No.72. OCTOBER 2024
NEWS
Images of tai chi masters to be projected onto a former London pumping station, and study reveals how tai chi reduces blood pressure
Page 4 – 5
THE BOARD
Latest news from the Tai Chi Union Board, including a sleek new logo and a modern look to better reflect the evolving identity of the Union.
Page 6 – 7
CALEDONIA
Paul Thomas reports from Tai Chi Caledonia, a week of Tai Chi, Qigong and Chinese internal arts in the heart of Scotland.
Page 8 – 10
EVENTS
A look at upcoming events including a 5 Element Water Spirit Day held in North Wales and an online course in Qigong.
Page 11
3 MASTERS
A four-day event at Sparsholt College, Winchester, where three masters from three styles of taijiquan came together to present their experiences.
Page 12 – 15
02 CONTENTS
What's inside
PUSH HANDS
The international push hands gathering in Hanover has been a big event in Europe for many years and 2024 was no exception as it celebrated its 24th incarnation. Colin Hamilton describes his experiences of the event.
Page 26 – 28
MIKE PATTERSON
Robin Gamble interviews Mike Patterson, who has spent 48 years teaching Xingyi, Bagua, Taiji and Liu He Ba Fa and is the highestranking teacher in the US Shen Lung Tang Shou Tao Association.
Page 19 – 23
QIGONG
Part 3 of Christopher Handbury's insight into ba duan jin qigong. This time it relates to the earth phase of the five elements.
Page 16 – 17
BOOKS
Reviews of three books including Eight Winds in the Heavens by Tom Bisio with Valerie Ghent, and a guide to Inner Balance for Kids.
Page 24 – 25
THE NET
In our new Casting the Net column, we highlight the Tai Chi Notebook podcast, which has featured the founder of the RuYi Tai Chi School.
Page 29
YANG JUN
Editor Ken Symon interviews Grandmaster Yang Jun, the fifth-generation lineage holder of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan, during a visit to Cambridge.
Page 30 – 34
LAST WORD
Humourist Nick Revell discovered a long-hidden cave while hiking recently in the remote Meiyou Shan Mountains!
Page 35
MEETING THE NEEDS OF A CHANGING COMMUNITY
by Ken Symon, Editor
Welcome to a new look and feel magazine published under its amended title Tai Chi Internal Arts.
In what is my first issue as Editor we are introducing changes to the style and content of the magazine to better meet the needs of a changing internal arts community on this island and beyond.
The arts include all styles of Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong with increased content on Baguazhang and Xingyiquan and related practices. The magazine will feature content that will inform, educate and inspire our practice of these great life-changing internal arts.
In this issue we feature an interview with Yang Jun, the Fifth Generation Lineage Holder of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan. His workshops in Cambridge in September were his first in-person teaching here for six years.
We have a report from the organisers of an intriguing event that featured three Wudang, Chen and Yang Masters and another from Britain’s biggest multi-style internal arts event Tai Chi Caledonia.
In this issue we feature an interview with Yang Jun, the Fifth Generation Lineage Holder of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan.
Our events coverage also looks beyond Britain to another major European event, Push Hands Meeting Hanover. Attending such events can help us to take our practice to a new level and are great experiences.
Another source of inspiration, entertainment and sometimes controversy and consternation is the increasing number of podcasts and websites devoted to the arts. In each issue we will feature what is catching our eyes and ears and giving us food for thought in our new Casting the Net feature.
Do let me know of anything that has particularly struck you from a podcast or online source or any suggestions for new books that we should review in our expanded Book Review section.
I want to make this your magazine so please contact me with your thoughts and responses to what we are publishing. Better still, submit an article on what you are doing with your classes or workshops. Writers of articles that are published will be given a free half-page advert in the magazine to advertise their internal arts event or class.
Enjoy the magazine and your practice!
EDITOR
Ken Symon
Board appoints health and research director
Ben Morris has rejoined the board of the Tai Chi Union as health and research director.
Ben who has practised the internal martial arts for several decades is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Trinity University. His work for the Union will focus on the latest research. He will review academic papers for their rigour and approach and findings. He will provide plain language summaries where appropriate.
Working with the rest of the Board he will seek to establish the Union as the ‘go to’ source for those seeking reliable and unbiased information on the internal arts. Ben teaches in person and online classes in West Yorkshire and internationally at summer camps. His practice includes tai chi chuan, baguazhang, xingyi chuan and qigong. He is the founder of taichiprofessional.uk which features current research, forthcoming events as well as an internal arts themed fashion line.
Images of four internationally renowned tai chi masters doing their form are to be projected onto a former London pumping station in a large-scale outdoor, evening film event.
