In January I started private lessons in traditional Chen-style tai-chi with June Chen in Shenzhen.
June is a 12th-generation descendent in the Chen-family Tai Chi lineage and hails from Chen Village, Henan province, the birth-place of Tai Chi. She learnt personally from Grandmaster Chen Zhaosen and worked at Chenjiagou Taijiquan Gongfu School before moving to Shenzhen to start her own school.
June has won various awards in competitions including the prestigious Chen Style world championship competition in Henan: World Champion in Chen Style Taiji; National Champion in Halberd (video); World 5th place in Chen Sword; 3rd place in China National Martial Art TaiChi Open Tournament. (Videos on You tube 2015, 2011).
June's Tai Chi is traditional and very neat and beautiful. She has a very clear and precise teaching style. And best-of-all, from my perspective, she is fluent in English! (MKMA interview). So she can give me very clear explanations and corrections.
She is also an incredibly nice and sociable person. And rather a celebrity Chen Tai Chi world since she used to run a tea-shop in Chenjioagou, which was a meeting-place for the international students training in Chen Village.
I found June thanks to Anthony Fidler's very helpful 'China Taichi Guide' when I was researching my visit to Chen Village (link, Chen-Jun page). I'd found it surprisingly hard to find quality Tai Chi classes in Hong Kong in English, but it never occurred to me to look across the boarder in Shenzhen!
June also has a blog (link) and website (link), Facebook ('chenjiagoutaiji'), and Youtube ('chenjiagoutaiji'), and can be contacted by e-mail at chenjiagoutaiji@126.com.
I've been learning Tai Chi since 2012 with the Li Fai school mainly with Sit Sifu, and have been very happy with the teaching and my progress. I do think the Li Fai school is an option worth trying for English-speaking students looking for high-quality instruction (Cantonese webpage - but perhaps best to visit the Center in North Point with a Cantonese-speaking friend initially).
Although Sit Sifu don't speak English, she demonstrates the forms and corrections very clearly, so I found I could follow quite well, just by watching carefully and getting occasional explanations from English-speaking class-mates. And once I'd read a few good books (especially 'Chen Style Taichi', Amazon link) which clearly explained fundamental points of technique and the key Chinese terms, I felt I understood 80% of what was going on, even when it was in Chinese!
At the Li Fai school I was able to learn several forms to a decent standard : Chen 56 competition form, combined 42-form, Yang 40-form, and Chen straight-sword. Plus half-learning several other forms including the Chen new frame 'Xin Jia'. I really like Sifu's classes, which have been the highlight of my week for several years. So I have mixed feelings about starting with another teacher!
One difficulty I faced was that once I'd learnt the outward forms, I wanted to go deeper into the fundamental skills, especially the internal techniques (link) which you can't learn just by copying. Although Sifu explained this to some extent, it was the 20% I couldn't understand!
Also I was beginning to suffer from painful knees, and I felt this might be because I'd missed some fundamental points of the technique. I've received plenty of attention and corrections from Sifu (probably more than my share), but I felt I needed a course of one-on-one lessons to really get it right.
Another factor is that in English, the best books on technique (e.g. link, link, link), and the best blogs (e.g. link), are based on the traditional Chen style from Chen Village. So it seemed natural to try to train in this style, which is a little different from 'Wushu' sport-oriented Tai chi, with a stronger emphasis on martial-arts and working with internal power and 'chi'.
 |
| June and her dog Pichu |
So I started weekly lessons with June in January. We started from the beginning with silk-reeling exercises and basic forward and backward steps. Then a course of standing meditation exercises. I wanted to work on basics before my planned trip to Chen Village in late Feb, and starting on the Old Frame routine (Lao Jia Yi Lu).
Traditional Chen style is really, really demanding on the legs, and initially I could only manage a few 5-minute sets before my legs would start shaking. But through regular practice of the basic exercises (and some help from my physio) I gradually built-up strength. In fact my thighs changed shape markedly over a couple of months! This seemed to take some pressure off my knees and the correct stance began to feel more comfortable.
The standing meditation was another revelation, although I only scratched the surface. It was surprisingly demanding physically. I had to maintain the posture for a long time while trying to achiever deeper levels of relaxation. Apparently most of the benefit is achieved in the final part, when you are sweating hot-and-cold, and your body is screaming in agony for you to stop! So not at all the pleasant relaxation I'd expected!
But, subsequent to this work, whenever I did the forms with appropriately related arms and breathing, I'd get a warm sensation in my hands, which I gather is a manifestation of chi and a sign you're on the right track.
So my initial indication is that June's Tai Chi teaching is the 'real deal', and I feel very lucky to be able to have regular classes with her one-to-one. My plan is to have a weekly lesson, and more when possible, practice diligently during the week, and see where it takes me.
