Tai Chi in St. Louis: Relax and Smile

In St. Louis, there are a large group of very nice people practicing Taijiquan.  
This is a photo of Sifu Justin's advanced class with he and Herb Paran holding portrait of GrandMaster Feng and Master Zhang Xue Xin (2011).

Relax and smile, that’s what you do first, Justin said.  Then stand tall, feel the crown of your head floating up, and now relax and sink and start to sit, as if you’re about to sit in a chair.  Feel it in your thighs, not your knees.  Keep your spine erect, and tuck your tailbone in naturally as your head floats up.  Relax your neck and shoulders; relax all your joints.  Shift gently left and right, allowing your energy to flow from your ‘dantien’ – that is your center – a kind of rolling ball located in your lower belly below your belly button.  Everything flows out through your ‘dantien’ in two circles – they could be small or very large but it all comes through your ‘dantien’ ball.  Some imagine a silk worm, lazily spirally out from your center and silk-reeling.  Put your hands over your ‘dantien’ and breathe deeply there; then relax some more.  Nothing should hurt.  Keep your shoulders over your hips, and keep your knees over your shoelaces.  Shift your weight on one leg before moving your other leg, and then shift.  Shift your weight back and forth like a slinky. 

Raise your hands up to the sky and bring the energy down into your body.  Let the energy flow down from your head, neck, chest, and down to your center - your ‘dantien’ - and feel it roll around inside you like a ball, as you breathe energy all through your body.  Allow excess energy to flow down your legs, like warm honey into the earth.  Retain some of that energy in your ‘dantien’ and bring in more, as you lift your arms up to gather energy - ‘qi’- to collect and cultivate into your core.  Here you are doing the all important ‘Qigong’, for health, and for truly understanding the ‘internal’ of the internal martial arts.  Breathe sky and earth energy throughout every cell of your body, and energize yourself with vibrant health.  All 'Taijiquan' – ‘Tai Chi’ – and for that matter all healthy life, begins with ‘Qigong’.  If you don’t have time to do anything else, do your ‘Qigong’ – this is the key to a long, healthy life.  Breathe deeply, align yourself, center and settle, relax and smile.  This is a time for health and renewal.  Then, when you are ready and have more time, carry the ‘Qigong’ into your ‘Tai Chi’ or any other practice.  If your day ahead is too busy for more time practicing martial arts or sports, then carry your ‘Qigong’ into your day.

Tiger and Justin

Some call ‘Taijiquan’ a moving meditation using happy concentration - a kind of awareness with intent - we ‘Tai Chi’ students call this, ‘yi’.  Your attention moves your energy, and your energy moves your body - ‘yi' moves ‘qi’ - and then, when the body moves, it is connected to, and coordinated perfectly with, your center – core – ‘dantien’.  All ‘Tai Chi’ students practice for health and for a long, vibrant, centered life.  One of the first things a student learns is to relax more and settle down, feel the ball in your ‘dantien’, and move through life in an easy, settled and sensible manner.  Few students learn ‘Taijiquan’ today as a martial art but that’s how it first started back in Chen Village.

Photo of Sifu Justin's and his senior students , including Cis Hager, pose woith GrandMaster Feng and Master Zhang at private workshop at Pema Osel Ling Buddhist Retreat Center, Santa Cruz (2001).  
Justin explains the lineage best:

  “Yang Lu Chan was the first to bring the Chen Family out of the Chen Village to Beijing.  He and his sons and grandsons over time modified the Chen Family Art to take out many of the more difficult martial movements and to emphasize smooth circularity over sudden changes of speed and power, making it easier to study.  This became the popular Yang Tai Chi form.  In 1928 Chen Fake brought the Chen Family Art to Beijing and taught Feng Zhiqiang.  Later Feng melded the Chen Taiji he learned from Chen Fake with the Qigong he learned from his other teacher, Hu Yao Zhen, thereby creating what Feng called the HunYuan style" (for more see:  www.stltaiji.com/documents/articlefinland.pdf)

