In the words of an English poet: "OO are Yer?"

hi!

i'm new here.

yang is my style but i recently started another style which is rather unknown /actually i don't even remember the name/ i guess and has a somewhat unique approach/especially to leg-positioning/. anyway, it works.

i used to practice wing tsun a bit but stopped cause i figured it was to pain-causing.

no time for more at the moment
cheers

 

MASTERforge newmember

Hi,

My name is Leigh and I started tai chi about 2 years ago. I live in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. If there are any Yang Style teaches nearby please contact me as there are none in the local area.

I wanted to progress to the sword form so started looking around for a good tai chi sword. I couldnt find anything suitable so sourced a sword from china. I now have set up a business selling these swords at www.masterforge.co.uk

I am fascinated my swords. My personal one is based on a Han Dynasty Jian 206BC - 220 AD. It is made with a sandwich (sanmai) construction of a hard core steel wrapped around softer folded layer steel.

I have joined the forum to learn more about the martial arts. I am also looking for training partners in my local area.


Leigh

 

oooh aah

Started Tai Chi (as it was then!) 20 years ago with John Kells in London. Yang style in the lineage of Chen Man Ching > Dr Chi Chiang Dao > John. Many years there before John stopped teaching (I believe he has started teaching again now). Went on to study Yang and a bit of Chen with a Chinese teacher in London; got hooked on Chen style (that teacher also stopped teaching). Went to the Shaolin temple (London branch) to continue Chen training, only there a few months before a split developed and the Tai Ji shifu and the head Shaolin teacher parted company (do you see a pattern developing here?). Went on to Michael Tse's classes in my continuing pursuit of Chen. Now living in Beijing training with a local Chen style teacher (Liu Wan Kun), very happy with the stuff I'm being taught now. If I'd only trained as hard as I do know, I would have been pretty good by now. Oh well.

 

i'd love to go and study in china. It always seems like an impossible dream although I have read on a few forums of people doing it.

If I could work and study tai chi it would be my dream. Your very lucky

 

name jeff, I live in the forest of dean in glos.

started martial arts when I was 9, I'm 42 now. Started with karate, moved into muay thai, kung fu and then tai chi, also did aikido and western boxing. Studied yang for er a number of years and recently started sun style, toying with studying chen as well.

I try and train as much as I can but kidney failure (caused by a dodgy beefburger in thailand) puts a major stop on me at times.

 

Hello everyone
My name is Yin-Yang Boxer. I have studied Yang style TaijiQuan for about 8 1/2 years. I came into it not really knowing much about what Taiji Quan is, but I'm now having lots of fun learning the martial and non-martial applications of the art.
I understand that different people have widely contrasting views on what Taiji Quan is and isn't, (one quick look at this board and the Internal Martial Art board showed that ) As I see it, all views are valid, because Taiji Quan is Tao, and as they say "The Tao that can be named is not the true Tao".

I look forward to learning a lot from everyone here, and hopefully contributing something worthwhile as well

Many regards

Yin-Yang Boxer.

 

A belated hello

Hello everyone, sorry it has taken me a couple of months to get around to telling you who I am. As I explained to Taiji Butterfly on another thread, I kind of had other things on my mind when I first managed to activate my account here. Here's a quick bio from an interview I did recently:

I came from a very rough area so we started playing around with swords, shields, staffs, flails, armour and motorbike leathers when I was 14. Someone I knew got killed and dismembered with a machete, and I know others who've been stabbed or hammered to death. I've been on the receiving end of a lot of violence, but when I have fought back, especially when defending others, I have won.

My formal teaching started 10 years ago with Edward Hines, who taught me Gao style Bagua. I started learning Eskrima at the same time and then moved on to study Silat fairly intensively. I used to train pretty much full time and spar or push hands with other martial artists whenever I could. The Bagua gave me a good idea of generic movement principles and power generation, while the Silat and Eskrima focussed more on tactical positioning. I also learned some Chen style Xin Jia with Liming Yue (a student of Chen Zhenglei), but my main teacher was Robert France (a student of Nigel Sutton, amongst others) who authorised me to teach Taijiquan. We looked at quite a few different styles, forms and push hands methods, but I focussed on the Zheng Manqing material. I also underwent bai shi with Robert. I've had other teachers too, but those listed are my main ones.

