This is my first Home Page. I am thinking, writing and learning how to put it together as I go. (some of it is still under construction).

I have many interests but this page will address mostly Tai Chi Chuan subjects, and primarily Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan as taught by Teacher Yang Zhenduo. The comments, opinions and observations expressed here are entirely my own. The subjects I have selected to comment on have been chosen for their importance to my own practice (I hope some of these are also useful to yours) and they reflect solely my own understanding.

When relating in these some aspect of Teacher Yang's teachings I am relying on mental recollections of what I have heard him said during our many meetings since 1990, in China and in the USA. In 1992 my translator in China was Mrs Jia Ming and in 1995 Mrs. Han Hoon Wang; and the translators for the seminars in Texas were my good friend Lei Chen, (a Chinese Wu Style practitioner) during the 1996 Seminar; and my student (and now Master Yang's student in China) Jeremy Blodgett who translated the Seminars in 1997. From these four sources (translators) I have developed part of my understanding.
(Teacher yang Zhenduo had been interviewed extensively in magazines since 1990. I will provide also a list of these publications and their dates)

Some of the subjects I will be commenting on are:

Tai Chi Chuan and the Oral tradition;

On the importance of the "Ten Principles";

The Classics;

Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan;

Competition (why I participate in Tai Chi Chuan Competitions);

Craneo-Sacral Therapy, Tai Chi Chuan and Sensitivity.

(Most of these are still under construction)

For an Historical overview I suggest reading "Ignorance, Legend and Tai Chi Chuan" at: http://www.nardis.com/~twchan/henning.html from Terry Chan's Page at http://users.quake.net/~twchan

The poet Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) wrote in one of his quatrains:

..."Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

I want to thank my first Tai Chi Chuan Teacher: Master William C.C.Chen and my current Tai Chi Chuan Teacher: Master Yang Zhenduo; and also some teachers in between them: Master Kuo Liengying and Master Bruce Frantzis. Without them I would not have much to write about Tai Chi Chuan.

There are also other teachers I have met who helped me understand myself and the inter-connectedness of all things:

J. Khrisnamurti (teacher, philosopher); David Bohm (Theoretical Physicist and philosopher of science); Luba Gurdjieff (niece of G.I. Gurdjieff); Osho -Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh- (spiritual teacher); Moshe Feldenkrais (Awareness through Movement), Babatunde Olatunji (nigerian Master drummer), Roger Steffens, Ras Michael & Joseph Hill ( Jah Rastafari), Amparo Ochoa ( singer, School teacher), Susana Rinaldi ( Singer,artist, showed me the soul of the city where I was born), Dian Yeager Lopez (who took me to my first Tai Chi Chuan Class), Myrna Renaud (dancer, teacher of afro-caribean culture. Ache), Eduardo Galeano (for the "Memories of Fire");

and other teachers/people I have not met -except in the spirit- but who nevertheless enriched my life: Walt Whitman (to be able to read him I learned the English language), Maria Callas (the art of listening. Check her CD "Maria Callas at Juilliard" - Emi Classics for an example of a "Master class"), Noam Chomsky (objectivity, and insight into how language affects thinking, and also the "manufacturing of consent"), Jelaluddin Rumi (ecstasy), Bob Marley (One Love), Teresa Parodi (singer, school teacher, showed me "el Pais del Interior" -the inner country), Sun Ra (showed other worlds), Gato Barbieri and Diego Maradona (for the magic), Astor Piazzolla (mas magia), Julio Cortazar (for opening the interdimentional window during my adolescence: Hopscotch), Jorge Luis Borges (for the scholarship); last but not least Tim Leary (for showing how the hardware works).....and Nina y Miguel Angel -mama y papa- R.I.P (who brought me into this body and its dance).

..."Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

Although the philosophical principle giving origin to the art of Tai Chi Chuan is really only one: the yin yang relationship, today there are 5 major styles taught by the Chen, Yang, Wu, Woo (Hao) and Sun families in China. These five Families have developed different ways of practicing and manifesting the same philosophical concept. There are also several new sets of simplified forms popularized among the Chinese people after the establishment of the People's Republic, as well as simplified forms developed in Taiwan and in the West.

In ancient times, knowledge was oral in nature. The early understanding derived from observing Tao was passed on for many generations by word of mouth. An oral transmission required a living representative -the Master- who both embodied and transmitted the traditional knowledge. In China, in Martial Arts circles it was customary for a father to pass on his knowledge to his son, thus perpetuating the knowledge through lineage, succession or tradition. Here we have the main elements of the oral tradition: the teacher, the student and the unbroken line of knowledge in which the teacher and student are individual participants in a tradition which stretches beyond both. Oral traditions for passing on knowledge are still very much alive in China today. The ancient art and science of Tai Chi Chuan is one example of the ability of the older generations to: first, master the art and then, to nurture it into the next generation.

Many claims have been made about Tai Chi Chuan and its versatility as a unique system of health and energy cultivation, as a system of meditation capable of enhancing physical coordination, emotional balance and longevity of life, and as an unsurpassed method of self defense. There are certain requirements of practice that must be met for the practice to be effective and for all the desired results to be realized.
The “Ten essential requirements of Tai Chi Chuan Practice” by Master Yang Chengfu (1883-1936) are a good starting point for the person interested in learning how to practice Tai Chi Chuan correctly.

Continuity in the arts rely on human beings. When set against the backdrop of tradition, the relationship of teacher and student becomes more than just a meeting and exchange between two individuals. It serves as the vital link in the continuation of the art.

Horacio's comment:

These ten principles are very important and, if one practices Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan they must be must be thoroughly understood.

These ten principles are specific operational processes and not merely vague generalities;
and they have to be manifested simultaneously while doing the form. For this to happen specific training is required . This training is for the BodyMind together (simultaneously) and it affects the practitioner's consciousness.

The ten principles are the keys needed to unlock the hidden possibilities and benefits of the Tai Chi Chuan system. The Yang family has been making available this understanding to the Chinese people for six generations; and now, also to the rest of the world.

There cannot be Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan without the understanding and the manifestation of the ten essential requirements into the form one practices.

Understanding the ten requirements means manifesting them in action. Here, the word understanding does not mean "intellectual knowledge" - i.e. being able to quote the 10 principles from memory.

Understanding, which is Knowledge plus Being, manifests in Action.

In other words, when one understands the importance of the ten requirements one works to embody them at each moment of one's practice; and, for these requirements to be manifested -simultaneously- at each moment of one's practice, specific training is required.

...To be further developed...
Your comments and insights are welcome. Please E-mail me at hltaichi@dcci.com
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