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The Official magazine of Wu’s Tai Chi Chuan Academy, Bethnal
Green(The Original Wu’s Tai Chi Chuan Academy for London, the U.K.
and Europe)
Volume 6 Issue 1 October 2013
SLANT FLYING
Fire
LI
Water
KAN
Earth
KUN
Moun
tain
KEN
Lake
TUI
Thun
der
CHEN
Heaven
CHEN
Wind
SUN
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CONTENTSPortugal Jason Pratt 2Gradings 3Our better selves Karen
Dabrowska 4Autumn Residential 5London Competition 2013 Mirilee
Pearl 6Competition pictures 8The empty mind Timea Eathorne 9With a
little help from my friends Fiona Anderson 10Paradise practice
Mirilee Pearl 11Chi Tea at Tai Chi Sam Leon 12Unofficial guide to
every day tai chi Sam Leon 13Back cover picture Fiona Anderson
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Front Cover:
The front cover shows the Later Heaven (also known as the King
Wen) arrangement of the eight trigrams. This sequence shows the
cycle of change, growth and decay of the seasons or in relation to
nature. It is often referred to as the World of Phenomena of the
Senses, emphasising feeling and intuition. It is relatively more
complex than the Earlier Heaven Sequence
I took this picture while on Holiday in Portugal and had only
started Tai Chi in October of 2010. It was an over-cast day,
blissfully quiet, just perfect conditions to go outside and
practice between the trees and nature.
It was a warm day. I had already bought some Tai Chi music and
had it on my iPhone. I popped on my headphones and lis-tened to the
music while slowly practicing my Ch-uan. I must have been
outside for about 40 minutes, just going over what I had learned
over the last 6 months.
I had a very turbulent 2010 in terms of health and it led me to
seek out different forms of physical exercise.
The combined medical benefits of Tai Chi for blood circulation
and core strength was the per-fect form of exercise for me. It
didn’t take me very long to realise that Tai Chi is nothing like
other forms of martial arts that I have tried.
I have taken on Tai Chi as more a way of life than just a
martial art and the meditative proper-ties of Tai Chi breathing
really help to calm and focus me.
So when I took this picture I wanted it to portray how I was
feeling to you the reader. Peace.
Jason Pratt
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GRADINGSCONGRATULATIONS TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY GRADED
October 2013 Grzegorz Janukowski RedOctober 2013 Valentina
Picchi Red
May 2013 Davide D’Alto YellowMay 2013 Dominic Morris YellowMay
2013 Mark Spencer YellowApril 2013 Michael Ho YellowApril 2013 Orit
Gal YellowApril 2013 Davide D’Alto RedApril 2013 Joe Kane RedApril
2013 Mark Spencer Red
February 2013 Michael Ho RedNovember 2012 Robert Wymer
YellowNovember 2012 Mark Reeve RedOctober 2012 Andy Salt
GreenOctober 2012 David Muller GreenOctober 2012 Fiona Anderson
GreenOctober 2012 Luke Deefholts GreenOctober 2012 Mike Selby
GreenOctober 2012 Nicole Lomas GreenOctober 2012 Richard Davies
GreenOctober 2012 Stefanie Sachsenmaier Green
September 2012 Everton Green BlueSeptember 2012 Jono Podmore
BlueSeptember 2012 Piers Wallace BlueSeptember 2012 Samuel Leon
BlueSeptember 2012 Timea Eathorne BlueSeptember 2012 Benoit
Audureau WhiteSeptember 2012 KyungRan Ko WhiteSeptember 2012
Dominic Morris RedSeptember 2012 Robert Wymer Red
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Tai Chi: Presenting our best selvesRegardless of our experiences
during the day most of us manage to concentrate when we come to the
academy. The warm-ups relax our muscles, the meditation helps to
free our minds from an endless stream of thoughts and the martial
arts applications sharpen our awareness. Studying the form is
always a challenge but when we finally go through it at the end of
the class our mind is brought to stillness and we leave the academy
with a profound sense of peace in harmony with the God of our
hearts, the God of our realization.