I've always had a very hands-on approach to training and haven't been afraid to own, adapt, adjust,*systemise or rationalise things as necessary.

I've just set up a new, fully independent Taiji organisation called the Martial Tai Chi Association, which is solely for purely martial Tai Chi / Taijiquan instructors (& students) who have a similar view to myself with regard to realistic hands-on training and taking a scientific rather than mystical approach.

 

A Short History of My World

Hey all~

Here's a little bit about me-

• born in New York; have lived in Pennsylvania for last 14 years
• started hard-style MA in 1970 (taekwondo/hapkido/kenpo) at 12 years old
• at same time, started Yang taiji (talk about conflicting styles!) and qigong
• 48 years old, divorced (too much taiji practice, I guess)
• Occupation: taiji & qigong instructor, OMD (Doctor of Oriental Medicine), author ("T'ai Chi for Seniors", "The Laughing Taoist")
• operated schools in several states in US - currently accepting private students only and working on doing the "online biz" thing :bang:
• mainly vegetarian, but I like a good pepperoni pizza once in a while
• 2 sons, 18 and 10 - the Yin/Yang twins LOL
• likes: solitude, quiet, and warm weather - preferably shared with a gorgeous woman
• dislikes: arguing over MA styles (so don't expect to see me in certain threads here ) - I've been on the Net almost since its inception and I've seen too much useless arguing to participate.
• belief system: philosophical taoist
• education: PhD-Metaphysics; OMD; life
• hobbies: writing poetry and parody
• Misc: insanely wealthy, incredibly handsome, unbelievably intelligent, and accomplished BS'er

 

Hi All,

You folks can call me Aaron, I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the US.
I've been training in various forms of martial arts for about 28 years. I've studied various forms of Kung Fu, Kali, and Western martial arts (boxing and a bit of Systema). For the past 15 or so years I've concentrated on training and teaching Taijiquan. I work with various styles of Taijiquan, but I teach Cheng Man Ch'ing style. I approach Taijiquan as a martial art, and believe the health benefits are byproducts of training with martial intent.

I and several other people formed the Avatar Martial Arts Association, which takes in experienced people from all different sorts of martial arts backgrounds, and gets together to train and teach each other. We have people with MMA backgrounds, others in Tibetan martial arts, Mongolian martial arts and lots of Chinese martial arts. We get together to learn from each other, and to try out stuff on people that don't come out of the style that you do. We also believe that martial art needs to be progressive and dynamic, to change to meet the needs of the times. We (for the most part) come from traditional backgrounds and value traditional training, but we also feel the need to be progressive and look for innovation.

 

And then there was me...

Hi all,
I've been learning Taiji for about 3 years now, and in the last few months I've been starting to practice some Xing Yi.

Hopefully I'll see some of you around the boards.

 

old palden

I'm closing hard on 50. Tae Kwon Do black belt in 1980, then some Goju Karate, developed an interest in meditation and chi gung, and was fortunate enough to learn some things of value (and some things that weren't). Dabbled in Aikido for a while before I started practicing Yang style tai chi in 1991. The school didn't go in for much chuan, but a guy does what he can.

Not a master, or any kind of major badass, just a guy who's practiced martial arts and meditation since he was a much younger man. Recently began learning Wu style TaiChiChuan (notice the chuan) and hope my eightieth birthday finds me waking at sunrise to practice it under a banyan tree on Maui with all my friends.

Martial artists are notorious for every brand of pretentious arrogance you can name, and I've been guilty of my share... but having said that, there's an honesty to crossing hands that I like, and that kind of honesty only draws and holds certain people.

You can bull---- about pretty much everything, and the internet is perfect place to do just that, but on a training hall floor (or darker, slippier locales from Main Street America to Back Alley Beijing), when somebody is bouncing you around like a rubber ball in a friendly match, or trying to bounce the back of your favorite head off the ground in a less friendly encounter, there's no bull---- about any of that.

I think we can all use a little less bull---- in our lives.


I appreciate the fellowship of shared aspirations, shared ideas and shared values that this site provides. I have found value here, and hope that I can provide some as well.

