onebir Posted December 11, 2007 Hi all. I'm from the UK, got into BK Frantzis variety qi/neigong a few years back. But then got sidetracked into yoga, which fitted better with my exercise addiction. Since then I quit my job, sold up & left the country. I spent about 5 months in Beijing studying yiquan last year. But between the teacher's attitudes to money, & chronic shoulder problems, I got pretty disillusioned with that & fled to cheaper more temperate climes - Kunming in Yunnan. An opportunity to do a yoga teacher training came up, so I did that, & now teach a few classes a week here (for a monthly wage of around USD100 ). I also eventually found someone to teach me taiji - just finished learning the simplified yang 24 form. The first taiji form I've ever managed to learn ( 尚师傅,非常感谢你! ) I'm finding my situation is kind of frustrating. My Mandarin is good enough to communicate on general topics - but not esoterica like Daoism. (The one Daoist I've managed to find speaks such a heavily accented version of Mandarin I can't really understand him anyway.) I'd like to continue with the Frantzis material, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty rare here. I can't really read Chinese (menus aside). And while Amazon will ship here, it can't cope with Chinese characters, and the post office isn't terribly reliable with pinyin transliterations. Plan B is go to a kungfu school a friend's friend opened in Fujian recently. At least for the winter... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yoda Posted December 11, 2007 Wild stuff! Welcome to taobums! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
onebir Posted December 11, 2007 Wild stuff! Welcome to taobums! Thanks! Actually I have heard a little bit of wild stuff. One of the few comprehensible things the lone daoist said was that he'd find places where people had been killed by lightning to practice. And my flatmate practiced 'mizong' (=secret religion) a fairly obscure (I think) branch of Tibetan buddhism, which culminates in the master opening disciples crown chakra with a sharp implement. Anyway, she stopped long before that bit - it was making her uncontrollably emotional... Then there was the fengshui master's visit to the yoga studio. There's a big round stone in the corner of one of the studios, and we can't close the window the wealth's flows in through Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taiji Bum Posted December 11, 2007 Welcome to the Bums. Hey, the 24 gets a bad rep but I want to assure you it DOES contain all eight energies and five elements! So congratulations on learning it. The Beijing/Simplified 24 is my favorite form and I used to know and practice all the major forms. The 24 is truly elegant in the way it presents the 8 and 5. Enjoy the heck out of it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
onebir Posted December 12, 2007 Welcome to the Bums. Thanks! Hey, the 24 gets a bad rep but I want to assure you it DOES contain all eight energies and five elements! I was a bit worried about this, but asked a taiji pal with a lot of experience. He said the 24 form was a great place to start taiji. & your comment reassures me further. Having said that, I've just been learning the moves, so I'm not sure what you mean by energies & elements... Eight energies = peng lu ji an + 4 others? 5 elements = earth wood fire metal water. But how can a taiji form contain them? The Beijing/Simplified 24 is my favorite form and I used to know and practice all the major forms. For which style(s) of taiji? Must be a heck of a lot of forms... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taiji Bum Posted December 12, 2007 Eight energies are ward off, roll back, press, push down, split, take, elbow and shoulder. They answer the 8 angles of attack basically. The five elements are step forward, step backward, step left, step right and hold to the center. Sorry, I meant the major styles of Chen, Yang, and Wu that I learned forms for. I never learned a Sun style form but thats a major one too. If you want to see a video of a version of the eight I'll post it in my personal practice section here- http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?showtopic=4318 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
onebir Posted December 12, 2007 (edited) Eight energies are ward off, roll back, press, push down, split, take, elbow and shoulder. They answer the 8 angles of attack basically. AKA peng lv ji an - the four in 'grasp sparrows tail', + four other I haven't had repeated at me about 100 times by my teacher as I practice The five elements are step forward, step backward, step left, step right and hold to the center. Oh - those are called elements! I thought for a while maybe it meant meridian stretches for all the major meridians. I imagine it includes these too, but I haven't tried to figure out the details. Needle at sea bottom stretches the bladder meridian I guess - so that's water (if the name didn't give it away...) Sorry, I meant the major styles of Chen, Yang, and Wu that I learned forms for. I never learned a Sun style form but thats a major one too. Still a heck of a lot of forms! If you want to see a video of a version of the eight I'll post it in my personal practice section here-http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?showtopic=4318 I see it's there already Edited December 12, 2007 by onebir Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
