Hi,
I can only apologies. I set up this blog in great gusto back in late 2009 and managed about 3 posts before life got in the way! Due to other work commitments, I have had to stop my Tai Chi classes over the last few months and had very little chance to even practice Tai Chi and Chi Kung myself. It also meant that I have not managed to keep up with this blog as much as I would have hoped.
I am currently constructing a new Tai Chi Guy website and am planning on starting classes again in the autumn and also I hope to resume blogging in the very near future.
I will be back soon.
I promise!
Many thanks for your patience.
Matt
"the tai chi guy..."
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
The Master Himself
Sorry, I haven't had a chance to write a new entry for some time. I have been rushing round setting up new classes, seeing clients and running some trainings, which means I have got behind with a lot of things; emails, blog entries, behind the scenes stuff on the website.
I now have a bit of free time and am slowing catching up with everything. But, I thought to bridge the gap with a video of Cheng Man-Ch'ing performing his 37-step Yang style Tai Chi form (the one I practice and teach).
Hope you enjoy it...
Matt
www.thetaichiguy.co.uk
Tai Chi and Chi Kung Classes in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
I now have a bit of free time and am slowing catching up with everything. But, I thought to bridge the gap with a video of Cheng Man-Ch'ing performing his 37-step Yang style Tai Chi form (the one I practice and teach).
Hope you enjoy it...
Matt
www.thetaichiguy.co.uk
Tai Chi and Chi Kung Classes in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
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Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Do I Really Have to Wear Silk Pyjama's?
I got the latest issue of the Tai Chi union magazine the other day and flicking through it I was bombarded with Westerners wearing those silk pyjama things that you often see in old Kung Fu movies.
Why are they wearing them? It is not a uniform. Does wearing them make their Tai Chi more authentic?
Not at all!
I always find it odd that certain people who practice Tai Chi often learn to speak and read Chinese, eat (a lot!) of Chinese food, and basically try and pretend they are Chinese. Why? It doesn't (as far as I can tell) make your Tai Chi any better.
Just because Tai Chi was developed in ancient China doesn't mean we have to wear ancient Chinese clothing to practice it. At the time, that was contemporary Chinese dress, that is all. If Tai Chi was invented in a UK inner city today would we all be wearing shell suits to practice it in a few hundred tears time? Probably (sadly)...
Do you see the irony? All those silk pyjama things are, are the ancient Chinese equivalent of the sweat pants and hoodie. They wore them to practice Tai Chi because they were comfy, that is all. But nowadays we seem to have this attitude that to do "authentic" Tai Chi we have to be wearing the right gear (ie the silk pyjama thingy's).
I have never owned a pair of those pyjama's (they can be very expensive you know!), I practice Tai Chi in whatever I am wearing at the time, often a baggy pair of jeans and a hoodie. Wearing loose fitting, comfy clothing can make it easier, but it is not necessary. Does that make my Tai Chi any less authentic (or, more importantly, effective, that someone who does?).
Matt
www.thetaichiguy.co.uk
Tai Chi and Chi Kung Classes in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
Why are they wearing them? It is not a uniform. Does wearing them make their Tai Chi more authentic?
Not at all!
I always find it odd that certain people who practice Tai Chi often learn to speak and read Chinese, eat (a lot!) of Chinese food, and basically try and pretend they are Chinese. Why? It doesn't (as far as I can tell) make your Tai Chi any better.
Just because Tai Chi was developed in ancient China doesn't mean we have to wear ancient Chinese clothing to practice it. At the time, that was contemporary Chinese dress, that is all. If Tai Chi was invented in a UK inner city today would we all be wearing shell suits to practice it in a few hundred tears time? Probably (sadly)...
Do you see the irony? All those silk pyjama things are, are the ancient Chinese equivalent of the sweat pants and hoodie. They wore them to practice Tai Chi because they were comfy, that is all. But nowadays we seem to have this attitude that to do "authentic" Tai Chi we have to be wearing the right gear (ie the silk pyjama thingy's).
I have never owned a pair of those pyjama's (they can be very expensive you know!), I practice Tai Chi in whatever I am wearing at the time, often a baggy pair of jeans and a hoodie. Wearing loose fitting, comfy clothing can make it easier, but it is not necessary. Does that make my Tai Chi any less authentic (or, more importantly, effective, that someone who does?).
Matt
www.thetaichiguy.co.uk
Tai Chi and Chi Kung Classes in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
Tags:
Monday, 5 October 2009
The Goal of Taijiquan
"(Taijiquan was) born as a martial art, this will always be the essence but the goal is higher. It is the spiritual transformation of mental and physical health and the development of a peaceful, enlightened person".
- Jan Silberstorff
I couldn't have said it better myself!
