We are getting really close now to our  Tai Chi residential weekend which runs from Friday afternoon through to Sunday afternoon over the weekend of 9th to 11th September – this is a lovely opportunity to learn, explore and develop your Tai Chi in the quiet relaxed atmosphere of the CCT Centre just outside Bungay in Suffolk.

There will be classes in Chen Laojia form, Broadsword form, Chi Kung,  Tai Chi exercises – silk reeling, Partner work and Push Hands. It is open to existing students plus anyone with previous experience of Tai Chi. Class size is restricted to 12 people.
Venue: Belsey Bridge, Ditchingham, Bungay, Suffolk, NR35 2DZ
Cost: £290 (en-suite). Payment in advance
Late booking fee of £30 after 1st August
Includes tuition with full board.

For further details and pictures please see here.

To book call Ian Deavin on 01462 621970

A piece containing thought provoking ideas and observations linking martial arts and life with a view to learning what goes on in life and why – and how we can develop to deal with it. For example:

Conflict and co-operation in social groups – social rules limiting combat and aiding working together. A superior survival strategy was found.

As intellect developed humans began seeking models, explanations and better ways of doing things – better traps, better tools etc. to survive better.

Natural events were considered to be animated – “aboriginal dreamtime”, paganism – Shinto, Wyker

Seeking to manipulate events – natural and other people – magic, ritual, spells and para-psychology.

Anthropomorphism – ascribing what we know (from ourselves and our family structures) onto outside events and beings – linking animals and humans – animism, totems – seeking to take on the power of others. Hinduism, Greek/Norse mythology, Druids, American Indian beliefs etc. etc,

Religion – development of fantasy “what if?” models – seeking explanations using intellectual creativity based on developments of previous beliefs. E.g. now one god rather than many. Fantasy based social structures creating power based opportunities – believe my fantasy or I’ll kill you, believe my fantasy and you must do as I say – “we play my game ‘cos it’s my ball”

Read the rest of the piece HERE

This is an early piece written in a time of my transition from Karate to Tai Chi and before I started Chen Style – or met my current teacher Karel Koskuba or his teacher Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang – so probably about 15 years ago or possibly more.

———————————————————————-

To put my position clearly I should start by explaining that my own background is of about 15 years Shotokan practice and almost 10 years of Yang style Tai Chi, bringing them both together in the same body has become a continuing process. What follows then is as much an account of a personal journey as an intellectual/physical study.

At first glance most Karate student’s comment on Tai Chi is something along the lines of “what has it to do with fighting?” and yet there is (even now) a mystique attached to it in Karate literature and discussion. Sensei Nakayama I believe when asked “which is better Sensei, Karate or Tai Chi?” commented “Karate is for humans, Tai Chi is for supermen “. This mystique is added to today as we look, with limited understanding, at masters such as Kanazawa Shihan, who publicise their own practice and manage to maintain extraordinary ability into a stage of life when most people are considering problems doing day to day tasks. The health aspect and that of meditation/stress management for which Tai Chi has become known in the west has sanitised it, hiding the reality that it is a thoroughly practical martial art – it was first codified that way some 400 years ago, and is still regarded as that by teachers I have studied under in Beijing, Hong Kong and the UK. Some of whom do not see it as anything else and are bemused that anyone should consider it apart from its fighting applications.

Madam Yeung for example, daughter of the late Grandmaster Yang Shou-chung certainly considers her family style to be a martial art (and has the sense of humour to prove it!). So too with Madam Sun, daughter of Sun Lu-t’ang who originated Sun style Tai Chi from Xingi-chuan, Baghua and Wu/Hao style Tai Chi. At more than 80 years of age Madam Sun can still impress with her demonstrations, including a throat attack with the “tiger mouth” formed between thumb and forefinger that seems to bring a light to her eyes!

At a simplistic level we can see similarities in many postures, for example there are equivalents to the basic Uchi uke and Gedan barai, although in Tai Chi there are often a range of possible uses rather than the one or two generally taught to Karate students. Other examples of similarity come from various Kihon and Kata, all easier to demonstrate than describe. This is not really surprising, the bodies are the same and the aim of dealing with violence also the same, we should rather be surprised if such similarities did not exist.

Karate has its quota of fighting legends who would take on anybody, or went out onto the street looking for combat – so too has Tai Chi. Probably the best known of these was the founder of Yang style Yang Lu-ch’an who it seems was often challenged to prove his skill. Similarly Yang Ch’ien-hou, an imperial instructor, was once challenged to defend against attack with a spear. In more recent years Sun Lu-t’ang, originator of Sun style Tai Chi, managed to get quite a reputation as an outright fighter. The parallels continue, for example the saying “there is no first strike in Karate “, is matched by the words of Yang Lu-ch’an “when fighting with an opponent, do not move, but wait for the opponent to move, then move first.”

