On Wahnam Taijiquan

[Emiko H]

Dear Shaolin Family,

I trust that you are all well and full of "vitality". A special "hello" to my taijiquan brothers and sisters.

Today, I am writing to express my deep respect for the taijiquan that Sifu teaches. For the first time, I had the privilege of attending his taijiquan course this past week (yesterday was the final day). It consisted of six 3-hour sessions.

As many of you know, I am (for categorical purposes) part of the kungfu branch of this family. However, before studying kungfu with Sifu, I had learnt various forms of taijiquan (with other masters), hence my interest in Sifu's taijiquan course. I will also admit that I had an ulterior motive of wanting to find a way to consolidate my previous taijiquan training with the shaolin kungfu.

What I received was beyond my expectations.

In truth, my past masters can be traced directly back to the Taijiquan Greats, for example Yang Chen-Fu himself.
So, whenever anyone used to ask me where I had learnt my taijiquan, I was able to give an answer that showed that I had not learnt from a "quack" and guaranteed respect within the martial arts community. Indeed, I did learn very much, and am grateful to my previous masters for their teachings.

My point is not to criticise my past teachers, but rather to highlight Sifu's unique and wondrous ability to breathe life back into forms which have somehow degenerated into empty shells. Personally, I think that part of the reason why he is able to do this is because he understands the components of Shaolin Kungfu so well. I think that Shaolin Kungfu forms the "building blocks" of complete martial arts cultivation, and that by knowing this, Sifu has mastered the art of translation where martial arts is concerned.
In other words, I believe that while there are some teachers who know how to cook pasta, and others who know how to prepare udon or soba, and still others who know how to make a good lo mein or vermicelli dish, very few have achieved what Sifu has, which is (to continue with the analogy) the Art of Noodle-making. All of the various dishes are simply a variation of the basic material: the noodle.

How fortunate I feel to have a sifu who has the courage to take a stand and go out of his way to try to preserve the "living aspect" of other worthy arts/styles such as taijiquan. I, for one, am honoured to be learning taijiquan from Sifu and would be proud to lay claim to this family, not only as a Shaolin Wahnam disciple, but also as a first-generation Wahnam Taijiquan practitioner.

I look forward to the continued growth of the Wahnam Taijiquan branch of this special family.

Your sister,

Emiko
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Shaolin Wahnam Canada - Toronto Community

[dkwok]

From a New Member...

My family and I returned home safely a few days ago from this wonderful course. It was very nice training with all my new brothers and sisters from the Wahnam Taijiquan family.

I can say for myself that this course satisfied my objectives. My aims for taking this course were to develop internal force and combat application. Although I don't think I can break any bricks yet, and I don't feel I have developed any force per se, I do feel I have so much more energy. I have practiced qigong before so I am no stranger to chi, pressure in my third eye area, warming and tickling sensation on my hands, and etc. But this course enabled me to experience chi flow which I haven't been able to generate before coming to this course. I believe I now have the know-how to eventually develop this elusive force if I practice what I have learned.

SiJer Emiko, I was just wondering how were you able to generate the swirling flow in me during one of our push hand exercises. Did you consciously generate the flow in me? Or were you able to generate a chi flow field for yourself that when you asked me to relax I merely picked up your flow field? Incidentally I also was able to detect this swirling flow with Sifu in the brief time that we push hand.

My new objective now is to keep up with the practice for longer than 7 months, so I wouldn't fall with the other 90% who dropped out as mentioned somewhere else in this forum.

Best Wishes,
DKwok

[Emiko H]

Dear David,

I am glad to hear that you arrived safely home from the course. It was a pleasure meeting you and training with you.

Honestly, as Sifu has said many times before, the blessings of chi are present all the time. It is we who are blocked from receiving them. So, when I asked you to relax, you did... et voila! That is how you experienced the 'swirling'.
"I" did not give this experience to you. Rather, to use another analogy, I encouraged you to release your hold on the side of the swimming pool and swim away from its edge. Then, I showed you how to float. The way I showed this was by demonstrating it myself. When you copied my actions, you were able to float as well. To float as you did -which you did well- required that you relax, and that you be willing to "trust" enough to relax.

