June 2006Vol. 57 (75,000 downloads last issue!)

T a i C h i & B a g u aC o m b a t & H e a l i n g

Lead Story

HowTaiChiWorks————MindfulFormless————MartialGuidance————ALittleHelp————Camp2006Report————Neutralizing&Yielding________SoloTraining InBagua

PLUS

WTBANEWS

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TOTHE INTERNAL MARTIAL/HEALING ARTS

Earl’s Court 1967

Erle with Christian Zietsch and his new son Arne at Camp 2006

June 2006

Everything You Want To Know About the Internal Martial/Healing Arts

CONTENTS

Page 1..................................... How Tai Chi WorksErle Montaigue

Page 4..........................................Mindful FormlessBaher Okda (Egypt).

Page 6..................................Bundaberg Taiji News.Ray Potter (Australia)

Page 7.........................................Martial Guidance.David Leffman (Australia)

Page 8................................................A Little HelpPaul Dadswell (London)

Page 9..............................................................SinkErle Montaigue

Page 11 ...................................Camp 2006 ReportErle Montaigue

Page 14 ...Explanations of Neutralizing & Root-ing/Grounding, Yielding.Paul Brecher (London)

Page 16 .........................................Tai Chi AnarchyDon Morgan.

Page 17 ...........................The Great Ultimate LoveFranklyn Birbal

Page 18 ...............................Solo training In BagwaMike Babin

Page 20 .............Ragdoll Kung-fu: Franklyn Birbal.

Ta i C h i & B a g u a

Editor in ChiefErle Montaigue

Executive EditorSandra Montaigue

Managing EditorsBen MontaigueEli Montaigue

Senior WritersMichael BabinErle Montaigue

Senior Copy EditorKathleen Montaigue

Copy EditorBonnie Montaigue

Research EditorAisha Caouche

Research AssociatesErle MontaigueJohn Sklotz

Art DirectorGoanna Blursnog

Senior Copy EditorGoanna Gets Tuffed

Copy EditorMike Hunt

Research EditorBluey Zarsoff

Research AssociatesSplitz, Splotz & Splatz

Research AssociatesCurley, Moe, Shemp

All of the articles published in this magazineare protected by International Copyrightlaws. Please contact the publisher for permis-sions.

We take no responsibility for articles writtenby other people and published in this maga-zine.

Moontagu BooksPO Box 35Gwynfe, Llangadog SA19 9WRWales UKhttp://www.taijiworld.com

How Tai Chi Works

Erle Montaigue©2006 Erle Montaigue.

Tai Chi is a set of around 108 pos-tures all linked together in one longflowing exercise. These postureswork in a number of ways to in-crease one’s general well-being andphysical health.

Firstly, we have the purely physicalarea whereby the postures gentlystretch every muscle and sinew inthe body giving an overall bodyworkout. Surprisingly, it also givesthe heart a good cardio-vascularaerobic workout as the whole set ofmovements takes around 25 to 30minutes to complete.

Even your bones are given a goodwork out thus being good for theprevention of things like osteopo-rosis, arthritis and other bone dis-eases. The weight of your body onbent knees seems to help in keepingarthritis away. And if you were tocontinue with your Tai Chi lessonsand advance up to the older system,you would receive and even greatertotal body workout with leaps andjumps, thus causing mild and gentlestimulation to every bone in yourbody which scientists tell us is apositive in reducing and preventingosteoporosis. A 40 year study doneon children as they grew up showedthat it was the jolting exercises thatprevented bone diseases. The Chi-nese have known about this forhundreds of years and so includedthese kinds of exercises in their dailyroutines.

However, Tai Chi goes muchdeeper as a healing art in that it

works upon the energy system ofthe body. Ancient Chinese mastersknew about the flow of energy inthe human and animal body andwere able to work out ways to ma-nipulate this energy flow using nee-dles (as in acupuncture) andexercise as in the ancient group ofChinese exercises called Qigong(pronounced ‘chee gung’). Theydiscovered that certain exercisesgently stretched and therefore acti-vated the 12 main acupuncture me-ridians or channels which run allover the body carrying life givingenergy to every organ and cell in thebody. They then devised a set of ex-ercises that would activate thesemeridians in exactly the same wayand time that happens automati-cally in a 24 hour period, thus giv-ing us more life force energy duringthe day.

These exercises over time eventu-ally became what we now know asTai Chi.

More importantly what the Chi-nese doctors call the ‘Life-Force’ isalso activated via the ‘Jung-mei’or ‘Life-Force Meridian orChannel, thus giving a feeling ofgreat well being and happinessafter one’s morning and after-noon training. Better than a stiffcup of Turkish Coffee.

Because China’s history is violentand most of their culture is based inthe ‘Wushu’ or ‘War Arts’, likeKung-fu, so too they based theirhealing arts on their Wushu culture.So they invented a series of move-ments based upon their fighting orself defence systems. These move-ments each have a self defence

meaning and here lies the moreadvanced way that Tai Chi has inhealing the body. The ancientmasters knew that certain move-ments would send the life en-ergy, or Qi (chee) as they call itto different parts of the body de-pending upon the perceivedidea of the martial application ofeach movement. However, inorder to do that kind of ‘work’or martial self defence applica-tion, the Qi had to pass throughone or more of the acupuncturemeridians. For instance, oneposture called ‘Brush Knee andTwist Step’ has a self defence ap-plication of defending oneselfagainst an attack low into the ribarea. We are taught this applica-tion and how to do it againstsuch an attack. Once thesub-conscious mind knowsabout this and has done it once,we no longer have to con-sciously think about that martialapplication as the Qi will be au-tomatically sent to the correctperipherals to do that exact kindof work each time we performthat posture. And in doing so,we send the Qi to the heart viathe ‘Heart Meridian’. Thisbathes the heart andpericardium (the very impor-tant sac that houses the heart) inlife giving energy.

And so the whole 25 minutes ofmoving Qigong sends this lifegiving Qi or energy all over thebody through each meridianand into every major organ inthe body including the skin,hair, muscles, sinews, bones andthe very cells that we are madeof.

The Chinese doctors regard the skinas an important organ attached tothe liver in Traditional ChineseMedicine. Tai Chi works exten-sively upon the Liver Meridian andthus helps to keep a youthful ap-pearance by toning up the skin viathe liver. The Colon is also workedupon extensively as well as the kid-neys, heart, small intestine, spleen,lungs, brain, etc. More importantlywhat the Chinese doctors call the‘Life-Force’ is also activated via the‘Jung-mei’ or ‘Life-Force Meridianor Channel, thus giving a feeling ofgreat well being and happiness afterone’s morning and afternoon train-ing. Better than a stiff cup of Turk-ish Coffee.

