Commitment

Commitment means attending lessons every week and then going home and studying some more.
Only by exploring the art between classes will you gain the complete health benefits of tai chi.

Cutting swords

Cutting with the sword tests your grip.
If you are not holding the handle correctly you will hurt your hand.

Patience

The patience is primarily with yourself: things are not going to improve overnight.
Your mind needs to calm down.
Your body needs to adjust.

Active learning

To actively learn tai chi you must first recognise the need for patience and commitment.
What you get out of a tai chi class depends on entirely upon how much you are willing to put into it...

Chill-out

Many people treat tai chi classes as an opportunity to chill-out, relax and enjoy the evening in pleasant company.
This is fine.
Attending lessons in this way will reduce stress and improve your mood.

Quality of life

If your aim is to affect your day-to-day quality of life, then tai chi class needs to be more than simply a chill-out session.
The lessons of the art must be studied in class and then taken into your everyday life.
Classes become about learning, not just chilling-out.

On-line Hanwei sword sellers in the UK

I've recently had very frustrating dealings with the UK sword suppliers for Hanwei: Oriental Weapons. The Knight Shop and Barringtons.

They all seem to get their weapons from an unknown 3rd party, and are in effect merely middle men.
All sites display swords for sale that they neither stock nor can necessarily get hold of.

Whilst all are very polite and helpful when questioned, and do provide a professional service, Oriental Weapons and Barringtons don't necessarily stock the products they list on their site as being available.
Yes, Oriental Weapons do say to e-mail before ordering but it doesn't change the fact that this seems a little like false advertising.

To their credit, The Knight Shop site at least provides an accurate indication of whether or not they can obtain a sword for you in 2-5 days.

If these sword sellers showed an accurate range of:

1. What they actually hold in stock
2. What they can get hold of

their shop window might be quite barren indeed.

Rachel

Seizing

Chin na is concerned with seizing the opponent abruptly and painfully during grappling.
Students learn how to:

1. Seize
2. Misplace the bones
3. Divide the muscles
4. Seal the breath
5. Strike cavities
6. Manipulate fingers and thumbs
7. Flow between applications

The Yang style forms and the bagua palm changes feature countless chin na applications.

What do I do next?

It is common for a new starter to be shown a small portion of a self defence scenario and then wonder what happens next.
They are concerned that the facet they are working on would not be enough in real-life self defence.
This is a valid concern.

However, consider this: you cannot be taught everything all at once.
Tuition must be incremental.
Just like in school.
You learn the alphabet, vowels, words, sentences, paragraphs and so on.
No one starts primary school studying Chaucer.

So, as a new student just keep your mind on what you are doing right now.
In 40 years of martial arts training there is a fair chance that Master Waller has accrued the experience to know what to do next.
But, until you have learned the alphabet, how exactly can he convey it to you?
Understanding requires context.

Learning self defence in our school

Students who study with Master Waller learn a wide range of versatile kung fu skills:
• Learn how to disarm an opponent
• Gain confidence• Discover how to see situations differently• Avoid entanglement
• Find alternatives to panic
• Become mobile and nimble• Learn how to use everyday objects as improvised weapons• Understand how to use the human body to your advantage
• Learn how cope with gangs
• Become playful and creative• Learn how to adapt, change and improvise
• Learn how to strike rapidly and effectively
• Learn how to manipulate balance
• Learn how to lever joints, apply pressure and seize painfully
Protecting yourself from harm has nothing to do with fighting or sport.

A larger school

If there are a number of teachers within a school, they will all be called sifu by their students.
When there is more than one teacher present, it can be prudent to use their surname for the sake of distinguishing which teacher you are addressing.

The teacher of the teachers would not be called sifu, as this would indicate parity.
They are called master.

Informal

In Chinese martial arts the title sifu is also an informal one.
It is akin to calling your father 'dad'.
You would not call anyone else's father by this name, only your own.

Calling an instructor sifu denotes a friendly, familiar relationship.
You are both part of the same school and this is your teacher.

When to use the title

In class it is not necessary to say sifu constantly.
These are the main occasions:

1. When saying hello
2. When asking a question
3. When answering a question

Having said sifu at the beginning of a conversation, it is not necessary to say the title again during the conversation.

Non-members

If you are not part of a class or school, you cannot call the instructor sifu because they are not your teacher.

Call the instructor Mr Surname or Sifu Surname or Master Surname.

Etiquette

If a person is currently teaching you, then you call them sifu (no surname) or master (no surname).

Form application

The form teaches the body to move into shapes that can be applied in self defence.
Each posture has a number of potential self defence applications.

Practicing the application of form postures is a way of understanding what the form can mean.
It teaches the student how to move their body relative to an opponent, meeting force softly, yet countering with power and stability.
In a form one application rolls into another and another.

Teacher

In certain respects a tai chi chuan instructor is akin to a karate sensei.
The title 'sifu' (teacher) is appropriate.

You are not expected to kowtow in our school but you must show respect.

Formality

Not all tai chi instructors ask to be addressed in a formal way.
Most tai chi classes are non-martial, so formality is unnecessary.

However, when the focus of the class is primarily martial, it is prudent to maintain a certain degree of discipline.
This ensures that students listen to the teacher and respond immediately to instructions.

If students get too excited and a situation becomes dangerous, the teacher needs to assert control quickly.
Calling your teacher "Dave" encourages a loose, casual connotation that is friendly and informal, but perhaps not so effective when seeking to manage a situation.

Growth

The main advantage of working through a clear, fully-differentiated syllabus is progress.
Achievement leads to a feeling of wellbeing.
Nothing beats success.
By taking tangible steps forward, a student gains a sense of self-worth and confidence in their own abilities.
You did this. You accomplished.
On-going progress is good for your health: physically, emotionally and
psychologically.

Foreign

I was born and raised in Malaysia.
I travelled here in the 1990's to study and that is when I met Master Waller.

Having spoken with my husband a few times, I was quite surprised just how Asian he was.
Not modern-Asia, but more akin to my grandparents era - or earlier even.
He possesses a kind of quiet, rural, rustic simplicity; untouched by the times.
His lifelong study of contemplative taoism (Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu etc) and Japanese zen aesthetics are evident in the way he lives his life.
The inner journey of a serious martial artist has left an unmistakable Asian stamp on Master Waller.

I could easily see him living in a thatched-roof cottage of pre-20th Century Japan, in some lost valley.
Maybe one day?

Rachel