Cornwall Chen Tai Chi

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...

11/01/2026

A bit of Bagua / Pakua ("Eight Gates") for the weekend. This really shows the sinuous spiralling energy (hence "swimming dragon" etc). This is just for educate/entertain...we have quite enough to learn at the mo. But maybe one day!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Br9R5fnBX/

06/01/2026

Class starts again tonight at 6pm at Penzance YMCA £10.
Keeping it simple to start: Breathing chigung; Bone marrow washing; We will be practicing beginners 24 step form, and the start of Laojia er-lu for the more advanced.
Next week: Breathing chigung; Silk reeling; 24 step form; and scraping some of the rust off Laojia yi-lu!
Saturday mornings 10-11am are also a possibility, if enough (three or more!) people are interested.

29/12/2025

Here is the Chen style Laojia ('old frame') 74 step form, first path ("Yilu"), performed by Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei.
This is what we do. Everyday is the ideal. With practice 74 steps become 37 steps, 24 steps, 12 steps. until there is just one 'step'-
Taiji' separates into Yin and Yang, left leg empties and right leg fills, and like a pendulum, the weight flows back and forth between the polarities of the legs and the body follows in the pre-ordained dance of chi that is the form.

1. Form - Alter Rahmen - ausgeführt von Chen Zhenglei - mit Markierung der 75 Bilder. Chen Zhenglei unterteilt diese in 6 anstatt 4 Parts. Ausserdem fasst er...

10/12/2025

Canon Fist fa jin
A very effective demonstration of the explosive energy known as 'fa jin'. This is the end destination in Laojia Erlu. We practice Yi lu ("1st path") to unite the body and the mind in movement; in Er lu ("2nd path") distil that feeling, turn up the heat, and emit!

25/11/2025

Taiji is ON tonight; and also this coming Saturday 10.30am-11.30am (last one before Xmas): Silk reeling exercises, 24 step Yang form; and once through the Chen long form (to finish the class at 7.10pm-7.30pm), and continueing with next moves of Chen "Cannon Fist" (Er lu),; maybe a bit of 'push hands' too, if we have time!