Photo of Shifu Justin and Master Zhang

Others followed, and you can now find a ‘QiGong’ or ‘Tai Chi’ teacher pretty much anywhere in the world.  I started 10 years ago, practicing 'XinYi HunYuan Chen Style of Taijiquan', by Feng Zhiqiang.  I first started practicing 'Taiji' in Costa Rica with Patricia Mitchell, who studied with Zhang Xue Xin.  By the way, Patricia has moved back to San Jose from the beach and will begin teaching again in January.  I am very grateful to Patricia for all she has shared with me over the years – 'Taijiquan', 'QiGong', Yoga and Pilates.  Over the years, I have since learned that all 'Tai Chi' styles bring benefits and deeper understanding.  It doesn’t matter which style you practice.  ''Tai Chi' is an art that opens up through ever deeper levels throughout your life.  In Chen Village, they say everyone is a beginner.  The living ‘Tai Chi’ masters are in their eighties and beyond.  We students of Feng Zhiqiang’s 'XinYi HunYuan Chen-style Taijiquan', still mourn his passing.  His students carry his legacy and teachings all over the world.  You can go to San Francisco if you want to work with one of Feng’s top students, Zhang Xue Xin, 'Chen-style Taiji' 19^th Generation Master.  You can also go to St. Louis and study with Zhang’s high level students!

Photo of Justin, Herb, Tiger and Taijiquan group.

Photo of HunYuan conference with Herb and Justin

Photo of Sifu Justin and senior students (including his 15 year old son and Push Hands Champion, Jason Meehan to Sifu Justin's right) at the First International HunYuan Conference held in Beijing, China, 2007) with GrandMaster Feng his wife and daughter seated in front.
I went to St. Louis to study with a high-level ‘Taiji’ teacher from Feng’s lineage, Shifu Justin Meehan.  Justin recommended that I start my visit working with one of his students, Herb Parran, also certified by Master Zhang.  What a dedicated group of ‘Taiji’ students I found working with Herb in St. Louis.  It was a large group, with people of all ages and backgrounds, and many of them found time to work with me.  I even learned from a 12 year old boy!  Herb asked me to demonstrate my form to the group, and I trembled with nerves as I walked to the front of the class to lead them in the form.  Of course, I went through it too fast, with many mistakes, but the entire group followed me and, afterwards, applauded me with great warmth.  And then somebody else led the form again, and I gratefully fell back into the group and learned much from the fellow leading us.  Herb stood on the side observing everything; he’d carefully watched my form, and turned to say to Gerry - who’d just arrived to pick me up – “She’s got the choreography.”  That meant a lot to me when Gerry repeated Herb’s words later to me.  I really hope to someday work again with Herb and his wonderful group of students.  There was such a warm, positive energy in his group that this stranger felt, from the first moment of joining them on a rather chilly day in St. Louis.  I send big, fond greetings to Herb Parran and his ‘HunYuan Taijiquan’ group in St. Louis.

Photo of Sifu Justin and his disciple Zhardana Tiger receiving gold medal for form and Push Hands championship at 3rd International HunYuan Conference held in Beijing, China (Nov. 2011) (see them demonstrate together for GrandMaster Feng at www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnCrp_pZ5TE).  But my day wasn’t over yet.  I would finally have an opportunity to study privately with Sifu Justin Meehan that very afternoon.  I didn’t think we would ever meet!  He didn’t respond quickly to my emails from Costa Rica, requesting this or that detail about my trip to study with him in St. Louis.  We were ready to leave for the trip and Justin still had not given me any contact information for himself.  I began to wonder if he would write, whether - Justin Time - Justin Case - he still wanted to work with me…

I need not have worried.  We met and greeted each other like old friends.  I felt an open-hearted warmth from Justin from the first minute, and my previous agitations and speculations just melted away like whiffs of silly nonsense.  We only had time for two sessions during the weekend, and we used every minute of it to deepen my understanding and practice of ‘Taijiquan’.  Of course, we spent much time on ‘Qigong’.  As with Feng and all devotees of the internal martial arts, it all starts with ‘QiGong’.

Justin introduced me to one of his senior students, Tiger, who also agreed to work with me.  Tiger is a striking young woman with the grace and natural ability of, well, a Tiger…  She quickly taught me the mechanics of ‘push hands’, while Justin observed and corrected.  I was astonished when Justin managed to recruit Gerry to learn the ‘push-hand’ routines, so that I would have a partner to practice with back in Costa Rica.  Gerry and Justin got on famously, and even had fun grappling with each other.  Gerry, born and raised in the East End of London (which he survived…) has a natural ability to grapple, and Justin proved a willing opponent, all in good-natured fun.  Everybody was laughing.  Of course, Justin would not grapple with me.  He knows that I am not grappling material – I’ve seen what he can do on YouTube – tossing and throwing opponents up in the air.   But I am not at that level.  I still need to take it slow and relaxed, and try to feel the dynamic – feel the internals.

Tiger and Justin were a joy to work with, and I brought home pages of notes to improve my practice.  I hope sometime soon to host a ‘retreat’ with them in Costa Rica.

If you are interested in more information and lots of articles, go  to www.StLTaiji.com website.