Sonoran Tai Chi Community Spring 2019 1

2019 Health Day in Tucson IN THIS ISSUE: Annual Event

2019 Health Day Tucson Health Day in Tucson has been Annual Event a large annual event organized Experience Tai Chi by the Confucius Institute at the Important Points University of Arizona since 2012. In beautiful spring time of Sun Style Taijiquan each April, the Health Day Flow like a river attracts hundreds of students and local community members About Taijiquan together to promote health The Taijiquan Classics behaviors and to facilitate the What Tai Chi Means to Me communication of health and Tai Chi has helped wellness knowledge across Chinese and Western medicine. Tai Chi has been one of the main themes of Tucson, AZ April 6, 2019 the Health Day since the inception of this event. Chinese Health Day News on Tai Chi During the Health Day on April 6, 2019, five Tai Chi groups from the Tucson area performed on a same stage, showing different forms of Tai Chi Quan Training Opportunities and Tai Chi Fan. It is new to the Health Day that this year Tai Chi masters not only led their team in the performances but also introduced to the audiences different Tai Chi styles and the general principles and health benefits of Tai Chi practices. In this session of the Newsletter, we have published a few of the presentations. Happy reading!

Experience Tai Chi Important Points By: Li Yiqiu

Tai Chi is a gem of Chinese martial arts, which is an important part of the whole Chinese martial arts system. Tai Chi is also one of the best exercises to keep fit. I have practiced TaiChi for more than 20 years and have benefited greatly in both physical to mental health. The importance of practicing Tai Chi properly has been deeply appreciated over the years of practice.

Point one: In China, as the saying goes: "Learning Tai Chi is easy; to correct the bad habits of performing Tai Chi is difficult". Beginners cannot be too hasty. One should start from the basic postures; the action should be in line with the main points of Tai Chi. Carefully experiencing the ten elements of Tai Chi is very important.

The ten elements are: 1. Empty minded with a gentle force of the head towards up (虚灵顶劲); 2. Strait back with chest relaxed (含胸拔背); 3. Ease lumber spine and drop sacroiliac joints (松腰落胯); 4. Be aware of the center location of body strength (分清虚实); 5. Drop shoulder and elbow (沉肩坠肘); 6. Leading the body action with spirits (用意不用力); Sonoran Tai Chi Community Spring 2019 2

7. Co-ordinates the upper and lower body (上下相随); 8. In accordance the inner and outer part of the body (内外相合); 9. Acting continuously (相连不断); 10. Pair action with inner calm (动中求静).

Point two: The practice of "shape" is very important to begin gradually understanding and mastering the core of martial arts and achieving "inside (internal) and outside (external) being combined (fused) to create a whole unified body; whose movement and shape are guided by mind (Yi).

Point three: Coordinating Inside and out; the Inner Triad: Mind and heart, Mind and Qi, Qi, and Force. The outer triad consists of the shoulders with the crotch, the elbow with the knee, and the hand with the foot Only when inside and outside matches, then the whole body of the performer will possess both shape and spirit.

Point four: Fortitude and flexibility: Tai Chi is much different from what we see in the external martial arts. There is force and strength inside the body during each movement, although people see only the flexibility and softness from outside. Fortitude and flexibility are a pair of contradictory phenomena. They also support and complement each other making Tai Chi a unique sport. Of course, this requires the guidance of a master to reach the status of “trained force inside, and flexibility outside”.

In summary, I think only by carefully understanding Tai Chi’s yin and yang, open and close, rise and sink, and conscientiously and correctly grasping the 13 forms of boxing [which are: holding (掤), stroke (捋), squeeze (挤), press (按), take (採), twist (挒), elbow (肘), lean (靠), Advance (进), retreat (退), look around (顾), look forward to (盼), fix (定), and persisting in learning inside and outside practice, so that one can accumulate the capability of kung fu, and by not taking detours, and by listening to the admonition that "learning Tai Chi is easy and correcting the bad habit is more difficult", will our practice of Tai Chi blossom.

About the writer: Li Yiqiu (Tai Chi Coach)

• National social sports instructor • 6 Duan of Chinese martial arts • Deputy head coach of Beijing Xuande Wushu Team • Head of the Taijiquan team of the Academy of Military Sciences, China • Member of Taijiquan Special Committee of Beijing Senior Sports Association • Learning and practicing Taijiquan for more than 20 years. Having participated in many national and international Taijiquan competitions and won many championships such as boxing, sword, knife, and fan. Having been teaching Taijiquan for students from state organizations, hospitals, military colleges and overseas; which accumulates rich teaching experience for her. Sun Style Tai Chi Chuan Flow like a river By: Heather Chalon, MPH, Master Trainer Tai Chi for Health Institute

Flow like a river, tranquil and serene on the surface, with immense power underneath.”

