Tai Chi Chuan contains the study of relaxing, not collapsing. To flump on the sofa, to slouch as you work at your desk, to lean on a wall whilst standing. These are all states of collapse. On the day I understood this I made a decision to try training myself to either be physically present,… Read More The Study of Relaxation
Last weekend I had the absolute good fortune to wake up at 4:30am to meet Director/Producer and film teacher Gary of UK Film School, his dog Fifi (renamed Filthy by the end of the shoot) and camera man Jason at the Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes. We convened at 6am and waited 45 minutes for… Read More ‘Be Water, My Friend’ Tai Chi video shoot
A full Yang Style Tai Chi Syllabus should be sought out by practitioners wanting to go deeper into the art. The old adage “miss by an inch, miss by a mile”, describes how errors at all stages can unwittingly lead you further away from your destination as time marches on. Given my own character/nature/circumstances, I think… Read More A full Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan syllabus
Chen Changxing taught advanced internal kung fu to Yang Luchan. Yang Luchan passed the knowledge on to his sons Yang Ban Hou and Yang Chien Hou. The Yang method of teaching the art was passed on and further refined by Chien Hou’s son Yang Cheng Fu. Yang Cheng Fu’s eldest son Yang Sau Chung… Read More TAI CHI CHUAN FOREVER
The idea of issuing force by drawing a bow crops up a lot in the Tai Chi classics and even more so in Grandmaster Ip Tai Tak’s more recent Tai Chi Chuan Revelations: Principles and Concepts. Further in typically short, succinct and betrayingly simple phrasing, Grandmaster Ip Tai Tak said this in an interview not… Read More On Bowing The Back
For those who are yet to experience it, standing post Chi Kung could be seen as a Chinese delicacy which is an acquired taste. Under correct guidance your first experience should be a kind of sweet agony. You know something good happened, but your body just wants to complain. It looks deceptively easy. Just stand… Read More The Importance of Standing Post (Zhan Zhuang) Chi Kung
In the above picture two Master Ding Academy instructors in the Midlands advanced class work on their Peng (‘Ward Off’) energy. Traditional Yang style Tai Chi is famous for its Ward Off power, which is known for being able to throw people across a room with little visible effort. It isn’t by accident. It is… Read More Ward Off Energy
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