There is no real consensus as to what constitutes a 'Tai Chi Master'.
Peter Southwood suggested the following guidelines:

•  30-40 years martial arts experience
•  25 years tai chi chuan experience
•  20 years teaching experience
•  30,000 hours of tai chi practice
•  Stage 5 skill with all forms
•  Capable of teaching other Instructors

Some tai chi principles can be applied in baguazhang but the latter involves more movement, stepping and walking. In bagua you primarily have to remember to move or step when attacked but in tai chi you only step when necessary. Sometimes it's hard to switch between the two. Sifu often shows examples of equivalent tai chi postures and this really helps to differentiate the two approaches.
 
 (Rachel Waller)

4 ounces of pressure is easy to say but quite difficult to employ in actual practice because it means stopping every time you encounter resistance.

You must be like sand or water; offering no resistance in your own body and not working against resistance in others.
How is sand or water powerful? Momentum and weight.

What are the 16 treasures?

No, we are not simply going to give you the answer. Finding out for yourself will be vastly more rewarding.

Any tai chi instructor is capable of telling you.
They are the 16 key facets that underpin everything else you do.
16 things that make tai chi work.

All of out students are taught the 16 treasures.
But only the thoughtful, sensitive students sees them.
Without an understanding of their worth, the student may just walk straight past. Then, what has been learned?

Tai chi form begins as a robotic sequence of movements and gradually transcends its original form. Movements become increasingly subtle and internally convoluted, and their power increases.
Instead of being limited by form, the practitioner merges with it to become formless.

This journey does not happen by itself.
Beginners spend ages locked in patterns of tension and external movement, never realising that the form can and should progress.

How does form move from basic to advanced? Neigong.

Lessons are taught in a small group involving individual, partner and group practice. Students are all at different stages of learning the palm changes. Each person receives tutoring and correction appropriate to their level of practice. Partnering helps me to see how a palm change can be used and where to focus attention.

 I think that it is good that the student who wishes to learn bagua with our school is asked to show competency for the first palm change. This is on top of their tai chi training. The palm changes are hard and you have to be serious to learn them. It isn't like just learning another new, fancy form.

 (Rachel Waller)

I enjoy learning bagua. It is much more spatially challenging than tai chi. I think learning it concurrently with the tai chi is helpful because it encourages you to see things more martially.
 
 (Rachel Waller)

A martial artist gains significant strategic advantage by remaining invisible.
When assailants do not know that you possess combat skills, they are not concerned by you.
They are apt to be over-confident.

Traditionally, the martial artist was trained to be modest and bland.

There are three rules in partner work:

1. Stay calm
2. Do not rush
3. Do not use tension

If you ignore these, your kung fu simply will not work. Try as you might, nothing will be successful.
Internal kung fu only works if you follow these basic guidelines without deviation.

Most martial arts cultivate aggression.
It is a natural, human, easy response to violence/confrontation.

Tai chi does not use aggression.
It calls upon the student to be emotionally calm and composed.
This is not so easy, but is far healthier: physically, psychologically and emotionally. 

Tai chi does not deal with abstract concepts.
In self defence, failure to evade an attack means that you will be compromised, hurt or injured.
There is no room for abstraction.
We must deal with the really real. 

A punch is not theoretical. It is tangible. So is the pain when you fail to deal with it successfully.

Businesses seek to make money. They accomplish this in many ways.
One method is 'abstraction'.

Instead of handling money with your hands, you are encouraged to use 'electronic' methods of payment:

1. Credit card
2. Debit card
3. Store card
4. Standing order
5. Direct debit
6. Mobile phone contract

These all serve to distance you from the transaction itself.

Zen is concerned with what actually exists. What is right in front of you. 
In this sense, it is not in any way philosophical.

Reality can be experienced directly.
It is tangible.
The danger with thinking too much is that it serves to distance you from what is real.

Freedom means the ability to move easily and readily; without preparation or preamble.
In any direction.

You cannot have a fixed plan in mind.
You must adapt, change and improvise.
Flow smoothly with the changes, move with what is happening, avoid conflict and resistance.

A person who lacks spontaneity is often like a robot; a conditioned machine.
They are dull and zombie-like.
They say the right thing at the right time.

But they are mannequins; smiling pretty and appropriately, but the eyes are not alive.

Spontaneity is a major theme in the internal arts.

Strangely, so few people are capable of this, or really understand its meaning and value.

The vulgarity of 'show' is lost on modern people.
We are encouraged to parade our talents.

Read the Book of Tea or In Praise of Shadows.
The modern trend of showing-all is depicted as being shabby and vulgar.