All family’s styles of Tai Chi have similar principles and are related to each other historically. Variations are based on the founder’s backgrounds, experiences, and personalities, in addition to the respective environment in which they lived and practiced. Sonoran Tai Chi Community Spring 2019 3

Sun Style uniqueness lies in the genius, background, progressive thinking about tai chi for health purposes and the masterful martial arts skills of Sun Lutang (born Sun Fuquan). Harsh circumstances of youth, intelligence, powerful desire to master martial arts, created perfect conditions for a brilliant synthesis of martial arts.

Sun Style is the most modern of the major styles of Tai Chi. Dr Sun Lutang brought the Sun Style to life in the early 1900s. With an emphasis on health, Sun Lutang drew from the circle walking and agile stances practices of Xingyiquan, Baguazhang, and Wu Hao Tai Chi Chuan as fundamentally the same, of one family. He studied with the best practitioners of his time and became a nationally revered practitioner in his own right. He truly made the three styles one art.

Characteristics of Sun Style:

Easier to Learn Makes Sun Style suitable for empowering people to experience the sense of achievement as a beginner, yet with much depth to take people deeply into their tai chi journey. It is welcoming and inviting, sustaining the practitioner to continue, since tai chi, while simple, is not necessarily easy.

Qigong Sun Style is a more internal form and includes qigong. Most notable is the Open and Close Hands, which can be played simply as one form or with more depth as two forms, encouraging Qigong breathing. As we cultivate Qi, we embrace serenity.

Agile Stepping Sun Style “follow step” supports uprights stance, gentle appearing powerful delivery of Qi (fa jin), smooth seemingly gliding transitions.

Higher Stance Smaller steps combined with agile stepping and a higher stance, Sun Style has a distinctly upright posture, conducive to enhanced internal awareness, emphasis on form and technique, building deep inner power, over external strength.

Easier to feel Qi Hand position, circular movement, qigong, and qigong breathing bring experienced practitioners of other styles of tai chi as well as beginners, to be amazed by how quickly they can generate and feel qi with Sun Style.

Special healing power Many familiar named forms, such as “Play the Lute” and “Parry and Punch” are practiced for connecting and communicating with energy reservoir points, gathering, and moving Qi. The communication is reinforced throughout the set, to improve health and well-being.

Harmony and Tranquility Sun Style helps us develop inner peace and how to interact with others in a relatively short time. Movements are designed to flow with love to and from the heart. One of the signature forms demonstrating this concept is known as “Leisurely tying the coat”.

About the writer: Heather Chalon earned a master’s degree in Public Health at the University of Arizona. As a Public Health Consultant and Tai Chi for Health Institute Master Trainer, she offers an evidence-based, CDC recommended, Tai Chi System including training, mentoring, certifying instructors, promoting a vision of making tai chi accessible to everyone. Heather began her tai chi journey while living in The People’s Republic of China in the 1980s. She has trained and taught classes, workshops, retreats on four continents, introducing and guiding people to go deeper in their practices of tai chi, qigong, Tao meditation, Chinese yoga. As Senior Trainer with Healing Tao Instructors Association, she trains and certifies Healing Tao instructors. https://heatherchalon.com/

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About Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) The Taijiquan Classics By: Jordan Misner, Sifu, Wind River Internal Martial Arts for Health and Enlightenment

