Cornwall Chen Tai Chi

05/07/2026

https://youtu.be/XwhkskTm2Uc?is=-litP6zM1atD0nsI
We are having another go at sword form in class, starting this Tues evening.
I shall endeavour to include some Filipino stick fighting exercises (non-contact!) and taiji 'sticking swords'. PS we don't use real swords 🤺

Chen-style Tai Chi Single Sword DVD(language menu:Chinese/English/C...

05/06/2026

This is the kind of 'push hands' that we are working towards - different to just "stirring porridge". Awareness, in the moment in action. Drop the mind, become the body. Drop the body become the chi. Drop your separation.....https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Cn46F7kKL/

27/05/2026

I haven't posted anything for a while. So here we go. I taught at a dance festival/camp the weekend that's gone. The instruction was to make taichi relevant to dance, but it was also billed as a "martial arts" class. Of course i taught Al Huang's "dance of the 5 elements" which led me to consider 5 element theory, and we tried some 5 element hsing i. Did you know that the 'emotional content' of wood is anger? And metal sorrow?
I also ended up writng an essay about the term 'martial arts'! Read it here in the comments if you like:

22/03/2026

Hi guys. Taiji is on this Tue. Revisiting the hsing i 'Linking Form', and Sun lutang's 'Old 8 Palms', and of course some Silk Reeling. See you there. Penzance 6pm

06/03/2026

17/02/2026

Hello, Ni hao.
Well another journey around the sun, the cycle is completed again, the 12 animals and 8 directions are honoured, tonight is the start of Chinese New Year. And the whole of China is on the move visiting relatives, maybe camping outside Guangzho train station, queuing for tickets. Not a good time to get stuck in what must be the largest train station in the world.
And of course we have not really gone round in a circle, more a spiral, like the orbit of the Earth around the Sun as it chases it through interstellar space at a zillion kilometres per second. It all depends on what you take as your reference point.
We like to honour the spinning wheels of super-galactic infinity by wearing something red. It's a small thing.
We shall do some hsing i tonight, but as i sadly only know the 5 element forms we will do that! See you there.

10/02/2026

5 element chigung this evening: standing meditation ('zhen zhang'), and Al Huang's '5 element dance'; and Laojia form, yi lu and er lu ('Old frame', 'first road' and 'second road')

29/01/2026

Mr Wong does Taiji:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DqrJLKwmU/

15/01/2026

And here is my old teacher Liming Yue (now somewhat older, like myself!) performing the beginning of the Chen form. This form is called the 11 step and is a shortened version of the full '74 step', but "eleven breaths" is only about halfway through it, so figure that one out if you can, or have time to waste! I advise you to just practice the first 58 seconds if you are a beginner learning the 74. You can watch the rest, but don't practice it - it will confuse your muscle memory.
https://youtu.be/fhbRZk-volw?si=rL9l4YvZoWuI0WUj

And here, just for fun, is Liming Yue's teacher, Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei, who is also older!, performing his own "11 step" form loosely based on 'Erlu' (the advanced form we are learning at the moment). 'Yilu' (the long form) is about gathering internal energy, Erlu is about emitting it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzbzrW10n5s

Incidentally that reminds me of another taichi story from my past!:
I was teaching beginners at the local adults art centre. "How did you get so good" asked a frustrated student. "Me, good?" i said "you should see the man i train with!" meaning my teacher at the time: Master Jah Ping Ji. He was due to head back to China after 6 monthes in the UK as a history teacher, and that evening him and i were doing some freestyle 'push hands'. He made me laugh, pushing me off balance all the time effortlessly. "Master, how did you get so good" i asked. "Me, good?" he replied "You should see the man i train with!".

This is a 11 Form of Chen style tai chi created by master liming yue and it was performed a little fast than normal speed with energy releasing as well in Ch...