Raised in Rank - Don Nonini

A belated congratulations to Don Nonini for a very successful Red Sash Test!

Supported by his partner, Sandy Smith-Nonini, Don finished the year 2023 by testing for his Red Sash, leading his classmates in the entire Wudangshan 108 Taijiquan form. This is a major accomplishment that Don has worked towards steadily for the last couple years.

Learning and performing the entire long form take patience, dedication and determination. And Don has sailed through with flying colors.

Congratulations to Don, who raises our rank when he raises his own. He is a great help to his fellow classmates and helps encourage us in our (poor!) pronunciation of the Chinese terms we attempt to use.

As we all know - NOW the true learning really begins!!

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!!

Glossary of Chinese Terms, Names and Phrases

Any student of LaoMa’s will be very familiar with his admonishment to use a Chinese dictionary to look up terms for yourself! And he was committed to providing documentation that would allow students follow his example.

He also wanted information to be easy to find and available to his students - so they could start begining to assess things for themselves and build a deeper knowledge of the martial arts world and larger culture.

Many students who have attempted to follow this lead will be familiar with the difficulty finding some definitions and terms used frequently. It’s even harder for those used infrequently!

In order to make it easier, LaoMa and his senior students compiled a Glossary of Chinese Terms, Names and Phrases into one spot. As his Number One, I feel it important to continue this tradition and have this resource available to anyone who would find it valuable. So we’ve done a new printing of the collection and have it available for those who would like a copy.

This glossary contains 94 pages of terms, with Chinese characters, pinyin and often Wade-Giles romanizations, plus tones and definitions and a newly introduced index. It is the most extensive glossary of terms useful to taiji students that we know of. The table of contents is presented here. Click here to view sample pages.

His summary of this document is below or you can read about it on our website here. Please contact me if you’d like a copy. They are $25.

A unique reference work with a short history of romanization systems, a bibliography of 19 sources, and the characters, pinyin, and tones for over 640 Chinese names and terms related to the study of Taijiquan, arranged by category. An invaluable aid for students interested in deepening their understanding of Chinese language and culture.

This glossary contains 94 pages of terms, with Chinese characters, pinyin and often Wade-Giles romanizations, plus tones and definitions and a newly introduced index. It is the most extensive glossary of terms useful to taiji students that we know of. The table of contents is presented here. Click here to view sample pages.

Chinese terms are in the pinyin romanization. Terms in brackets, [ ], are in the Wade-Giles romanization, or in the romanization most often seen in literature. The names of notable Chinese persons are in the romanization most commonly seen in literature.

A limitation in the computer program that was used to create this document prevents the displaying of a tone mark on an uppercase letter. In those cases where this occurs in this document, we have used a lowercase letter with the proper tone mark, even though it may make the word or phrase appear unusual. In addition, the Chinese characters for the Taijiquan techniques lu and lie are specific to Taijiquan and are not generally available in computer fonts. In this document, we have substituted those characters most often used by Chinese Taijiquan players when they refer to these techniques in computer-generated documents.

This glossary is a living document. The authors welcome suggestions and additions. Readers may contact LaoMa with comments regarding this glossary.

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.

Knives, Bows, Arrows and Practice

Dao by John Neu

Left to right: John Neu, Wanda Neu, Dorothy Wright, Violet Anderson

As many people know -there is NOTHING like having the right tool for the job. This holiday l got the rare treat of someone creating that for me and his classmates.

Let me take a second to show off the new practice daos (knifes) that John Neu made for myself, Dorothy and Wanda. There is nothing like a perfect weapon to make you feel like a form is elevated!

For those that don't know John, he is a very skilled woodworker who also happens to be one of our senior students. He also that entertains us with so many colorful thoughts and stories. John is also is a very dedicated student of Japanese archery - kyudo. He recently shared this short blurp with me. While he wrote this about his kyudo study, I see it as a good way to approach training in any discipline and thought this the perfect time to share this with you all.

Why Kyudo (or anything)? 

