[students] and or family members and even went as far as giving us all the wrong information to stop us from getting the 'family jewels' as Yang Sau-chung once told me. Why is it that we are told that Tai Chi Ch'uan means 'Supreme Ultimate Fighting' when we are taught this silly thing of Pushing Hands? Why would you want to do that? You do not push each other in real fighting. This way of pushing hands was also a red herring to keep us off the trail of the real thing of 'Joining Hands', which is the way that we are taught how to fight in Tai Chi. Joining Hands is an eye opening experience and will probably answer many of your questions and fears about learning how to use Tai Chi for fighting.” (Moontagu DVD Catalogue 2010: MTG281 - The Secret Houses/Rings of the Yang Family: Volume One: House 3)
So, the Houses were important! Erle continues: “People often wonder how it is that they will ever be able to use Tai Chi for self defence using what their teacher has taught them. Other systems even go so far as to prop their styles with hard style techniques such as western boxing or even kick boxing , etc. The reason is they have never stayed long enough to learn the secret
'houses' of Tai Chi which will take the student into the real fighting and healing areas, the advanced areas. These 12 'Rings' were only ever taught to the inside group or family members. And it's interesting that those who either never learnt them or who gave them up or forgot them, died very sickly deaths!
The first 'Ring' involves learning the Form at its higher levels, which I have alluded to in my own teachings and DVD videos. However, even I have held back on some areas such as 'Rolling Thunder' Form! This form is taught to students in the 2nd House. The 3rd House/Ring we learn about REAL push hands and not the version that was put out to simply keep outsiders off the real track! Here we learn how to fight adhering to all of the internal classics and not having to rely upon our physical strength to win. Why is it that when you see people doing push hands, it looks like a wrestling match? This is because they are still doing the low wide stances taught by the Yangs in error to put outsiders off the scent! In REAL push hands, there is very little body movement, just the same as in fighting, we stick to the principle of 4 Oz moves 4000 lbs. And you cannot do that using 'normal push hands' methods. I will be slowly but surely putting all 12 of the Secret Rings down onto DVD so that all will be able to gain the great benefits of training in the secret house of Yang.” Source: taijiworld.com/Articles/Yang Family Secret Rings (or Houses) circa 2005.
As Erle began publishing further information on the ‘Houses’ from 2005 onwards - his detractors, as always, immediately began to shout foul play - that there was no such thing as the secret Houses and that Erle had made them up! Exactly the same accusations were hurled at Erle way back in the late seventies and early eighties when he began talking about the Old Yang Form - a family form which was not taught publicly like the modified Yang Cheng-fu form. Chinese ‘masters' living in the West and growing ‘fat’ on their unsubstantiated lineage claims and their western proteges protested in unison - “Liar!" - Internet forums went into a meltdown with every armchair martial artist wanting to have his say. It would take two major publications in the late eighties and nineties namely; T’aichi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions by Douglas Wiles and Chen Pan-ling’s Original Tai Chi Chuan Textbook by Y. W. Chang. & Ann Carruthers to prove otherwise - Erle had been right all along! I have already written in detail regarding the Old Yang Style and do not wish to repeat the lengthy evidence here, suffice to say that I refer the reader to my essay - Whose Line Is It Anyway? Part One - which appeared in Combat and Healing Volume 67 January 2014. Erle continued with his work. I remember having many conversations with him on this subject filling out pages in my notebook with his replies, as they were pertinent to our training. What is interesting was the fact that nobody had ever asked Erle if there were any ‘secret forms’ or methods of training? It was Erle, who had always shared his knowledge freely, who offered these to his students without any coaxing! It is important that we understand this, for here we are at the beginning of 2017, exactly six years to Erle’s passing and these ugly accusations are rearing their heads again. What’s interesting is that, this time, the main protagonists who are hurling these accusations at a dead man’s legacy are exactly those who are supposed to be the ‘keepers’ of his legacy!