But coming to the academy and giving the practice of Tai Chi our
undivided attention is only half the story. When we come to the
academy we are presenting ourselves – our unvarnished selves. It
does not matter what letters we may, or may not, have in front of
our name, what we do for a living, whom we know, which planets
square our moon. What matters is our willingness to learn, to
develop, to contribute and to share what we know with our fellow
students.
When presenting our unvarnished selves it is incumbent on us to
present our best selves. This means over and above our Tai Chi
practice we have to put our lives in order and eliminate any
negativity which clouds our mind. This can range from minor matters
like keeping our house tidy, creating a positive environment,
making sure we greet and appreciate all the fellow travellers on
lifes journey, to major concerns like relationship issues, ensuring
we are in the right job and serving our community – making a
difference is a tall order but at least we should ensure that we do
no harm and that no one is worse off for having come into contact
with us.
Only our 100 percent is good enough in the way we practice Tai
Chi and the way we live our lives.
In the words of master Lao Tzu:What is still is easy to
hold.What is not yet manifested is easy to guide.What is brittle is
easy to crack.What is minute is easy to scatter.Deal with things
before they appear.Order things before they become confused.
Karen Dabrowska
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AUTUMN RESIDENTIAL 2013AT GAUNTS HOUSE IN DORSET
Above: Full Group Photograph
Above: Sifu and Mirilee practice San Shou
Left: Warmups
Left: Rich and Fiona practise spear sticking
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THE 6th ANNUAL LONDON COMPETITION FOR TRADITIONAL TAI CHI
CHUAN
With nearly 135 competitors, plus officials, friends and family,
it was the largest since the event began. About 200 people enjoyed
a whole day of individual and group events with participants
ranging from 7 years old to, well, people of a certain age. The
Juniors events, group forms and san shou, and qigong competition
events, are now a regular feature of our competition, alongside
traditional individual forms and push hands competition. Despite
having a packed house, many commented on the happy feeling vibe
that filled the hall, along with the early summer sunshine. The
relaxed, family orientation at the competition seems to provide an
opportunity for tai chi players who might not ordinarily compete to
give it a try.
Six years ago, Sifu Gary Wragg started the London Competition to
give trainee judges the opportunity to work alongside top style
leaders and gain supervised, hands-on experience in judging tai
chi. It grew out of the Judges Seminar programme. started by Sifu
Gary and the Tai Chi Union Great Britain in 2005 to improve the
quality of judging at competitions. The Seminars not only provide
opportunities to learn about other tai chi style from top Masters,
by showing us another perspective they also give us new insight
into our Wu style. Such formal training benefits competitors
because judges are able to make fairer decisions based on the real
characteristics of the style they are viewing and not by comparison
to the judges own tai chi style. Push hands referee training may
soon be added to forms judging as part of the Seminar
Programme.
Among the high points of the weekend, for Wu Stylists, was that
Jonathan Krehm joined us from Wu’s Academy Toronto which was
started by Grandmaster (Eddie) Wu Kwong Yu in 1973. He
generously
Master Liming Yue demonstrating Chen Style sword at the
pre-competition Judges Seminar
Johathan Krehm discusses rules with Form competitors
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co-presented Wu Style Sword with Sifu Gary at the Saturday
Judges Seminar, headed up the Wu style desk at the Competition, and
came to our classes helping us to improve our push hands and forms.
Jonathan is the number three Disciple of Grandmaster Wu, who is the
5th Generation Lineage Holder of the Wu style.
Children’s events at the Competition continue to thrive and this
year, along with form demonstrations and fixed feet push hands, we
added a moving step competition. Three of the 4 participating clubs
were from the Wu style: with kids from Bethnal Green, Archway and
Somerset. The children amaze us all with the soft direct
naturalness of their movement and the fearlessness of their
minds.
The quality of the performances ensured an interesting and
lively time for all spectators. Over the years participants have
been offered increasing categories of entries. for example in group
forms and san shou, along with our collaboration with the British
Health Qigong Association. One interesting feature has been the
approach to competition displays. We now see many more entries from
people who don’t fit the mold of traditional martial arts
competitors. Some are much more keen just to ‘give it a go’ in a
group form.
