New Forest Is Clever, But Simplistic

"I’ve worked hard for many years to learn the Yang and Chen forms of Tai Chi. Recently, I purchased your DVD New Forest Tai Chi For Beginners and find it rather simplistic. While I have to give you credit for a very clever and innovative approach, it isn’t really Tai Chi. Your response?" --D.W. in St. Louis


Designed For Accessibility

Well, the first thing I have to point out is that the DVD you mention is clearly designed for Beginners. I hope it’s simplistic! Over the years I’ve met hundreds of individuals who took up Tai Chi for one reason or another and had to put it down because of stylistic demands. To put it simply, the postures were too physically demanding and both the routine, as well as, the individual movements were too strange and complicated to remember. They also found that there was little room for either self-expression or personal creativity. The New Forest style of Tai Chi effectively addresses these needs, and many more.

Real Tai Chi

As to whether my style of Tai Chi is real Tai Chi or not, really depends upon your definition of Tai Chi, doesn’t it? I’ve taught Yang and Chen myself, as well as several of the lesser-known styles. Each has its own unique approach and artistic agenda. And while some people might be troubled by conflicts in history, method and technique between different styles of Tai Chi, I’m not one of them. I tend to focus on similarities rather than differences.

In any event, after many, many years I found the Chinese styles too restrictive for my tastes. (Details regarding the “why and how” can be found in my books Somewhere Traveled Rarely, A Morning Cup Of Tai Chi and the past posts on this blog.) I wanted an approach that was accessible to a larger population, preserved the best features of all the Chinese styles of Tai Chi and redefined the art for a new millennium. The result was New Forest Tai Chi.

What Is New Forest Tai Chi?

I am often asked, “What is the New Forest style of Tai Chi?” What follows is a partial list of the salient features of this unique approach. New Forest Tai Chi is:

A ritualistic dance

A health and wellness technology based on Traditional Chinese Medicine

A self-directed method of emotional transformation

A self-directed method of enhancing intuition and fostering personal creativity

Taoist meditation in action

A dynamic and sophisticated system of Qigong, or “energy work”

A breathing exercise designed to optimize respiratory function

A sequence of athletic posturing that dramatically improves overall balance

A logical, creative and dynamic system of physical conditioning

A logical, creative and dynamic system of intellectual conditioning

A physical framework on which to hang a number of important oral literatures

A movement art of corporally expressive postures reflecting Taoist art and philosophy

A distinctive and flexible memory peg system that helps maintain valuable and historic information on Chinese art, poetry, literature, history, weather, agriculture, medicine and the nature of consciousness, among others

A direct representation of the I Ching --more commonly known as the Book Of Changes-- as well as a living key to its understanding

A bodymind vehicle expressing the techniques and innermost workings of Taoist contemplation and Alchemic Transformation

A complete system of armed and unarmed personal combat and bio-survival

A thoroughly comprehensive and adaptable human art form whose methods can be, and have been, readily applied to a wide variety of human endeavors such as interpersonal communication, music, theater, poetry, physical therapy, strategy and computer programming, among others.


Soul Expression

New Forest Tai Chi can be many things to many people. To me, at least, it is the metaphysical soul of an ancient people expressed, not in words, but through symbolic gesture and stylized physical movement. It is orchestrated ideation in which muscle, blood and bone are used to express a precise choreography of will, thought and imagination. New Forest Tai Chi is a concrete way of revealing the Absolute and allowing that expression to inform your day-to-day affairs. That’s how I designed it and, more importantly, that’s how I teach it.

Oh…. I almost forgot the most important part. New Forest Tai Chi is easy to learn and fun to do! (Unlike most all of the standard approaches, I might add.)

Chinese Seeds, American Soil

Now you can make yourself feel better by criticizing New Forest Tai Chi for not being “real Tai Chi” if you’d like. I wouldn’t dream of arguing with you. It is, after all, a decidedly non-Chinese approach. However, it is based --in part-- on my rather extensive education in the classical styles of Tai Chi. Said another way, the seeds of my art were Chinese but they were planted and nourished in American soil. What was produced, in my view, is an authentic Tai Chi method that is far superior to any of the pre-existing Chinese styles. Only time will tell if this is bravado or a matter of fact. In the meantime, if your Tai Chi education doesn’t resonate with my brief description of the art then perhaps the harsh light of reason should be redirected to shine back upon your own practice. Fundamentally, that’s all that’s really important. Give my style a try for a couple of weeks. I all but guarantee that your perspective on the art of Tai Chi will change. As I often tell my students, “Perspective: Use it or lose it!” See you in the New Forest.

Sifu John Bright-Fey