Then read further back in history; to Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu.
Showing-off is seen as highly foolish; reflecting a desperate need for approval, for recognition.

Look very closely into the eyes of people around you.
The muscles around the eyes and within the eyes are so revealing.

A healthy eye echoes the inner condition of the person: alert, free and child-like with curiosity and unchecked emotion.

An unhealthy eye is blank and fixed.
The spirit is walled-in behind a protective visage of fear and paranoia.
Frequently, the individual is so tense that their entire face becomes a mask; incapable of genuine, spontaneous expression.

Shen can be seen in the eyes: life, vigour, alertness.

Equally, the lack of spirit is frequently evident: dullness, fear, defensiveness, laziness.

Laziness is the affliction of modern society.

The Western world is enslaved by its comforts and conveniences.

There are 5 levels of Tai Chi Instructor in the UK these days:

1. Health-only Tai Chi Teacher
   - 5 years experience
   - these are the majority
   
2. Tai Chi Chuan Instructor
   - equivalent of 3rd dan black belt in any martial art
   - 5 years experience
   - these people are less common
   
3. Tai Chi Expert
   - 15 years experience
   - 10,000 hours tai chi chuan practice
   - 10 years teaching experience
   - fewer to be found
   
4. Tai Chi Master
   - 25 years experience
   - 30,000 hours tai chi chuan practice
   - 20 years teaching experience
   - pretty rare
   
5. Tai Chi Grandmaster
   - extremely rare

Peter Southwood has graded Sifu Waller as being a Tai Chi Expert based upon his practice quality and experience.

Has society become less dangerous?
Has the need for personal safety lessened?

The skills of the internal martial arts can be used in modern life.
They have not faded or dated.
Non-conflictive solutions.
Flowing rather than fighting.
Making space.
Allowing.
Moderation.

We are faced with stresses, conflicts and threats in everyday life.
You need to be sharp and alert.
Kung fu teaches this.

In seeking to harness the health-giving aspects of tai chi and to share them with the masses, the Chinese government broke the back of the art.
If only they had called their new art something else entirely...

To name the 24 step 'tai chi' is a sad joke.
To equate modern competition forms with the art of Yang-the-invincible is outrageous and sadly absurd.

Why did the Chinese destroy tai chi?
This is a great mystery.

Was it deliberate?
Do they even realise what they have done?

Tai chi was once vaunted as being the greatest system of kung fu in China.
Yet 150 years later and the art lies in ruins.

You can see a student slowly begin to understand.
The confusion fades and they become more confident.
Connections and associations are made without prompting.
There is an inevitable humility.

The student starts to respect the art and gains some inkling of what the instructor is seeking to do.
They see these charlatans teachers with limited experience and no depth, and the student becomes contemptuous; finally recognising the lack, the shallowness evident in so many modern expressions of the art.

The beginner is daunted by what they can see of the syllabus.
Yet, how much more would they be cowed if they understood the true nature of all that work?

In hindsight, the syllabus seems less complex, the various stages necessary and obvious.

Yes, there is much to learn.
So much more than you may imagine.
But not as much as you may choose to learn.

You eventually reach a point where you have enough form, exercises and drills.
Then, you turn inward and really figure them out.

Only the more shallow exponent continues to reach outward in the hope of answers.

The staff was carried by monks and travellers throughout the world for many centuries. It is a natural weapon, being only a tree branch or trunk.

The bamboo staff is such an ideal weight; so light and yet flexible and firm.

In the UK it is legal to carry and use a walking stick as a person ages. An umbrella is an obvious alternative.

A sword is an offensive weapon. A staff is a defensive weapon.
How so?

A staff can serve many purposes: a prop, a walking stick, an aid when reach for things. It can also be used in combat.

A sword has only one purpose: to maim and/or kill.

Some people argue that staff and sword are interchangeable. This is not so.

Staff applications depend to some degree upon the length of the stick.
All staff can be used to poke or jab.
However, a long staff needs two hands to do this.

A short staff can strike in a very 'flicky'/sharp manner, but a long staff is too heavy and unwieldy for this.

A long staff can deliver a horizontal blow using the waist. A short staff lacks the necessary length or leverage to accomplish this.

A long staff is more akin to a spear or a pole. A short staff is like a whip.

Given that a sword can cut the flesh, it quite different to a staff. A sword pierces/stabs, slices and hacks. A staff does none of these.

The bamboo staff is a wonderful weapon to train with.
It is light-weight, strong and versatile.

It can be used single hand or double.

Measure the length according to your own height.
Saw the staff at navel-height.

