Wednesday, March 29, 2006

talk/eat/whatch/laugh/learn

Hi,

just a quick reminder:
we are having a social night with the Arnis club on Thursday 31/03/06 at Sports & Rec at Monash university campus Clayton. It begins at 5pm with a BBQ. Sifu John provides the food, but feel free to bring and share what you like. Besides having a chat and filling our belly, we well train a little bit and can see what the Arnis club is up to. Sifu John has pulled some martial art videos out off his sleeve and we can watch, discuss and learn a lot.
See you on Thursday and bring a friend if you like.

Best wishes,
sven

Monash Tai Chi Chuan club, Melbourne

Friday, March 24, 2006

Just for students?

Although we are practicing and learning Tai Chi Chuan on Monash Universities campus, the club is not exclusively for Monash students or staff. Everyone can become a Monash Tai Chi Chuan club member. Just come along. Have a look!
A description how to fin the rehearsal room can be found further down on this webblog.

Have a lovely day,
sven

Monash Tai Chi Chuan club, Melbourne

Sifu – or the all new family

You might have wondered why we call our Tai Chi instructor ‘Sifu’, or ‘Sifu John’.
Sifu is not a expression used by a strange religion, sect, or occult group as you would not have frightfully assumed. No, Sifu is widely used in all different kinds and forms of martial arts and is merely a title, meaning ‘teacher’, ‘tutor’ and/or ‘father’. It is coming from chinese language more precisely Cantonese, but also Mandarin.
So, generally speaking, Sifu John is our Tai Chi father. And you might be surprised, there is actually a family title system, in at least some martial arts. In chinese Gung Fu, for instance, your Sifu’s teacher is called Si-Gung. This makes him, of course, your grandfather (or grandmother). So, by joining a martial arts school, you automatically gain a new family. Or two. Or three. Just depending on how many martial arts you are learning.
Within your family, you will have older sisters and brothers. Your older siblings can be addresse as Si-Je or Si-Hing for sisters and brothers, respectively. Again that is valid for Gung Fu.
Anyway, we don’t stress about that whole terminology, and the ‘seniors’ will definitely not be fuzzy about how being addressed. If you want to show respect to your teacher and Tai Chi father, you may very well make use of the title Sifu.
So, enjoy being a (new) member of your martial arts family! But don’t be afraid, you don’t have to buy a christmas present for your Tai Chi father.

Cheers,
see you at class!

sven
Monash Tai Chi Club, Melbourne

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

A dash of background

Week three!

Hi,
in todays class Sifu John mentioned a name of a Tai Chi master. Cheng Man-ch’ing, or also written as Zeng Man Qing. Well, to be honest, I was not sure who that was. So I did a quick search and here is very, very briefly what I can come up with: Master Cheng lived from 1901 to 1975 in China. He is most famous for creating the 37 posture short form. The number of postures a form can have vary a lot, depending on the master and the style. There are also, for instance, 24, 42, 48 and 108 posture forms. Despite being a master in martial arts, Cheng Man-ch’ing was also known as a master of excellence of five, as there are also painting, poetry, calligraphy, and medicine. His ‘life story’ sounds coming straight out of a cheap Hollywood production. Cheng Man-ch’ing was first introduced to Tai Chi by his doctor. The doctor recommended Tai Chi to Cheng as a relief from his incurable lung disease. Cheng studied hard and was a good student. He not only learned how to Tai Chi, but cured his heavy disease and became a master. That is a somewhat great achievement, I’d say. Well, and even if you don’t have a incurable disease, you are welcome to learn Tai Chi with us. Non-regarding to what personal benefit.

Hope you still enjoy the classes!
Cheers,

sven


Monash Tai Chi Chuan Club, Melbourne
Ps.: have a look at Sifu John’s website if you like: http://yellowbamboohk.com/

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Check list for Tai Chi rehearsal, week II

Hey Tai Chilerians!

