We just completed a wonderful 5 day workshop with Coach Chen Ziqiang, chief instructor at the Chenjiagou village school. We’ve studied weapons with Coach Chen for several years now, and each workshop brings more refinement and new levels of understanding.
His main focus is always to learn and master the basics, because the forms are nothing more than different applications of these basics. We worked on double broadsword, eyebrow staff, and spear. A common theme - keep the weapon close to the body. The further away you push your weapon, the less strength available to use. Another common theme - the more complex the movement, the more difficult it becomes to retain that basic tenet.
Our workshop was composed of students of all levels, with several teachers in the group. Coach Chen adjusted his teaching style for each student, and was able to offer each of us our own challenges. I came away with lots of nuggets of information and deeper ways to understand the forms I practice. I also leave these workshops with the realization that taijiquan is so deep, so layered, and so complex that it will give me many more years of work to do, even with the 25+ years that I have already practiced.
More great teachers are coming this winter! David Gaffney and Davidine Sim will be here in early December, and Jan Silberstorff will come in late January. Don’t miss these opportunities to study with some of the greatest taijiquan practitioners of our generation! Find more details here.
And save the date for our next China trip - April 2021!
