Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan) Thailand

Euro Tai Chi Workshop Tour March 2012!

Last year I travelled to Europe from Thailand to teach Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan workshops in London, Zurich and Switzerland, and I am really happy to be doing the same this year. Teaching the workshops for me is a great chance to pass on the art that I am so passionate about and also to spread the benefits of the art.

The schedule looks like this

Switzerland-Zurich 10-11 March

• 24 pattern Set with applications and more

• Contact Sifu Andrea for more info info(at)taichichuan-wahnam.ch

I am really looking forward to teaching the 24 pattern set in Zurich, it’s actually one of my favourite Tai Chi sets.

Sifu Andrea’s page   http://www.taichichuan-wahnam.ch

 

 

U.K.-London 17- March

• Tai Chi Chuan- Cloud Hands Set course

• Day Spar- Sparring for competition workshop

• Contact Sifu Fleur for more info fleur_chapman@yahoo.co.uk

It’s great to get a chance to visit home and do some excellent workshops organized by Sifu Fleur. The Cloud Hands set is a fundamental set in our school that contains all of the important patterns and is great for beginners. The Sparring workshop should also be a lot of fun too, participants can get to grips with using traditional patterns while wearing protective equitment.

Germany-Frankfurt 23 – 26 March

• Tai Chi Chuan workshop- material, times etc. TBC

• Participating in the Sparring weekend hosted by the Frankfurt family

• Conact Si Tai Heng Kai/ Karo for more details wahnam@operamail.com

Always a joy to visit my Si Heng Kai and the Frankfurt family, the sparring weekend organized by Anton should be fun too.

Check our Frankfurt’s website     http://www.shaolin-wahnam.de/

 

Summer Camp of 2011

Another major event this year was the Shaolin U.K. Summer Camp held in Brighton, England, taught by my Sifu, Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit. Once again I had the honour of organizing this event which is an activity I greatly enjoy.

Each year the event features Kung Fu and Chi Kung of the highest level and with different special courses in both of those areas every year many students find themselves returning year after year, which of course all those who are involved with the Summer Camp greatly appreciate.

Special courses this year included the ’18 Lohan Arts’ of the Shaolin temple, an incredibly dynamic set of  Chi Kung exercises not to be confused with the ‘18 Lohans Hands’ and also the ‘Drunken Eight Immortals’ Kung Fu set which broke the record for number of participants for a Kung F course taught by Sifu outside of Malaysia.

Pictures from the Chi Kung

The Drunken Eight Immortals set taught this year certainly was a highlight with a great many students travelling great distances to come and experience what many were calling the most complete Kung Fu set in our Shaolin Wahnam school. There was some superb methods for training the set that were divulged by Sifu along with a tremendous array of applications.

Drunken pictures below.

The Ten Tigers sparring competition was also a major part of this year’s Summer camp, with entrants from all over the globe. Although, still in its infancy the competition produced some exciting fights and the whole process added greatly to the future development of this exciting event. A huge thanks to all the participants and to the judges who did a good job through the day, and of course importnantly thank you to Sifu for overseeing the event and offering many thoughts for the development of the event.

Some pictures of the competition below.

Additionally, I taught a modest one day Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands course that was attended by and enthusiastic bunch that had a lot of fun. Again, some of the participants travelled great distances to attend which was most appreciated.

Some pictures are included below.

Wow, it’s such long time since I had a chance to update this blog, but I can assure you it’s not been from a lack of things happening. So without further a do I’d like to cover a few of the big things that happened this year in regards to myself and trying to spread Wahanm Tai Chi Chuan.

In March this year I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go and teach Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan in Europe. It was huge amounts of fun and a great joy to be able to spread the art which I love so much. The whole thing was made possible by some of my beloved Kung Fu brothers and sisters in London, Germany and Switzerland.

The first country on the schedule was England, where we had a combined Tai Chi Chuan and Chi Kung day organised by Sifu Fleur. There was a good turn out and much fun was had. The Tai Chi Chuan part was mostly introductory in nature but I am glad that participants got to experience all the 3 major aspects of the art in a relatively short time, the three main aspects being the Health, Combat and Spiritual development. Huge thanks to Fleur for organizing the day.

Some pictures are included below.

 

Next on the agenda was Frankfurt, Germany which was again awesome.

 It’s always a joy to hook up with my big Kung Fu brother Kai and pick his mind for combat solutions. Additionally, it’s just great to meet up with the Frankfurt family. There is now a good following of Wahnam Tai Chi Chuaner’s in Frankurt and that was evident when my brother Maxime and resident Tai Chi Chuan Master let me teach the weekly Tai Chi class at the Kwoon. The class was packed and all the students were very enthusiastic about Tai Chi Chuan. The students also had a high level of Chi Kung development which had been passed on by Maxime.

Some pictures below

The last stop was beautiful Switzerland and a course organzed by fellow Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan instructor Andrea (of Switzerland). I found Switzerland, as I am sure most do to be amazingly picturesque. In particular the trip when Andrea kindly took me to Lucerne really sticks out in my mind, the town was just spectacular.

Of course the courses as well as the impromptu tours that Andrea organized were also spectacular with a wide range of students in attendance ranging from the petite to the big and strong. Conveniently this greatly aided our topic for the course which was to use Tai Chi Chuan skills for self defence i.e. the small and petite got to test their combat application on the big and strong. The highlight for me as a teacher on this course was watching the petite countering very strong wrist grips using Tai Chi Chuan patterns as ell as felling their training partners towards the end of the course

Please find the pictures below.

