My first video of what I would teach for self-defense based on Tai Chi.
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1). To start, can you tell us what first got you interested in the Martial Arts? (How old were you?) When I was about nine years old the TV show “Kung-Fu” and other shows like the “Green Hornet”, movies like “Enter the Dragon” came out. These made me want to learn Martial Arts. However, I lived in a small town in Iowa with less then three thousand people and no Martial Arts school. It wasn’t until I moved out of Iowa and was living in Colorado that I had the opportunity to study Martial Arts. 2). So, was Kwai Chang Caine, on “Kung-Fu”, your first glimpse of the Asian Martial Arts? The character in the “Kung-Fu” was one of the first, but Bruce Lee In “Enter the Dragon” and other movies and seeing Bruce Lee in episodes of “The Green Hornet” also sparked my interest in Asian Martial Arts. 3). Speaking of Kung-Fu, did you want to begin studying Kung Fu or did you begin reading books on the Martial Arts and Kung Fu. I started by reading books on Kung Fu and other forms of the Martial Arts before I began studying any Martial Arts forms. I was trying to find out what form of Martial Arts I wanted to study. 4). As Caine practiced “Pseudo” Kung-Fu on the show, why did you decide to study T’ai Chi. When I was a senior in high school my parents moved from Iowa to New Mexico and I moved with them. In New Mexico, I had a girlfriend that was doing Tai Chi and she would practice and show me what she was learning in her class. I started to read up on T’ai Chi and became interested in the movements. When I moved to Colorado I had a job handing out flyers and invitations for a local art gallery and visited several Martial Art schools while on my rounds. Most schools did T’ai Chi as supplement to their Martial Arts training but one of the schools did T’ai Chi as there main Martial Arts training and it is there that I started my training in Martial Arts. 5). As a follow up question, had you begun studying other Martial Art forms prior to deciding on T’ai Chi and if so, what were they? I started my training with the short Yang Style form. When a student at the school finished the short Yang Style form, and other students also finished the short form, a new advance group would be formed but only when there was 15 or more students at that level to start a group. I finished the short form faster then the other students at that time so my instructor started me on Kung Fu animal forms because he was a Kung Fu Master before he switched to focusing on T’ai Chi. When the advance group started, I was still working on learning Kung Fu while at the same time, the group class was working on the long Yang form of Tai Chi. (The Yang Chen Fu form.) After that, I worked on the Sword form, two Staff forms, Broadsword, Chen Man-Ch’ing form, You Long Gong Taiji form and the Chen style of Tai Chi. 6). At what age where you when you truly began studying under a teacher of T’a Chi, and did you first study the Ch’uan Style”? (What do you remember about your instructor and their teaching?) I started my T’ai Chi training In 1988 when I was 23 years old and I have always done T’ai Chi Chuan. There are five styles of Tai Chi: Chen, Yang, Wa (Hao), Wu and Sun. All of them, in turn, trace their historical origins to the Chen Village in China. The word T’ai Chi means “Supreme Ultimate” and Chuan means “Fist”. My favorite style of Tai Chi would be Chen because that is the origins of all the other forms of Tai Chi. I have had only one primary instructor and through him I have worked with other instructors like Mike Sigman. 7). What made you want to become an Instructor and at what age did you begin teaching? At first, I became a student instructor. I had the ability to learn forms fast and retain them easily. I was at my school four hours every day and also worked on forms outside of class. After I had been at the school for six years I moved to a new town and didn’t want to lose what I had learned over the years so I started to teach. I started by teaching at a local City Recreation Center. The recreation center at the time mentioned that they had tried to offer T’ai Chi previously but could only get enough students to offer the class for 6 months. I have since been teaching at this Recreation Center for 15 years now.
To be Continued As there is not much information, (at least in my searches here on the Internet, so far), about the direct influence the Sino-Japanese War on T’ai Chi Ch’uan, I will instead simply give a brief synopsis of the wars affect on the Martial Arts in China in general. If anyone wishes to know more about a specific T’ai Chi Ch’uan Master and the wars effect on them personally, they can simply leave a message for Master Phil and either he or I can do more research for you. As the Sino-Japanese War lasted from 1931 through 1945, one would think there would be more information on what happened during this time yet sadly with the deaths of so many Chinese during the “occupation”, only the basics are known to us today. This is NOT to say there are no more facts about the direct influence of the occupation on T’ai Chi Ch’uan and other Chinese martial arts but rather, finding such information could take years to dig up.
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“Where Were We?” (Posted by: J. Parker) Okay, I know it’s been awhile but as is Life, we all find ourselves forgetting where we were or what we were doing. (Yeah Joe, that’s it!! Don’t blame old age, dead brain cells or living everyday life to it’s least potential!) However, if I recall, I was last writing here about where Modern T’ai Chi Ch’uan is today. But, before we get there, let me simply show you again what has led up to where T’ai Chi Ch’uan is as we know it and what took it here. Below is a graph giving but “one” example of the Masters and the times in which they lived. This will be followed by a shortened list of the many different styles of T’ai Chi that are out there. (This list does include Sword Forms as well). Key: CHEN-STYLE YANG-STYLE WU-STYLE SUN-STYLE WU (HAO)-STYLE Kindly note, as we are mainly dealing with Master Phil’s Chen Style T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Chen Xiaoxin is the most recent style of this Martial Art on this lit. (DOB: 1952) Now, let’s look at the many different styles out there. Shall we? (We must NOT forget however, that all T’ai Chi forms originated from the Chen style so even though there are many variations, i.e. Yang, Wu, Sun and Woo, they all began with Master Chen.) Chen styles: To make this easier on you and me.., I will simply provide a link here as there are so many “variations” of the Chen Style , I will let you research for yourself. (Just open the link and choose your style or preferences.) http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/chen1.htm So.., in my next posting, perhaps as early as Sat. the 24th Oct. or Sun. the 25th, I will start with the Modern Styles, and I will begin with the “Chen Fake” style. In the meantime, I hope that if you follow these posts, you will research a little on your own and PLEASE feel free to ask Master Phil anything you may have questions with or about. Either he can answer your questions directly, or he will direct your questions to me and I will be happy to research them further. In the mean time, remember.., "Taijiquan is like a bright mirror - it reflects our physical and mental weaknesses, we need to polish it constantly to see our true selves." |
Phillip
Edgington
Been doing yang and chin style Tai Chi for over
26 years
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