“The most important thing in Tai Chi is to relax.”
-Professor Cheng Man Ching (aka “Long Whiskers”)
Professor Cheng Man Ching was one of the greatest practitioners and teachers of Tai Chi. The Professor said relaxing was the secret to Tai Chi. At other times he would say something else was the secret of Tai Chi.
He was often called The Master of Five Excellences: calligraphy, painting, poetry, tai chi, and medicine. He had mastered all of these arts, often dispensing a helping of Chinese traditional medicine to his students along with his Tai Chi. His calligraphy and painting has a subtle touch, his translation of the the Tao Te Ching communicates its internal essence.
Professor Cheng could joke around with the best of them but the way he expressed all five excellences had a boldness and a deep resonance. He was one of the first, and maybe The first, Chinese Tai Chi teacher to teach these powerful movements to Westerners.
This was a big deal because even within China, Tai Chi was limited to a few chosen families – Yang Style was for the Yang family, Sun style for the Sun family, etc.
Professor Cheng wanted the entire Chinese nation to benefit from these movements – and that is why he shortened the form, taking out repetitive movements – so that anyone could actually learn it in a reasonable amount of time. Now the entire form could be completed in 5-10 minutes instead of half an hour or 45 minutes.
Like many other Chinese at this time, Professor Cheng moved with his family from Mainland China to Taiwan in 1949. But Taiwan could not contain the Professor, affectionately known as “Long Whiskers,” and he moved back and forth between NYC and Taiwan in the final years of his life in the 1960s and 70s.
When he started sharing these slow and subtle movements in New York City in the 1960s, the Professor was shunned the local Chinese Tai Chi community because of it. They wanted to keep the teaching a secret within certain Chinese circles, but the Professor wanted everyone to benefit from its physical, mental and spiritual effects.
It is said Professor Cheng was fond of spending afternoons teaching Tai Chi to small groups of students in a mahagony-panelled loft at the East Asian Library at Columbia University.
He also enjoyed raising orchids and a drop of whisky here and there.
But what really is the most import thing in Tai Chi?
Perhaps it is efficiency of movement.
In only a few minutes practice of Tai Chi, every joint and muscle has been utilized and your brain waves have moved into a meditative state.
Breathing has become deeper, and without any extra effort, you automatically feel more energetic, alert, confident, sturdy and relaxed.
Relaxed into what?
Tai Chi is a clearinghouse that removes the cobwebs from your mind and body and lets you return to your natural state of wellbeing.
A link to a video of Professor Cheng doing Tai Chi in NYC is provided below:
For additional information on the Professor, visit: http://chengmanching.com/
Books by and about Cheng Man Ching:
jedbonniwell 
Excellent, succinct summary. Looking forward to all and anything you have on your mind. Write on, man!
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