Genuine Lineage of Tai Chi
- Yang & Chen Style
Real results; no more neck
pain!
What started out
as a very half-hearted effort along with much skepticism and
yet drawn by mythical shroud Tai Chi surrounds itself,
without my wildest imagination would I actually dreamed of
journeying this far in practicing this art. Before coming
to teacher Wu, with sheer coincident, my wife spotted a
group of people practicing Tai Chi one Sunday morning just
near by our house. After going there once a week, on and
off and absent about half of the time, for a duration of
roughly almost three years, I found myself constantly
wondering that one burning question: how far and how much
do you need to “relax” before it is “enough”, before one can
really get all the benefits from learning Tai Chi? The main
reason that got me into this Tai Chi path is primarily what
Tai Chi is so famously known for: its slow moving form plus
the relaxation of the mind and body which is suppose to
bring tremendous health to an individual. Prior to becoming
a Tai Chi pupil, like many people, I have no knowledge
whatsoever thus was sold on what Tai Chi “promises”; its
numerous and wonderful health benefits but lacking any real
understanding of what a “true” Tai Chi is. And yet with so
many Sundays that have gone by, I really didn’t “feel” or
“get” the benefits it promises. I still come home from work
everyday, tired as ever. Many weekends of taking kids out
or any social gathering would drain my energy completely.
The fatigue I have toward the end of each day is none
different before I practice Tai Chi. I knew this can’t be.
Frustration and not wanting to believe all these time I
spent were wasted led me to search on the Internet. Without
knowing how, I somehow stumbled onto teacher Wu’s web site.
After reading some of teacher’s writings, I still didn’t
understand a thing but decided to give a try.
Right from the
beginning, teacher Wu talked about the concepts of Internal
Martial Art and how that is different from the External
Martial Art. Teacher Wu started with some very simple
exercise for the arms and then dived right into teaching
“how to relax”. The lesson then proceeded to the Eight
Movements, or commonly known as the Eight Brocade that is
widely practiced in many places. What’s different from
Teacher Wu’s Eight Movements is…result! It’s not the
variance of the move itself that differs from others but
rather, the force one can begin to actually feel flowing in
your body, if one diligently practice consistently without
much procrastination. After this, following along teacher’s
lesson plan as he has layout for all new comers, he taught
me Xiang Yi’s Five Element Chi, which then led to Five
Element Fists, and finally Tai Chi. Way before even getting
into Tai Chi, there was one dramatic improvement of my body,
which I wasn’t even thinking about it
when I came to
his class. For at least a good 15 years, the stiffness of
my neck would just not go away. It is by no means any major
illness but the perennial tightness and soreness can
sometimes be much more harder to endure than you could
imagine. I would wake up each morning with such tightness
that throughout the whole day, I would constantly massage
with my own hands or strain my head in a way to lessen the
stiffness. As I was getting older and into my forties,
there were many instances that without any warnings nor was
I putting any pressure, the right region of my neck would
snapped with such an intense, sharp pain, resulting a stiff
“robot-like”, unable to turn my neck for about two weeks.
Such episode was only exacerbated with more frequency each
happening more often in much more shorter duration. I’ve
bought many different types of pillow, from regular ones to
memory foam, none could alleviate this symptom. I’ve also
tried the physical therapy of mild electrical pulse, hot
towel treatment, and many other “external” methods, all but
ended with disappointment. I never even gave a thought
about my neck problem before coming into here. All I
wanted, like I mentioned before, was to gain the energy and
stamina and hopefully a slew of other benefits as well. As
I was practicing the Eight Movements one by one and before
finished learning all the eight moves, I slowly began to
feel some indeterminate force coming from my feet and rising
up. It started faint, almost unnoticeable, but gradually
bit by bit more concrete. Before I was aware what was
happening, the tension and the stiffness of my neck slowly
eased off. It didn’t happen overnight of course, yet with
each practice I piled on, the change seemed to be more and
more palpable. This realization brought me mix feelings of
ecstatic that this may be my “ultimate cure” while also at
the same time apprehensive if this is just another
coincident with some “dumb chance” I might’ve slept a bit
better during that 2-3 months which had me kept wondering,
“how could this be possible in such a short amount of
time?”. In the end still left with no definite answer, I
disregarded my little own predicament and decided to keep
moving on. It wasn’t until I began my Five Element Chi
lesson and half way through that the force was undoubtably
getting stronger before I truly accepted and acknowledged
with elation and relief for the fact of my over 15 years
untreatable neck problem was finally coming to an end. This
total unexpected surprise wasn’t what I sought from the
beginning. However, it stamped down the principal
foundation since then, both physically and mentally, of all
the other lessons I now come to learn. Though still in
novice level, to my own opinion, the amazing thing is the
“evidence” that is slowly percolating from my body as I am
now practicing the art of Tai Chi. As teacher often said,
it’s the energy that’s flowing which dictate the angle, the
posture, or how open or close of what the form suppose to
be, not the other way around. Unlike what I was taught
previously and perhaps majority of Tai Chi schools that are
taught out there, trying to correct the form only for the
sake of the form with no real purpose, just for the look.
It is this real substance in the body do I slowly begin to
understand and appreciate what true martial art is all
about, what this means to the overall health of the body…
and I’m just at the beginning stage! The question I started
with can now be rested because my endurance is easily way
better than when I started. The “solidness” (I know this
sounds vague and hard to use words to discretely
describe it but
it’s that “wholesomeness of your body, or of the feeling
that your body structure is all well connected) I feel is
also another testament of the strength and energy are
“internalized” and the structure of my body is more
refined. The days of dragging my feet home back from work
seem to be a little more of a distant memory now. The
draining fatigue I used to feel all the time is getting much
more foreign with each passing day of my practice. I am
very thankful of all the things teacher Wu’s has taught me
and also corrected me from time to time of the things I did
wrong. I’m glad teacher is also very patient in repeating
many lessons over and over again. One simply cannot just
learn a new movement and get all the fundamental from the
first time, nor the second time, nor the third time, nor…
It really takes time and countless practice before your
“body” knows it. Slowly and surely, by the time your body
“understands” it, going back to listen the same lesson will
always make you appreciate the real essence of what each
move is for thus enabling you go deeper into the art, hence
better at it. I believe the quintessential value of each
art teacher Wu teaches in the class is validated with real
outcome that builds upon from previous foundation you lay
down. No shortcut, no tricks, only with genuine methods and
system of what the real martial art is supposed to be from
the ancient wisdom passed down generation after generation
that withstand the test of time. I am just so glad to be
very fortunate that I “stumbled” here and really able to
embark on a true “healthy” journey.
if you would
like to learn Genuine Lineage Of Tai Chi Chuan in Taiwan you
can contact Master Wu that also have class in Taipei,
Hsinchu,
Taichun Tainan
E mail
tw6889@hotmail.com mobile phone 0918148814
