Radionica Qigong vježbe Ma Wang Dui Daoyin Shu u Podgorici

Tai Chi Chuan klub Zhao Youbin poziva vas na početni stepen Qigong vježbe Ma Wang Dui Daoyin Shu i samomasažu meridijana.

Radionica će se održati u Podgorici, 9. juna od 19 do 21 h (Tuishou i Osnove borilačkih aplikacija, https://goo.gl/muES15 ) i 10. juna od 9 do 12 i od 15 do 18 h (Zdravstveni Qigong, https://goo.gl/AgaA9Q).

Radionicu će voditi majstor Chen Shining, glavni instruktor i predsjednik Zdravstvenog qigong saveza Slovenije, i viša instruktorka Zdravstvenog Qigong saveza Slovenije Tina Hribar.

Radionica je namijenjena kako početnicima tako i polaznicima koji već praktikuju Qigon i Tai Chi.

Cijena: 80,00 € za obje radionice, odnosno 20,00 € za radionicu 9. juna ili 60,00 € za radionicu 10. juna. Uplate se vrše do 3. juna na žiro račun Kluba:

Crnogorska komercijalna banka
Broj računa: 510000000008585122
Naziv imaoca računa: Tai Chi Quan Klub „Zhao You Bin“ Podgorica

Tačno mjesto održavanja biće naknadno objavljeno u zavisnosti od broja prijavljenih učesnika.

 

IN MEMORIAM FU SHENG YUAN

It is with great sadness that I learned about the death of Grandmaster Fu Sheng Yuan on 27^th March. With him, the Tai Chi world loses a superlative exponent of Yang Style Tai Chi and one of the last 5^th Generation descendants of the Yang family.
Sincere condolences to his family.

Like Grandmaster Zhao Youbin, Grandmaster Fu Sheng Yuan was a 5^th Generation descendant of the Yang family. They were cousins, as their fathers, Zhao Bin and Fu Zhong Wen, had married into the Yang family and in addition were both disciples of Yang Cheng Fu.

In October 2013, I was fortunate enough to meet Master Fu Sheng Yuan on the occasion of an international instructor training and certification seminar organised by the Chinese Wushu Federation in Tai’an (Shandong Province). I was struck by his warm-heartedness and his simplicity.

Among members of the certification panel were Master Zhao Youbin (2nd from left), Master Fu Sheng Yuan (4th from left) and his son Fu Qing Quan (James, 1st from right).

At the end of the seminar, masters of all Tai Chi styles demonstrated their art together.

During that performance, Master Fu pushed hands with his son. You can guess the outcome!

Short biography

Fu Sheng Yuan (1931- 2017) was the son of Fu Zhong Wen and Zou Kuei Cheng, who was the great-grand-daughter of Yang Chien Hou.

Fu Sheng Yuan began his training at a very young age and following in his father’s footsteps he began his training at the age of 9.

Yang Cheng Fu’s wish was for Fu Zhong Wen to pass on the family art of Tai Chi to the world, but due to restrictions on travelling out of China at that time, Fu Zhong Wen was unable to fulfill his master’s wish of spreading Tai Chi to the rest of the world.

In 1989 Fu Sheng Yuan and his family emigrated to Australia. When Fu Sheng Yuan and his family arrived in Perth, they were welcomed by the ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke. Fu Sheng Yuan established the Fu Sheng Yuan Tai Chi Academy in Perth and continued his father’s legacy of spreading the art of Tai Chi to the world. He was also continually invited to teach all over the world.

Master Fu Sheng Yuan was the only person outside China to be awarded by the Chinese Wushu Association with the Grading of 8th Dan (Silver Dragon Badge) and James Fu his son was awarded with a 6th Dan (Gold Tiger Badge). James Fu has since achieved a 7th Dan grading.

Master Fu was also honoured by the Chinese Wushu Association with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution in promoting Tai Chi around the world . The association presented him with a certificate and a Gold Cup acknowledging his hard work in travelling around the world teaching Tai Chi and promoting the Chinese Martial Arts Culture.

[This short biography is based on information found at http://staging.fushengyuan-taichi.com.au/gallery/fu-sheng-yuan%5D

As is well known, Master Fu’s father, Fu Zhong Wen, is the author of Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan, the book whose translation into English by Louis Swaim is regarded as the definitive guide to Yang Style Tai Chi by all practitioners of the art outside China.

