Ozymandius Meet Up

For those of you with some experience, an event not to be missed:-

The Inaugral OZYMANDIUS TAI CHI CAMP!!!!

Venue: The College of Richard Collyer, Horsham RH12 2EJ

Date: Early Spring Bank Holiday Weekend 4th-6th May

Three whole days of Wudang or Practical Tai Chi Chuan. Obviously you don’t have to do all of them.

Sessions will be lead by a number of Dan’s best known students from this country and abroad.

Click on the King of Kings above for details.

I can’t wait!

Workshop in Portslade 6th August 2-5pm

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!!!

Tai Chi donated to The Museum of Curiosity by Benjamin Zephaniah

I love Radio4! Just been listening to The Museum of Curiosity (Series 13 Episode 1) in which Benjamin Zephaniah gave an impassioned case for donating Tai Chi. It was great even though some of what he said was disputable!

Yang based styles, for example, are not always slow. Yes, the hand form is mostly done in a slow and controlled manner but some moves, such as Double Hand Sweep Lotus Leg, are quick and besides I do the whole form much quicker on a chilly winter morning than a warm summer’s evening!

As for it not being an effective martial art and “you would be better off doing Kick Boxing or Karate”, that may be true of his Chen style but my Sifu Dan Docherty, his Sifu Chen Tin-hung and several elder brothers in Tai Chi have demonstrated that a full system of Wudang, Practical Tai Chi Chuan is. (N.B. WPTCC is in the Yang/Wu family lineage NOT Chen family despite the name – see ‘The Complete Tai Chi Tutor’ by Dan Docherty for detailed lineages etc.)

Also listened to Start the Week with Andrew Marr interviewing Yuval Noah Harari, the author of Sapiens and Homo Deus. Well worth a listen though  they don’t mention Tai Chi!

Cheng Kam-yan son of Cheng Tin-hung

Jonathan posted on the FaceBook group that he had recently had the pleasure of training with Cheng Tinhung’s youngest son in Hong Kong. Some really good video of various Wudang  tuishou/pushing hands. In fixed step free-style Jonathan got a couple of draws but didn’t score once so said he ‘must train harder’ an attitude I respect!

You can see this at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74LW25_qQkU or just search youtube for Cheng Kam Yan.