Performances by the Wushu Team of Baguio City

This video presents a member of the wushu team of Baguio City performing tai chi during the peace pole unveiling ceremony held in the city on 20 September 2009:



Following presents a series of performances by the members of the wushu team during the same occasion:

What do I mean when I say 'I do tai chi'?

The question was posed by a friend in my tai chi group. And here's my reply:

'I do tai chi. And when I say that, I mean the following...

• I practice a particular form (usually, the 24-form and sometimes the long Yang form), keeping in mind the internal martial arts principles.


• I am conscious and practice stillness in motion, and motion in stillness. Meditating is doing tai chi.


• I believe and am conscious of the 'chi' that is flowing in my body and connects me with nature, and shares this concept with everybody else -- in a natural and opportune time of course. And to maximize the inflow of good chi, I am also conscious of what I eat. Eating food rich in good chi is also doing tai chi.


• I believe in the concept of Tao -- the 'mother of all things', the nameless One, the unity and harmony of all things in the universe.. But I believe and subscribe to Taoism, NOT as a religion but as a philosophy, and I seek to deepen my knowledge of Taoism by reading Taoist books. Reading the Tao Te Ching, in a sense, is also doing tai chi.


• Related to the above, I believe and practice and promote the so-called three treasures of Taoism: simplicity, compassion and humility (or 'not striving to be number one.') Practicing and sharing these is doing tai chi.


• While tai chi is martial arts, I believe, practice and promote nonviolence, of 'defeating the enemy without even starting the fight', of overcoming the strong and hard, through 'soft' means. Being nonviolent is doing tai chi.

In brief, I believe in the holistic way of doing tai chi. It is martal arts applied in various aspects of human life: physical, mental, social, spiritual. This, I think, is one explanation why Tai chi is appropriately translated as 'the supreme ultimate'. '

Tai Chi in Baguio

March 27, 2009 - Walking at Burnham Park in Baguio City before 7am, I chanced upon a group of six, doing the long form Yang style tai chi. Here's a short video clip I made, showing a portion of their performance:

Short form tai chi performed by Yang Jun

Here's Yang Jun of the Yang Family performing a new short form of the Yang style tai chi during the 25th anniversary of the Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association held in China in July 2007:

Based on my count, there are 31 postures in this form, as follows:

1. Preparation form
2. Beginning form
3. Grasp the bird’s tail
4. Single whip
5. Raise hands and step forward
6. White crane spreads its wings
7. Left Brush Knee and Push
8. Right heel kick
9. Left strike tiger
10. Right strike tiger
11. Right heel kick
12. Twin fists strike opponent’s ears
13. Left Brush Knee and Push
14. Needle at sea bottom
15. Fan through the back
16. Turn body and chop with fist
17. Step forward, parry block and punch
18. Step Forward and Grasp the Bird's Tail
19. Single whip
20. Fair lady works at shuttles
21. Single whip
22. Snake creeps down
23. Step forward seven stars
24. Step back and ride the tiger
25. Turn body and swing over lotus
26. Bend the bow and shoot the tiger
27. Step forward, parry, block and punch
28. Apparent close up
29. Cross hands
30. Closing
31. Return to normal

Yang Style 13-Form Tai Chi

The form consists of 13 postures, as follows:

1. Beginning form
2. Wave hands like clouds (1 time)
3. Single whip
4. Fist under elbow
5, White crane spreads its wings
6. Left brush knee and pusth
7. Hand strums the lute
8. High pat on horse with palm thrust
9. Turn body and chop with fist
10. Step forward, parry, block and punch
11. Grasp the bird's tail
12, Cross hands
13. Closing

Here's the form as performed by Yang Zhenduo, the Master himself from the Yang family:



Other performances of the form:

by Master Y.S Chow, Zouzi of Malaysia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnQDAhGx-WM

by Master and founder of San-Cai-Dao-Association Jacek Zajac:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OofkHD6S_4

Greetings!

Book Review: The Healing Promise of Qi by Roger Jahnke, OMD

I’ve never come across a book that more extensively and systematically discusses the phenomenon called ‘Qi’ or chi -- the essential life energy or force -- than this one by Dr. Roger Jahnke. With this resource, he intends to help us access a ‘life-transforming experience.’ According to him, the teachings in the book have been handed to him by ‘an amazing group of teachers’, many of whom he met in the hospitals and institutes of China. ‘Others are from temples and sacred sites in China’s mystical mountains.’ Dr. Jahnke suggests that we use the book as a way to gain direct access to Qi.

Everything the author says about Qi is summed up in what he calls the ‘three primary promises of Qii’, which are:

1. Qi is free. It is everywhere, and everyone has direct access to it through simple methods that are easy to learn and practice. Qi can be cultivated purposefully to resolve any challenge or enhance any function.

2. Every person who uses Qigong to cultivate Qi consistently experiences some form of health improvement and personal access to greater energy and power.

3. Qi cultivation – qigong – is easy if you let it be.

Indeed, these are very encouraging statements for many ordinary people who are confronted with or are concerned with the high costs of health maintenance and recovery nowadays.

What I like most in the book is its systematic presentation of the method of cultivating and mastering Qi, enriched with Qigong exercises and mind focus affirmations. The author breaks Qi cultivation into ten phases, namely: discover, gather, circulate, purify, direct, conserve, store, transform, dissolve, and transmit Qi. Part II of the book devotes a chapter for each of these phases, and each chapter concludes with illustrated instructions for a specific qigong method as well as a mind focus affirmation. Part III deepens the reader’s understanding and practice of Qi cultivation.

The last chapter of the book explores the deeper meaning of Tai Chi not only as a form of qigong but also as a philosophical concept – ‘the harmony of Yin and Yang’. Thus, the author discusses the tai chi of certain prevalent areas of life, namely: the tai chi of courage and honesty; relationship, conflict resolution, and sexuality; money; power and leadership; winning; belief; personal and world peace; the tai chi of love; and, lastly, the tai chi of conscious evolution.

The book ends, in fact, with a call to conscious evolution which, the author says, is ‘neither impossible nor costly, particularly with the widespread use of simple yet powerful personal improvement and health-enhancement technologies like Qigong and Tai Chi.’