Introduction

[PaulCavel]

Hi there,

I work with Energy Arts and thought I would introduce myself to get things going here. I have been studying with Bruce going on about eight years now. I initially learned the Wu Style form in Maui with Kurt Miyajima, a really great teacher. Although at the time I had done a lot of qigong with Bruce, when I learned Tai Chi for the first time there was something very familiar, like my body remembered it from a previous time. Doing a set of tai chi completely resets my energy for the better.

I was lucky enough to attend Bruce’s Wu Instructor Training in Brighton, England in 2011. I felt a big shift occur in my practice there. Also, I developed a greater appreciation for how each of Bruce’s qigong sets teaches the internal components that fit nicely into the tai chi form.

Having worked as part of the team that has produced the Mastery program, I am finding that the lessons are filling in many of the holes in my training. I think overall the group is going to be very pleased both with the quality and quantiy that is given in the program. I see myself using this material for many years to come both as a student and as a teacher. 

I look forward to hearing how others here use the program and to see how this community expands and grows.

Cheers,

Richard

[Anonymous]

Hey,

My name is Brent Davies, Im a Physiotherapist living in central victoria Australia.

My tai chi journey began back in 2003 while living in Dublin, Ireland, I started having lessons with Jan Golden. I learnt the Wu short form and was lucky enough early on to do one of bruces day course.

My lessons and practicing have been a bit hit and miss over the years, but really focused to be more consistent with my practicing and keen to start teaching in my local town.

I have found a lot of the principles of Tai Chi to be very useful in the rehabilitation of my clients. Especially the breathing, posture and letting go.

My special interest is in spinal/pelvic rehab. Its been very interesting how many of the things they are finding with research now, matches up with the eastern philosiphies. For example, the 3 main muscles that make up your centre, pelvic floor, transverus abdominus and multifidus. Match up with the energy centres developed by the Taiosts many years ago.

My goal with the Tai Chi Mastery programme is to improve my knowlege and understanding so better able to teach my clients. The main reason I do tai chi is for the health benifits, but would like to use the martial aspects to help myself and patients learn more effectively.

Look forward to upcoming event in March 2013, where bruce is making his first trip to Australia to teach a day course, very excited.

Later Brent

[Anonymous]

My name is Joe Lee. I am 32yrs old. and live in Seattle, WA. I am an external martial artist and budding boxing teacher.

I am mainly interested in the fighting and meditation side of Tai Chi (and all internal arts).

I have about 90% of all of the Energy Arts books and DVD’s. I love reading about and studying any martial art but have been focusing the last few years on researching the internal ones.

I am not a fan of martial arts schools in general so I will try to learn and practice as much as I can from this program.

I am very grateful that a teacher of Bruce’s caliber would put this much information into a learn at home program.

Joe

[Anonymous]

My name is Dolores Garcia. I have been involved in marital arts since I was a teenager. I have always been fascinated with tai chi but had been unsuccessful in finding a teacher. I studied mostly external arts. I met a chaplain while stationed in Turkey who taught us tai chi. I later met Steve, a senior instructor in El Paso and learned qi gong and yang style tai chi. Now my focus has been on the internal arts since I cannot run away getting hit. I want to learn how to be healthy from the inside out. I am in several programs but I especially want to learn more about Tai Chi. It is so beautiful. I met a teacher from China who was so graceful and he had been cured of RA.

[Anonymous]

hello everyone
my name is richard shapiro, ive been studying under bruce for about 12 years now.
my taiji training began early, my grandmother has practiced taiji since I was a child, and my aunt had a taiji school in wisconsin for 30 years. I didn’t actually learn any taiji at the time, but I got the sense it was very cool, and something to take seriously.
got interested in mind/body training and sport psychology in college, and went on to get a MS in sport psychology. mostly I learned that we don’t really have much development of the subject here in the west, it really propelled me to study the asian methods, starting with karate-do.
later on, I was running a karate school and my knees were giving out, so i took up cheng man ching taiji, from my aunt, tricia yu. this was 1999. I still practice the style, but I am putting the nei gung from bruce into it.
in 2000 I started bagua training, under zhang jie in seattle. I had read Power of Internal martial arts, and it made it obvious that bagua was the art I was looking for.
in 2001 I met bruce in portland, he taught MHE and meditation. I was hooked. just felt like this was the stuff I was supposed to be diggin into..
ive attended several instructor trainings, D and t, MHE, gods, and BGZ, just trying to study as much as I can.
I was very displeased that I couldn’t work out how to attend the wu instructor training, but im very pleased that this program is out, I have a feeling that the wu style is going to be very good for me, as I have lifelong spine and hip issues. thankfully, they have been improving from all this nei gung, im working very diligently towards a completely straight and open back and hips. seems like the Wu is just the ticket for that.

I also practice tui na and qigong tuina, professionally for 4 years now. it’s great to have a career that lets me work with chi, help people, and be open hearted.

