Archive for July 2007
Sifu Smith invited to NCSU for seminar
Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 10:02 AM by Sifu Smith
Sifu Smith has been asked by NCSU to lead a 1 1/2 hour seminar on Tai
Chi Chuan in November. They are expecting 75-100 participants and we
will take video and pictures to share with their members. The event
will begin at Poe Hall and move outside.
Posted in Raleigh
Tuesday's Practice
Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 6:27 AM by Sifu Smith
Both the afternoon and evening students are working consistently, and the one ingredient that is most necessary and it seems that most of our students are practicing it, is to have patience. Mark Twain once wrote, "Patience is not the act of waiting. It is our attitude while we wait." Master Chin would say to us, "if they made a Tai Chi shot, we would meet on a saturday and I would give you all one. It would be much easier on me." I better understand, because I must also exercise patience in observing the students as they develop. See them get on the brink of understanding.
New students are memorizing pattern, others worked hard on taking their practice to a new level. Trying to make their understanding come to life, become a formless form, and as I heard last night from a few students.
"Practice was great, sure is humbling." Another was telling me, "I can't believe how fast the mind wanted to pull out, even on something that I have done a thousand times, after a little bit, everything calmed down and it went well."
We must use various levels and exchanges to test and gain. Even in the best of environments, the heart and mind have to be reminded to calm down.
Great Job to all the students.
Tao Te Ching - Ch-19 Return To Naturalness
Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 5:57 AM by Sifu Smith
We must have many options to locate and unlock the doors inside ourselves.
Many request that we assist in calming down the chaos in one's life, so that they feel less hectic. We are proud to say that most students stay with us for years because we do provide the tools to calm down the heart and mind. It becomes self apparent that the world hasn't calmed down; the way that we conduct and manage ourselves has. While the standing meditation practice is one of our primary training tools, it is not just the standing in quietedness that provides the unlocking of oneself.
We must have many options to locate and unlock the doors inside ourselves. This may take some time, however, time is not the priority, one's self is the priority. On reflection, there is a chapter of the Tao Te Ching that offers some insight to calming the chaos. I normally use three english resources to find a translation with context, here is a portion:
It is better by far to embrace simplicity,
To be at
peace in one's self,
To realize your original nature.
Be in harmony with the Tao,
Practice selflessness,
Temper
Desire.
Master Chin Sin Tien Tai Chi Video
Posted on Monday, July 23, 2007 at 6:28 AM by Sifu Smith
Master Chin leads a large group through selected portions of the Sin Tien Wu Chi - Tai Chi System. With silky ease and flow the chi is rolled through the gates.
The Tai Chi is used as opportunity to exercise the Chi, Intention and
Heart. The 3 internal harmonies that must come together as part of the 6
harmonies.
Posted in Tai Chi
Sifu Chin Returns From China
Posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 7:01 AM by Sifu Smith
Just a week ago Master Chin, Sifu Heintzmann, Disciple Robert, and
several other students returned from a trip to China. Master Chin said
the trip itself wasn't very easy from standpoint of getting good food
and rooms, but there were many good things about the trip. They got to
see the Terra Cotta army.
They also got to meet several respected Kung Fu Masters and exchange with them. Master Chin has always said that it is good to confirm that you are on the right track. After being asked to demonstrate the power of the Tibetan Hop Gar kung fu, they have asked Master Chin to return and present the Hop Gar at the Wushu Institute. Master Chin's Hop Gar kung fu was recognized as a potentially lost treasure as many of them had never seen it, only heard about it.
Master Chin has said that he will most likely return next year, without the help of a travel agency, so he can take the time to find the old monks on the mountain.
Edited on: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 6:32 AMMaster Chin's Tai Chi & Kung Fu Workshop in Fayetteville NC
Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 8:57 AM by Sifu Smith
The Raleigh students are excited about working with their Sigung this weekend. Several hours of invigorating training that they can use for a lifetime in all of their chi pursuits. As Master Chin has stated hundreds of times, the journey in the internal kungul is endless and timeless. Very few men will study, investigate, and work harder than Master Chin in, looking for the ch, and why the Sin Tin Wu Chi System is so powerful.
This November there will a exciting workshop with several of our kindred spirits from around the country. Master Chin has made it clear that all of the participants must have some prerequistes filled.
Interested parties should contact us if they are interested in private lessons or a group workshop.
Posted in Students
Tai Chi Chuan Advise From Physician
Posted on Monday, July 09, 2007 at 10:06 AM by Sifu Smith
Recently I was speaking with a friend, who had told me about his physician in San Diego. Apparently the physician practices, but does not teach Tai Chi, but recommends it to every patient, even the ones in wheel chairs. Here is what the physician wrote:
Want A Safe And Effective Way To Relieve Chronic Pain, Improve Balance, Flexibility, Strength And Cardiovascular Fitness?