There are many tai chi styles and practices, however, they all revolve around a core group of 13 basic postures and should adhere to the principles and methods set forth in the Taijiquan Classics. The Taijiquan Classics are generally cited as the authoritative information source regarding Tai Chi. The classics consists of numerous writings, treatise, instructions, and methods attributed to taijiquan’s master practitioners dating back to Chan San Feng. It is generally agreed that these writings are attributed to the Yang family and their descendants, including Wu and Sun families. When we think about Taijiquan, we generally think about the slow deliberate movements of most Yang, Wu, and Sun style forms. Yet there are so many variations even among Yang style practitioners, it begs the question, why? Over time, practitioners, and masters of Taijiquan evolved their teaching and practice to focus on their core needs in four main areas; fighting, health, spiritual and qi cultivation. Wu and Sun family tai chi descended from the Yang family, and all three have their roots in the 13 basic postures. All 13 postures evolved from the martial applications of tai chi and included the cultivation of qi in the practitioner. Today most people practice tai chi primarily for health and qi cultivation, however, we do need to keep the martial aspects of the forms alive as they provide insight into the internal functions of form and application, which also gives rise to the cultivation of Qi and health. At Wind River Internal Martial Arts for Health and Enlightenment, we practice an older Yang style tai chi that predates the popular Chinese government forms many practice today, but we don’t usually refer to our form as anything other than “the form”. This is the way the practice of tai chi was at one time; it wasn’t Yang or Wu or Sun, 12, 24, or 48, etc., rather it was just tai chi. About Softness The emphasis in our practice is on the softness, yielding and issuing (fajing) aspects of tai chi chuan. Upon learning the mechanical movements of the form, the student must begin focusing on achieving the softness (song) of the movements. However, achieving softness is just the entry point into the many accomplishments needed to become a competent practitioner of Taijiquan. The focus and practice of softness is always present and one of the most beneficial aspects of tai chi to the health of the practitioner. Learning Softness One of the primary tools for teaching softness is standing meditation (zhan Zhuang) practice, which requires the practitioner to hold a set of static postures with the minimum force necessary to maintain position for extended periods of time. Standing meditation is known for providing the body with relaxation, exercise, and entry into the qi gong state in a single practice session. These postures require over 300 muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the body to harmonize with minimum effort such that one is both poised to explode into movement while maintaining stillness of mind and body. The lessons and experience of standing meditation are carried into our tai chi form practice and our lives as the physical and mental health benefits of this practice are tremendous. Three Pillars of Practice Our tai chi chuan practice is based upon the three pillars of practice; standing meditation, tai chi form, and push hands. In our practice, we consistently explore and experience the relationship between the tai chi form, the standing meditation postures, and tai chi sensing/pushing hands. Tai chi chuan is a performing art that can be intellectually approached only after it has been experientially ingrained through hours of correct practice. It requires one to invest their time in standing meditation to develop internal structure and a frame awareness that forms the core of the internal power used in tai chi chuan. We sometimes call this the qi gong state. The tai chi form teaches us to take the knowledge we gain from the stillness of standing meditation into the Sonoran Tai Chi Community Spring 2019 5

stillness of movement. In movement we need to maintain the feeling of standing, or the feeling of the qi gong state. Then we strive to take the qi gong state into push/sensing hands practice. Without the partnered aspect of the pushing/sensing hands practice, our form movements are somewhat hollow and missing essential elements that bring the tai chi form and internal meaning alive for the practitioner. The tai chi form teaches us the basic syllables of tai chi, the standing meditation develops the structure for correct enunciation of those syllables and tai chi push hands begins to teach us how to speak and use the language of tai chi. By focusing on the softness in form and push hands, we begin to achieve an experiential awareness of the yin/yang and yielding aspects of Taijiquan and are bringing them into the light of our daily lives. About Yin/Yang and Tai Chi Chuan As we stand in wu wei/emptiness at the beginning of our form, we are striving to be in undifferentiated stillness, before the beginning of creation. Once our mind begins to move, duality is born and then we have the interplay of yin/yang, shady/sunny until we return to wu wei at the very end of the form. In this way, the form represents the creation of life and its return. Our practice is to understand and embrace this element of our tai chi not just in the form practice, but in our lives and the world around us. The world, our lives, and our minds are like the form and are in a constant state of expanding and shrinking, movement and stillness, yielding and attacking while moving through the changes of yin and yang. In our practice we learn to identify and illuminate the concepts of yin/yang and a more common physical/mental dilemma in tai chi, double weighting. Through our practice, we hopefully learn the deeper meanings of these concepts enabling us to achieve harmony in our practice and in our lives. Regarding Yin/Yang There cannot be pure yin or pure yang because each always contains elements of the other. The tai chi classics tell us to strive to understand the difference between these two concepts also referred to in the classics as sunny/shady, substantial/insubstantial. Many understand this idea at its lower level and relate this to double weighting of the feet. However, it is not just about the distribution of weight across one foot or both feet. It can occur in many aspects of the form. Even the mind can be double weighted. A shoulder and elbow holding tension result in double weighting. Where in the body is it empty or full? What is substantial and insubstantial? These are questions we experientially answer in our practice as we enter the higher levels of Taijiquan skill.