You can watch Master Fu pushing hands with his son here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYJbnZOSNcc

and here you can watch him doing the 85 form:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qyhcy5fUjk

China / Thailand Trip, Feb. – March 2017

Shanghai Pudong airport. Waiting for my flight to Xi’an.

Lunch with Sifu (Mr Zhao Youbin) and his son Zhao Liang. I’m slowly recovering from 22 hours in the air on five different planes!

My knowledge of Chinese being virtually non-existent, I was very lucky that my friend Helen happened to be in Xi’an and kindly acted as an interpreter every day. Helen is originally from Xi’an but moved to Toronto many years ago. Apart from being fully bilingual, she also practises both Yang- and Chen-style taiji quan.

February 21st … Snow! With Helen (on my right) and Che laoshi.

A little snow, a lot of fun.

My favourite breakfast when in China: hu la tang.

Practising the duan wei 1 routine.

Getting some corrections and explanations from Sifu.

In front of Sifu’s block of flats. My first visit to his home.

With Sifu’s mother, who is now in her nineties.

On February 23rd, I went to Gaoling to visit the school where Sifu’s father, Zhao Bin, was once a student. Some of Sifu’s disciples now go there twice a week to whip up young people’s interest in taiji and in wushu more generally.

With some of my Taiji brothers and sisters next to the commemorative plaque to Mr Zhao Bin.

Students getting ready for practice

Che laoshi pepping up a group of  students

Che laoshi is incredibly flexible…

…and it isn’t easy to emulate her!

March 4th. Taking advantage of a sunny spell to have lunch outside with Sifu and some other people

 

Arrival in Thailand.

With my friend Claire Hu, a long-time taiji practitioner.

From about 6 o’clock in the morning, Lumpini Park in central Bangkok becomes a practice area for countless fitness, taiji, bagua, etc  enthusiasts.
Lucy Gardner (author of The Tai Chi Companion) and Fred Behar (her partner and teacher) live in Thailand about half of the year. They practise and teach in Lumpini every day.
Fred is the founder of the Central Equilibrium School of taiji and also created his own style of tui shou.

With Lucy and Fred and their adopted Lumpini pets.

Time to say goodbye …

With the Yongnian taiji group in Lumpini. All of these people were taught by Mr Zhao Youbin and/or his disciples.

Our club has a new President

Dear Taiji Friends,

The year before last, at the end of December 2015, I announced my intention to step down as President of our club. I had been in that function since the very beginning, and it was high time someone else took over.

In healthy clubs, just like in healthy democracies, elections should be held on a regular basis.

It is for me a great pleasure to announce that our Executive Committee has unanimously voted for Ms Lida Vukmanović-Tabaš.

In other words, Lida is now the new President of the Zhao Youbin Taiji Quan Club of Montenegro.

I wish to congratulate Lida on her nomination. We all know how committed she is to teaching Taiji and Qigong and to making these wonderful arts more widely available.

Let’s all wish her the best of luck and continue to give her as much support as we can.

John

The ‘Donyu’ and ‘Toryu’

As you probably know if you’ve visited this blog before, I first practised Taiji Quan in a group when I was a student at Edinburgh University in the early nineties. The classes I attended where organised by the local branch of the Taoist Tai Chi Society, a world-wide network of instructors and practitioners founded by Master Moy Lin-shin.

It is while practising with the TTCS that I learned the second set of “warm-up exercises” that I now teach in my own Taiji Quan classes.

My favourite exercises from that set were always the don yu and the tor yu. I could feel that they were doing me good, but I knew nothing of their origin. It is only recently that I decided to try to find out more.

If you explore these two very informative and well-researched sites

http://neijiatao.wordpress.com

and

http://benotdefeatedbytherain.blogspot.ca/2013/11/yiquan-master-liang-zi-peng-bruce-lees.html

you will learn that these exercises are products of the Xing Yi Quan (= Hsing-I Chuan) and/or Yiquan tradition.

