Is Tai Chi usually one to one?

I have been wanting to do this for a long time but never had the guts to start lessons on my own. Lack of confidence and all that. I started classes last week with a new friend who claimed that this is what she really wanted to do. We had to do a certain move with our eyes closed and our hand on top of another guiding us in different directions. Tonigh i had a text saying that she wasn't interested anymore as she wasn't into the one on one. Surely she should give it a chance. No matter.

Many have question about what do "one to one" mean. Base on what you described, you and your friends were practicing the Tai Chi push hand, which is only part of the Tai Chi practice.

Normally, a new Tai Chi student will practice the form first in a group setting. Once the student masters the form and learns to relax his/her body a bit better. The teacher will teach the student Tai Chi push hand, which requires a partner to practice.

Tai Chi push hand is a practice to discover the stiffness of your own body while in the same time learning to "listen" to your opponent's energy. There are many different Tai Chi push hand exercises that develop different areas of the body.

Once push hand is mastered, the last part of Tai Chi is weapon and sparring for the advances students.

It is the common path of Tai Chi. If you just want to study Tai Chi for its health benefit and don't want to practice with anyone "one to one". You and your friends can just practice the form and it can be practiced in almost any situation or environment.

I really wasn't going to answer this, but to respond to other comments on this list: Taijiquan is definitely a martial art. Just because it isn't taught correctly for the most part in this country shouldn't take away from the art itself. It is dramatically misunderstood by most Americans as a form of mild exercise for centenarians. It can be modified to be so, but it is not at all defined solely by its therapeutic benefits. It is FIRST and FOREMOST a martial art! To practice it otherwise would diminish its benefits.

The beauty of it is that it can be practiced alone, or with a group. The applications, push hands, etc., are practiced in pairs.

Tai Chi isn't one-to-one, it's just one. It's not really a fighting style (at least not the way it's taught in the US). It's meant to help people develop spiritually and physically, as well as teach a very limited amount of fighting. Technically, it is a martial art style because of the fighting training (although very, very limited training). In reality it's more like yoga...just a fun, relaxing way to exercise. I've been doing Tai Chi for a while now and there's been no one-to-one stuff at all. It's not very likely at all that you're going to be sparring with anyone, so you don't really have to worry about anything like that. You should be just fine. Tai Chi can be useful against someone who doesn't know how to fight, but is pretty much useless against someone who can fight.

One to one Tai Chi usually takes place at an advanced level when developing the martial aspects of the form. However, a central concept in Tai Chi is relaxing and removing tension; having someone else push your arm will give you an idea as to how much residual tension remains in your body. By depriving you of sight your teacher is introducing the idea of feeling with your whole body rather than relying on your everyday senses.

That said, Tai Chi is generally practised individually so drag your friend back next week!

You can do it with just an instructor but you often have to touch other people during other classes. Why is that a problem. You can always get a dvd and do it on your own at home. If I was you I'd carry on alone, you'll soon get to know people.

Tai chi can be practiced with one or more people. It can be one on one, two on two, two on four, a furcon, or it can be performed as group action. You can also learn tai chi from grandmaster feng zhiqiang:
http://kungfu.f-sw.com

What do you mean one to one? Most martial arts only train you to take on one person, not an entire gang of fighters. You get paired up to train your ability to sense your opponents move, that's why you had your eyes closed as well ... to train your touch.

No, when I did Tai Chi we did the form as a group. Part of the time we would work on some exercise like the one you describe with another member of the group.

What exactly do you mean by one on one?

[EDIT] and what exactly is the question?

Well, yes it is usually one on one, as you get to an intermediate level and get to "push hands" it is one on one. You develop many things in push hands, explosive, concealed and listening strength. All people starting a martial art have to ask themselves an honest question....why ?

I studied Tai Chi for three years and enjoyed it thoroughly, but in terms of taking on multiple attackers, I don't believe there was any mention of it. As a young man in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) I went through a very focused, intensive combat course, one not needed for civilian life, but as a Krav Maga teacher now, in the USA, once students get above a certain level we take students out to the parking lot, dress attackers in tactical gear ("Michelin Man") suits and the action starts. The students are told to go all out, we train for intervals and situations, but in Krav Maga we have no elegant forms, that one can practice for a lifetime.

If one were to truly excel at tai chi, there would be the ability to possibly fend off multiple attackers, but regretably in the USA we have few real instructors capable or inclined to teach this kind of Tai Chi Fighting. I have seen instructor/sensei's learn the 24 posture short form and pass themselves off as sifus', which is total crap.

If one reads the "Tai Chi Boxing Chronicles", the wisdom of the principles around Tai Chi are similar to principles mentioned in other types of fighting. The form/forms are far more challenging than many other arts and it is a thing of beauty when well done as well as an effective art with a very long learning curve.

Life is about the journey, not the destination. Enjoy, the feeling you get from a state of Wu will be worth it. Practice daily and diligently, commit and you will be on the begininning of a wonderous journey.