Try Tai Chi! When you think of Tai Chi, you probably get visions of
Bruce Lee running around… beating up 10 bad guys at once. Well, that
couldn’t be further from the truth. Tai Chi is an exercise system that
consists of a specific series of gentle physical movements. Tai Chi
Chuan, which literally means -- "supreme ultimate force" -- is based on
an ancient Chinese martial art. Many practitioners describe their art as
part exercise, part meditation. Tai Chi is a very unique way to exercise
without putting many of the stresses and strains on the body caused by
more conventional exercise programs. More importantly, researchers have
recently reviewed 50 studies on Tai Chi… revealing many diverse health
benefits gained by its practitioners.
In March 2004, the results of a study performed by researchers at the Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Data on 47 studies were analyzed that examined the health benefits of Tai Chi on patients with chronic health problems such as multiple sclerosis and heart disease. The studies varied considerably in such measures as outcome assessment, duration of follow-up and others. In their description of the results they wrote: "Benefits were reported in balance and strength, cardiovascular and respiratory function, flexibility, immune system, symptoms of arthritis, muscular strength, and psychological effects."
The researchers noted that in older patients with chronic conditions, Tai Chi appeared to be a safe and effective means of promoting flexibility, balance control and cardiovascular fitness. Even though many health benefits of Tai Chi were clear, the studies did not know why. The researchers also stated that since the studies varied so much, exact scientific conclusions could not be drawn.
Another study from Korea found that a particular form of Tai Chi developed to help arthritis sufferers did just that. Results showed that those in the Tai Chi group experienced significantly less pain and stiffness and reported fewer difficulties performing daily functions compared to the non-Tai Chi group.
Yet another study in the Journal Applied Nursing Research found that participants in a 30-minute Tai Chi class twice a week for 12 weeks had significant improvements in balance, functional mobility, and a reduced fear of falling.
Edited on: Monday, July 09, 2007 10:06 AMPosted in Tai Chi
Congratulations Reed
Posted on Saturday, July 07, 2007 at 2:40 PM by Sifu Smith
From all of us in your Kung Fu Family we offer congratulations to you and your new wife on your marriage. We look forward to your safe return home and will see you soon!
Posted in Students
Chi Kung Assists Those Suffering From Cancer
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 at 6:20 AM by Sifu Smith
Cancer is a diagnosis of symptoms that is often considered an affliction that comes out from air and attacks us. We must first know that cancerous cells are in us most of our adult lives. On a molecular level a cancer cell typically is nothing more than a damaged specialized cell that turns rogue and creates inappropriate growth in a specialized region (such as an organ). The immune system failed to recognize and/or remove a bad cell. Simply, the weeds take over an area of the garden.
We have 100 trillion cells, everyday our body replenishes 300 billion cells due to damage or age. If only one of these cells gets by our internal policeman, it can grab hold. We need to open our mind to the world and history when considering our approach to this diagnosis.
We are all familiar with the US treatment of cancer, it has evolved, but is still extremely expensive, barbaric, and less successful than other approaches around the world. Worse, the diagnosis of this pathogenic condition is considered a death sentence for many, and they die because they believe they are supposed to. Have we ever considered what about the rest of the world? Do we assume that cancer doesn't exist in China or India or is our back-yard as far as we see?
Over 20 years ago, my father died with a diagnosis of cancer. I was
confident at the time that it wasn't an affliction that came from the
outside and took over. He had several things eating on him from the
inside out, like termites on the oak. He was out jogging 5 miles one
day, dead 30 days after.
In China, the term 'cancer' is seldom found in their hospitals and clinics in treating the same type of patient. First, they would consider it to create unneccessary fear and worry that feeds the degenerative process, rather than promote healing. Second, they follow what the father of allopathic medicine promoted, but seems to be forgotten here in the US, look for the causes. Thirdly, the Chinese physician has an understanding of chi, which gives them a much deeper view at the cancer conditions.
In 1979, the US became formally aware that Chinese physicians were curing people using chikung that had a diagnosis we called 'cancer'. The Harvard Medical School felt strongly enough about the results to send physicians there to learn the techniques, however the approach that chinese medicine takes is almost 180 degrees from the Harvard trained physician that it nearly impossible for them to embrace it, much less simulate it. However, they did monitor thousands of cases where people who would be diagnosed with 'cancer', recover, and continue with healthy lives. Without chemo, radiation, expensive prescriptions, and other awful interventions. Have we wondered why? In a capitalist country the good can sometimes get outweighed by the greed. We can't patent chikung, there isn't much money in it, no prescription is required to get a refill, you don't even have to come into the clinic. Hmmm....