The push hands desk offered much excitement this year with high
quality refereeing from members of our own Academy and a guest
appearance from Cliff Cox, well known many from the British Open.
It was excellent to see more and more competitors able
to stay true to their training, gaining point by using
recognisable techniques under pressure. The value of having of foot
judges cannot be overestimated and is a valuable asset to the
referee.
Training for form or push hands competition can be a great
experience, sharing focused learning with Academy members and
deepening one’s understanding of the art. Details of the
competition results are available at
http://www.wustyle-europe.com/results20130602.html. Academy members
are most welcome to come and train as foot judges and helpers for
the next competition.
Mirilee Pearl
Lan and Dick demonstrating the Wu style Competition Form
Ceciel Kroes presents awards in the Intermediate mixed Sa-bre
category to Mohammed Ayaz (Bronze), Alfia Nakipbekova (Gold) and
Samuel Leon (Silver)
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For the past few weeks I have been think-ing about one of the
most important Tai Chi aspects, which might actually be one of the
most challenging of all: emptying the mind.
My contemplation started after an incident in our local pub. It
was a Friday night and the place was quite full, so I was really
hap-py when I spotted an empty table. To mark that the seats were
taken, I left my shopping bags and heavy laptop bag at the table
while I went to get a drink. I continued to keep an eye on my
belongings, thinking the devil never sleeps. Quite right, for just
as I turned my full attention back to my seat, I saw a man picking
up my laptop bag while nervously looking around and starting to
walk toward the exit. In that very moment, all my tai chi training
and practice gathered together into a strong, loud and powerful
sound (or better to say noise). Why do I know it was powerful?
Well, regular feedback I get from Shifu is that I talk softly and
not from my dantien. That noise I made in that moment was so loud
and clear that the whole pub stopped for a second and stared at me
– including the man with my bag. This was enough to ‘distract’ him
and, in a blink of an eye, I found myself right in front of him –
while he was still looking puzzled about what had just
happened.
I looked him straight in the eyes and with a firm but soft voice
I told him “That’s my bag.” It was as if time had stopped. I could
see the thoughts and emotions on his face while I was having
visions of how to grab his wrist and kick his knee to stop him
getting away. Thankfully, he was ‘wise’ enough to drop my bag on
the floor and leave.
This story left me marvelling about how an empty mind could make
me act so prompt-ly in a situation when time was critical. My whole
body including my voice and feet acted in unity to do what was
required in that very moment...and last but most importantly, my
sense of time disappeared, allowing me to judge and assess my
“opponent’s” poten-tial next moves and action. (And of course,
another key lesson learnt is not to leave my bags unattended.)
Since this incident I have started to explore and experience how
an empty mind helps to focus on the inside and leave the exter-nal
worries and thoughts. My last two weeks at work were incredibly
difficult – I was put under tremendous pressure in a way I have
never experienced before. Pressure is not
new, but the responsibility and strict dead-lines seemed to
double the weight of the “regular” pressure I’ve got used to.
During those days, the more my mind was telling me how much
pressure I was under, the more emotional, tired and nervous I
became. The critical moment peaked 3 hours before a deadline to
submit the salary figures of 1,200 people to the payroll
department. I felt the pressure was so intense and high in my body
that I found it hard to breathe. “That’s it”, I thought and put my
music on, took a few deep breaths and got back to the data file for
the very last, final check. Again, time seemed to disappear
completely and I felt I was lost in what I was doing.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about this as the “Flow” – one
focuses on the task at hand so much that all senses seem to
disappear, including that of time. Csikszentmihalyi is a
Hungarian-born psychologist noted for his work in the study of
happiness and creativity. He described flow as “being completely
in-volved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time
flies. Every action, move-ment, and thought follows inevitably from
the previous one. Your whole being is involved, and you are using
your skills to the utmost.” *
I find it fascinating that he explicitly mentions ego falling
away – again something that we hear from Shifu regularly when he
talks about emptying the mind.
Thankfully, I managed to complete the work on time and with the
results required. And as before, I have my list of lessons learnt
from this experience.
