JOetaiji: October 2012

at the beautifully enhanced former St Luke’s Church,
Winterton Park Spa & Leisure, Sedgefield:

St Luke's Crescent, Winterton Park, Sedgefield , Co. Durham, TS21 3NL

A Sunday Afternoon - Coming Soon! TBA
Tai Chi = Health, Happiness and Wellbeing
- Ancient wisdoms for a modern world -

Materialism can never satisfy our deep yearning for inner harmony and peace
- Perhaps this is the greatest gift we can bestow upon ourselves -

Our Tai Chi is a complete integrated system following ancient teachings of lineage masters - You will learn:

• Smooth accurate outer Body Movement and Postural Alignment
• To release physical holding patterns & emotional tension
• To awaken the Deep Mind & quieten ‘Mental Chatter’

Begin the process of deep inner change now and connect
to your innate intelligence and true nature.

Joe Harte has 35 years experience as a martial artist.
A journey that has taken him from the outer practises of Kung Fu and Jujitsu
to the last 20 years of deep inner practise with Taiji and Meditation.

If we can change one thing, ourselves, then we find in so doing the world around us seems to change in response….

"Understand Others – Change yourself"

- Free Taster Class-
In the planning stage here at Winterton Spa & Leisure. Sedgefield

A Sunday Afternoon Soon
Date & Time will be announced soon!

This event is completely Free but numbers dependent. Please register your interest by E mail joetaiji@gmail.com – Thanks!

If sufficient interest there is the possibility of a follow on introduction course – watch this space!

Following some discussion around the QuickFist and white crane in class last night.

It’s an important point to note is that although externally the same as the Fujian White crane Form, Master Huang over his Taiji life changed the internal essence of the QuickFist we train to be in harmony with the taiji.

So although externally the same, internally now with quite a different flavour - sometimes we refer to this as Sang Feng QuickFist to acknowledge the founder of Taiji - Chang Sang Feng / Zhang SanFeng.

QuickFist is from Fujian White Crane and called er shi ba means 28 (two tens and eight).

usually called ershiba lohan, meaning "28buddhas" or "28sages" but sometimes shortened to ershiba. We just say QuickFist as it’s the only fast form in our Taiji system.

The other three forms in White Crane are:

Breathing crane form, ba bu lian
Drinking crane form - hehe
Flying crane form - feihe

The names were not universal. different instructors use different names.

from Patrick Kelly’s website -

http://www.patrickkellytaiji.com/TEACHERS/OTHERTEACHERS/xiezhongxian.html

Grandmaster Xie Zhongxian

(1852-1930)

Grandmaster Xie Zhongxian was one of the last great Fujian White Crane masters. Master Huang Xiangxian was sent to him at the age of 14. There he was taught, Chinese Medicine, White Crane gongfu, Confucian Classical philosophy and Daoist Energy Cultivation. Our main source of knowledge about him is from the stories Master Huang Xingxian told of learning under him.

"At one stage Xie Zhongxian lived in a small room over a 'coffin shop'. Chinese coffins have lids made from large slabs of timber and are very heavy. Xie Zhongxian would stand one of these lids against the wall in an unstable position. Each time it fell towards him he would receive it on his forearms, then throw it back against the wall. As a result Master Huang said Xie Zhongxian would sometimes hold his arms outstretched and ask Master Huang to swing on them, but they would not move."

"Once while enjoying a 'smoke' with an Eagle Claw master, Xie Zhongxian refused to accept that one art was necessarily better than another, insisting that it mattered more how well trained the particular fighter was. To prove his point the Eagle Claw master suddenly attacked with a claw to the stomach. Xie Zhongxian drew in his stomach while pulling the man's hand first towards him then round to return the force and throw the Eagle Claw man across the room. While convincing, so close was the claw to his stomach that Xie Zhongxian had his money along with its pocket in the front of his tunic, torn away and scattered across the room."

There is good evidence that Xie Zhongxian was, Ryu Ryu Ko, the teacher of Kanryo Higaonna (1853-1915). Higaonno was the teacher of Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953). Miyagi established the Okinawan and Japanese karate systems.

From Wee Kee Jin’s website
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/park/yfv90/central/background.htm

Although there are several versions as to how Fujian White Crane originated, they all acknowledge the founder as being a woman by the name of Fang Chee Niang. It is most widely believed that one day while washing her clothes at the river's edge a white crane became overly inquisitive. To discourage the bird Fang Chee Niang attempted to ward it off with a stick. To her surprise the crane did not retreat and effortlessly deflected all her attacks. Over the next few days the crane persisted and the scene repeated itself. She was already an adept in the martial arts, having been taught from an early age by her father Fang Wei Shi (himself a disciple of Shaolin Kung Fu who had fled to Fujian to escape persecution from the Manchu government) and she soon realised the significance of the crane's movements, and so began incorporating them into her training pattern. Over time the Art developed to contain four elements: the Whooping Crane, the Flying Crane, the Eating Crane and the Sleeping Crane. Together they represent the Fujian White Crane System. The Form itself consists of four sets: Pah Pu Lian

Lohan (Monk Fist or sometimes called Quick-Fist)

Hua Pah Pu

Chung Chien (Central Frame)

and includes the eight principles of:Swallowing

Spitting

Floating

Sinking

Springing

Lifting

Bursting

Rebounding Of the well known White Crane Masters of this century, Xie Zhong Xiang is perhaps the most famous. Having learnt from Pan Yu Ba, Xie Zhong Xiang became the first generation master of the Whooping Crane. Master Huang Sheng Shyan learnt Fujian White Crane directly from Xie Zhong Xiang, from the age of 14. After a few years of personal tuition, Huang Sheng Shyan still only in his late teens, was sent by Xie Zhong Xiang to study full-time for two years with his eldest disciple Ch'en Shih Ting. Note: The founder of Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate Do - Chojun Miyagi, was the top student of Kanryo Higaonna, who also learnt White Crane from Xie Zhong Xiang. Okinawans also refer to Xie Zhong Xiang as Ryuruko.In 1930 Master Huang went on to train with another famous White Crane exponent P'an Ch'un-Nien, who also began teaching him the use of medicinal herbs, and stimulated an interest in Huang for other Chinese Martial Arts. In pursuit of these Huang Sheng-Shyan moved to Shanghai, where he first began teaching White Crane. He returned to his own village in 1934 at the request of P'an Ch'un-Nien to take part in County competitions. Huang Sheng Shyan not only convincingly won the competition he went on to the finals of the provincials. There he was runner up to Chang Jih-Chang, whom Huang had previously knocked down but drawn with in a preliminary round. Due to his age and success Huang became known in Fujian as "Young Hero", and later played an active role in the war with Japan. The recognition of his fighting abilities quickly earned him the rank of colonel…………..

Pages

Tuesday 30 October 2012

2013 Durham Taiji Seminars

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Free Tai Chi Taster

Friday 19 October 2012

Sang Feng QuickFist

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Seminar Dates 2013

Northern School of TaijiQuan Website