Club website and Tim's Blog
Ooops! Forgot to mention on here it’s Pride today. Fabulous event but it makes crossing the city almost impossible and very busy. If you’re coming from the east come round on the by-pass.
Hope you are not all on holiday and we can have a good session this afternoon.
See you later!
The next Sussex Wudang Tai Chi Workshop will be held in Portslade Sports Centre on 6th August. Not suitable for complete beginners so if you haven’t been doing PTCC long speak to your instructor, or PM me, to make sure it’s suitable. Bring hand weights for warm-up if you have them and if not, a couple of cans of tomatoes from the cupboard will suffice.
Usual format and cost but I’m hoping we can add a bit of relaxed freestyle tui shou this month. See 2022-08-06 Portslade Workshop Flyer for details.
No cafe, just vending machines, on site and the nearest ‘corner shop’ is half a mile away so come with any refreshments you need.
Really looking forward to training with other ‘Wudangers’ again BUT, if you do have a sore throat or any other ‘cold like’ symptoms, PLEASE DON’T COME!!!
Just confirming we are all set for the workshop on Saturday afternoon.
Once in the main entrance go past Reception, turn left then bear right through the doors into the lobby (Toilets!) and up the stairs to the Activity Room.
No cafe, just vending machines, on site and the nearest ‘corner shop’ is half a mile away so come with any refreshments you need.
Really looking forward to training with other people again BUT if you do have any ‘cold like’ symptoms – Please Don’t Come!!!
One of my students, Amelia, is performing in “Arc of the Sky” at St Andrews Church, Alfriston on the day of our Tai Chi Workshop, Saturday 11th June, so I wont be able to go even though it sounds great and I do love Alfriston.
Check it out and go if you can at:-
https://www.voiceproject.co.uk/upcoming-events
Best wishes for the performance.
The clocks have sprung forward so classes in Wish Park have restarted for the Summer of 2022 – Tuesday evenings 6.45-7.45 pm.
A Beginners Course will run after Easter from Tuesday 19th April for 4 weeks, cost £25. For more details and to book your place email, text or phone using my contact details on the Classes page.
This link will take you to a short TED talk by Annie Bosler & Don Greene on how to train effectively at any skill. The animation includes a taiji exponent who appears to be “Shutting a Door”. It is very well done and well worth studying on it’s own!
Make a fresh start in the New Year learning this wonderful, ancient, martial art with the Wish Wudang Tai Chi Club.
We are holding a 10 Week Beginners Course starting on Thursday 9th January 8-9pm at the King Alfred Leisure Centre. Cost £80 or £10 per week. No experience necessary.
You will learn the slow flowing pattern of movements known as the Hand Form. This is just the Yin or health giving side of the art but as you progress you can also start to learn the Yang or martial side if you so wish.
Maximum 6 students. To reserve a place or get more information just call, text or email Tim.
I have a few cheap wooden sabres for students to start learning weapons with but some have asked about buying their own. This I would highly recommend as every blade or spear feels so different and you can customise the grip and even the blade.
If you are only going to do forms then cheap wooden broadswords are adequate. The problem is that if you don’t learn the applications you can never give your form proper ‘yi’ or intent. Even sliding deflections as in ‘Pick a star on the left’ will soon damage a cheap softwood sabre such as
https://www.taichilink.net:8445/catalog/broad-sword-c-1_4/wooden-broad-sword-tai-chi-sword-p-12 £15.99 +p&p but they do come in two lengths 26” or 28”.
Better but still not made to practise applications at speed is this one made from oak:
https://www.playwell.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23_106_203&products_id=1935 £18.99 +p&p but it is only in the shorter length.
Cheap metal display weapons are much more expensive starting at about £60 and for real, live bladed, folded steel you can pay hundreds. They are also much heavier, of course, but better balanced with a larger range of sizes. and come with scabbards. Tai Chi Link (see above) has a number of seconds with slight damage at 10-15% off so you can instantly look like an old hand!
You could, of course, go up to London and visit Shaolin Way in China Town and choose exactly what you want. They didn’t have a big range when I went but that was in the last century… Alternatively if you want to do a bit of research on-line there are several other websites in this country and abroad and, in the U.S., sites where you can pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Don’t forget you may have to pay duty on top but my son has found what he wants this way.
And finally you could consider the latest type, made of abs plastic, so OK for sparring and applications but which I have not tried such as:
https://www.playwell.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23_105&products_id=7330 £36.99 + p&p. They look interesting but for the fact they are plastic, a material I try to avoid. On the other hand if they can survive applications & sparring and last a lifetime they are probably relatively environmentally friendly.
Happy hunting.
T’ai Chi in Wish Park will start just after Easter this year on 23rd APRIL. I’ve changed to TUESDAYs to avoid the disruption caused by the Bank Holidays in May. Hope this is not a problem. Time remains at 6.45-7.45pm so no free parking nearby except down by the lagoon or north of the railway.
It will be aimed at all levels including complete beginners. We will focus on Dao-chuan – the slow flowing patterns of movement known as T’ai Chi Hand Form and Tui-shou the more aerobic one or two person exercises often misnamed Pushing Hands. The Hand Form is what most people think of when they think of T’ai Chi. Pushing Hands may come as a bit of a surprise to the uninitiated but you must remember that the art is based on the theory of Yin & Yang so is both soft and slow – yin, but also, at times, fast and hard – yang. You can’t have one without the other, well you can, but it is unbalanced and relatively ineffective.
If you have any questions beforehand just email, text or phone. You don’t need any special clothing but dress for the weather and if it rains wear a hat, we WILL still be there!