A small TaiChi competition

Last Sunday there was a friendly small competition organised as a practise for both contenders and judges. like a warming up for the national championships that are held in a month. it all started at 10 am in the morning. I had to rush down to the school but it turned out the times weren't that fixed. the competition was held in the other TaiCHi school in the building opposite our school.

After signing up we started with a warming up. there were lots of judges who were new and had to practise for the NK. I am a student from a school that teaches Yang Style TaiCHi the traditional way. It was intresting to see what other styles were out there and what different opinions there were regarding the differences among the styles. When i went to China I learned the Chen style that has it's own character. There are not many people practising Chen and it was clear that no one had ever seen this form. It was funny one lady was shrieking enthousiastically CHEN!

most of us started in the beginners group Yang. it is one of my not so good qualities , i get extremely nervous when i have to perform for an audience. One of the judges started to question my annoncement that i would do the yang 24 form the traditional way. That was intresting because another student had just walked the same form and then he had not noticed a thing. He claimed it wasn't traditional.NOt soon after the gong the shaking started it was so annoying. i tried to breath and keep my balance. later when i saw the video it looked better then i felt. But it wasn't like i normally walk at all. Too bad but it was a good experience. you just have to push yourself to do these things otherwise you never get over it.

after a break the advanced group started. Being advanced has nothing to do with how good you are but with the time that you have been practising TaiCHi. When it is 3 years and more you automatically become advanced.The Sihing of our school did very well. After a lunch break and a few more advanced students, it was time to show the judges the CHen Form. We walked it together but should have been judged seperately.That was not clear to all the judges. some came to tell us that we better do it apart as we were not walking in a synchronised way and have a different way of walking. but most of them got it right. There were no other people doing CHen and i think it was intresting for them to see something new. I was a little less nervous and it felt almost ,like fun.

Shyness sucks and i am trying to overcome it by forcing myself to do these things. it is nice to compete and learn from it.well the positive thing was that i did not hold my breath this time like last year...

then it was time for Tui Shou. there were only to other ladies to compete. So it was a short game. It was funny the two ladies were excact opposites one was soft but to weak and the other one was strong and tried to push hard. It was fun. I tried to stay gentle. But one of them still thought i used a lot of force. HMMMMMMM i was thinking that it is perhaps good that not everybody goes to China, this lady would be so shocked.

After a bit of fun pushing we went home. I cooked a Chinese Style dinner, and then we had ice cream with warm blueberries mmmmmm that is just the best dessert!

Training in the Park

Training in the Park
21-05-2008
Location: Beijing
Written by Koen van Westbroek, translated by Ester van Dam
All pictures except last 2 by koen van Westbroek

ofcourse we do a lot more the shopping and sightseeing. We came to China to train with Xu Laoshi in TianTan park.
The day usually starts with greeting our teacher and the other students, then it is time for stretching, usually followed by Qi Gong. Xu Laoshi often checks our hands and/or legs after Qi Gong to see if they are nicely red and warm. Then he will decide what we are going to do that day.

The things we train are:


• The eight postures


This excist of walking in circles around a tree holding our hands in different postures. There are 8 postures and per posture you have to walk both left and right way around the tree. This is mostly to build up strength, relaxation and body structure.

• The eight palms
With this execise we walk again around a tree, only less circles in only one posture. The focus is on changing directions, the changes exist out of several technique that exist of punches, kicks,pushes etc.followed in a sequence

• Chen Style TaiChi 24 Form
Unfortunately we do this not often enough. It is a shortened form from the Chen Style TaiChi system. This system characteristics are its fluent movements and the use of Fa li= explosive force in the forms.
• A Bagua Form (Sipingquan)
This is a straightlined Bagua form, without any of the characteristic circle walking. We did not have enough time to learn the whole form so I (Koen) have only been able to learn a small part. Hopefully Ester will learn more, so when she returns can show me the rest. I definitely want to keep practicing this for the next time.

• Push hands (Tui Shou)

We practice a lot of push hands. We have been shown many techniques but also engage in free push hands with the students of Xu Laoshi. The students I had to push against are becoming bigger and better all the time. Xu Laoshi wants us to push according to the Dutch competition rules. Chinese style push hands allows almost anything you can throw, move, grab and apply qinna (joint locks).


We can see that the Chinese students find all these rules pretty strange and now and then couldn’t help it to use a small joint lock. I find Chinese style push hands much more interesting so on Sunday I started pushing back according to the Chinese rules. My opponents were very enthusiastic and it became a totally different game. I flew through the air several times and landed on the floor.



That it can be a bit rough was shown by my arm that evening. It was portraying all possible shades of blue.
On the photo you can see what can happen when you do an afternoon of Chinese style push hands..

Too bad it was the last training day for Natasja, Maarten and me. There is a saying goodbye dinner planned at Xu Laoshi’s house on the last evening. Ester has the luck that she stays two more weeks