More Hun Yan Taiji

Haven't blogged for awhile as I am trying to recover from a little bout with bronchitis....started out like an allergy.....lots of itchy eyes and throat........then it kicked in hard.....coughed so hard my ribs ache!!  Yuck.......seems like it's going around.........so lookout keep your Purell handy.......and stay away from big crowds of coughing people!!

 Even though I had a bad cold.....no choice still had to do things so no time for resting in bed.......the coughing made things uncomfortable and made translating for the Hun Yan Seminars a real chore....fortunately lots of people including Debbie step up and helped out...thanks people!!  Many new people attended the Hun Yan Taiji Seminars in San Jose.......also returnees from last year.....always good to see lots of people interested in studying Taiji.  One of the great treats of this event was getting to work with Madame Feng Xu Qian.  She is Grandmaster Feng Zhi Qiang's  younger daughter, while she has not practiced as long as her older sister, she teaches with great enthusiasm and shares freely.  She always modestly says that her knowledge may not be very deep but she wants everyone to know what she has learned.  I have watched her father teach her, and  he has made sure he imparted full knowledge of the style to her.  One of her great strengths is that you are able to clearly see how she is moving her body and how she is generating her power.......her circles are big and her explanations concise and to the point.  Often, even Master Chen Xiang, you can no longer see that, as he has made his circles smaller and smaller.....he calls that becoming invisible!  In Hun Yan Taiji, there are many more circles than are found in traditional Chen Taiji........this allows for opening and closing, and for relaxing.  All Taiji has relaxation or soong.......but Hun Yan Taiji requires that you do that before and after every movement....this allows you to circulate your Qi without any breaks and helps you develop your internal Jin...or power......and makes the application obvious.  The form is qigong and the form is application...this is one of the important changes Grandmaster Feng has made to Chen Taiji.

Some of my students did a short demo of Hun Yan Chen Taiji for the Masters and for the seminar participants.  The above was a performance of the Hun Yan Bagua Taiji Fan....a creation of mine combining the elements of Bagua Fan with Chen Taiji.  Madame Feng said she thought that this was very much in keeping with the teachings of her father.

Madame Feng gave superb instructions on learning the 24 Hun Yan Chen Taiji Form.  Here she is demonstrating Peng in the first movement of the form.......the first movement contains all elements of Taiji....peng-lu-ji-an.  She not only taught the moves but explained why they were done that way.