Xing Yi Quan and Yiquan, together with Baguazhang, Liuhebafa (= Lok Hup Ba Fa) and of course Taiji Quan, constitute the family of the so-called Chinese internal martial arts. Mr Moy Lin-shin learned all these internal martial arts. While in Hong Kong, he studied Yiquan with Master Liang Zi Peng (=Liang Zhi Peng / Leung Tze Pang / 梁子鵬), for whom the don yu and the tor yu, together with zhan zhuang, were “the three treasures of Southern Yiquan”.

There is a great video of Master Liang Zi Peng performing tor yus and don yus at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WOvsf3yR-g

This was filmed a long time ago, which explains the poor quality, but it is an invaluable historical document.

These exercises were later modified by Mr Moy Lin-shin in the same way as he modified the traditional Yang-style Taiji form.

Conversely, I do not teach the don yu and the tor yu in exactly the same way as I learnt them because I now teach a traditional Yang-style Taiji form – Mr Zhao Youbin’s.

This is the state of my research to date. I do not know if it is Master Liang Zi Peng who “invented” the don yu and tor yu, or if he learnt them from one or more of his own teachers. If I manage to find out more about the history of these great exercises, I’ll update this brief overview.

Meanwhile, let’s keep practising.

 Master Liang Zi Peng

 

鸡年吉祥 Jínián jíxiáng Good luck for this Rooster year!

 

The Chinese Zodiac

The Chinese animal zodiac, or shengxiao, is a repeating cycle of 12 years, with each year being represented by an animal and its reputed attributes. Traditionally these zodiac animals were used to date the years.

The 12 Animals of the Chinese Zodiac

In order, the 12 animals are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. Each year is associated with a zodiac animal.

Chinese Zodiac Origins — Why 12 Animals

The 12 animals were chosen deliberately, after many revisions. The zodiac animals are either closely related to ancient Chinese people’s daily lives, or have lucky meanings.

The ox, horse, goat, rooster, pig, and dog are six of the main domestic animals raised by Chinese people. The other six animals: rat, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, and monkey are all loved by the Chinese people.

Why the 12 Zodiac Animals Are in That Order

The 12 Chinese Zodiac animals are in a fixed order according to Chinese Yin and Yang Theory and perceived attributes.

The yin or the yang of the animals is defined based on the odd or even number of their claws (or toes, hoofs). The animals are then arranged in an alternating (complementary) yin-yang sequence.

Usually an animal has is the same number of claws on its front and rear legs. However the rat has four toes on its fore legs and five on its hind legs. As the old saying goes, “a thing is valued in proportion to its rarity”, so the Rat ranks first of the 12 zodiac animals. It uniquely combines the attributes of odd (yang) and even (yin). 4+5=9, and yang is dominant, so the Rat is classified as odd (yang) overall.

Zodiac Animal	Toes Per Limb	Odd/Even	Yin/Yang
Rat	4 front; 5 back	(even and) odd	(yin and) yang
Ox	4	even	yin
Tiger	5	odd	yang
Rabbit	4	even	yin
Dragon	5	odd	yang
Snake	0	even	yin
Horse	1	odd	yang
Goat	4	even	yin
Monkey	5	odd	yang
Rooster	4	even	yin
Dog	5	odd	yang
Pig	4	even	yin

Each animal has symbolic meanings given to it by the ancient Chinese. These animal attributes comes in six contrasting pairs that must be harmonized, like yin and yang, and are the primary factor governing the order of the zodiac. (Presumably the attributes most valued by ancient Chinese are first and so on.) The strong yang attribute comes first, then the balancing yin attribute.

Zodiac Animal	Attribute	Saying
Rat	Wisdom	Wisdom without industriousness leads to triviality.
Ox	Industriousness	Industriousness without wisdom leads to futility.
Tiger	Valor	Valor without caution leads to recklessness.
Rabbit	Caution	Caution without valor leads to cowardice.
Dragon	Strength	Strength without flexibility leads to fracture.
Snake	Flexibility	Flexibility without strength leads to compromise.
Horse	Forging ahead	Forging ahead without unity leads to abandonment.
Goat	Unity	Unity without forging ahead leads to stagnation.
Monkey	Changeability	Changeability without being constant leads to foolishness.
Rooster	Being constant	Being constant without changeability leads to woodenness.
Dog	Fidelity	Fidelity without amiability leads to rejection.
Pig	Amiability	Amiability without fidelity leads to immorality.