Diseases such as diabetes are helpedgreatly by helping to keep the bloodglucose level more stable. The au-thor of this article, (me, ErleMontaigue) has had diabetes formany years and as such is able toshow scientifically by testing the

BGL (blood glucose level) be-fore and after both the verystrenuous walk up on the BlackMountain and back taking onehour and before and after the TaiChi training in the morning tak-ing only 30 minutes. Both ofthese exercises lower the BGLthe same amount! Walking isone of the best exercises for allpeople, however, combine itwith your Tai Chi training andyou also have the benefit of theTai Chi balancing out yourwhole system keeping yourblood glucose levels normal, oras normal as possible if you DOhave diabetes. Your electrolytelevels are balanced as are yourhormone levels, thus making TaiChi the ideal choice for theworld-wide epidemic of depres-sion.Eli Montaigue Teaching at Camp 2006

Tai Chi will also help to keep yourweight balanced, so if you are toothin, it will help to gain weight, butif you are over-weight, it will alsohelp you to lose weight gently andgradually and generally tone up thewhole body. It does this by balanc-ing out the amount of ‘Yin’ or‘Yang’ energy or ‘Qi’ (Chee) in thebody. Chinese medicine tells us thatall disease states can be attributed toan imbalance of Qi, thus allowingdisease and external pathogens toslowly creep in. When we are bal-anced internally, we are able to fightoff external and internal pathogens,as well as bad thoughts and depres-sion.

There is an original Tai Chi systemto suit every kind of body and levelof fitness and health level. Age is ofno concern, as long as you can takeonly one step, you can begin yourTai Chi journey to good health.A feeling of well-being and happi-ness abounds when one finishes themorning Tai Chi practice makingyou ready for the day’s activities in ahealthy and positive manner, mak-ing you able to cope with the dailystresses of work or study etc.However, you must make sure thatyou learn Tai Chi from a well re-spected teacher, one who onlyteaches one of the main originalmethods and not one of the short-ened ‘Western’ methods as thesemethods will often work in the re-verse!

Erle Montaigue’s son, Eli teaches inLlandeilo, Swansea and Cardiffweekly as well as taking some pri-vate students. Erle’s other son, Benalso teaches in London and takesprivate lessons in the local area.Email: eli@qigong.org.uk orben@qigong.org.uk Or see ourweb site at www.taijiworld.comwhere you can download or readmany or Erle’s books free on-linealong with around 300 articles that

Erle has written over the past 35years.

_____________________________

Mindful… formless!

Baher OkdaEgypt

The ultimate goal in learningmartial arts is to be a mind and notto have a mind ,i.e. to put yourmind in every cell not just in yourbody but also in your opponent’sone.

In learning chess, one MUST studyevery single opening ( opening isthe way one follows in preparinghis pieces to attack his opponent’sking seeking to check mate him,who is the ultimate goal) in minutedetail in order to be not just agrandmaster but to be a real chessplayer. Then and only then one candecide which opening he is gonnafollow. In chess we do not buyopenings books and pick up theopening that seems fancy to us!Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan(American chess grandmaster) saidfixing defects is better than hidingthem. What will be the result if I didthat ( this how I really did when Iwas first learning about chess)?Let’s say I will not learn but theopening A.( Remember combathas no rules, it’s always changing.)In the game, simply, my opponentwill not follow the same sequence(A) that I trained on, the rest iseasy! In any chess game ( especiallyin tournaments) one can not say “look…either to follow that opening,or variation, or I will not play withyou”.

Back to fighting again. I can’t helplaughing when I imagine thisscene: two persons (A) and (B).(A) plays western boxing, and the

other one have no experience in anymartial art, just defending himselfagainst (A). (A) will punch left, left,and before right (B) goes down forA’s legs putting him out of balance,then the rest is predictable. Thefunny thing here is when I imagine(A) saying:” damn… you shouldn’tdo that but that, in boxing we don’tdo that” or “ damn… you shouldn’tdo that… you are cheating” :).

This is one of the problems of giv-ing oneself to a certain type ofmartial arts. Every system putrules for fighting. However, com-bat is not constant, it is alwayschanging.

This is one of the problems of giv-ing oneself to a certain type of mar-tial arts. Every system put rules forfighting. However, combat is notconstant, it is always changing. Andputting rules forces the trainee tobreak his mind balance so that onepart is mindful and the other ismindless. In boxing you expectyour opponent to punch and blockonly, in tae kwon do you expectyour opponent to kick only, in ai-kido you expect your opponent torush to you so that you can makeholds and locks. In short, givingoneself to a certain martial art forceyou to put your mind in certainparts of your body ( that you use inthat system) and your opponent’sbody ( that he is supposed to fightback with) leaving all the otherparts of your own/your opponent’sbody mindless. To illustrate what Imean by mindful and mindless, let’s

look at our God, but before go-ing on I do not mean that we cando like him, of course. Everypreacher keeps saying that Godexists in every thing in the worldin me, in you, in trees, in birds,in animals, etc. Imagine that ifthe God put his mind in just onething, the result is that thewhole universe will collapse, orhe is not a God! But becauseAlaah is the God he can feel ev-ery one of us, he can feel us atonce, so that he knows I am typ-ing now, and he knows whatyou are doing in the same in-stance. Therefore, God is themindful. When a part of yourbody is mindless it’s dead andunprotected. You can not moveit in response to any kind of at-tack. The first thing one learnsin chess is to train his eyes to de-tect unprotected pieces in hisopponent’s army so that he goesfor them, and in his army so thathe protects them.

In chess the biggest problem forbeginners ( like me) is that theylook only on their own pieces oron their opponent’s pieces. I re-member when I first playedchess I was just putting mypieces in the most preferableplaces ( as the opening that I fol-low says) not even noticingwhat my opponent is doing.Then, in the next move BANG Ilost. Then, I kept asking myselfwhy I lost although I put mypieces in the position the booksays. It’s like building a big cas-tle from sands on a beach thatcan not stand against one wave!Indeed, the most preferable po-sitions are not a constant thing.

Every situation has its rules. Thereis no ultimate rule that one shouldstick to but seek your opponent’sunprotected parts. I once asked acollege ( who trained in some mar-tial arts):

Me: what are you gonna do of youget into a tassel?

Him: when I am there you will see.it’s like having an exam…you canstudy for it, but can you predict it ?!

So in combat… there is no forms nosets no patterns. The problem is notin training in these patterns orforms but the problem is to expectthat the tassel will be like that! Theyare just to help us not to capture us.In learning walking, an enfant takesinstruction from his parents, theyhelp him to walk, to stand in bal-ance… but afterwards he gets aunique way of walking differenteven from that of his parents. Psy-chology says if you want to knowabout anybody see him walking.Therefore, in combat I can not say Iam gonna do that then that… sim-ply because if it’s like that why donot we just attack alternatively methen you, and the one who getstired first lose. No, in fighting if Isaid A my opponent has not to sayB.

In chess I know the factors that con-trol any game which is time, space,and material. And according tohow much I have of them I win orlose. The real problem is that I donot know the factors that controlcombat. What is worse I do notknow how to be a mind rather thanto have a mind.

I hope Mr. Erle can help me.

Finally, I ask Alaah to give me someof his

WisdomPatienceKnowledgePower…

Amen

Baher OkdaEgypt

Note: the idea of this article is notmine. It’s the idea of Bruce Lee. ButI absolutely believe in it. God blesshis soul.

BUNDABERG TAIJI NEWS

From Ray Potter

The Bundaberg Taiji group (inQueensland, Australia), has had an-other active and varied year, withregular training three times a weekby a number of dedicated practitio-ners in Bundaberg and this year forthe first time, in Hervey Bay (1½hours south of Bundaberg), classesare led by World Taiji Boxing Asso-ciation (WTBA) instructor, RayPotter.

Two Taiji workshops were held dur-ing the year; the first was held inBundaberg in April ’05 and wasconducted by two senior instruc-tors of the WTBA fromMurwillumbah, Mause and RobEaglen. These two excellent in-structors have personally trainedwith Master Erle Montaigue for 12years.