Dress in bland, dull colours and outfits that do not draw any form of attention.
Avoid anything that catches the eye or makes you stand out.
Your aim is to be background, not foreground.

Wear loose, comfortable clothing that enables freedom of movement, and footwear that allows for rapid, nimble footwork.

If you are seeking to train the sword, you may want to consider playing with very sharp knives for a while...

Practice moving with the blade.
Stick and slice and hack.

Now, ask yourself: could you honestly stick this in another living human being?
It the answer is no, then good.
You are sane, healthy and perhaps well-adjusted.

Reconsider your desire to train the sword. A sword is simply a very big knife.
If you are unwilling to stab somebody, put the weapon down.

Self defence remains a sticky issue.

If your home is invaded by a burglar and you injure the intruder or kill them whilst attempting to protect your family, you may be deemed a 'criminal'.

If you travel to a foreign land in the service of the military and kill many strangers in battle, you may be called a 'hero'.

Every martial artist should understand Newton's Laws of Physics.
To proceed without this knowledge is foolish.

Any martial art uses the human body.
The human body is subject to the laws of physics.

Now, watch what people are doing...
Allowing an object to continue moving, unimpeded?
F = M x A?
Force against force?

Is this really what martial artists typically are doing?

Yielding is a most misunderstood quality.

It is not giving-in, collapsing or weakness.
It is about giving the opponent room to over-reach, over-commit, miss.
It is about making space, re-positioning.

All applications contain some facet of yielding, even if the reality is simply not opposing force.

A journey of a thousand miles may indeed start with one step. But are you really going anywhere?
This is an important question.
Although your physical position may alter relative to external objects, are 'you' actually going anywhere at all?
Do you understand?

Tap your chest. You are here. Now walk across the room. Tap your chest again. You are still here.
Your body may have moved across the room, but 'you' haven't gone anywhere at all.

If you realise that your body occupies the same space at all times, then you see the form and your relationship with an opponent quite differently.
This is what 'central equilibrium' is really about.

The form is merely exploring variations of the three dimensions. You turn the waist, shift the weight, move the hands, the legs, the eyes. 
But you essentially remain exactly where you are. 

It takes courage to face an opponent with a receptive heart and a willingness to accept, to yield, to be sensitive, and to be decisive.
Faith is necessary.

A student may fail many times before they have the heart to do what they have been told to do.

When thinking stops, the art begins.
Self-consciousness and though are impediments to the way.

Internal kung fu cannot be approached like karate or judo.
It is simply not the same thing.

Sure, commonalities exist.
But so much differs.

Tai chi and baguazhang are infused with taoist insights and discoveries.
But only the earnest student succeeds in this regard.
The lazy person uses force, or ignores the precepts of the art, bastardising it to suit their own lack of faith.

Having completed a puzzle, you may understand how the pieces all fit together and why.
Some of your breakthroughs occurred through methodical reasoning.
Others were intuition, and cannot be rationalised.

Mistakes can also lead to understand.
It can be useful to know what does not work.

When Sun Tzu speaks of invisibility, he is speaking about moving without attracting the attention of your opponent:

1. Concealment
2. Covert
3. Disguise
4. Espionage
5. Hidden
6. Misdirection
7. Secrecy
8. Stealth

Sun Tzu wrote a whole section on spying.
From a self defence perspective this is very useful.
You do not need to become a spy, but you can learn how to avoid being noticed.

In hindsight the art can seem simplistic and obvious.
But it cannot be taught in a manner that allows the student this same viewpoint.

It is not a matter of obscurity or secrecy.
Even the most candid and forthright instructor cannot tell it verbally or show it physically.

The art must be experienced, first-hand, by the student.
This is what mysticism actually means: beyond words, beyond thought.

Corrections are always a sore point for students.

It is difficult for students to accept that even the most basic concerns deteriorate without correction, and that even the most familiar skills can be refined and improved.

A sword is not a toy.
It is an offensive weapon designed to pierce or cut the skin.

When you pick up a very sharp knife you are immediately cautious.
The slightest act of carelessness may result in a cut.
A blade can part skin easily.

Now, imagine a sword blade?
This is a dangerous weapon. It is not to be trifled with.

Performance art swordsmanship makes a mockery of the weapon; understating its seriousness.

Unlike a gun, a sword is used at close-range.
To use the weapon skilfully, a high degree of skill is necessary.

The user is not distanced from the kill.
They must physically thrust the weapon into their victim or hack through flesh and bone.
This required strength, precision and nerve.

The advent of guns meant the end of the sword.

A gun is easier to conceal, required less skill in its application and allowed the user to fire a devastating round without stepping too close to the target.
Different types of guns offer a wide range of shooting options.
As a weapon it is infinitely more versatile than a sword.