Source: http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/     Much more information on the website!

NOVI TAI CHI KURS U PODGORICI

Tai Chi Chuan klub Zhao Youbin organizuje novi Tai Chi kurs za početnike.

Kurs traje tri mjeseca. Počinje 2. februara i završava se 27. aprila.
Do kraja kursa polaznici će se upoznati s Master Zhao Youbinovim osam formi Yang-stila iz Tai Chi Chuan seta, kao i sa cjelokupnom qigong formom ba duan jin („osam djelova brokata“). Polaznici će moći samostalno da izvode ove forme radi očuvanja i poboljšanja zdravlja.

Tai Chi stil koji podučavamo možete pogledati na
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kmGpuJfSzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V8k4d3B5f0
u izvedbi našeg učitelja Master Zhao Youbina.

Mjesto održavanja kursa: Joga studio, Ulica Pete proleterske 36/A, 2. sprat.
Vrijeme: utorak i četvrtak od 18:20 do 19:20.
Instruktorka: Lida Vukmanović-Tabaš
Cijena kursa: 35,00 eura mjesečno za polaznike koji nijesu članovi Kluba a 20 eura za članove Kluba.

Kako postati član Kluba? Godišnja članarina iznosi 60 eura i plaća se prilikom prijavljivanja na kurs.
Osim što omogućava znatno nižu cijenu kursa na mjesečnom nivou, članstvom se stiče pravo na 15% popusta na bilo koji događaj koji Klub organizuje tokom godine, kao i besplatan trening na našim okupljanjima nedjeljom ujutro kad vježbamo Tai Chi na otvorenom.

Prilikom dolaska na trening potrebno je ponijeti udobnu odjeću i rezervnu obuću jer se moramo prezuvati.

Ukoliko ste zainteresovani za tečaj, molimo da potvrdite na e-mail ngjuniorme@gmail.com ili mobitel 067 283 410

You can’t bathe twice in the same river …

“Fan through the Back”

Yang Chengfu 1915 (aged 32)

Yang Chengfu 1934 (aged 51)

 

Push Hands Workshop with Nils Klug

On 16^th and 17^th September, the Zhao Youbin Taiji Club (Podgorica) had the pleasure to host a workshop run by Nils Klug. The aim of the workshop was to introduce participants to the art of tui shou (push hands) and to some of the martial applications of certain Taiji postures.

We already knew that Nils is a seasoned Taiji and push hands practitioner, and we soon discovered that in addition he is also an excellent and warm-hearted teacher. Although the group was very heterogeneous in terms of expectations and personal experience of Taiji, Nils managed very quickly to find some common ground and develop a programme which seemed to grow organically from our questions, while it also had a clear structure. A perfect example of a bottom-up approach!

We enjoyed the fine balance between theory and practice and also the fact that the programme had more depth than breadth. We have gained a better understanding of some of the things we do in our training and learnt a number of exercises that we can practise to strengthen our foundation … until Nils’ next visit, which we are already looking forward to.

By the way, Nils’ sites contain a wealth of information about Taiji and push hands. Do visit them!

www.taiji-forum.de
www.tai-chi-studio.de
www.push-hands.de

Just having a quick rest

I’m pushing, but …

The workshop in full swing

Grounded like a grand

Welcome!

An ending and a new beginning

A smile is worth a thousand words

It feels different now …

These four photos stubbornly refused to get rotated:

Montenegro in Europe

Dear Tai Chi Friends,

We are delighted to let you know that since just over a week ago, we – the Taiji Quan ‘Zhao Youbin’ club from Podgorica – are a member of the Taijiquan and Qigong Federation for Europe (TCFE).

We are the 20^th European country to join the Federation:
http://tcfe.org/members/

So we can now be proud to be part of a network of Taiji and Qigong practitioners across Europe, motivated by the wish to continue developing our practice, our understanding of the internal arts, and the quality of the teaching and learning that’s taking place in our club.

Besides, together with other members, we can share ideas and find ways of getting an ever increasing number of people interested in Taiji, so they too can enjoy and benefit from this ancient art.

Onwards and upwards!

John