The films will be thrown onto the four facades of the main Crossness Pumping Station building in Abbey Wood on the south bank of the Thames on a winter’s evening in 2025. In the films, the four tai chi players dressed in orange hi-vis workwear will be projected onto the building’s Victorian brickwork to generate a highly coloured spectacle moving round the large historic building.
The event, planned for 1 March 2025, has been timed to coincide with the opening of the nearby Gallery 32 winter sculpture park. The evening would include a tai chi taster session inside the building as part of the event.
A café to provide warm drinks would be open on the evening.
The planned film event is the work of Mhairi Vari, a Londonbased artist who is working with the Crossness Engines Trust which is breathing life into the historic Victorian industrial site.
Mhairi Vari said: “A spectacular light projection event at Crossness will be a positive winter celebration and open up the space to local audiences. It will also draw in audience from further afield thus publicising the newly developing area. Entering the secure territory surrounding Crossness brings people into a safe and enclosed space to visit at night. The ambitious scale of the work means it would also be accessible and visible from the Thames Path.
“The artwork is accessible on a number of levels – seeing the tai chi masters performing their art wearing regular hi-vis workwear opens an element of familiarity from the everyday while playfully adding a glowing layer of magic to wearing standard work gear. Getting tai chi masters to practise their forms in hi-vis orange is a playful way of approaching their everyday relationship of tai chi to their existence, but also playing on the notion of saffron robes and historic aspects of spiritual practice as well.”
Mhairi filmed the footage of the four masters Sam Masich from Canada, Paul Silverstrale from Sweden and Gianfranco Pace and Margherita Padolino from Italy at the Three Masters Festival held at Sparsholt College Winchester in August (see report of the event page 12).
The event is part of Mhairi Vari’s work towards a PhD in contemporary fine art practice within the Sound Image Research Centre at the University of Greenwich.
MOVING FORWARD FOR ALL MEMBERS
LATEST UPDATE FROM THE TAI CHI UNION BOARD
At the Members meeting in November 2023 we said we would engage with you to understand what you want from the Union. This would help us decide how to prioritise our work.
A couple of months later, we carried out a survey and the results have informed our plans this year and as we look ahead into 2025. We had a great response with nearly a fifth of you answering questions, although we are also conscious of wider needs and our responsibilities to the public as a Community Interest Company.
The clearest finding was that members want Union support for training, particularly among Ordinary Members. Training can be a controversial topic in an organisation which covers such a wide range of internal arts and styles. There are understandably strong passions about the independence of the schools and lineages.
Rest assured that we will never recommend or favour internal arts training which focuses on just one type of art or style. and intend to remain, supportive of all our members, focusing on what we have in common and valuing the differences which can teach us so much. The Union is a principles-based organisation by which we mean we focus on the aspects in common to the arts while respecting the differences and supporting all our members equally. training is for our instructors and their schools.
Firstly, we’re looking at focusing on helping our members meet the conditions set by insurers and the modern expectations of the public. means providing courses for more general needs, whether that is keeping up to date with the latest advice on health and safety, safeguarding, data protection etc, or knowing how to teach. forward relies on the appointment of a
Courses and Events Officer or other additional resources in our Support Team.
Secondly, we’re looking at how best to help the less experienced understand common principles in the arts. This is in response to both the survey and our own observations about a lack of knowledge in those applying to be Instructor Members. Specific training in any art must always come from a student’s own teacher. Providing non-style specific guidance is a challenge we’ve given to our Technical Panel, who between them have over 200 years of learning in all the main Internal Arts across many different styles.
Finally, the above will also help the public. One of the repeated requests is “what do I need to do to become a Union Instructor” Putting the above in place will help us answer this question as well as help the public understand what they In
members are regional events and the magazine. Regional events can be beneficial in so
community of like-minded people to They may even have fun while We are yet to have the resources to run such
sponsor members putting on local
We are currently considering the details of how this might work but we have seen good examples which can be copied elsewhere. Again, taking this forward relies
The magazine is generally well received, looking at how to incorporate many of the things you features and responding to requests
'We are supportive of all our members, focusing on what we have in common and valuing the differences which can teach us so much.'
in specific areas. Our membership is rich in knowledge with diverse experiences which can make it a challenging place to meet expectations!
The survey also suggested that we need to promote existing benefits more. As ever the t-shirt seemed to provoke more comment than anything else. These will be considered as we look at costs for next year because they are increasingly expensive and we are mindful of balancing fee increases with providing other services such as training.
We have plans for the website to make your benefits easier to access and take advantage of (see opposite page). More internal communication about benefits and other news is awaiting the appointment of the Communication Manager(s) we have advertised. These roles will also enable us to promote the Union as “the” place to find competent tai chi internal arts teachers.
We were really pleased with the level of member engagement. It has been very helpful in the way it has shaped the direction for your Union. Thank you to all of you who gave us your comments. They were all seen and considered by the Board
Tai
Chi Union Board
From sabre – and I heard wow reports of your recent sabre workshop in Madrid – what does that give you and what does sword give you in terms of energy development? Are there different things from barehand that those practices add?