- Jan Silberstorff
I couldn't have said it better myself!
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Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Beginners Mind
An old Tai Chi teacher of mine used to say that each time I practice the form I should approach it as if it was the first time I had ever done it.
At the time I thought that was just silly. What am I meant to do? Forget it all and re-learn it each time?! What is the point in that? Surely to improve at Tai Chi I have to draw on the previous experiences and practice. After all that is how we LEARN isn't it?!
Then I got it...
"Beginners mind" means approaching the practice of Tai Chi fresh each time. When we do something we so often compare it to past experiences or future expectations. We rarely focus on what we are doing right now.
"Beginners mind" is about letting go of all the past times you have gone through the form, letting go of the good experiences that you want to emulate and the bad times you want to avoid, about the aims and goals you have with you practice and just being in the now, focusing 100% on the current practice; your posture, your breath, your movement, the tiny changes in balance, the flow through from one posture to the next...
That is enough to think about without filling your brain with memories and expectations!
Tai Chi is really about living in the now.
Matt
www.thetaichiguy.co.uk
Tai Chi and Chi Kung Classes in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
At the time I thought that was just silly. What am I meant to do? Forget it all and re-learn it each time?! What is the point in that? Surely to improve at Tai Chi I have to draw on the previous experiences and practice. After all that is how we LEARN isn't it?!
Then I got it...
"Beginners mind" means approaching the practice of Tai Chi fresh each time. When we do something we so often compare it to past experiences or future expectations. We rarely focus on what we are doing right now.
"Beginners mind" is about letting go of all the past times you have gone through the form, letting go of the good experiences that you want to emulate and the bad times you want to avoid, about the aims and goals you have with you practice and just being in the now, focusing 100% on the current practice; your posture, your breath, your movement, the tiny changes in balance, the flow through from one posture to the next...
That is enough to think about without filling your brain with memories and expectations!
Tai Chi is really about living in the now.
Matt
www.thetaichiguy.co.uk
Tai Chi and Chi Kung Classes in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
Tags:
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Why Tai Chi? Part 2: Confessions of a Tai Chi Addict
So, in my last post I gave a potted history of my martial arts career and what lead me to being here today to be teaching and practicing Tai Chi.
As I said in my previous post I got into martial arts in general after watching a Bruce Lee movie (as, if they are honest, will be the major reason that most people get into martial arts! It may not be a Bruce Lee movie, but it will be because of some Kung Fu film or TV show!).
I loved Muay Thai because at the time I was a bundle of nervous, twitchy energy and I liked the intensity of the art (I was into pretty hardcore stuff back then; hard house dance music, extreme sports etc), but as I have got older, I realised a lot of that twitchy energy was due to being a bit of an introvert and therefore having something called a "high acting arousal system" (which isn't rude, it is about the amount of stimulus you need to get an adrenaline dump, the higher the acting system, the more excited or nervous you get more easily, make sense?), so all these extreme things I was into were actually making me more nervous, over excitable and twitchy.
I needed something to chill me out and calm me down. Tai Chi was ideal for that, the slow controlled movements, the breathing, the relaxation... It helped me calm down, chill out, become more mindful and less clumsy. I tried Yoga, but I found that just too painful, Tai Chi seemed to suite me better...
I still find I get all twitchy, clumsy and nervous if I don't Tai Chi or sit (meditate - but more on that in a later post), regularly enough. I moved house about a year a go and in all the upheaval and stress, I stopped Tai Chi-ing and sitting for probably about 6 months. I noticed that I started getting all twitchy and excitable again...
But Tai Chi, is much more than standing and waving your arms. It is well known for its gentle exercise and meditative properties. The evidence for the positive effects of Tai Chi are boundless, I will, in one of these blogs, put a list of links to research that shows the positive effect of Tai Chi in so many different and varied areas of health and well being (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if one day they find out that Tai Chi is all you need to do to keep fit and healthy!).
Tai Chi is actually a pretty intense work out if you do it properly, it may look all gentle and easy, standing there waving your arms around, but if you focus on the movement you can find after just minutes of doing the form you know you have done a workout!
However, mostly, I became addicted to Tai Chi because I realised that it is a very, very effective martial art. In fact, it is predominantly a martial art and with all the talk of health benefits of Tai Chi, this is often lost. The Tai Chi form is a very carefully designed form of shadow boxing...
You see the full name for Tai Chi is "Ta Chi Chuan" (or taijiquan as some of the more hardcore devotees demand it to be written) literally translates as "supreme ultimate fist", "boundless fist," "great extremes boxing" (depending on who you believe).