Congratulations on giving yourself this wonderful experience. Now all you have to do is to continue to relax and trust. Then you will be filled with chi all the time.

Please remember that Toronto is only a hop, skip and a jump away. Come and visit your Toronto family whenever you feel in need of a boost. Your visit will be mutually inspiring for all.

Your sister,

Emiko

[dkwok]

Toronto is a beautiful city. I will definitely drop by the next time I'm up there to see how far astray I may have gone.

[Zhang Wuji]

I have been asked in a private message why I want to learn (or rather why I am learning Taijiquan). I gave a quick answer but I feel I should give a public answer for the purposes of our fellow Wahnam members.

I chose to hijack this thread (sorry Emiko) rather than begin a new one for 2 reasons:
- I think it will facilitate searches by old and new members if the number of threads on the same topic are kept to a minimum.
- I intend to learn Wahnam Taijiquan that is, if Sifu will accept me.

To put things in context, I have been learning the Taijiquan form for 9 months and practising the same for about 8 months. That distinction is deliberate as those who have heard Sifu expound on this well know. Before that, I was doing Taiji qigong to prepare me for the form training.

I was looking for some sort of marital art that would help me defend myself and my loved ones far more effectively than through an external art. I have always been aware of the internal-external art divide. I was a karateka and dabbled in aikido for a while, plus had some wushu practice. I felt, quite frankly, that all these arts were be useless on the street. And as must be obvious from my posts, I am an avid fan of classical martial arts novels, and sincerely believed there was such a thing as neigong. It was just that I could not find this in the arts I had learnt. Then I began having many physical ailments and I decided that I simply must find a wy to learn genuine qigong and/or an art with qigong.

I chanced upon this Taijiquan school. I had always known that Taijiquan was a potent fighting art (it is so described in classical literature) but it was obvious very few people knew its essence. I would have gone for Shaolinquan too but the Shaolin schools i knew were the pure hard styles and I had no intention of getting into that stuff at my age, plus those years of karate left me with a distaste for that sort of thing. The instructors in the school performed qigong feats and everything I found out about that school indicated it was real.

I still train there today and I love the friends I have there but there is that missing element of combat efficiency. I have written that the ultimate idea is to fight without form but it is obvious to me there is a gap in that methodology.

Some months after i began at that school, I learnt qigong from Sifu. My intention was to learn Shaolinquan from Sifu at a later stage but not Taijiquan for 2 reasons:
a) Sifu has said in his Q&A and his book on Taijiquan that Shaolinquan is the best he has to offer, and i wanted to learn the best.
b) I already had Tajiquan teachers and I was afraid to confuse two styles. I wanted to master what I had started so that when I learnt any thing new I would not be confused. I was reminded of this at the Special Review course when I found myself quite lost during the Taijiquan session - different way of pushing hands, unfamiliar combat sequences (I had never practicsed those before), vastly different stances, different footwork etc. There was no way I could find the time to practice two styles of the same art and even if I could avoid getting confused (it is different if it is a different art since my mind that separate the two).

So, my decision was to learn 2 arts - Shaolinquan and Taijiquan, and choose one later. It was going to be hell trying to learn (not master) two but I figured I needed to be able to make an informed decision.

Now, of course, after looking at the exciting new webpages on Wahnam Taijiquan, plus the fact that some factors may make it impracticable for me to go for an intensive Shaolin course this year, I am considering learning Wahnam Taijiquan first then Shaolinquan. My big problem is how i am going to harmonise my current style with Wahnam Taijiquan. Because I train regularly with an instructor, I will be adjusting back and forth - one style for home practice (Wahnam) and the other in class. Does anyone have similar problems?

There is no doubt in my mind that for the reason Emiko has outlined above, Wahnam Tajiquan captures the essence of Taijiquan. There are stylistic differences to be sure, but they also exist between styles as close to each other as Wu2 and Yang. My impression of Wahnam Taijiquan is that it has quite a distinct Shaolinquan flavour especially in the stances although I have also said in "Core differences between Shaolinquan and Taijiquan" that I also saw very clearly it is not Shaolinquan in disguise - it is Taijiquan as all would understand it.