About the writer: Jordan began studying combat oriented Chinese martial arts in the early 1990s in Milwaukee, WI and continued his studies when he moved to Tucson in 1994. In 2002 Jordan was introduced to the internal martial arts taught by Grandmaster Sam Tam, one of the foremost Internal Martial Artists in North America. Master Tam is a highly sought-after teacher with students located around the world. Jordan is a qualified senior instructor and serves on the Board for Master Tam’s Internal Martial Arts for Health and Enlightenment. Sifu Jordan teaches weekly, ongoing classes, at the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center. www.windrivertaichi.com Sonoran Tai Chi Community Spring 2019 6

Tucson Arizona April 6, 2019 Chinese Health Day By: Edna Silva, RN

Edna Silva’s Center of Wu Style T’ai Chi Chuan is dedicated to the practice and teaching of Classic Wu style Tai Chi for maintaining good health and a grateful heart.

Over 700 worldwide studies demonstrate health benefits of T’ai Chi like decreased anxiety and depression, improved lung capacity, circulation, digestion, and posture, and strengthened muscles and bones. At the University of Arizona, Edna Silva, RN instructed T’ai Chi to Cardiac Rehabilitation patients @ UMC and NWH and those patients increased balance, coordination and self efficacy compared to patients who only did aerobics and weights. T’ai Chi players can improve with age.

Today the 5 families of Tai Chi Chuan are united to help the family of “Humankind”

Yang style comes from Chen Style

Wu Hao and Wu styles come from Yang style

Sun style is derived from all these styles

The Wu family were Manchurian warriors in the last Chinese Dynasty.

Wu Quan Yu (1870-1942) discipled his son, Wu Chian-chuan (1870-1942) in martial arts at an early age. In the 1920s, after the Republic of China was founded, the contemporary Yang style master and Master Wu Chian-chuan were invited to teach T’ai Chi Chuan in the Athletic Institute of Beijing. Until this time Martial Arts were limited to special families and the military. This heralded a new era allowing the public to learn openly. Wu Chian-chuan became the founder of the Classic Wu Style T’ai Chi Chuan.

He enriched the family inherited art by omitting some jumps, stamps, and repetitions, making the art softer, slower, easier to learn and safer.

His daughter, Wu Yin Hua and son-in law and student, Ma Yeah-liang, continued his teaching. They adopted Shi Mei Lin who became China’s Wu style Tai Chi martial arts champion (1970’s -80’s).

In the early 1990’s, Edna met one of Master Ma’s lifelong students, Dr. Wen Zee, a retired Cardiologist and Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor who presented the health benefits of T’ai Chi at the U of A College of Medicine. Dr. Zee asked Edna to learn and Tai Chi and named her as his successor. They traveled to Shanghai, China to study with Master Ma Yueh Liang and Master Wu Ying Hua. Edna currently studies with Master She Mei Lin. In Tucson we are fortunate to have a strong Wu Style Community with a direct link to the Wu family lineage:

Wu Style tradition encompasses a Long Form, Short Form, Fast Form, weapons, and Push Hands. The forms are naturally structured and characterized by agility, smoothness, continuity, stillness, softness, subtlety, strictly centered equilibrium, and alertness. All movements conform to the theory of the mutual promotion of yin and yang. Some identifiable physical qualities are; small frame, meaning that arms and legs generally are not exaggerated, the solid step is done with the body slanted and the feet are mostly parallel to each other except in horse riding and turning methods.

About the writer: Edna Silva was a Cardiac Rehab nurse from 1989 till 2018. In 1994 Dr. Charles Katzenberg MD a preventive cardiologist and Edna Silva co-founded The Heart Series program. The Heart Series is an in-depth program designed to prevent heart disease. Edna also met Dr. Wen Zee in 1994. Dr. Zee’s mission in the USA was to teach T’ai Chi and its health benefits to health care professionals. With this in mind, Edna invited, and hosted Dr. Wen Zee in Tucson AZ. Dr. Zee invited Edna to Shanghai to study with his teacher, the famed Master Ma Yueh Liang. Currently Edna studies with Master Shi Mei Lin adopted daughter of Master Ma Yeah Liang and Master Wu Yin Hua, who lives and teaches in New Zealand. Edna teaches in Northwest Tucson. www.taichitucson.com Sonoran Tai Chi Community Spring 2019 7

What Tai Chi Means to Me It has helped By: Jean Young

I’ve never been someone who can exercise doing 20 of these and 12 of those; maybe for about a week but then I would get bored and quit. So, it is amazing to me that for the last 21 years I have been doing tai chi nearly every day. Tai chi is always interesting, ever changing, challenging. Never boring.