People have been fascinated by swords for a very long time.
The craftsmanship, design and elegance of the weapon are often remarkable.

Books, TV programs and movies are filled with images of heroic figures wielding a sword.

What was a sword used for?

Maiming and killing.
Death can be caused by penetration, slicing or dismemberment.

It is not a 'defensive' weapon.

What is a sword?

A sword is a bladed weapon featuring a handle.
The length of the handle and the blade will differ depending upon the style of sword.
The blade may be straight or curved.
Some form of guard may be present.

People enjoy dropping into the gym at their convenience, working out and then leaving.
There is limited commitment and the training is done at their convenience.
This is not really what martial arts training is about.
Martial arts teach a wide variety of skills.
Combat is just one of these skills.
In order to learn a martial art, it is necessary to change how you look at things.

You must remove anger, aggression and conflict from your life.
Instead of fighting with people: physically, verbally, emotionally and psychologically, you learn how to approach situations differently.
It will affect every aspect of your life.
How can a gym teach this?

Some people have naïve expectations regarding self defence.
They expect to learn a few techniques, tips and pointers, and be perfectly capable of defending themselves.
This is not realistic.
Self defence courses are like urban myths; they promise something that is seldom delivered.

Some martial arts classes serve to preserve and safeguard an art that would otherwise die out.
Swordsmanship, archery and other such practices have little purpose in modern life.
The students who train these arts keep the knowledge safe.
They preserve the heritage.

Are these viable martial arts classes?
On the one hand they are; the skills are genuine martial skills, no doubt proven in actual combat over many years.
On the other hand the skills are not functional or viable in modern society.
Will you be carrying a sword?
If you did carry a sword, are you legally allowed to use it?

Fighting groups do not really constitute sport because their aim is not to compete.
The aim of a fighting class is to engage is combat that is as real as possible.
In this regard, such classes are following the martial spirit.

Unfortunately, brutality and strength often prevail.
A student may suffer more injuries in class than on the street.
In such a class, the artistry of the martial arts takes second place to guts and sheer determination.

Many martial arts have become sport.
Instructors are now 'coaches' and the whole approach is geared towards competition.

There is nothing wrong with this, if this is what you want to do. 
However, strictly speaking, such practice constitutes 'sport' not 'martial art'.

The mandate of sport is quite different to that of a martial art.
Sports are about winning and losing, gaining trophies, medals and awards.

At its most crude, a martial art is simply about surviving a violent assault.
At is most refined, it is about attuning yourself to the way of existence, adjusting to the rhythms of life.
No sport can offer this.

Tai chi is an internal martial art, a style of Chinese kung fu.
How you train the form, and what you do with it is defined by this fact.
The neijia are circular and rely extensively upon spirals, curves, softness and gravity.
This must be evident in your form training and your applications.

Modern martial arts classes cater for a wide variety of student:

1. Sport
2. Fighting
3. Young children
4. Performance art
5. Preservation classes
6. Self defence courses
7. The gym approach (drop-in and work out)
8. 'Feel good' groups that focus upon the emotional and psychological benefit

There is arguably something for everybody.
However, many of these classes have nothing to do with the purpose of martial arts training.
The modern student can train what they like, how they like.
The important thing is to be honest with yourself concerning the nature of what you are practicing.

Once upon a time martial arts were taught for very simple, pragmatic reasons:

1. Personal protection

2. Professional combat skill

Nowadays, things have changed.
People are often too lazy to learn how to protect themselves.
They imagine that a cocky 'attitude' and a big mouth will work against a real life assailant.

The need for professional combat skills remains the unchanged.
Guns and batons may be widely used by security/military services, but robbed of their weapon, an individual still needs unarmed combat skills.

Bai shi is all about integrity and trust.

Is the student capable of furthering the art?

Are they true to the art?

Can you leave it in their hands?

Do they inspire your confidence?

Students of the Tao must appreciate one thing:

Every day, mindful practice.

When the mind is disciplined

then the Way can work for us.

Otherwise, all we do is talk of Tao;

everything is just words;

and the world will know us as its

one great fool.

(Loy Ching-Yuen)

Doing the right thing at the right time is all a matter of reading the situation correctly, and responding appropriately.
Initially, it is quite difficult. With practice it becomes easier.

Learning to follow and exploit the line of incoming force is paramount.

If you make the wrong movement, you will find yourself locked into a contest of strength.
Remedy it by using the three dimensions. 
A person cannot have strength in all three directions simultaneously.
Change and you will find their weakness.