But the most important outcome for me was to realise how much an
empty mind can help in our every-day life: silencing the monkey
thoughts that are continuously trying to divert us from our task –
be it a specific activity or work or our inner desires and ultimate
dreams.
An empty mind helps us focus inwards and slow down more and
more, making us more centered and allowing us to stick to and hold
on to our most precious and true qualities and thoughts. This is
ultimately the greatest challenge to achieve in these current
times, given that life only seems to be speeding up and getting
louder and louder.
* Geirland, John (1996). “Go With The Flow”. Wired magazine,
September, Is-sue 4.
Timea Eathorne
The Empty Mind
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I started practicing Tai Chi after failing to get into any
Chinese painting courses. I wanted to do something different,
something beautiful, something Chinese, even if it wasn’t
painting...
From being a couch potato to earning my living through Tai Chi,
it’s been a surprising and enjoyable transformation. Tai Chi
improved me physically, but more than that it made me a calmer,
more confident person.
Setting up in business has been interesting, challenging and
enjoyable. Brainstorming with the The Boyfriend, who has been a
rock!, and suggestions from friends provided ideas. The first step
was to create a portfolio to show to potential clients – paperwork
and qualifications, bank stuff and taxes – so I would be ready to
go, the moment I actually got a client.
Now, there is the ongoing work to get clients. My private
clients mostly come through the TCUGB and TaiChiFinder websites and
my charity clients mostly come through personal contacts. The
business postcards Piers designed have been extremely helpful in
selling the professional look.
My boyfriend set me up with a website, turning my barrage of
ideas into a user-friendly exciting experience. Jono produced
videos for me, which add a vibrent feel.
Facebook provides further publicity. It has also put me in touch
with people I haven’t seen in years, and I now have to avoid
becoming addicted.
I was recently contacted by the Young At Heart Show, to put on a
demonstration at Alexander Palace. Numerous club members helped -
many took part in the demo, looking striking in their blue or white
tshirts. Behind the scenes Piers, organised the giant signs and
LTCI leaflets, Mirilee transported signs and Wu leaflets, Stroud
rescued the signs later, Jenny ensured no-one in the audience
escaped without being leafletted, Timea brought chairs for our
stand (otherwise my knees might not have lasted the course!),
Philippe took photos and last but not least The Boyfriend carried
all my gear and manned the stand for hours, talking to various
passers by. This event was a chance for publicity for the club and
for my business, hopefully leading to positive follow-ups for both.
I’ve been very impressed by how everyone got into helping make both
days a successful experience - well done everyone!
Teaching outside the club is different. I teach individuals and
large groups. I try to relax and tune into what they want. Some are
determined to learn the 108 form, others just want to copy. I try
to give everyone a positive learning experience, tailored to
them.
The charity I am most excited about working for is MIND. I am
aware that Tai Chi can really help people with mental health
issues, as it has helped me with my own depression over time.
Persistence is the key to sustained improvement, so becoming one
area of life
Above: The audience take part in the demo at Alexander
Palace
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
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that gives us all a consistent positive experience.
With my new lifestyle, I am poorer in the monetary sense but
richer in the life sense. I have time now to visit parks, museums,
have coffee with friends and take up painting, circling back to my
original intention. I have no illusions about actually being a good
painter. I do it because I enjoy it. I have looked at hundreds of
ancient Chinese paintings and landscape scrolls and started by
copying small sections. Now I take bits from all different
paintings, put them together, altering them into a harmonious feel,
then painting over with different colours. After months of this, I
have finally produced 2 paintings that my teacher didn’t say “next
week you might like to try...” hah!
Life is good! There’s time and opportunity for fun, and Tai Chi
helped me appreciate that. It’s a really nice thing to do for a
living. The first six months were hard, but apparently that is
absolutely normal for any new set-up. Anyway, everything is onwards
and upwards...
Fiona Anderson
(see back cover for Fiona’s painting)
Paradise PracticeDawn on the pier in Wind protectionSea birdsThe
low sucking sound of surfacingGlance reveals a porpoise curving
‘roundJoyed.Again? Yes, Hello, it Was me.Sunrise warmups gather
interestA few from the 37 increase the throngEmbarking on the 108A
settled audience of gulls, pipers andMy own great white
heronIntent.Pelicans float by.The gulls flinch with the lotus
kicksMy heron watches sideways to the end Only leaving after the
sittingIn the now warm morning.
