Studio Renovation
Hello All,
Here is some exciting news. We will be renovating our studio starting Oct 31, 2011. All classes will go on as scheduled (We are closed on Oct 31 for Halloween). Construction work will be carried out during the day and we will try to clean up the place as much as possible before the evening class starts. However, you will see unfinished work, tools and materials laying around. There may also be smells from new paint. I expect the work to be done within the first two weeks of November and hopefully all goes well as planned. Sorry for the inconvenience! Thanks for your patience!
Jack
Is it fall already?
Wow this year went by so quickly! Can’t complain though. A lot has been done this year. Let’s see…
* Got my degree – That’s something that makes me feel good….
* Finished translating Master Chen’s Old Frame One and Two – selling very good…. If you don’t have it, you should buy one. I’d say it’s the most detailed book about learning taichi I have ever read. www.chenzhenglei.com Click Taichi Plaza to enter the store.
* Finished learning 4 routines (short ones) of Praying Mantis from Grand Master Liu Chongxi – at 77 Master Liu can move!!!! The book is coming out.
* Relaunched the school – We will be calling our school(s) Taichi And Tea (very soon). The name is registered, the logo is designed, signs are make, renovation starting soon, shirts will be ordered, class schedule is being re-planned…. We WILL do tea tasting events.
* Opened new location in Guelph – Thanks to James Saper, we now have a presence in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
* Did a workshop in Prevost (the r pronounced like a very heavy h when you have a cold and the s and t are silent) – We had fun! I was substituting for Master Liu Yong (my kungfu brother). He has big feet, so it was difficult to fill in his shoes. Ms. Karine did a great job organizing the event and she is a great hostess. Thank you again, Karine!
The year is still young, so who knows what’s around the corner. We’ll just have to play it out. Hope you all had a great summer and will enjoy the fall and winter.
Comment is enabled again!
Oh well, the site becomes very boring after awhile with no posts from others. I decided to turn comments back on so we can all say something here. I also hope some of you would like to become bloggers on this site. If you’d like to become a writer on this site, please let me know and I will add you as a writer. You can then log in to create you own posts. However, I’d like posts to be on health related topics only without political or religious issues. I, of course, would reserve my right to delete any posts, comments or writer accounts from the site. As the sub-heading suggests, let’s slow down, live life, do some taichi and drink tea……. There are plenty of political and religious sites on the web, if you insist, you can go there.
While you are here, enjoy!
Jack
Coming Soon……!
- Cover
This is another incredible book @$39.95!
Almost there! This is a very difficult book to translate because there is a section covering Taichi and Meridians. Trying to convey the meaning and maintaining the flavor is a very diffucult job for me. Anyhow, look out for it. I’m hoping to get it out this fall.
I did it!
Three years of endless reading, writing, editing and re-writing and hundreds of sleepless nights, it all came to an end on June 11, 2011. I did my final thesis defence on June 11 in Shanghai and was lucky enough to be awarded the Ph. D. degree of Education in Chinese Martial Arts. It was a long journey and I’ve learned a lot. I think the greatest experience of all was to have the opportunity to learn from my mentor Professor Qiu Pixiang. I made many friends as well.
Having been in Canada for over 20 years. I seldom had the opportunity to use my Chinese (a subject I used to take so much pride in). I found my Chinese rusty at the beginning. Doing this degree forced me to brush up on my Chinese. For some strange reason, I seemed to have found myself again. I didn’t even know I had lost myself until I found myself again. It seems to me that language is not only a means of communication, it is also a means of self-identification. I believe it decides how people think and behave. For years, I have lost the appreciation of Chinese poems and other forms of literary arts. Now, I get goose bumps again reading a ‘good’ poem.
A great adventure in LA
It took me a couple of weeks to write this one, because I really needed the time to recuperate. What a workout we had! Oh well, it’s not really the training part that was harsh. Everyone enjoyed it. Somehow in a group like that, everyone seemed to have a shot of energy. I think it was the group synergy. What made it tiring was the excitement. Most people attended the workshop are instructors. As we all know, instructors do not get to workout that much in class. It was really nice at least just for once that someone else is taking the class and we get to just practice. The constant excitement was draining toward the end.