I have also been teaching, under the name two trees internal arts, over the last 4 years or so. I teach in the park, kinda small scale right now, but in the future I intend to do a lot more. being kinda patient…

I enjoy the meditation stuff, the fighting stuff, the energy stuff, and the just generally getting the most you can out of life stuff. can’t begin to thank bruce enough for the openness and seriousness of his teaching, he’s a real treasure, and I really appreciate folks like richard T, mountain, thomas, and others who are behind the scenes helping get these exceptional programs out there.

looking forward to a great program!

[Anonymous]

I’m based in the Peak District, East of Manchester in the UK. I’ve been practicing Tai Chi regularly for >25 years (daily >20 years) although for most of that time at a relatively superficial level, i.e., as a safe, effective and accessible ‘exercise for health’ rather than as a martial art, sport or vehicle for healing and spiritual development. I have been an exercise for health instructor for >25 years. I also studied shiatsu and Chinese medicine to a practitioner level in the 1980s (long since lapsed). I studied and practiced ‘classical’ judo and jujitsu for >30 years along with more than a partial interest in yoga (‘Hatha and Iyengar) and various approaches to meditation. I work at Manchester University and have studied Tai Chi with various transient teachers at the University over the years. My early influences were teachers from Linda Chase Broda’s and John Higginson’s Chen Man Ching’s lineage organisations and David Barrow’s Wu lineage in Sheffield. That said, I was an avid reader of Terry O’Neil’s ‘Fighting Arts International’ magazine which Bruce Frantzis used to contribute to in the 1980s, so he was also an early influence! Since Bruce started publishing books in the early 90’s I’ve studied his materials and attended several workshops and one retreat (Gods Playing in the Clouds, 2007). Previously, I have tried to learn Bruce’s short form from his original VHS video, along with Frank Allen’s video and Andrew Popovic’s book. Currently, I study Energy Arts regularly with Paul Cavel and Jackie Smith (I’m also one of Dan Kleiman’s distance learning students). I’m also a ‘senior trainer’ for Paul Lam’s Tai Chi for Health Institute, teaching the Tai Chi for Arthritis, Diabetes, Osteoporosis, Back Pain an ‘Energy’ programmes. Tai Chi has helped my recover from a near fatal car accident, live with arthritis and with rehab. following a hip replacement. Over the years I have seen hundreds of people benefit from Tai Chi in the contexts of health and wellness.

[Anonymous]

I’m Chris Lambley, I’m 37 and I live in Whakatane, New Zealand. I started Tai Chi in 1999 with Alan Ellerton when I lived in the UK, learning a Yang style long form and some Qigong. My interest at this point was purely martial, and at the same time I also started training in WingChun. This lasted until 2002 when I visited Hong Kong for 6 months to do more WingChun, and I’ve been teaching WingChun since this time.

Shortly after emigrating to New Zealand in 2009 I met two Wu style practitioners and started training with them. They have both since moved from the area, but not before teaching me the Ma Yue Liang 37 step short form (I was learning the long form but when it became apparent that my teacher was leaving we decided to go for something more attainable in the time frame) . It was learning this small frame form that got me properly back in touch with my body and internal/energy work in general.

I now have two young children and a few years of sleep deprivation have given me an appreciation for the health benefits of Tai Chi, which went way over my head when I first started Tai Chi in my 20’s, and that my WingChun practise, although enjoyable,does not provide.

I am looking forward to improving my Tai Chi through this program and developing neigong components within it. I have recently started teaching a small class locally, and although I often feel like a beginner in this art, I do my best to convey the benefits Tai Chi can offer to people and has given myself.

Chris

[Anonymous]

I started studying Wu Style tai chi in 1996, in New York City, from Susan Rabinowitz at the Taoist Arts Center. I almost immediately fell in love with the art, and have been practicing regularly ever since. I started going to Bruce’s seminars in Boston the next year, and I have attended about 11 weeks of retreats in California with Bruce.

Tai chi, qigong, and meditation have been immensely helpful in my battle against a major health problem, and a source of joy and challenge in my life that I’m not sure what I’d do without.

I’m thrilled that there are online courses like this coming out from Energy Arts lately. To have access to teachings of this caliber in conjuction with an online community of others with a passion for the internal arts is a rare gift. I’ve already been learning things from the first installment. I’m always boggled, even after all these years, by the depth of these practices. Thank you to Bruce and Energy Arts for putting this course together!

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone.

My name’s Erich Ball. I’ve been messing around with Taijiquan for about 22 years now, although I was exposed to seeing it as much as 35 years ago. I’m Australian but have been living and working overseas for over 19 years, in places where there have been no instructors.

I first learned the Beijing 24 form in Canberra, starting in 1990. I studied there for about one and a half years before leaving the city. My Canberra instructor has since moved on to study and teach other Taijiquan material. He was always a very nice guy but now seems to be a very good Taijquan practitioner too – good on him.