To complement the interaction inBundaberg between two internalmartial arts, the workshop was heldat the Dojo Academy of MartialArts (formerly Dragon Dojo of Ai-kido). There is an interchange ofstudents between the complemen-tary internal martial arts of Taiji andAikido. This association betweenTai j i and Aikido began inBundaberg about 4 years ago. Thisworkshop covered many varied as-pects of Taiji – including the YangCheng Fu and Yang Luchan forms,push hands, small sansau, stickform, Qi disruptive forms andbagua and qigong. This was thethird workshop held in Bundabergby Mause and Rob Eaglen.

A workshop was held at the WTBApermanent training facility at theTaiji farm, Murwillumbah northernNSW, in October ’05 by WTBA se-nior instructors Mause and RobEaglen and was attended by a groupfrom Bundaberg Taiji and from theArmidale and Coffs HarbourGroups of the WTBA in NSW. In-struction from Mause and Rob wasthorough and again covered manyaspects of Taiji – the Yang Cheng Fuand Yang Luchan forms, pushhands, small and large sansau, qidisruptive forms, bagua andqigong. Some of the students werethrown in the deep end with in-struction in the qi disruptive formsfor the first time. A new qi disrup-tive form is being taught by seniorWTBA instructors Mause and RobEaglen at each workshop con-ducted by them and attended byBundaberg Taiji practitioners.

Instruction was provided by theBundaberg Taiji group on the use ofthe Wudang short stick and knifedefense at an Aikido workshop heldin Bundaberg in November ’05 bythe Dojo Academy of Martial Arts,This tuition included some of thewudang stick drills and was a followup from another instruction sessionon the Taiji Stick form with self de-fense applications held last year atan Aikido workshop, with Aikidoand Taiji students.

This year, regular fortnightly Taijiclasses began in Hervey Bay andhave been conducted by Ray Potter,traveling from Bundaberg to con-duct the classes with a small butgrowing number of students.

There is much ignorance andmisinformation in the generaland martial arts communityabout what “tai Chi” and the in-ternal martial arts really are andthe Bundaberg Taiji group hasbeen attempting to spread themessage of the true art of Taiji tothe wider community. Somestudents from other martial arts,including teenagers, especiallyfrom some of the “harder” styleshave been trying out Taiji at theclasses held by Bundaberg Taijito discover the depth and vari-ety in this internal art.

For details on training times forthe Bundaberg Taiji Groupplease contact the ErleMontaigue website, ta i j iworld.com, or phone Ray Pot-ter on 07 41 523 020 Australia.

Martial Guidance

By David Leffman

Teacher Xiao was hitting me, try-

ing to get beyond my intercepting

forearm, while I was attempting to let

the force of his strikes turn my waist

and so power my return punches. Tai

ying le, he kept repeating; song,

song! “Too stiff; relax, relax!” Not

easy under the circumstances. Then

he was through, grabbing my arm

and rolling backwards whilst simulta-

neously twisting his waist; I was

pulled forward and hit by the recoil of

his arms, which knocked me side-

ways and onto the ground.

The Chinese are proud of their cul-

ture, and when they see a foreigner is

serious about studying an aspect of

it, they go out of their way to inform.

My interest is in taiji. Don’t let anyone

tell you taiji is simply a pleasant exer-

cise for pensioners. It can be, but it’s

also a martial art whose flowing

moves form a linked series of kicks,

blocks, and strikes; the slowness of

practice builds up great stability,

co-ordination, and – in real combat –

speed.

I’ve studied taiji for ten years, and

during many trips to China have

taken the opportunity to train with

anyone who would let me. I met

teacher Xiao in a city park at dawn,

amongst surreal crowds letting off

steam by practicing martial arts, ball-

room dancing, boot-scooting, or just

by shouting. I’ve practiced with

monks on Wudang Shan, the moun-

tain where taiji is said to have origi-

nated; and been lucky enough to

meet the spry eighty-year-old Mr Han

Huiming, a famous fighter in his day,

at the ancestral home of the founder

of my taiji style. Others have demon-

strated their strength by breaking

bricks on their heads (or their stu-

dents’ bodies) for me; or have pared

the art down to just a few move-

ments, which somehow contain im-

mense power. All were talented

people who did their best to help me

understand their approach to taiji.

There are drawbacks in orbiting be-

tween teachers. Taiji is very factional,

and the different styles are all con-

vinced of their own superiority. Taiji

also allows for a degree of personal

interpretation, so while some instruc-

tors emphasise grappling or punch-

ing, others prefer yielding or

attacking. Having invested decades

in developing their own techniques,

teachers can become dogmatic

about their training methods. It’s im-

possible to try to please everyone: in

the end you’ll either renounce taiji

completely, or – as I eventually did –

try to find some common principles

underlying the different styles.

The most important taiji principle is

song. Song translates literally as “re-

lax”, but in martial terms indicates a

state in which the body is not use-

lessly limp but minimally tense. Song

also means “pine tree”, whose solid

trunk and loose, flexible branches

perfectly illustrate the desired martial

state. Song is not easy to achieve – it

can take years – but once you have it,

your stance becomes very firm, and

you begin to subconsciously “feel”

your opponent, reacting to an attack

without thinking. This is because

there are no obstructively tense mus-

cles to first relax before using the

ones you actually need. With song

also comes an ability to generate

power from your waist, and allowing

this force to travel unobstructed

to the attacking portion of your

body – in effect, putting your

whole body strength into the at-

tacking portion (be it fist, foot, or

head), rather than relying solely

on local muscles.

Another place where most types

of taiji find common ground is in

the division of solo and two-per-

son forms. The solo forms are

those slow-moving, lengthy rou-

tines which typify taiji and are,

confusingly given the name, often

practiced en masse. Without an

opponent to interrupt, they repre-

sent an idealised version of taiji,

and (though containing martial

movements) are used primarily to

develop internal energy or qi, a

strong flow of which the Chinese

believe is essential for good

health.

In contrast, two-person exercises

take the martial principles of the

solo form and show how to apply

them. The most common

two-person exercise is tuishou or

“push hands”, which – amongst

other things – teaches you how to

absorb and redirect an oppo-

nent’s force; more complex

sanshou routines use long se-

quences of moves from the solo

form to create realistic fight cho-

reography.

But perhaps the most important

unifying feature of taiji styles are

the secret words for success re-

vealed to me by teacher Xiao as

he helped me up off the ground.

Lianxi, lianxi: “Practice, practice”.

David Leffman is co-author of TheRough Guide to China. A Little Help

Paul Dadswell: London.

And I finally managed to elimi-nate the need to check my stance ina mirror with its help. I came upwith this little exercise:

1) Stand with the feet aligned anddistanced as per your instructionswith hands by the sides. Concen-trate on the point just forward ofthe heel (i.e. directly under the mid-dle of the tibia/talus joint - this mustbe the point that activates Kidney 1,right?) and relax the body as muchas possible.

2) Relax the back of the neck. Thiswill cause the chin to drop with theweight of the head, and the upperbody should sway backwardsslightly if you are relaxed.

3) Let the head/neck joint stayloose so the head and body con-tinue to oscillate gently forwardsand backwards through a couple ofinches (NB we’re not talking thefront row of a Sabbath gig here!More like a willow in the breeze.)Be very conscious of any muscleswhich tense as you sway, and try tolet them go as soon as you can.

