Congrats to Danny R!!

Congrats to Danny Rappleyea on his successful Red Sash Test!!

Danny has been working diligently to learn the entire Liehubafa form and the hard work has paid off! On December 6th, 2023, Danny lead his form class in the entire form and passed his short vocabulary test.

Danny is an great example of making progress even though schedules might get in the way. When he’s out of town and not able to come to classes, he always comes back well practiced and ready for a new posture.

This accomplishment is also a credit to his senior student. When one of us is raised in rank, we all are. Steve Cox, Susanna Henley, and Dorothy Wright can stand proudly with him!!

Congratulations again to Danny! As you know, the learning really begins at this point. And we all look forward to learning together - the fun is in the details!!

Raise in Rank - Brian White Red Sash

I’m delighted to congratulate Brian White on a very successful Red Sash test!

Brian completed the first stage of learning taiji by completed and performing the complete Wudangshan 108 Taiji long form on Sept 18th - a little shy of his 2 year anniversary!

Janice, his wife, joined his classmate to cheer on the performance.

Last week, Brian completed all the vocabulary recitation that goes along with the performance part of the test and we were happy to wrap up the dantian in a new Red Sash!!

As LaoMa would say “NOW is when your learning starts”.

Steve Cox: Raise in Rank!

A big congratulations to Steve Cox for completing Yellow Sash!! After many years of study, I’m so happy to be able to officially recognize his hard work and dedication to our art form.

We are all lucky to have Steve with us in classes. He is dedicated and focused with a curious and critical mind that serves all taiji players well! His classmates also benefit from such a patient elder brother!

We recently reinstated the advancement program based off of the program that was originally established for Magic Tortoise with Dr. Jay and LaoMa. The program provides a good guide to levels of study and can give students a pathway through the vast components of taijiquan!

Yellow sash indicates growth in taiji principles.

A student is eligible to wear the yellow (earth) sash when they are able to demonstrate significant command of internal principles in form: empty stepping, relaxation, proper structure and posture, good stance work, whole body movement, matching, hip mobility, knee stability, lightness and agility as examples.