I messed around with the Beijing 24 for a total of 11 years, mostly training myself from books and the few VHS tapes I could get at the time. I ran some classes also, although I now shudder to think of what I was ‘teaching’ those poor students. Anyone who’s instructed anything knows that the best way to learn something is to teach. By teaching students I learned that I really only knew a very, very little something about Taijiquan. I also came to realize that the Beijing 24 wasn’t going to teach me what I needed to know.

After a two year hiatus from training and teaching while I looked for a better way I discovered the Erle Montaigue material. I found that excellent for learning at long distance, not least because he added so much extraneous material to his DVDs that you wound up getting an enormous education in everything Taijiquan. I also got tapes, books, etc from other instructors to gain other perspectives. I attended a [very] few workshops and retreats. Overall though I’ve mainly worked on Yang style, alone.

Missing from my training have been two elements: combat; and, Qi work. I’ve been exposed to B.K. Frantzis work through his books. They’re very good. I bought some of his DVD material on Qigong while in Australia this Christmas. On the strength of that material I’ve joined the Tai Chi Mastery programme. I’m looking forward to working with it and you.

Best,

Erich

[Anonymous]

I am very pleased to be connected to this group, and can’t wait to see the DVDs when they arrive.

I have been around Tai Chi for about 25 years now, but I moved from one thing to another over the years. I have mainly practised Yang style, but still feel like a bit of a novice in some ways ( and I don’t mean that in a Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind sort of way!) I have practised Hsing I and I Chuan too, with limited success, I feel, as well as a bit of Bagua and Chi kung. I have also done a bit of more external martial kungfu, which I quite enjoy/enjoyed.

I am really looking forward to gaining a much greater understanding of the energies, opening and closing, and some of martial aspects. I love Bruce’s approach, I have to say!

Colin Rae

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I live in Vancouver, Canada. I’ve only ever done a very condensed form of Tai Chi taught by Mantak Chia, and that was over 10 years ago. Haven’t really done any of it since. I’m really looking forward to getting a thorough grounding in Tai Chi in this program and making it a long-term practice.

I am especially interested in how Tai Chi can complement my Buddhist meditation practice, as well as help me to heal the various injuries I’ve accumulated over the years while rock climbing and running.

Great to meet you all in this forum.

Cheers,

Nick

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Back in the mid-80s I studied the Cheng Man Ch’ing form of Tai Chi at the School of Tai Chi Chuan in New York City. I remember how challenging the movements were, even during the first lesson when we worked on turning and shifting all the weight onto one leg before stepping with the other. I felt drawn to it, but soon found that there was something missing in these classes. It wasn’t until I started studying with Bruce’s instructors in the mid-90s that I got the sense of what had been missing in the other classes. I find that Bruce teaches the internal components way beyond what the other school offered. For example, the other school instructed us to breathe into the dan tien, whereas Bruce instructs us to breathe into the front of the belly (dan tien), sides, lower back and upper back. I had tried several different schools before studying with Bruce and his instructors, and I can honestly say that if it hadn’t been for Bruce, I probably would have just given up. One of the most frustrating experiences was hearing a teacher tell me to “relax” without giving me much information on how to actually do so. Bruce, on the other hand, approaches relaxation from multiple angles, including the downward motion of energy (releasing downward or dissolving downward) and working with the body’s natural pulsing rhythms.
That said, I’ve shifted most of my practice time and effort into Nei Gung – particularly Energy Gates and now Tai Chi Circle Hands and Heaven and Earth. I feel that these exercises help me to focus on correcting specific imbalances and weaknesses. Nonetheless, I do enjoy the variety of movement offered in the tai chi short (and now long) form, and the challenge is to integrate what I learn through nei gung into my tai chi practice. I look forward to a lifetime of challenges and gradual progress.

[Anonymous]

Hi all; I’m Ron Loving from Okahoma city, Oklahoma. I began Tai Chi with Sophia Delza’s book in 1960. Then I tried Y. K. Chen’s book and finally gave up. I returned to TC in ’63
practicing CMC’s 37 step form under advice of Robert Smith, and a young lady at our university. I then met a Chinese gentleman who had been raised in a monastery since age 7, leaving there to fight communists when he was around 30. The first thing he had me do was until I could stand comfortably for 2 hours. In between these people I manages to earn a 4th Dan in Shorin under one of the Shimabuku clan, and brown belts in Shotokan, Go Ju Ryu, Kajukenbo Kempo,
and whenever I heard of someone teaching an art I didn’t know I’d go there and train. My Bagua, TC, and Hsing I work was sketchy and the teacher left town. I then switched to Capoeira until I retired form MAs at age 70.
Then I heard about Bruce and am now doing Hsing I Mastery, Tai Chi Mastery, 2 of the Taoist Meditation sets and am chomping at the bit waiting for Bagua Mstery to be released. If anyone is ever near where I Iive, come by and we’ll play.

[Author]

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