4) Learn to feel the point wherethe head passes over the tibia/talusjoints. It gets more obvious withpractice, as when the head is overthe right part of the foot, the spinewill want to extend, waving and un-rolling gently like a charmed snake!This is the upright reflex kicking inproperly, which also allows you torelax shoulders, back etc. muchmore easily (as per the article).

5) Once you have felt and internal-ised this point, you can gently leadyour head to rest over it. The spineshould now be straighter, achievedin a pleasant way without counter-productive “military” straightening- and if your head is above the rightspots, a slight sense of toes “grip-ping” the floor without actuallygripping may appear as if by magic(more likely for beginners if you’vehad a foot massage recently!)

6) Just concentrate on keeping yourneck free and your weight over theright spots, let your knees collapseslightly forward as you sink intostance.(Imagine how a marionette’s kneesfold as the puppeteer lowers it to-wards the ground).

Hey presto! You have now devel-oped the facility to find yourthree-circle posture without havingto carry a full-length mirror every-where! Just a little something forbeginners to play with...

I realise that to some people, this islike teaching your granny to suckeggs.And to some, it’s a physical discov-ery that is stumbled on throughphysical hobbies such as taiji. But Iknow all too well from personal ex-perience, some people have no ideawhat a straight, relaxed posturefeels like, but merely assume thatthey have one because they don’tknow better!

You have now developed the facil-ity to find your three-circle pos-ture without having to carry afull-length mirror everywhere!

In fact, I think these are the onesthat will suck up taiji likesponges (if their frustrationwith basics doesn’t send themrunning) as they will feel thebiggest changes! If they can findand transfer this level of relax-ation to the form, they’ll be softfa-jinging like a crash-testdummy in slow motion beforeyou know it!

Paul Dadswell

SINK:

Erle Montaigue

One of the most difficult and yeteasiest to execute, this most impor-tant Chinese word with reference toTaijiquan will give you the exactlywhat the classics tell us that weshould receive when practicingTaiji.

The problem that most people(well all actually) is that in the be-ginning we all TRY to ‘sink’ the Qiand as Qi is an abstract sort of thingthat we generally cannot feel, it isimpossible to make the Qi sink. Infact you cannot make the Qi do any-thing using your conscious mind.It’s like trying to influence yourblood flow by thinking about it, it isan automatic motor action withinthe body that cannot be influencedby conscious thought because it isso important. We were made thisway in order for the body and its au-tomatic functions to work properlywithout hindrance.

And it’s the same with our Qi, onlythere are two reasons why we areunable to influence it using ourconscious mind. The first is thesame reason as for the blood in thatour Qi is of course very importantfor good health as we would diewithout it and its flow. The 2nd isthat if we were able to control ourQi, we would be able to damageothers at every selfish or revengefulwim.

The trick to getting the Qi to dowhat you want it to (to SINK) lieshidden in a phrase that I always re-member, told to me by one of myteachers way back. In fact it was one

of the very first things he told tome, thus: “Qi is like a shy girl; shelooks at you from behind a tree whenyou are not looking and you see her outof the corner of your eye and she disap-pears. Then you TRY to see her everyday after without success until you arenot trying and then swhe will appearagain when you least expect it.”

And this is the total secret to youradvancement and understanding ofyour Tai Chi practice. Simply DOIT! No silly mind games, no think-ing low, or I must sink my qi, nothinking of honey rolling downyour body etc., or the many othergames that we are told to play asthese are all CONSCIOUS thoughtand another important classic say-ing that I was told way back wasthat: “Conscious thought will blockthe Qi”.

And this is the total secret toyour advancement and under-standing of your Tai Chi prac-tice. Simply DO IT! No sillymind games, no thinking low,or I must sink my qi, no think-ing of honey rolling down yourbody etc.,

However, one of the most difficultthings is to NOT think while per-forming your Taiji form. And mostpeople will TRY to block allthought from their mind. This is in-correct as TRYING to block con-scious thought is in itself consciousthought and more so that normalthoughts that come and go in yourmind while you practice. If you can-not rid your mind of all thought(and of course if you KNOW thatyou are doing this then you

AREN’T), then it is muchbetter to allow any thoughts tocome and go while you practice,as long as they are thoughtscompletely different to whatyou are actually doing and thatthose thoughts do not cause ten-sion to rise into the upper body.Normal thoughts like what youwill be doing next after yourpractice,m playing guitar or anyreally nice thought that willcome and go. Never should youthink not so nice thoughts likerevenge or hatred etc. Even ifyou simply think about the sur-rounding countryside (if you arepracticing in the outdoors) orthe birds chirping, that is goodenough to cause the Qi to sink.

However, there is another waythat Tai Chi allows the QI tosink naturally and this is one ofthe main reasons that we per-form the form with bent legs.We would of course never actu-ally defend ourselves with thisbent leg position and this is a bigmistake that most make whenteaching Tai Chi as a fightingart, they think that we must useTai Chi exactly as it is in the pos-tures. However, this is incorrect.We have bent knees in order forthe conscious mind to FEEL thepressure in the thighs. This inturn tells the sub-consciousmind that we are SINKING.And another classic saying thatwe are always told in the begin-ning that: “What the physicaldoes, so too does the Qi” . Sowhen we SINK our body physi-cally by bending the knees, thesub-conscious mind will causethe Qi also to SINK to thetantien leaving the rest of the

body to simply move in accordancewith each posture thereby causingthe Qi to become activated in eachparticular meridian in turn which iswonderful for health.

This sub-conscious SINKING alsoallows us to issue forth Qi when wemust defend ourselves. However,again, if we think about doing this,it will never happen. This is why TaiChi and Bagua can never be used ina tournament sport situation or stu-pid push hands competitions, be-cause we are constantly thinkingabout what will happen next andhow we will defeat it. This is con-scious thought and so the Qi willnot be issued. Another reason isthat God made us such that wecould not hurt others needlessly us-ing the great power of Qi and in asport, there is no need for this so itwill never happen! The only timethe Qi will be issued forth is whenwe least expect it, when the shy girlis peeping at us from behind thetree. And this means when we areattacked in the street when we leastexpect it. This has happened to beon a number of occasions in mymis-led 20s and 30s where I havefelt that immense power of Qi. Butin each incident when I would try togain that power again, it was gonebecause I was TRYING!

Another area where the Qi willmanifest automatically is in thehealing area when we come acrosssomeone who needs healing. If wewere to consciously THINK aboutthe Qi going into this person, itwould not work at all. However,healing is also exactly the same asbeing attacked suddenly, it workswhen you least expect it. And here iswhere that lovely saying is so true:“You are only a true healer if yourpatient is healed as they walk fromyour door to your desk”. In otherwords, the real healing happens not

by the needles that you will stick,nor by the herbal remedy that youwill prescribe or the pills, nor by themassage that you will impart; it willhappen before you even talk to thepatient. The physical things are im-portant of course like laying on ofhands etc, but the beginning activa-tion of Qi happens simply becauseyou have come in contact withsomeone who is ill. And it is everyanimal’s automatic obligation toheal others who are ill. I have seenthis happen in the wild or with fam-ily pets many times. Even to thepoint where an injured animal whocannot be fixed, will be chewed upby another animal because that wasthe only course of action.