From the moment I saw Toshiro Mifune in a Kurosawa film at the Toho Theater in Honolulu, I wanted to learn martial arts. I took up judo and taekwondo; even earned a couple of belts. When I saw an ancient Chinese woman doing tai 1art that I could do the rest of my life. I finally got my chance in Tucson when I saw a brochure in my physical therapist’s office: Classes were being taught by a man from China and his student, a local nurse. Having done martial arts before, I knew authenticity was important. When I went to their class, I immediately saw that these people were truly authentic. I later found out that the Chinese man, Dr. Zee, was an indoor student of a famous Chinese practitioner of Wu-style tai chi, Master Ma. I had seen Master Ma featured in a Bill Moyers PBS special, Science and the Mind.

Physically, doing tai chi has helped strengthen my very bad back. Along with qigong stretching, it is by far the best physical fitness program I could imagine. Mentally tai chi is calming, moving meditation. I have found it to be diagnostic. If I am too stressed, I find it is somewhat difficult to get through the 30-40-minute form, but I feel much calmer afterward. If I have trouble with the kicks that are part of the form, I know I need to work on better balance, which has as much to do with focusing my mind as my fitness. Overall, tai chi encompasses the mind-body experience, which has become a feature of many modern fitness centers. The main idea is to do exercise that makes you feel good as opposed to “no pain, no gain,” and focus on the connection between the mind and body and how each affects the other.

There are also some fascinating parts of tai chi practice I never could have suspected. Besides being energized by moving chi throughout my body as I do the form, when I do standing mediation (wu chi), I can feel chi moving like a figure eight between my two palms. I can form virtual roots into the ground so that a much stronger person cannot easily push me over. Since my first few years of tai chi, I have taken up Wu-style sword, Chen-style short form and fan, two types of qigong, and studying the Tao, all of which enhance my tai chi experience and my life.

I am now 77 years old with, perhaps, many more years to learn about and experience tai chi. If I live to be ancient, I expect to be practicing tai chi just like that Chinese woman in Golden Gate Park; engaging in the most interesting, ever changing, challenging, never boring mind-body fitness program that I could imagine. Thank you, Edna Silva, for being my Wu-style tai chi teacher for 21 years, a healthy lifestyle role model, and my friend.

About the writer: Jean is a senior student of Edna Silva, RN News on Tai Chi This could be the best exercise for people over 50

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Training Opportunities in the Tucson area

There are many places to learn Chinese martial and healing arts in the greater Tucson area. Here are a few local schools teaching ongoing programs. When looking for learning opportunities take your time and audit a class with several different teachers to find the right one for you.

• Wind River Tai Chi Chuan: Instructor/Sifu, Jordan Misner, www.windrivertaichi.com Tucson Chinese Cultural Center 1288 W River Rd – Telephone 520.331.8961 Classes are ongoing and held 3 times weekly • The Center for Wu Style T’ai Chi Chuan, Edna Silva R.N. founder, www.taichitucson.com Telephone 520.544.3720 • Tai Chi for Health, Teacher Heather Chalon, MPH, http://heatherchalon.com/ • The Confucius Institute at The University of Arizona: Instructor/Sifu, Xintuo Zhang http://confucius.arizona.edu/martial-arts, 1215E Helen St. Tucson, AZ 85721 –Telephone 520: 626-5124 • Tucson Sino Tai Chi Instructor/Sifu, Yan Xu. 1288 W River Rd, Tucson, AZ 85704. – Telephone 520: 907-9157. • Tucson Sino Martial Arts: Instructor/Sifu, Shuping Zhao. Telephone: 520: 546546-7642. • Wu Style Tai Chi: Heidi Wilson. 435 E 9th St downtown Tucson. Telephone: 520: 888-4780.

Editorial Board: • Jordan Misner Sifu, Wind River Tai Chi Chuan (Co - Editor-in-chief) • Zhao Chen PhD, MPH, Distinguished Professor of Public Health University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Director of Confucius Institute at the University of Arizona (Co – Editor-in- chief) Contributing Editors: • Ruth Taylor-Piliae, PhD, RN, FAHA, Associate Professor, College of Nursing, University of Arizona • Edna Silva RN, founder of The Center for Wu Style T’ai Chi Chuan • Xintuo Zhang Sifu, Confucius Institute • Heather Chalon Sifu, Tai Chi for Health PLAYING THE BANJO • Shuping Zhao Sifu, 4 Branches Acupuncture • Yan Xu Sifu, Tucson Sino Tai Chi Contact Us • Xu Yue, PhD, Tucson Sino Tai Chi Confucius Institute at the University • Fushi Wen, PhD, Tucson Sino Tai Chi of Arizona 1215 E Helen Street Tucson, AZ 85721 Tel: (520) 626-5124

The Sonoran Tai Chi Community Newsletter is produced in cooperation with the Confucius Institute at the University of Arizona.