 

I'm 20, my name is Brittany and I live in Central New Jersey USA. I have been practicing Taijiquan for 3 months. We are on the first part of the long Curriculum, Yang style and I suppose that's the most popular style. Also in our curriculum is Chen and Sun style, mixed family styles, and lots of internal arts. I am interested in Wu style but it doesn't seem to be on the curriculum, however my Sifu said he's willing to teach me if I'm willing to learn it.

Warning I might ramble, I LOVE Taijiquan.

I also practice 5 Element Qigong, which we are touching the tip of. From my research there's a lot more out there. Not only is it great for you, Qigong makes for a nice conditioning drill on the legs. I can't get the breathing through the nose right, my diaphragm feels so restricted and tight.

Right now, my class is learning the Yang Style 24-Step form, and after that our curriculum expands pretty well. 32 Sword Form, 40 Step, 32 Fan, Broadsword and 108 Step. And that's just for Yang style! It's going to take me ages to learn all of this! I go about 5x per week, 1 hour per session.

Taiji has had amazing health benefits. I'm becoming so much more flexible and able to deal with the stress that life has been throwing at me, financial pressures wash more easily off the shoulders now. On top of that I've lost a lot of weight and have strengthened my lower body and core, my posture is so much better!

Anyway that's my intro!

 

Welcome, Brittany.

 

Hi, my name's Ben Lynes and I've been studying Tai Chi and Qigong for about 18 months now.

My tuition with a local club is principally in the Yang Cheng-Fu Long Form, of which I am now reaching the end of the final third. Following that, we will then go on to re-learn the form and include advanced movements.

I have also covered the Yang Short Stick form which has been extremely enjoyable.

We have covered a number of Qigong sets, including the Eight Strands Of Silk Brocade, the 18 Taichi Qigong (Shibashi), and Three Circle Qigong. I am particularly looking forward to starting the first 64 of the Dayan Wild Goose Qigong in the near future.

Benjamin Lynes
Exploring Tai Chi & Qigong

 

Hi Ben and welcome...your journey so far is much like my own..

Regarding the Wild Goose form, it is one of my favourite forms probably because it is so unlike anything else I have learnt. Can I ask who your teacher for this is?

Happy Training, Carys.

 

Wild Goose Form

Hi Carys

The first and second 64 of the Wild Goose form is taught by the Tai Chi Qigong Health Centre (http://www.taichi-qigong.net/) based in Norfolk, England. This is the club to which I belong. I'm hoping to be able to move onto the Wild Goose sometime in the next 6 months, once the instructor becomes free.

Regards

Ben
Exploring Tai Chi & Qigong

 

Greets.
I figured this sleepless night was as good as any to put down my little bio .

Letsee: My name's Chase, I hail from Waterloo Ontario in Canada (eh? heh.). I'm 24, and have been playing at taiji for about 2 years now: with the Taoist Tai Chi Society. From what I understand its a bit of a mish-mash form, with bits and pieces from here there and everywhere. Currently I'm a University student, studying Physics, which definately colours my view of the IMA. science is everywhere!

This site looks to be an amazing resource: I'd like to express my appreciation to everyone, its a great thing that you're all doing here.

-Chase

 

I'm in Virginia and train with a small group whose instructor has been teaching taichi for 20+ years. I study Yang style long form, and just begun this last saturday. I had studied Isshinryu Karate in high school, but now at 22 I feel there are some things I want from a martial art I can't get in Karate, but I can get them in Taichi.

The students where I train are really good. Its pretty intimdating and so different from what I'm used to, I feel like I'm in a new country and don't speak the language. I look forward to getting feedback from everyone as I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions.

 

In Essex UK.

Train Yang Family 2nd generation middle frame and brocades and energetic work. Been at it for nearly 4 years now, thoroughly hooked.

This seems to be a little known variant brought to the UK 4 years ago by Tian Yin Jia and passed to Richard Dunn. We cannot do the full form in class as it takes an hour and a half to perform, so we do a 20min short form of it.

Anyone else know anything of this earlier training, all the Yang TCC I have seen other than ours is 3rd or 4th generation large frames.

 

I believe I know your school and count myself privaliged (sp?) to have met Tian Yin Jia when I attended a seminar a few years back.

It continues to greatly influence the way I practice my TaiJiQuan.