In recent years, taiji has been (in China because of the demonstration at the 2008 Olympic Games Opening ceremony) described as moving clouds and running water. 行云流水。
If you want to please your eyes, yes, the taiji form should be performed to look like clouds and water. Those are pleasant qualities for the visual senses.
If you want health, you need to add a lot more to your form such as stretching.
If you want to learn taiji as a martial art, it will be more complicated than just clouds and water. Without getting into tedious details, taiji should not look “NORMAL”. That’s why many masters have two forms, one for the public demonstration and the other for practice inside closed doors.
This is what Master Chen Zhonghua’s taiji form looks like:
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Many, many thanks for the insights into taiji tradition !
Thanks for sharing. I think we should train to be “moving clouds and running water” inside while energy can flow very fluid and penetrative not the look outside .