Before the new webpages came out, I still wasn't sure what was taught at the intensive Taijiquan course. The course outline helped and so did the Review pages but the new webpages really lit up the street lamps. So, the new overview did not just benefit others but also existing Wahnam students. So, thank you, Sifu!

[Zhang Wuji]

Arrgh

I have been stopped from editing my post so I will use a new post....

There is no doubt in my mind that for the reason Emiko has outlined above, Wahnam Tajiquan captures the essence of Taijiquan. There are stylistic differences to be sure, but they also exist between styles as close to each other as Wu2 and Yang. My impression of Wahnam Taijiquan is that it has quite a distinct Shaolinquan flavour especially in the stances although I have also said in the thread "Core differences between Shaolinquan and Taijiquan" that I also saw very clearly it is not Shaolinquan in disguise - it is Taijiquan as all would understand it.

I thought it would be useful to look at StierSifu's helpful comments:

The influence was one of comparison in which the Soft/Internal styles such as Tai-Chi Chuan sought to identify and resolve the weak aspects of Shaolin theory and martial application. Hence, the Internal factors of mind which serve to develop and maintain strong chi energy dynamics were given a top priority in the training, and different physical principles and a different style of athletic performance were adopted to produce different results. Tai-Chi Chuan of any style has a different stylistic 'look' in performance, and a different 'mindset' both in training and in combative application

And those who choose to practice both, if they have the available time to do so, rarely attain the highest levels of skill with the Internal Arts since the continued practice of Shaolin Arts and principles are generally an impediment to such development

It is exactly because the various styles of Tai-Chi Chuan, Hsing-Yi Chuan, and Pa-Kua Chang are based on identical principles, both mentally and physically, that they can be practiced and taught together without any conflict of interest or mutual impediment to respective skills development. This is not true of the concurrent practice of any or all of these Arts with most Shaolin Arts.

I do not believe Wahnam Shaolinquan (as oppposed to 3rd class hard styles and which is not similar to most Shaolin arts today) impedes the internal arts development. I base my belief on the Shaolin qigong I have been taught by Sifu which has as its basis exactly the same elements as i was taught in my style of Taijiquan - "song", "rou", following the body's natural rhythmn, and using the qi to move the body. The last point is something all Wahnam members can instantly identify with ( I still cannot understand why self-manifested movement is not more popular in the world ). Such skills can only take one's Taijiquan skills to a higher level. And do look at the "animated discussion" (per Hubert) in the thread linked above - I am basically repeating what is there.

[Jeffrey Segal]

simple but by no means easy

Hi Everybody,

Just a quick thought:


Wuji Wrote

( I still cannot understand why self-manifested movement is not more popular in the world ).

Maybe because it's not all that easy to teach.

[Robin]

Hi everybody,

a couple of things to add,

I would agree with my Taijiquan brother Jeffrey that Chi-flow is surely not easy to teach. Also in my travels I have never seen it taught in any other Kung-fu school ,Taijiquan or otherwise.

I would also like to echo my Taijiquan sister Emiko's feelings regarding other Taijiquan schools that I have had the pleasure of studying with. Again some were lineage holders and I owe alot to them, first of all for introducing me to such a wonderful art and teaching many wonderful things. But it must be said that most of them lacked footwork, application, force and a systematic way to train for sparring. Although some did have alot of force, it seemed to come from the other internal arts that they practiced like Hsinyi chuan or Yi chuan.

After I attended an Intensive Taijiquan course with Sifu I was truely amazed. It seemed that everything I had been looking for was generously given to me (and within 5 days!) The most special thing Sifu gave me on the Intensive course was direct experience of the Taijiquan classics. That was just one of the things that set Sifu apart from every other Teacher I had had the pleasure of training with. As if the ingredients to make Taijiquan actually work wasnt enough!

Thankyou Sifu , you truely are generous beyond beleif.