It is really easy to get the Qi tosink and it is really difficult atthe same time. However, as Ikeep saying over and over; allyou have to do, is the move-ment. Every great secret aboutTai Chi and Bagua is lockedup in the movement, nothingelse

It is really easy to get the Qi to sinkand it is really difficult at the sametime. However, as I keep sayingover and over; all you have to do, isthe movement. Every great secretabout Tai Chi and Bagua is lockedup in the movement, nothing else.It cannot be intellectualized, it is apurely physical thing which whendone correctly (and herein lies themost important thing) will impartto the practitioner all of the won-derful benefits that all internal sys-tems have to offer.

Sadly though in modern times evenin China, these wonderful arts havebeen watered down so much thatthey have become nothing! Theyhave been denigrated by those who

would put them into nationaland international tournamentsto see who is best. So the inter-nal part is lost, and as they areINTERNAL arts, what you areleft with are arts that are emptyshells which cannot be used forself defence or healing, so peo-ple resort back to things like Ka-rate and other hard styleswhereby the chap with the big-gest muscles always wins.

CAMP 2006

From Erle Montaigue

The annual international WTBASummer Training Camp was heldnear Rostock in the North of Ger-many, end of May 2006. WTBA in-structors and students from 12countries attended in a spirit offriendship and dedication, humourand comradeship.

Around 45 WTBA instructors andstudents from Switzerland, SouthAfrica, Germany, UK, Ireland, Aus-tralia, The Netherlands, France,Slovenia, Norway, Greece and Swe-den attended the first SummerCamp held by Erle Montaigue inEurope. For those instructors whofor some reason could not attend,you really missed something spe-cial. So please see if you can attendin 2007 as it is important for yourown training and that of your stu-dents to be seen to have a connec-tion with 'head office' so to speak.

The camp was held over 4 days withmost arriving on the Thursday eve-ning and leaving on the followingMonday after class or Tuesdaymorning. Schnatermann is thename of the venue for the camp andis a family run purpose built campwhich caters for everyone. Fromthose wishing to actually camp in atent, to those who would like tohave the experience of sleeping in aCovered Wagon, to a little more

comfort in lovely wooden cabinsand then there is a wonderful Hotelright at the camp for those who liketheir creature comforts. The BalticSea is only 10 minutes drive while ahuge lake is right at the edge of thecamp where sail boarding andcanoeing can be done.

Included in the accommodation fee(which is very reasonable) are threemeals per day, mainly vegetarian.However, those who must eat cowor other large animals, this is avail-able to order at an extra cost per ses-

sion. A very nice dinning roomis provided for our benefit and ahuge training shed is also avail-able if the weather cracks up.

Having held many camps in thepast, I must say that this one inparticular was the most friendlyand sharing of all. Perhaps it'sjust that I am getting older andpush less the macho fightingstuff concentrating upon the

healing aspects, although thefighting is of course included,it's just that I place less impor-tance upon it nowadays.

A number of WTBA instruc-tors also received an upgradeto their level as I am able atthese camps in particular towatch everyone and see howthey are going etc.

This is what happens when a swarm of bees invades the training! Actually it was an excellent warm up method and Qi centering Qigong on First Day.

I took my whole family this timewhich was such a lovely way to do itas I was much more relaxed know-ing that we were all together. Eliand Ben taught, also helping meout when I needed it and also tooksome private lessons in the offtimes. And the Moontagu Familyband performed in the eveningalong with others who could play amusical instrument.

However, it was the training thateveryone came for and that was thebest ever as we were able to getthrough all 8 palm changes of theBagua Original Circular form, plusthe Bagua Snake form and Yang'sSecret 4th House where we takeour push hands and turn it intosomething real in the way of realis-tic self defence methods.

An excellent 2 hour session hap-pened after dinner each day aswell. This was not a formal les-son as it was an extra trainingsession thrown in for those whowished to cover things thatweren't covered in the normaltraining sessions. So we coveredthings like Yang Lu-ch'an cor-rections where the studentswere able to ask questions aboutthe different parts that they werehaving difficulty with and this 2hour class proved to be a realwinner with everyone.

A number of WTBA instructorsalso received an upgrade to theirlevel as I am able at these campsin particular to watch everyoneand see how they are going etc.

From now onwards, this is oneof the only ways that instructorswill be able to receive upgrades.So next year, this camp will beheld also at Schnatermann inGermany over the weekend ofAugust 3rd to 6th. See my class

time table for this infor-mation.

My sincere thanks to RonBeier, 3rd Degree, WTBAinstructor and my repre-sentative for Germanyand his lovely wife Fraukefor organizing the wholecamp. I know how diffi-cult it is to organize 50 orso people, catering to thedifferent likes and dislikesetc. And Ron and Frauketook it all in their strideand did an amazing job.

In the end, the camp was a hugesuccess as far as training, friendshipand WTBA bonding was con-cerned. Many new friends weremade and old ones renewed. Thosewho live relatively closer to eachother are now getting together totrain on a regular basis and thoseeven from other countries are mak-ing arrangements to visit again fortraining.

Mark your calendar for 2007 as youhave over a year to plan for this in2007. It is important that all of ourWTBA instructors attend at sometime in order to catch up with thetraining personally from myself.

ExplanationsofNeutralizing,Rooting/Grounding,Yielding etc

Paul Brecher (London)

Just so that we are clear on this ifsomeone says that they do ChineseInternal Martial Arts (CIMA) andstart talking about neutralizing en-ergy and try and convince you thatthis means something mysteriousto do with chi/qi energy and cannotbe explained and is an ancient secretand was only a rare skill attainableby the ancient masters of the pastand etc etc etc then they are living ina dream land and have lost touchwith everyday reality.

To use neutralizing energy on someone means to neutralize them as in..... I counterattacked by repeatedlyusing fa-jing elbowing the oppo-nent in the soft tissue of the neck inthe area of acupuncture point stom-ach nine causing the effect of the ac-tivation of the cardio inhibitoryaction of the vagus nerve which willmake the heart fail ( heart stop dimmak ) also causing major trauma tothe carotid artery ( blood stop dimmak ) and also repeatedly elbowingthe opponent in the soft tissue ofthe neck in the area of acupuncturepoint conception meridian twentytwo causing massive local traumaand the crushing of the respiratorytrack ( restricted air dim mak ). Theopponent has now received my veryeffective neutralizing energy.... Hehas been Neutralized !

Or another example if someonestarts talking about the power ofrooting/grounding and says thatthey can not be pushed over be-cause their rooting/grounding is so

strong and powerful etc etc thenthey are not martial artists and willlead you down an interesting but ir-relevant side road and you will missthe main road of the CIMA.

This is because they have no truedepth of understanding about thereal world and are lost in a funnydream world and are out of touchwith reality. Firstly, because whensomeone goes to repeatedly punchyou in the face you do not NOTstay where you are and be rooted tothe spot. This is ridiculous whywould any one want to stay in thesame place that the opponent is at-tacking ? The correct thing to do isto move out of the way of their at-tack, to use fast footwork and notbe where they are attacking. So theidea of rooting/grounding is a dis-traction, it is not martial arts, yes itis very, very, very important for chikung healing, but not for fighting.

To yeild means that we do notblock their attack, we do not tryand change the direction thattheir attacking limb is going in,instead we let them do their at-tack but not be where they are at-tacking.

The second thing is if root-ing/grounding is in the martial artsat all it is not you who should berooted/grounded it is the opponentwho you want to be grounded, youwant him to stay where he is and gethit ! So you move but ground himand then hit him and then hit himagain and then hit him again, thenyou hit him again until he is inca-pacitated and collapses to theground ....... Now he is Grounded !