By practicing Tai Chi you can start to develop some of the seemingly superhuman abilities you see in those old Kung Fu movies. OK, you may not be able to fly or jump off mountains, but you will find you will be more limber, faster and much stronger than you appear, with the ability to push, pull and shove things with ease that people twice your size would struggle to do.
And the great thing about it is that, unlike to so many other martial arts that you seem to peak at in your 20's and slowly decline over the years, the more you practice Tai Chi the better you get it, no matter your age. This is why you often see the stereotype of the old master living on a mountain being able to throw their younger and seemingly fitter students around with one finger!
You can never, ever perfect Tai Chi, you will tweak and change and adapt and perfect it over the years. Some days it will feel like the Tai Chi will take over, other days it won't flow at all and I will give up in a huff.
But don't let all that talk of fighting put you off, Tai Chi is the worlds laziest martial art and you only need to put as much effort as you can or want to into it to start developing your abilities it gradually builds up over time (learning and perfecting Tai Chi is not to be rushed!).
So, Tai Chi really seems to be to be "the ultimate" that is translates into!
Matt
The Tai Chi Guy
www.thetaichiguy.co.uk
Tai Chi and Chi Kung Classes in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
As I said in my previous post I got into martial arts in general after watching a Bruce Lee movie (as, if they are honest, will be the major reason that most people get into martial arts! It may not be a Bruce Lee movie, but it will be because of some Kung Fu film or TV show!).
I loved Muay Thai because at the time I was a bundle of nervous, twitchy energy and I liked the intensity of the art (I was into pretty hardcore stuff back then; hard house dance music, extreme sports etc), but as I have got older, I realised a lot of that twitchy energy was due to being a bit of an introvert and therefore having something called a "high acting arousal system" (which isn't rude, it is about the amount of stimulus you need to get an adrenaline dump, the higher the acting system, the more excited or nervous you get more easily, make sense?), so all these extreme things I was into were actually making me more nervous, over excitable and twitchy.
I needed something to chill me out and calm me down. Tai Chi was ideal for that, the slow controlled movements, the breathing, the relaxation... It helped me calm down, chill out, become more mindful and less clumsy. I tried Yoga, but I found that just too painful, Tai Chi seemed to suite me better...
I still find I get all twitchy, clumsy and nervous if I don't Tai Chi or sit (meditate - but more on that in a later post), regularly enough. I moved house about a year a go and in all the upheaval and stress, I stopped Tai Chi-ing and sitting for probably about 6 months. I noticed that I started getting all twitchy and excitable again...
But Tai Chi, is much more than standing and waving your arms. It is well known for its gentle exercise and meditative properties. The evidence for the positive effects of Tai Chi are boundless, I will, in one of these blogs, put a list of links to research that shows the positive effect of Tai Chi in so many different and varied areas of health and well being (in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if one day they find out that Tai Chi is all you need to do to keep fit and healthy!).
Tai Chi is actually a pretty intense work out if you do it properly, it may look all gentle and easy, standing there waving your arms around, but if you focus on the movement you can find after just minutes of doing the form you know you have done a workout!
However, mostly, I became addicted to Tai Chi because I realised that it is a very, very effective martial art. In fact, it is predominantly a martial art and with all the talk of health benefits of Tai Chi, this is often lost. The Tai Chi form is a very carefully designed form of shadow boxing...
You see the full name for Tai Chi is "Ta Chi Chuan" (or taijiquan as some of the more hardcore devotees demand it to be written) literally translates as "supreme ultimate fist", "boundless fist," "great extremes boxing" (depending on who you believe).
By practicing Tai Chi you can start to develop some of the seemingly superhuman abilities you see in those old Kung Fu movies. OK, you may not be able to fly or jump off mountains, but you will find you will be more limber, faster and much stronger than you appear, with the ability to push, pull and shove things with ease that people twice your size would struggle to do.
And the great thing about it is that, unlike to so many other martial arts that you seem to peak at in your 20's and slowly decline over the years, the more you practice Tai Chi the better you get it, no matter your age. This is why you often see the stereotype of the old master living on a mountain being able to throw their younger and seemingly fitter students around with one finger!
You can never, ever perfect Tai Chi, you will tweak and change and adapt and perfect it over the years. Some days it will feel like the Tai Chi will take over, other days it won't flow at all and I will give up in a huff.
But don't let all that talk of fighting put you off, Tai Chi is the worlds laziest martial art and you only need to put as much effort as you can or want to into it to start developing your abilities it gradually builds up over time (learning and perfecting Tai Chi is not to be rushed!).
So, Tai Chi really seems to be to be "the ultimate" that is translates into!
Matt
The Tai Chi Guy
www.thetaichiguy.co.uk
Tai Chi and Chi Kung Classes in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, UK
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