser movement. |
| 6. Short release (only when steps 1 to 5 are stable) | Under a teacher's eye, practice a brief, relaxed burst at the end of one movement and return to softness. | The release is short, the body returns to relaxed immediately, and nothing hurts afterward. | Using shoulder or arm strength to imitate power, then holding tension afterward. |
Fajin, often translated as "issuing power," is the visible, explosive side of Chen tai chi. It is also the part students most want to try early. Our advice is the opposite of impatient: treat fajin training basics as the last step of the sequence rather than the first. Without a clear posture and a relaxed waist, a quick release only teaches the body to jerk. With them, the release is a small, clean extension of a movement you already understand.
Limits: if you have knee, hip or lower back pain, skip step 6 and keep to slow work until a qualified instructor has watched you. Fast release places load on joints, and pain is a sign to stop rather than push through.
Most new students do not have two hours a day. They have twenty or thirty minutes and a sense of guilt. Here is a realistic plan that follows the sequence above.
Day 1, 3, 5 (about 30 minutes): steps 1 to 4, then one slow pass of your short form.
Day 2, 4 (about 20 minutes): standing practice and slow tempo work only. Rest the legs from deeper stances.
Day 6 (about 30 minutes): step 5, then perform the whole form three times, each at a different speed.
Day 7: rest, or sit quietly for ten minutes and recall the form without moving.
A worked example: a student with a sore lower back after a desk job begins with Day 2 style sessions for two weeks, shortening the stance depth so the thighs do the work. Only then does she add step 4. This is slower than a schedule on paper, but it keeps her practicing. For beginners, Chen style tai chi for beginners should feel like gradual, steady building, not endurance testing.
If standing practice appeals to you, our page on Zhan Zhuang explains why holding a still posture teaches the relaxation that step 2 depends on. Students also pair their forms with Qi Gong to calm the breath before practice.
Practicing too low too soon. Deep stances feel serious, but trembling knees break the relaxation you are trying to build. Raise the stance until the legs can work without strain.
Counting forms instead of feeling them. Ten rushed passes teach less than two attentive ones.
Copying the look of power. Stomping or sudden shoulder shaking resembles fajin from the outside. Inside it is only tension.
Skipping the stillness. Without a few minutes of standing, the mind arrives late to the form, and the movement stays on the surface.
Practicing alone indefinitely. Home work is valuable, but a teacher corrects what you cannot feel. Plan to check your form with a qualified instructor from time to time.
A written sequence can give you structure. It cannot give you the room, the teacher or the quiet. SJF Kung Fu School sits near the Shaolin Temple, with more than 30 cultural and historical places of interest nearby, and our 200㎡ indoor training center lets students practice through every season. Training here is focused and unhurried, with a teacher close enough to adjust a knee or a wrist.
Students who have trained with us describe this in their own words. Pamela Paes Ezawa from Brazil completed a 7-day Chen-style Tai Chi course and valued the authentic, traditional training environment, the Taoist heartland setting, and the welcoming Shifu and community. Othmane Echaouki and his wife from France, also on a 7-day Chen-style course, thanked Shifu for taking such good care of all the students. Klaes Risbjerg Simonsen from Denmark chose us because he wanted an authentic, focused experience rather than a touristy resort. After 30 days of Tai Chi, Zhan Zhuang and Broadsword, he said he grew physically and spiritually, and he praised the Shifu for adapting the training to his needs.
These are individual experiences, not promises of any result. They do show what many students look for: a place where the tradition is taught plainly and where the teacher watches each person closely.
Our Tai Chi training sits alongside eight other styles, including Shaolin Quan, San Da, Qin Na and Meditation, so students with a wider interest in Chinese martial arts can see how the internal and external sides complement each other. You can read about learning Tai Chi in China at our school, and about the short One Week Kung Fu Course for a first taste. Those who wish to stay longer may look at our Long Term Kung Fu Course.
If you would like to deepen your practice with a teacher, you are welcome to write to the Chinese Kung Fu School team at SJF. Tell us about your experience and what you hope to cultivate, and we will happily share advice on where to begin. Genuine seekers of traditional Chen Style Tai Chi are always welcome.
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