Yielding, yielding, yielding !?!many people who go on aboutthis skill are so far away from themost obvious reality of life onearth that they should be writ-ing fiction. Yielding does notNOT mean lose to win or stepback or let them push you etc etcwhy this obviously ridiculousidea is still encouraged by prac-titioners of CIMA I do notknow ?

To yeild means that we do notblock their attack, we do not tryand change the direction thattheir attacking limb is going in,instead we let them do their at-tack but not be where they areattacking. We have moved for-wards to a position where theycannot hit us but we can hitthem.

Yielding means rushing for-wards and head butting them inthe face, it does not mean goingall floppy like a piece of wet spa-ghetti !

So just to sum up. . . . .

I think maybe that there aremany people in CIMA whohave been led to believe that ifthey stay rooted/grounded (stay where they are ) and neu-tralize ( use the chi ) and yield (go floppy like wet spaghetti )then they can survive being at-tacked by a violent criminal whois repeatedly punching them in

the face. These people are being de-ceived and it is unjust.

My view. . . . . .

To train in a way that is connectedwith reality we must put aside a ro-mantic idea of ancient masters andmystical abilities and think long andhard about the reality of what reallyhappens when a person is attacked.

The attacker is not going to grabyour wrist and say that he can pullyou over, nor is he going to try andpush you to see if he can uproot youetc. In reality the opponent is goingto try and distract you with swearwords and intimidating questionslike ‘Are you F**king looking at me? ‘ and then he is going to steam inwith repeated full power punches tothe face.

If you have been training CIMA asa healing and meditation systemand no martial arts aspect that isfine but if you have a martial artscomponent to your training youshould want it to be relevant to reallife.

So how can I be so sure that CIMAis connected with the reality of realcombat ?

Well Chinese internal martial artistswere hired to escort rich traders,their merchandise and profitsthrough inhospitable terrain andthey were often attacked by largegroups of armed, mounted banditswho attacked them with spears,broadswords, knives, arrows andaxes etc.

Their response would have been tocounterattack with similar weaponsand close quarter striking tech-niques (fa-jing/dim-mak), with

speed and power, strike the banditsdown and kill every last one ofthem.

Or do you really think that the re-sponse of these highly trained fight-ers would have been to stay rootedto the spot and go soft like spaghetti!?!

Paul Brecher is the Senior LondonInstructor for The World Tai ChiBoxing Association, he teaches TaiChi Chuan, Bagua Chang andWudang Shan Chuan for both heal-ing and self defence, he can be con-tacted at www.taiji.net

Tai Chi Anarchy

Don Morgan:

It all started when I was complain-ing that I had a bad back and some-one said ‘Try Tai Chi. That shouldhelp.’

I have been doing Tai Chi for justover 4 years now. I don’t practice.Right or wrong I just do it to thebest of my ability and enjoy it.

This is how I like to do it:

Well the sun has just come up so Iget out of bed and go into the gar-den and start with a bit of ChiGong, (usually lift chi up pour chidown). Where I stand is in theshade of a tree. Then I do the form;I don’t try to get it exactly right.What I do is enjoy being a littlemonkey outside, living in the pres-ent, and doing the craziest of move-ments. Sometimes I close my eyesto do the form and enjoy the feeling(which has limited martial value),but it is interesting to see where Iam and which direction I am facingat the finish. Trying to get it right isreserved for going to classes. Then Ido some standing Chi Gong usuallyin Wu Ji, it’s really strange howmuch scope there is to improve thisstance. By now the sun has risenfrom behind the tree and I have awarm back and a long shadow.

Regarding classes, after two years Ihad a year off Tai Chi classes so thatI could practice on my own, read afew books internalize the wholething. I took some Healing ChiGong classes during that period.Now I am back going to classeswith my original teacher and enjoy-

ing them more. I had drifted offwith many details of the form,which had to be corrected. I like tothink some of it was developing myown style. What I found interestingwas I could see the improvement inmy teacher after his year off fromteaching me!

I tried a weekend workshop withmy teacher’s teacher and found outthat I was still a little monkeyscratching the surface of Tai Chi. Abit depressing at first but I supposehe had been doing it for about 30years. He went to learn it in Lon-don at the same time as a youngchap called Montaigue.

I tried a weekend workshopwith my teacher’s teacher andfound out that I was still a lit-tle monkey scratching the sur-face of Tai Chi.

What are the effects. Well my backis a lot better. It does not take aslong to stop hurting after I havedone something that I shouldn’thave done.

Other strange things that hap-pened:If my wife throws something at me;my hand goes up to catch it all onit’s own. That never used to hap-pen, she used to hit me.

The most intere s t ing oc-currence s are with

animals :

When I first started Tai Chi our col-lie dog got very cross, he wouldbark and jump up at me. Did he see

my movements as threatening?Now our terrier comes and sitsat my feet, which is OK for ChiGong but I have to step overhim for Tai Chi. Is he bathing inthe field of chi round me?My daughter’s pony seems tounderstand. I walked up to himwhen he was lying down oneday and thought ‘I’ll squat downand see if he will stay down onthe ground’ so I bent my kneesdropped my shoulders, rotatedmy hips, (Wu Ji). Well he pan-icked jumped up and ran away.Another day he was out pullingthe cart when he got a fright. Sowhat did he do? Arched his backdropped his bum stuck his headup and prepared to rear up orbuck. Time to get off the cartquickly and try to contain thesituation. Is this horse Wu Ji?

The question of how do animalshold up their heads occurs. Af-ter all you would think it mustbe hard for a horse to hold upthat big head all day. Do they re-lax their muscles so that theirheads stay up without any ef-fort. Is this what we are all try-ing to find in our Tai Chi.

THE GREAT ULTIMATE LOVE

Franklyn Birbal

What pervades the Silence? Youwant to see Emptiness’ dancingthen look no further than love.Love is. Love is the first movementof the divine. It’s the very fabric ofeverything you and I do, whetheryou no it or not. The truth of whatyou are is unknown it’s an a un-knowable mystery you can’t saywhat it is, Just fall into it. Let thesewords do what there supposed todo and Point to it like a sign youpasted one day on your way to in-ternal power.

The one becomes two from the twothe ten thousands things and allthe myriad manifestation of life.

Life is always telling you some-thing. Fall in love with life and youwhole life will begin to change.Watch the sun rise, feel the morningair, make your breakfast kiss yourfamily good morning and wake upto another day of Loving. It’s notthe swishy washy type of love wheretalking about here, this is uncondi-tional love it makes no bones aboutgiving you your lessons. Every-thing you need to know and growas an individual journeying fromnowhere. It hardly ever lets on it’sdoing it. It may seem at times thatlife is completely getting you downand is unfair but there’s a higher or-der of things. It must be seen thatthe only reason you are here in theend is to see. Lift the veil through

heart the doorway to the all and ev-erything you love in life.

The one becomes two from the twothe ten thousands things and all themyriad manifestation of life. It’snot to see you are not alone. You arealone, Drop through your fear ofannihilation. There is somethingelse waiting to be born into yourlife. Embrace your self and all ofcreation in the wonder of what youtruly are and fall in love again.

Let the Grand Ultimate fist, meetthe Grand ultimate Love.