All that remains to be said is a huge thank you to all involved for helping to spread the art I am most passionate about-Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan.

U.K. thanks,  Sifu’s Fleur, Tim, Nick and all the London family

Germany thanks, Sifu’s Kai, Maxime,  and Irina And Karo

Switzerland thanks Sifu’s Andrew, Roland and Andrea

 

 

 

 

 

For those that don’t yet know, the Shaolin Summer Camp U.K. is an international and annual event held in the U.K. where Sifu Wong Kiew Kit personally teaches high level Chi Kung and Kung-Fu to deserving students new and old. This years Camp was held in Brighton Sussex, in July.

For the past few years I have had the honor of being involved in the organization of the event and enjoyed it immensely. To host Sifu in my home country really is a huge joy.

The courses are always amazing and always exceed expectation, be it Chi-Kung or Kung-Fu courses. This year the Chi-Kung courses on offer were particularly amazing and well received and the ‘Hoong Ka Triple Stretch’ Kung-Fu course also caused quite a stir drawing student and instructors from all over the world to train in this treasured Kung Fu set that has such a rich history in our school. Not to be easily forgotten was an excellent ‘Zen’ course hosted by Sifu Fleur in London and of course taught by Sifu. It was an amazing venue and a equally amazing course.

Other aspects of the camp- International Family

 

 

 As well as offering excellent and rare courses in Chi Kung and Kung Fu, the Summer Camp has other aspects to it. It is a great chance to meet with other students, train outside of the classes, meet open hearted/like minded people, generally socialize and have a good time. For lucky instructors, we also get to spend extended periods (on journeys and at meals) with Sifu, where we can continually ask all manner of questions that we have accumulated during our training. We also get to meet up with other instructors who we may not have seen for a while catch up with each other, and drink beer J

Mainly this will just be a fun chance to have a look back at the Summer Camp through some nice pictures, hopefully it will inspire you to attend next year and join in the fun. I look forward to seeing you at next years Summer Camp in the U.K.!!

 Posting more soon!

Robin

Sifu Arrives in Brighton!

 

In the U.K. we have had the past three Summer Camps in the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. Amazingly, in the two years previous I had never taken Sifu onto the famous Palace Pier. However this year we managed to fit a quick visit in before the courses started on the next day.

 Later on

Later on my Si-Heng Anthony Spinichia arrived from Las Vegas. So Sifu, Anthony, Rin and I went for a bit of a tour around the Sussex countryside. Here are a couple of pics from the day.

Chi-Kung at the Summer Camp

 Sifu teaches Chi-Kung at the highest level, and focuses mostly on the aspects largely missing from the majority of Chi Kung taught to today, that is on the Energy and Mind aspects. The majority of Chi Kung today focuses on accumulating Chi Kung forms or patterns; however this really misses the essence of Chi Kung which is to generate an energy flow. The first Chi Kung course at this year’s Summer Camp was “Generating Energy Flow”. In the whole day students only learnt 3 Chi Kung patterns but were able to achieve the skill of ‘entering a Zen state of mind’ and also the outlined skill of generating energy flow! If you would like to experience energy flow yourself come to the U.K. next year.

Trip to the South Downs

 

In the lunch breaks between Chi Kung and Kung Fu sessions, I like to take Sifu and other instructors to places of interest. This year the camp was held in Brighton which is next to the ‘South Downs’ and area along the south coast of England noted for it’s beauty. We took the chance to go up to ‘Devils Dyke’ (Sifu said a better name would be ‘Angel’s Haven’ or something similar) a near by beauty spot, where I tested my luck and asked Sifu if he wouldn’t mind if we took some photographs of him training, luckily Sifu was happy to oblige and we captured some really nice images on what was evidently a beautiful day.

Sifu also partook in a little ‘Wing Choon Chi Sau’ with U.K. instructor Tim Franklin.

 

During a Chi Kung course Sifu may talk for an extended period of time offering participants a chance to rest and avoid the risk of doing too much Chi Kung and thus becoming Chi’d out. It’s a great chance to ask questions and find out more fascinating information.

Applications at after Dinner

A good friend and fellow instructor Mark Blohm flew from Taiwan to take part in the Kung Fu course. He was also the willing participant in Sifu’s applications after we asked Sifu to demonstrate at the dinner table and after dinner in the apartment. It was a lot of fun taking the pictures!

Hoong Ka Triple Stretch course participants.

There was a great group taking the Kung Fu course this year with a lot of instructors in attendance, many travelling from abroad. This year’s course was covered the Hoong Ka Triple Stretch course which was the specialty of Sifu’s first Sifu ‘Uncle Righteousness’. All the different training partners made for a very rewarding training experience. With a variety of sizes and skill levels to deal with in the partner work and sparring sessions, many said they found the ’Hoong Ka Triple Stretch’ set taught this year very profound in both Combat application and Philosophy. We had participants from Las Vegas, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and many more besides. Many of the course participants have contacted me since the course saying that they are training this set everyday with excellent benefits. Well done to everyone that took part!

Excellent Zen course!

 

Here are a few pictures form the Excellent Zen course held in a very special venue. The course was organized by Sifu Fleur. The venue? Middle temple in the centre of London. Sifu’s teaching was exceptionally high level, many participants were amazed at the depth, simplicity and efficiency of the day. Personally the seated meditation was my favourite part of the day.

Little trips.

 

Here a few of pictures from little excursions we took before after and during the Summer camp with Sifu and other instructors.

And so this brings the Summer Camp picture show to an end. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and hope to see you next year in the U.K.!!!

Best

Robin