Mr. Paul Dong wrote in his book: "The use of chi gong cancer treatment in China originated with Ms. Guo Lin, a Chinese traditional painter, mentioned above. In 1949, she was afflicted with uterine cancer and had it removed by surgery in Shanghai. The cancer recurred in 1960. This time it had metastasized to the bladder, and she had another operation in Beijing to remove part of the bladder that was cancerous. When she had another relapse, the doctors gave her six months to live. However, she did not give up hope, and in her struggle against cancer, she remembered that her grandfather, a Taoist priest, had taught her as a child to practice chi gong. She determinedly began to research and practice chi gong, hoping to recover her health in this way. After initial practice with no effect, she turned to the ancient chi gong texts willed to her by her grandfather and created her own exercise schedule. She practiced diligently for two hours every day, and in half a year her cancer subsided. She was strongly convinced of chi gong's ability to cure diseases, and in 1970 started giving lessons in what she called New Chi Gong Therapy. According to Cyrus Lee, Master Guo's therapy is not based on the external energy (wei chi) of others, but upon the inner energy (nei chi) of the patient (for these distinctions, review chapter 1, "Special Section on Chi"). Her therapy combines "active and passive exercises in three stages: relaxation (sung jing), concentration (yi lian), and breathing (tiao hsi)."2
By 1977 Master Guo had achieved spectacular results and proclaimed publicly that chi gong can cure cancer. Cancer victims from all over immediately streamed into Beijing to take part in the chi gong cancer therapy class she had organized. Each day three hundred to four hundred people studied chi gong techniques for cancer treatment with her. Until her death in 1984 she worked tirelessly, curing hundreds of cancer patients, while easing the pain and prolonging the lives of thousands more. Mrs. Wong Chung-siu, a student of Guo Lin's currently living in Fremont, California, told Paul Dong that Guo Lin's pinnacle of success came in 1982. Aided by nine assistants she had trained, Guo Lin held nine cancer classes of seventy students each, meeting three times a day. With her nine assistants to help her, she was able over the next two years to travel all over China to twenty provincial capitals to teach and lecture at the request of many local health care and medical departments, and she became a national celebrity before her death in 1984 (twenty years after her life had been given up by Western medicine). "
If someone you care about is faced with this energetic problem we call cancer, then it is wise to consider all options, and results in making a decision on the path to take.
Edited on: Friday, July 06, 2007 6:32 AMPosted in Chi Kung
Kungfu Utilized on the NFL Gridiron
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 at 5:05 AM by Sifu Smith
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Chike Okeafor, Defensive End for the NFL Seattle Seahawks, was attracted to kungfu by the ability to overcome greater size with focus, balance, and full-body technique. Being an undersized lineman at 265 lbs (small by NFL standards), he has utilized kungfu to become a force on the line of the NFL grid-iron. "It's perfect because I'm not as strong as my opponent," says Okeafor, raised in West Lafayette, Ind. "The way to get around the size difference is efficiency of movement, straight lines and quickness -- I need to beat him to the punch." Here's how he trains to do just that: 1. MERIDIAN STRETCHES (WARMING UP) Before practice and games Okeafor does poses that stretch what he calls his "meridians" or "energy lines." Says Oram, "On a surface level he's stretching the underneath of the forearm and getting his hands, arms and wrists loose and relaxed. On an internal level he's stretching the lung, pericardium and heart and increasing circulation." 2. TAO FORM (REACTION TIME) "The purpose of the exercise is to focus your mind, body and internal energy at the same place at the same time with minimum conscious awareness," says Okeafor. "Ultimately, the subconscious is the realm of the reflexes." The exercise is, in essence, a moving meditation. 3. GUARD POSITION (BALANCE) In this breathing and centering exercise, says Okeafor, "his conscious awareness is in the dan tien, the literal center of the body, about an inch and a half below the navel. That's where the center of your energy and your physical center of gravity are." Assuming this combat-ready stance, Okeafor guards his center while sparring with a fellow kung fu student
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Our Creek Gets News After Saturdays Practice
Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 at 10:47 AM by Sifu Smith
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Our creek was polluted with a fine sediment after practice on Saturday. There was no mention of this problem and considering we were right there, we would have seen it. However, a short time later this picture was taken of the parks creek, which was turned a milky white color. An investigation has started: Check out the whole story |
11 Year Cuban Boy wins Tai Chi Competition in China
Posted on Monday, July 02, 2007 at 5:31 AM by Sifu Smith
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An 11 year old won a Tai Chi Competition in China. As part of the Taijiquan Health Conference in China. 2,000 competitors for 10 countries participated in the China Based Event. |