Umbrella sabre on the thin beachBare feet, hard pebblesBring the
water shoes next time.
Mirilee Pearl, Islamorada 2008
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Sometimes the best lessons occur when we least expect them.
It seems that when you surround an activity with ceremony you
invite moments of illumi-nation, or even minor epiphany. What I
mean by this is that someone does or says some-thing that makes so
much sense to us on a fundamental level that a concept actually
be-comes tangible by experiencing what it means to us
personally.
The teacup is passed with both hands and always first to Sifu.
But once everyone has sipped from their cup, then all become equal
and it doesn’t matter how long someone has been doing tai chi, we
can all become each other’s teachers. A deeper understanding can
emerge from the fluidity of sharing ideas and experiences that
spring from what might appear at first to be the most mundane of
subjects.
One such lesson occurred for me. It began something like
this:
“How’s it going?”“OK, a bit tired, doing an essay for my MA at
SOAS”“Oh, What in?”“Taoist philosophy.”“Cool. What’s it about?”
My basic recall of the gist of this conversation as it unfolded
was that, some western transla-tions of Taoist writings were
misinterpreted on a fundamental level. This was because when we
Westerners read the word ‘mind’, we as-sume that it is something
located in the head, whereas early Taoists placed the mind in the
heart.
I went away and reflected on this concept. ‘Think with your
heart’ I told myself every time something happened that affected
me. What it did was to change my approach, instead of thinking
about external conditions concerning myself with conclusions and
rea-son. It internalized my thoughts and helped to bring me into
the moment. This new process offered the opportunity to take a
different
course of action that was more in tune with what I have come to
understand as the path of least resistance.
My personal conclusion to this experiment (so far), is that
thinking with the mind in the head creates resistance that takes
the form of a hesitation in responding to a situation or influence.
It is almost as if a translation period takes place, which goes
something like this:
Incident/situation:Step 1: work out what it’s about, what it
means, how it may affect me. Step 2: weighing up the consequences
and deciding what to do.Step 3: taking up a suitable position to
deal with the response to the action I have decided to take.
My experience of thinking with the heart is entirely
different.
Imagine a situation or thought is like a call into a cave, a
time of reflection takes place while waiting and listening. With
the echo comes a reply that is informed, because an alternate
perspective can be gained during this process allowing a natural
response to flow like a conversation from the sound of the
echo.
This experience is much like our pushing hands system of asking
a question and listen-ing, where the response follows on from the
direction of the energy or pressure that you feel. The difficulty
in both is to keep relaxed with a clear mind, which makes us empty
enough to hear what is going on without pre-dicting or forcing an
outcome.
There are many stories from around the world and indeed
philosophies that talk about fol-lowing your heart, could this be
what they mean? Although I have only just begun this journey it has
already taught me a lot, the first thing being to enjoy the journey
itself.
Sam Leon
CHI
TEA
AT TAI C
H
I
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The Unofficial guide to developing Tai Chi principles in
everyday life.
Part 1 - Riding a bike
Step 1Releasing the thumbThe usual handlebar grip tends to raise
the elbows and hunch the shoulders.
Placing your thumb on top (see below), allows your elbows and
wrists to sink and you are now stearing with the heal of your
hand.
Step 1 - BonusSteering with the heel of the hand can help to
develop stickiness, es-pecially going over bumps.
Warning; If sticking is not well de-veloped then going over
bumps can be viewed as an opportunity to test your breakfalls at
speed.
Step 2Adding the stretch.Tilting your seat backwards a couple of
inches, emphasises the pelvic tuck adding a good stretch to the
principles set up in step 1.
This also incorporates the stretch across the back and a sinking
in the chest, for a solid frame which should help to stabilise your
bal-ance over rough ground.
There is one important thing to bear in mind and that is to wear
something wind-proof, as your joints will be open when riding this
way. Sam Leon
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