January 4, 2022 

It starts with a little boy who likes bows and arrows: The arrow made of a cat-tail stalk with a beef-bone point is in mid-flight towards a stump thirty yards away. Too far. Impossibly far. But it is going to hit. He knows. An acquaintance presuming the role of a teacher once said: ”Your Kyudo is no better than my nine-year old son’s skateboard obsession.” I say: ”Then I am so happy for Lance.” Happy? Why? In formal practices, I’ve heard about ”deep intimacy with your own body.” What is that? I also heard: ”Many trees in the forest, like us. Now descend through the trunk of any one of these into the subterranean net of living tendrils. Down there, the identity of ’this tree’ is lost. Even its ’thingness’ dissolves into energy and movement.” For the Kyudoka with his years of formal training, may his Kai (full draw) be just such a descent as this. Like the little boy, but different. 

May we all feel our energy sink to our roots to mingle together!

Out over my skis

Yesterday I got out over my skis.  For those who don’t know the term – it means ahead of myself.  My mind started adding up all the tasks that need to be done for work and I started leaning forward into it.  Anticipating the pandemonium that might set in as tedious and cumbersome tasks all collided into my schedule at the same time, I got caught in a mental tizzy.

Students in my classes know these as things we don’t do – get ahead of yourself, anticipate, lean.

We know that taiji is a martial art.  We talk about it all the time in classes.  When we interact with other people with push hands, or just talk about it – what are the things we say….?  Stay centered in yourself, Don’t lean forward, Don’t anticipate your next move in form or your opponent’s next move until they make it.

One of my favorites is that we don’t go to them – they come to us!!  We don’t reach out, compromising our own form while we try to grab an arm… No – we HOLD and wait for them to make the move and come to us.

Don’t rush towards problems tomorrow

Over the years of attempting to practice taiji, I’ve found it creeping into my daily life in many ways.  Taiji isn’t just a way of standing and moving.  The philosophy that our art is based in can help us navigate our lives – at least it can if we stop long enough to figure out how to apply it.  Unfortunately, we don’t always slow down and recognize when we’re failing to apply our weekly lessons to our daily life. 

Yesterday, I failed to listen to my own lessons.  Instead of waiting for these potential issues to manifest themselves, I cultivated the chaos, reaching out and grabbing issues that weren’t here yet.  When I finally stopped and thought, ‘From the position I’m in now, how do I prepare for if these issues finally reach my desk?’ And then taiji brain kicked. 

Stay Centered… Don’t Reach - if the problems want to come, the know how to get there.

What would taiji do? We make sure our posture is correct; that we’re grounded.  And then we wait in the position you’re in for the force to meet you.   Reacting too soon creates chaos in your own mind and body.  Reacting to late creates chaos in your own mind and body.  Don’t lean, don’t anticipate, just be mental aware and watch for change.  Don’t respond to change that isn’t there… wait for the change – then respond.

Don’t be like me…  Instead remember our weekly lessons in standing up straight and not reaching out to draw opponents close.  If they want to pass us by, we let them.   

Can you Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail?

The ever elusive Sparrow. Sometimes it feels as if it is not for mere mortals to grasp the tail… surely those who manage to do so have been blessed by celestials.

Thanks to our fabulous student Steve Cox for sharing this delightful work of art! And for sending us into our weekend with beauty and a smile on our face!

Join us on Saturday and we’ll be attempting our less graceful attempts to capture that tail!

Tranquility and Taiji Training Effecting Daily Life

Taiji is commonly practiced for health and mediation. Moving our bodies regularly improves our health! Standing on one leg is good balance practice. Stance work strengthens our legs. Moving slowly with full attention is very meditative. And on and on….. The benefits of practicing taiji are many and can be expounded upon at length by many - those that practice and those that don’t. I enjoy hearing them all and often agree (who doesn’t like to hear that their favorite activity heals all ills and soothes all souls!) However, often these benefits feel superficial to the deep internal training that can happen with a continued and focused practice.

I rarely run across good explanations of how our minds in our daily lives are impacted by our taiji practice. Brisbane Chen Tai Chi has managed to do just that here. This depiction is a near perfect representation of how earning to do form with mental relaxation sneaks into the rest of our lives.

And, as a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll end mine here and leave you with these images.

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