Read the full piece HERE

Covering exercises, spiralling movement, Qigong, mindfulness, meditation,
Tai Chi principles and Alexander principles.

The seminar will be run by Ian Deavin and Judy Hammond and participants will be engaged in a fascinating mix of meditation and movement, creating inner body awareness and developing a practical and spiritual mind/body link of considerable strength.

Qigong is a basic training method of Tai Chi coupled with body spiralling, also found everywhere in the movement of dance and the natural world. Principles of Alexander Technique posture and relaxation aid in achieving good balance and relaxed easy movement – developed by Tai Chi practitioners into a way of creating powerful body centred action.

Venue: The Letchworth Centre for Healthy Living
Rosehill Hospital, Hitchin Road, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, SG6 3NA
17th July 2016, 9.30am – 12.30pm
Cost: £45 per seminar for bookings up to 1 week before the seminar. £55 after

To book contact The Letchworth Centre for Healthy Living on 01462 678804

Please wear suitable loose clothing and flat soled trainers or similar

As a young person I found I was seeking “something” not then available from my environment – an understanding of life, of people etc. With science and sports based interests I was completely unsatisfied with the mainstream western/middle-eastern religions and cultures – the far-east promised something different and Karate with its Japanese philosophical connections and a promise of physical defensive power from using the body in a different way, had a lot of attraction.

So I started in Karate while at university, where I trained for 3 years. At the time Karate was one of the few styles available and was very popular, with the UK teams being successful internationally, although over the years I realised that the sport side was not where my competence or my interest lay. My own training continued only for a couple of years after University and lapsed for several years thereafter. However like many people who have trained in martial arts for even a short period the experience stayed with me and I returned to training in my early 30s.

Along the road I achieved temporary grades a couple of times (to be automatically confirmed 6 months later) – and each time had much soul searching as these grades were often considered not quite valid – clearly the highly ranked and respected teachers that awarded them were happy about them, but many other senior grades were not. This conflict started a useful thought process and led me to notice the spiral nature of my progress. This seemed to involve me going round the same kind of development process every few years, each time challenging, learning and changing only to consolidate then go round the whole thing again in the next few years – it seems to take me about 7 to 10 years to complete a cycle.

This process was heightened by my starting Tai Chi practice in the same year I gained my first black belt grade in Karate and continued until I found other teachers who combined soft technique with hard style – finding a balance that I had not till then been aware of as a possibility. Further on I was introduced to “vital point “strategy in older style Karate and in modern Tai Chi. The sheer speed, power and brutality of this approach was frightening – it gave me much thought about the human condition – especially since the people teaching it were balanced thoughtful human beings. I found in the end that it is those very factors that give martial arts their value and meaning, and encourage us to balance ourselves with a search for the positive side of ourselves. Almost as if unconsciously we seek to fill our potential – the trick being to do this constructively not destructively. More…… read more here

Covering interacting with training partners, soft movement, partner work, single push hands, double push hands.

Venue: Shefford Community Hall, 60 High Street, Shefford Bedfordshire, SG17 5AX
9th July 2016, 9.30am – 12.30pm
Cost: £30 

To book telephone 01462 621970 or email: [email protected]

Please wear suitable loose clothing and flat soled trainers or similar

I was recently asked to do an introductory Tai Chi session at the RSPB Sandy where they were having a staff wellness month with a variety of activities  – on what turned out to be the only rainy day of the week! – but despite this we had a delightful lunchtime session and it was great to do some Tai Chi with  “the team” under this enormous old tree in front of The Lodge HQ. I talked a bit about the history of Tai Chi and demonstrated natural movement, then the group did some loosening and posture exercises followed by the beginning of Chen style Laojia form and we finished with Q&A.

Covering working with a sword, exercises, the Chen broadsword form

Venue: Shefford Community Hall, 60 High Street, Shefford Bedfordshire, SG17 5AX
25th June 2016, 9.30am – 12.30pm
Cost: £30 per seminar

To book telephone 01462 621970 or email: [email protected]

Please wear suitable loose clothing and flat soled trainers or similar

It seems to me that when we pattern our bodies through practice – directed by thought – to work according to Tai Chi principles – then we set up an internal pattern of muscle and nerve activation which feels like (and actually is) a flow of movement within our bodies that will be experienced differently for each of us.

This feeling will follow the route of the sequential nerve activation and associated muscular action – in other words the patterned habitual way of moving actually creates an internal pattern of quite substantial order on an otherwise somewhat random internal environment – and can then become a way of directing our development by monitoring the way the feeling develops with practice and the way we are able to operate in the external world e.g. with others in partner practice and in normal daily tasks. Consequently we can anticipate this feeling becoming more noticeable and more defined as we                                                                                                practice.    Read the full article HERE