It’s the end of the second week this semester and we made major progress! Thanks to you all being well observing Sifu John’s postures and movements. Many thanks also to Sifu John for being patient with us and teaching in a, evidently, successful way! Now that we can do the first bit of the form all by ourselves, Sifu John can spend more time correcting each of us students personally satisfy needs depending on the degree of the students knowledge and ability. I think that’s great.

However, if we want to continue learning real classic Tai Chi, we have to be very aware of the basics. There aren’t too many at this stage and I think it should be easy to get all of them right if we keep in mind what to do. Here is a short (and uncompleted?!) check list. If you run thru that list each time you rehearse Tai Chi, or do warm-ups and even breathing exercises, you’ll surely find yourself soon doing it automatically.
Here we go:
• stand upright but not tense
• shoulders are alined with the hips
• feet are shoulder width apart
• feet are parallel to each other, toes facing straight forward
• again: feet shoulder width apart and facing forward
• knees are slightly bend; as they are always and in all exercises and postures!
• RELAX, there is nothing tensed in you!

Okay, we are still standing. What we want to follow when we move:
• feet should be shoulder width apart
• your shoulders are in line with your hips
• your head follows the movement of your torso
• be upright!!!
• don’t use force
• do movements slowly, you can feel much better where you weight is
• don’t be tensed
• RELAX

Sounds too much? Don’t think so. I believe you do many of the listed points already.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy Tai Chi and feel comfortable. If feel having short-term (relaxing, stretching, ‘work-out’) effects, be sure to find an increasing number of mid-& long-term benefits!

Have a nice weekend!
sven

Friday, March 03, 2006

Tai Chi "yes", but when & where

Hey,

WHERE
to all the newcomers and the oblivious Tai Chi students here is a brief description of the venue:
• find the Union center, pretty much in the center of Monash Clayton campus. It’s building #10 in the Monash student diary map
• ask your way to the hair salon, or the Commonwelth Bank
• walk out of the closest exit to you (that one is facing north)
• use the next entrance to the left (same building, there is the Post office for instance)
• go down the stairs and you will find the room to your left as you are going down

There will be sings up shortly before and during class, so look for Tai Chi poster stands.

WHEN
Monday lunchtime classes 12:00 to 1pm
Tuesday evening classes 5pm to 7pm
Wednesday lunchtime classes 12:00 to 1pm
Thursday evening classes 5pm to 7pm

Since we are just heading into the 2nd week, all BEGINNERS ARE WELCOME. Don’t be shy! Come along, give it a try, the first lesson is absolutely for free.

Hope to see you soon,
sven

Welcome 2006

Hi Monash Tai Chi club members and non-members.
Jup, it’s been a while since this page has been updated but I’ll promise to take more care of it in the future to keep you informed about the club and updated about activities. We are heading into the second week of a great Tai Chi semester. We have a lot of classes this year you can attend if you want. Tai Chi can be learned from Monday to Thursday, so almost every day of the week. Wicked. If you join in on all of the sessions you’ll have 6 hours of classic Tai Chi Chuan a week and that’ll make you feel really relaxed, balanced and warm in the tummy. But, hey, if you can’t make that often, no worries, you’ll surely gain of the massive benefits of Tai Chi. Just drop in and give it a go. And if you feel bad about been slack in the past practicing Tai Chi, well, what shall I say? You’ll remember faster than you’ll imagine how to do it. Again, just drop in and give it a go! And bring friend if you like. No probs. It’s not to late. BEGINNERS ARE WELCOME. Beginners can still can catch up with the rest of the class. Easy.

I think here is still place to acknowledge Marg. Marg was a long time member of the club and has migrated northwards to find food (work respectively). Thanks heaps for your help, contribution to the club and for great advices at class. The club has benefit from you! Thank you very much! We wish you all the best for the future and please be sure to be always welcome to us! I have read personal news about you on your webblog. Congratulations. But there will be an official post for that I am sure.

All that is left to say is welcome guests, non-members, members and Sifu John to the new semester!!
Cheers,
sven