WTBA & Healing

Solo Training in Baguazhang

Michael A. Babin

A competent style of baguateaches balance and relaxation(sung), the development of wholebody power, as well as the use ofmental intention (Yi) for martialpurposes. Done properly and mod-erately, over the long term, baguasolo training can also transform youand your health, often in ways thatmay surprise you.

The circular solo form can bestrangely beautiful, full of gracefultwisting movement, sudden explo-sive power and changes of pace anddirection as well as dramaticswooping and lifting actions. Per-haps, because of this many who be-gin training in bagua focus almostimmediately on the solo circularform and neglect to develop an ap-preciation of just how important itis to master the more basic walkingtraining — and practise that regu-larly once the form is being prac-ticed.

Unfortunately for those who ne-glect it, walking what Erle hascalled the “Eight Mother Palms” ata relatively slow and precise pace isessential.In the long-term, true skill often co-mes from simple details and themore tedious repetition of coretraining methods. Doing relativelysimple but rhythmic exercise tendsto quiet the conscious mind and in-duce relaxation — ask a baby why itlikes to be walked around or swungslowly and rhythmically in its par-ent’s arms.

Walking “properly” in bagua termsis also a profound way of warmingup the body for the more strenuousactivities of martial practise or thedemanding stretches and the lowstances of the postures within theindividual changes of the solo circu-lar form.

On the other hand, one of the big-gest enemies of progress — on anylevel — is boredom with the train-ing as the weeks turn into monthsand the months grow into years. Isuppose that I could compare it tobeing in a long-term relationshipwith someone but my wife mightread this so I better not!

Walking “properly” in baguaterms is also a profound way ofwarming up the body for themore strenuous activities ofmartial practise or the de-manding stretches and the lowstances of the postures withinthe individual changes of thesolo circular form.

When you need a little variety on aparticular day, there are differentways to modify your practise of thecircular solo form after you havespent at least a small amount of timewalking the circle with the EightMother Palms.

When short of time; do only oneside of each ‘change’ while still fol-lowing the sequence as if doing thewhole thing symmetrically. Havingto remember which version of eachchange that you have to do next(counterclockwise or clockwise) asyou proceed is another way of keep-ing the mind attentive once you get

to the stage where“daydreaming sung” tends to bea real danger for martial qualityand technical precision.

When you have more time in aparticular session , walk the cir-cle moreslowly and precisely than nor-mal (remember it should notroutinely done quickly in anycase) and/or do more than theusual one revolution of holdingthe Dragon/Frog Palm beforestarting the next change.Another way to vary your prac-tise of the solo form is to use anelectronic timer (it has to be amodel that will automatically re-peat the same period of time af-ter the first ring) and set it for,say, eight minutes. Then just re-peat the First Change over andover on both sides until thetimer goes and then do just theSecond Change over and overon both sides until the timerrings again. Many experts havewritten that the first twochanges of the circular form arethe most important and providethe core lessons to be learnedabout martial baguazhang.

Whether you are doing the soloform or just walking; the exactsize of the circle you walk is lessimportant than how preciselyyou step and how you transferthe weight of the body and con-nect the spine to your feet andhands. By the way, some walk-ing methods in other styles thanthat practiced in the WTBA ad-vocate using deep angles of theknees and much lower, longerpostures. Done properly, thiscan bring leg and core torsostrength but can also ruin the

knees in particular unless you aresupervised enough in your owntraining to do the method precisely;conversely, some styles use morespeed in the walking and higherstances which often means that thestudents “float” more than they re-alize.Having a strong root and move-ment that physically connects thehands to the ground through thelength of the spine — at any pace —is no easy task.

I will finish by reminding you thatthe martial side of the art can reallyonly be discovered, with any real-ism, through regular training withpartner(s). Practising solo canbring the beginnings of martialposture and body mechanics but ifyou don’t realize and make practicalthat solo practise through martialinteraction, you only get half thebeast. In the end, no matter howwell you train on your own it won’tautomatically translate into bagua— or ANY — martial skills unlessyou spend the time, the sweat andthe sorrow.

Too many modern practitioners, es-pecially those who train exclusivelyon their own through videos anddvds have deluded themselves onhow well the material has sunk inon a martial level. As Erle has oftensaid and written, it is not enough tohave memorized dim-mak pointsand how to attack them; you alsohave to have all the interactive skillsnecessary to be able to “carry thefight” successfully.

I suppose that you could say thatpractising by yourself is like mastur-bating, it can be very enjoyable,even addictive; but the skills andpleasure you get that way are noth-ing like the skills and pleasure youcan get from interacting in bed withsomeone else! But, again, my wife

might read this, so I won’t writethat ...

Ragdoll Gung-fu

Franklyn Birbal

I finally got my foot in the door ofthe internal and the sky has beenopened up in my taichi practice andit’s raining pearls. Thanks to the in-ner teacher and the outer teacher. Iwonder if it was my experience withenergetic healing arts that did it.

All I know is I will never give up, aslong as I able I will continue topractice for it’s wonderful benefits.I not trying to be a master it’s agame, I just want to see how far itgoes. So maybe in another decadeor so I’ll step through the door.I enjoy writing its pure expression.I hope that it would inspire othersto write and share thoughts ontaichi within the WTBA, You neverknow you might just have that onesentence that might help a littlepiece click into place for someone.After all the form becomes yoursover the years so here is another ex-pression of thought.

Relaxing is a term used in alltaichi classes, you should be re-laxed while doing the movements.Back then I thought of relaxing astrying to chill out and take it easy.

So I go to a class and do take it easytaichi.Learning two movements at a time,of course It has to be learnt slowlybut I was also impatient like mustbeginners. You think you got it af-ter you have finished learning theform. Relaxation as you go deeperhas holds great importance to yourtaichi practice. What fellow’s is mypersonal experience with relaxing in

tai chi chaun and my learning of theYang Lu – Chaun form, after tenyears of Yang Chang – Fu First of allI never thought that a decade of taijipractice can creep up on you so fastbut it does believe me. I could havebeen a lot further along the road,but I choose to broaden my healingexperience and have a family.

Can You be Like A Baby and It’sLike a rag doll where two terms Icame across and are used to describein a way a type of Relaxing incor-rectly translated as “ to Relax “, wecall this Sung. “ to move withoutfeeling it “Taichi is a way of moving thathappens within Sung. It like anengine in neutral it’s ready to ex-plode at any moment.

To flow was one of the first things Iwas told to do when doing themovements. I certainly didn’t feelany flow but it was a necessarypre-requisite to explain somethingthat will only come over time.When you begin to encounter it inyour training at first it want be all atonce in every movement. It may bejust a few areas, a wave of the hands,wave hands like clouds most likelywill be one of the first area you willfeel sung. The first time I experi-enced sung was with my teacher, hewas controlling my movementscorrecting a portion of the form,and suddenly I was taken over likesomeone else was doing the move-ments. I said to him it like someoneelse is doing it. He just smiled andcarried on. My form changed fromthen and I was all ways in search ofthat feeling. I now realise it was thesung feeling, that was six years agoand it’s now coming into it’s own.

Sung is supremely important toyour taichi Chaun without it thewhole thing just doesn’t workfully as an internal art.

To flow in sung means to haveevery part connected movingwith an inner movement. Whenthe qi becomes tangible some-thing else moves you like yourbeing taken over by something,like an inner wave.