The foundation is from the barehand and we all extend from that – from the coordination that you learn from barehand. You extend the energy that you learn from solo barehand into push hands. For the martial arts side, for people who want to control their opponent, barehand is not as efficient as weapons. If you want to level down with your opponent the weapon has advantages in levelling with opponents who are strong. The difference with the barehand is on the technique side because when you have a weapon you use weapons technique. With the barehand you use barehand technique, everything else is the same: the method is the same, you use the same kind of coordination, the same kind of body structure and the same principle; everything is the same but the difference is the weapons technique. As I said before if you meet people who are much different from you [in size and strength] then it’s challenging but if you have a weapon then you can balance that.
In push hands we have sticking, you use the same kind of method, the same kind of strategy not only in the barehand but also extended into the weapon. That is the idea of the weapon. Overall, if you want to be efficient you use two, the weapon is two.
The last area I want to talk about practice. To get to your level you must have done huge amounts of practice. How many hours a day did you practice when you were taking on the lineage?
Today I do much less (laughs). But actually when I was young, I trained hard. I liked it too, but I got pressure from my grandparents. In China if you understand the culture… I grew up with my grandparents, actually not my parents – my grandparents nurtured me and I lived with them from three months. So my grandparents were really my parents. Parents in China have more authority, in the past, not today, but in my time. They can ask you to do something and you know (laughs) – not like today probably. Today people might not feel it but that was the culture in China. You get a lot of pressure from parents who force you to do something.
Today, actually I feel I’m still growing more. When I was young, I trained on the physical side, I didn’t understand the theory much, didn’t understand the philosophy, didn’t understand what was important with the principles, basically the physical side I was training more but the understanding side was less. You could do something but could not find the answer to explain how, why?
Right now on the physical side – I’m getting older – less flexible than before, less ability than before but my mind understanding – in these parts I feel I’m more growing. I feel the more I understand tai chi chuan I feel I don’t know tai chi chuan. It’s not something you feel you’re done with; you continue discovering. This is just like the philosophy of tai chi – what does it mean tai chi? Chi means limitation, border. Tai means over, a little too much. Our understanding is limited by the border. The border is our understanding but it we continue to understand more, the border is extending. The more we discover the border will be wider. The more cannot get outside of the border and the less cannot get inside the border; there are two circles. Understanding is limited but can be expanded in two directions, one ultimately
grows bigger and the other ultimately grows smaller. Everyone in tai chi chuan we continue in self-growing, self-learning to extend the border. For us to have a wider understanding, more knowledge, the limitation is the border of understanding by yourself.
How important is practice and how much do you need to practise a day to develop your tai chi?
I’ve been teaching many classes and I also meet a lot of people and I can see the difference if they do daily and also if they don’t do daily. Based on my self-practice, based on my experience with my teaching and also based on my understanding of how they are training, I can see the amount of the time they practise. But there is also one element that I didn’t mention: if there is a teacher-guide. If there is no teacher guiding you then at some point you are stuck – you cannot improve yourself. You need to continue based on your training with the teacher fitting the new content to you then continue training, continue training with three, six months. Three months to finish the content the other months of the training to familiarise then basically you can start your own journey. Myself, I took much longer with the foundation side. I took three years just training the basic sequence. It was not that I could not move forward it’s just that my grandfather asked me to do more foundation. I was not to practise any of the energy exchange understanding for three years I only practised the circle sequence parts. The foundation is much more important than, in future, how many applications you can do because every application comes from your foundation. If you have a settled foundation then you are better growing.
Thank you very much.
My pleasure.
The class practising Brush Left Knee and Push at Yan Jun’s 103 Form Workshop
Yang Yun
WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS
by Nick Revell
Tai Chi player and humourist Nick Revell discovered a long-hidden cave while hiking recently in the remote Meiyou Shan Mountains. In that cave was an ancient jar and, in that jar, a dusty scroll. And on that dusty scroll he was shocked to discover the list of moves of a tai chi short form thought to date back to the Sing Song Dynasty.
Nonsuch Short Form
1: Beginning Style
2: Grasping the Bird’s Tail
3: The Master Stares and The Grasshopper Wobbles
4: Snake Creeps Down, Struggles To get Back Up
5: Hippopotamus Mooning the Face Style
6: Relax Your Shoulders (200 Times)
7: Turn Around and Realise You’re Being Watched Again
8: Retrieving Dignity from the Bottom of the Sea
9: Step Up, Grasping at Straws
10: Kick Out in A Curve, While Stifling the Fart
11: Repeat the Mistake on the Left and Right (400 times)
12: Pupil Cries in Corner
13: First Pint Goes Down Very Quickly
14: Completion Style
