Great question! Over the years I have heard a lot of different things about strength training and tai chi. Some people will tell you that the two don't mix and that lifting weights will be bad for your tai chi. That being said there is absolutely no reason you can't have a productive strength training routine as well as a qi gong or tai chi practice. The type of strength training is really up to the individual and how they are feeling their body adapt to the practice and what other goals they may have in their life. What you can do, regardless of the type of strength training you are doing is take some of the concepts from the practice into your strength training and allow them to begin to integrate into how you train. Things like feeling the movement from the ground up, tongue to palate, and more awareness of the breath. Also trying to keep a more calm and relaxed state of mind while still feeling the strength of the body. One of my teachers would say that people too often lift weights with their face because of the perceived effort rather than focusing on maintaining proper posture and breath and really feeling the movement. Yoga is also a great compliment, specifically sun salutations and basic poses. As far as specific movements, anything that strengthens the legs is always good for your tai chi, beyond that I have some fun and simple routines that I can introduce into the community as well using bands or simple weights if there is an interest.

We watched Karate Kid Legends the other night and it was so much fun. I love how they blended the styles of the Karate Kid universe with Jackie Chan's personal style. "Everything is Kung Fu", I definitely understood that :). Fun fact about our lineage that you mention Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee's father, Lee Hoi Chen was friends with my grand teacher Fuk Yueng through the Peking Opera and theatre. Master Yeung was the teacher who taught qi gong and kung fu in Seattle starting in the 60's and taught my teacher Andy Dale who later become his second adopted son. When Bruce Lee first moved to Seattle from Hong Kong he lived with Master Yeung for several years before moving south and practiced a lot of kung fu and qi gong with him. Below is a picture from our school archives. That is Master Yeung on the left and Bruce Lee on the right sometime in the 60's. It is widely known that they were both quite the goofs:).

@Laura Jeffreys That's great you read the book! Such a fascinating and important part of Tai Chi history. My teacher would say that Master Yeung knew so many martial arts and styles and reached such a level that to him they were all the same, but to us mere mortals they still all present quite the challenge;).

I am glad you enjoyed the practice! We have a lot of different movements we can do with the stick!

It is a challenging form. It was one of the last tai chi sequences I learned actually. I did not really want to learn any other yang style since I had already learned from 3 other teachers, but when I saw the movement I was instantly intrigued because I felt so awkward and clumsy trying it the first time. As times goes on. will introduce some of the movement patterns from the larger frame to help students grow their movement.

Well put and thought provoking. I will be contemplating posture, form and depth all day now.