My form builds up a lot of Yangqi to the point where I feel like Iwanted to wip- out lighteningjust at the end of the movement,I felt like I wanted to explode bythe end of my form. Because itwas an all- slow from I could notshow the great power ready toexpress, Sure I could do all thealigned structure stuff and see ifyou can push me stuff, but couldI really defend my self with that.It would be probably better forme to rely on my previews train-ing like boxing and just throw apunch.How do you express power thatyou where never taught, andsuddenly coming to the WTBAthere was Fa- Jing ( Explosiveenergy ).Tai chi is all Fa- Jing it’s just withthe all slow form is very subtlefa-jing with the Yang Lu chunform we do it, which is a re-quirement for self defence. ForFa- Jing you must have sung,with no sung no fa-jing. Withno sung no deep flow of energyto clear blockages, which allowsthe healing of the body. Tensionblokes the (qi). In a state of sungself healing (qi) can have adeeper impact on the energetic

system and flows in a much morepowerful way..Thus here I give testimony to to myrecent practice of the Yang Lu chunform, What a relief, what a blessingenergy wise. Those energy releasepoints are fantastic and they havechanged my life. Let me explain Ihad been holding it all in so long onthat level, it was just so good to getit out and moving in a vigorousway. I have lost weight my comple-tion has improved my physical andinternal fitness and my understand-ing of the giving of energy for re-lease has greatly deepened. Thisreleasing of power ( Fa- Jing ) hashelped Me in the area of knockingdown doors and breaking throughbarriers I just seem to pack a biggerpunch when I need to take action.You see your working with your en-ergy, your awareness, it has a psy-chological effect to my mind, Whenthe energy is not fully expressed outas in fa- jing that’s why the YLCform is more balanced because youget rid of stagnant (qi).

In order in order to use the centrifu-gal force from the spine and hip youmust have sung in the movement.It has a wave like the functioning ofa whip with the energy emitted atthe tip. At it’s higher levels it’scalled loose boxing “Hao chaun”.This floppy taichi my look uselessto the un-initiated those that have-n’t studied an internal system andknow how to use the power of hips,tremendous power can be gener-ated after some training.

Just like a Rag doll doesn’t have theability to tense up (Rigid Tension)if you imagine it being able to per-form a taichi movement slow or atthe fa- jing pace. So to is it withtaichi it must be that loose. The en-ergy that comes out from doingstriking like this is used again, recy-cled in to the next posture nothingis wasted not even the rebound, in

this way tai chi can be said to be agreen martial art because we useeverything with got whole bodypower.

We still maintain the structure andform but it is held loose, the formhas a certain amount of gravity to itand you feel like you sink down intothe ground with heaviness. Thewhole form merges into one “ thereis only one move “ what we do ispull out a few elements and look atthem, and then merges the backinto the whole form.

Maybe it was worth waiting thislong because now it feels like elec-tricity (qi) Maybe all those years ofslow form have homed my aware-ness of it, that now I know when itgathers for release, I can feel it.Taichi chuan is a deep thing, I havejust begun my journey into it an al-ready some very interesting thingsare starting to come out, and part ofthe way is sung.

World Taiji Boxing Association News

E Montaigue

A renewed vigor and interest in theWTBA seems to be happeningWorldwide. New member applica-tions are up by around 50% on2005 already.

Many find that our way of the Mar-tial/Healing Arts is just too infor-mal, so they leave to find anotherassociation which is more rigid andcontrolling that we are. But that isOK, ‘Horses for Courses’. How-ever, those who prefer to be leadersand make up their own mindsabout how things are done, come tothe WTBA.

Myself and family will now be stay-ing permanently in the UK as this isnow our home and so much isopening up for our children in thisarea of the World in the way of Mar-tial/Healing arts as well as music.

Last edition of Combat & Healingsaw around 75,000 downloads!And that does not count those whothen pass it on. So we are becominga force to be reckoned with. Al-though we aren’t really a ‘force’ justa bunch of friends training to-gether.

I have a renewed interest in my owntraining and also in my own teach-ing. Don’t know what it is, maybesomething in the water here? Orperhaps those cups of Turkish cof-fee? In any case, I am now back tofull teaching mode after an awk-ward start when we first moved tothe UK, changes and getting usedto a new country etc., Took theirtoll on my own motivation to teach.

So 2007 will see me back into fullworkshop mode covering Italy,France, Germany and Spain as wellas many weekend workshops in theUK. And maybe Canada.

I am having a great time releasingall of the Yang Family so-called Se-cret Houses, stuff that mostly I havetaught on and off for years but withnothing formal put down ontoDVD. We are up to MTG302 atpresent the ‘Silk Reeling YangLu-ch’an form final volume.

My sons, Ben and Eli are movingaround the world teaching what Iteach as well as teaching music. AndKathleen is also teaching guitar andgetting back into her Tai Chi andBagwa training as I knew shewould.

We still need articles by WTBAmembers for this magazine as I can-not do it all myself, … Well I couldbut it would become a little boring.So please, if you wish to be famous,just send in articles on any subjectrelated to Bagwa, Taiji, Healing,Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine ingeneral, Qigong etc.

I will be holding our now annualInternational Summer Camp inRostock Germany again in 2007in August, so please get in early sothat we can book you in as spacesare limited. Information aboutthis is elsewhere in this magazineand also on our web sitewww.taijiworld.com orwww.erle.co.uk

WTBA Instructor s !

If you are a WTBA instructor andadvertise using our association,

please be in touch at least oncein the year! Or come to a work-shop or two. Not being likeother more strict instructors, Itreat our WTBA instructors asequals and adults. But some-times, some do take advantageof this and I never see themagain once they can advertiseunder our heading.

So from time to time, I will begoing over our International In-structor lists to take out thosewho have not been in touch orhave not been seen for sometime or who have moved andhave not let us know etc.

Bagwa or Taij i?

They are equal. However, as Igrow older, am tending towardsBaguazhang, maybe it is be-cause I have spent so much ofmy early life with Tai Chi thatnow, Bagwa is giving me a re-newed interest? I really enjoy theslightly more energetic movesand relaxation that it gives eventhough it is a little faster etc.

And so to reflect this, I amteaching more Bagwa at myworkshops, but always teachsome Tai Chi as I still love that aswell. But with so much to prac-tice, I just don’t have 50 hours inthe day!

Vis i tor s to Wales fromOverseas

Brian Alexander, is now theWTBA representative for theState of Maryland (MD) USAafter he completed a grueling 12day, 4 hours per day private tu-

toring with Eli Montaigue with oc-casional intervention by ErleMontaigue.

Brian has progressed sufficiently tohave been graded up to 2nd degreeand representative for the State ofMD in the USA.

He has 30 years of martial arts expe-rience and is the successor presidentof Parks Martia l Artswww.Pa rk sMar t i a lAr t s . comfounded by the late Master SungHong Park who passed away sud-denly in 2003. Park’s Martial Artsis celebrating its 25th anniversarythis year and offers several styles ofmartial arts including a one of akind Hapkido lineage/program.

Brian’s efforts to improve upon hismartial arts education resulted inbecoming a student of the WTBAin 2002. He now teaches the com-plete Yang Lu-ch’an’s system as wellas beginning on Baguazhang.

We welcome Brian into the WTBAas our newest representative, hepasses all criteria for this being agood bloke and as a side line is agreat rock drummer! Brian accom-panied the Moontagu Band to aperformance in one of our local vil-lages on his last evening with us inWales.