Grand Master Chen went a bit over board on his teaching, too. I think he got really excited seeing how hard everyone worked. Being a typical teacher, he got really happy and went through so much in depth and demonstrated the moves with such involvement I have never seen before. What he demonstrated was not an eye opener, it was a revelation, at least for me.
I was glad to meet many people I have been communicating with but never met in person. I also met a few new people, too.
New Translation of GM Chen Zhenglei’s Book!
This is an incredible book @$39.95!
If you practice Chen’s Taichi, you’ve got to get this book. The content is so rich and detailed that it takes 400 pages to express. Here is a sample of the book. Vol2-Sample Read it and make a believer out of yourself. The book will be in the press next week and will be available for sale early April. To purchase the book, click here.
Cover
Spring into 2011
Oh well, it’s already March. The first two months just went by like a blur. I guess that really coincidentally matches the title of this post. The Spring was a bit too big. By the time we stabilized our stance, we are already in March!
We are having a great time at the studio. Instead of worrying about getting more members to pay the bills, we just focused on having more fun. Many members talked about the change of mode at the studio. I made a promise to myself and all my students that I’m going to teach each class as if it’s my first and last class and I will teach the class the way I practice. That made a huge difference. It shows. I believe that if you take care of you people, business will take care of itself. Don’t get me wrong though, we still need to get more members.
It seems that I’m going to get my Ph. D this year. My professor likes the work I have done so far. If all goes well, I will graduate this fall. That’s exciting! I will have more time to post here!
A Year of Reflection
That’s right! This has been a whole year of reflection.
Last year (2009) was a blur, too many events and too many things (most good) happened. The most memorable was the demonstration at the 10th World Wushu Championship. What an event that was. I’m sure everyone involved with the demo can say that. However you interpret that experience is totally up to you.
I spend this whole year mainly around one theme – finishing up the draft of my thesis. I’m a firm believer that whatever book you open, you’ll get something out of it. I did, many times – literally hundreds of times. I did finish the first draft and am now working on refining it. In the process writing the thesis, I had daily reflections on things I did in the past, on events that took place, on situations I allowed myself to get into. I’m not disappointed, but definitely realized many were learning experiences. No regrets, though.
One major change was I passed Taishan School of Martial Arts to my close friend Master August Xu. He is more able to carry on the school than I can and will do justice to all the keen students. He has a very rare mix of all three aspect in martial arts – theory, performance and application. I have learn a great deal from him in all three aspects.
One result of the above mentioned change is the establishment of Jack Yan Taichi Studio. It’s my sand box. It’s small and specialized. One must at least once in his life ask a question: what do I want to do? I think Jack Yan Taichi Studio was the answer for me to that question. After all, running a martial arts school was never about making money. Here is the new logo.
I feel really good about publishing shifu’s (Grand Master Chen Zhenglei) Yangshenggong in English. People seem to really like it. Perhaps they don’t want to hurt my feelings. The next few books are in the works. I want to at least publish the next book early in the new year.
We had a great workshop with GM Chen Zhenglei this year. Despite of the recession, we had a good turn-up. Here are some photos taken at the workshop:
I also published three translations in the well know taichi magazine – Tai Chi – two peom by the creator of taichi Chen Wangting and one article by Professor Kang Gewu. I’m quite happy about that. I also translated an article by GM Chen on substantial improvements on taichi practicing. It’s a great article for any serious practitioners. Read it if you have not.
When I say this is a year of reflection, it’s because I have been asking myself “what am I doing” almost everyday through out the whole year. I still haven’t got the answer yet so perhaps the search goes on next year. When I was younger, I had many years going by like 2010 – constant pondering what I was doing. Now the question has come back. I don’t know how many years it will stay. Oh well, I’m used to it.
To everyone, seasons greeting!