FY2008 Club Photo

Welcome to the AEA Tai Chi Club

Our club primarily practices Yang Style T'ai Chi Ch'uan and related Qigong forms. The numbered forms often indicate "government" style forms. Our members and friends also practice Wu Style, Chen style T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Ba Gua Zhang, Xing Yi Quan and Yi Quan.

News

"Intro to Tai Chi" Series on Wednesdays beginning April 1, 2009. All sessions start @ 11:30 AM at Del Aire Park.

• Session #1        Wed., April 1        Warmups, Qigong, and Tai Chi Basics
  
• Session #2        Wed., April 8        Tai Chi Stances ( lower body movements) & Tai Chi Applications (upper body movements)
  
• Session #3        Wed., April 15        Tai Chi Balance (balance/alignment movements integrating upper body and lower body) Participation in the 3-session "Intro to Tai Chi" series requires club membership only.  Annual club membership fee is $15 (Aerospace & Air Force Employees) / $20 (All Others).

Tai Chi 24-Form Class - taught by Master Su Zi Fang.  Class meets on Wednesdays, beginning April 22, 2009.  All sessions start @ 11:30 AM at Del Aire Park. Tai Chi 24-Form is based on Yang Style Tai Chi.  Learning Tai Chi 24-Form is ideal for beginners and provides a solid foundation for learning Tai Chi Long Form (108 Forms).  Duration of class is 20 sessions.  Class fee is $80 plus annual club membership fee.

Tai Chi Class 16-Form Sword Class - taught by Master Su Zi Fang.  Class meets on Thursdays, beginning April 23, 2009.  All sessions start @ 11:30 AM at Del Aire Park.  The Tai Chi 16-Form is based on Yang Style Tai Chi.  It provides a basic introduction to Tai Chi weapons.  Learning Tai Chi Sword requires some Tai Chi foundation.    Duration of the class is 20-sessions.  Duration of class is 20 sessions.  Class fee is $80 plus annual club membership fee.

Traditional Bagua Zhang Class - taught by Master Su Zi Fang.  Class meets on Tuesday, beginning April 21, 2009.  All sessions start @ 11:30 AM at Del Aire Park. This is the second half of the Traditional Bagua Zhang class that we started in July 2008.  We will be learning Routines #5, #6, #7, #8.  Duration of class is 20 sessions. Class fee is $80 plus annual club membership fee.

Books by our friends:

There is a new book (left) titled The Philosophey of Tai Chi Chuan by Freya and Martin Boedicker of the Ma Jiang Bao's Wu style group, European Association for Traditional Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan. (Ma Jiang Bao is the son of Ma Yueh Liang and Wu Ying Hua, and grandson of Wu style founder Wu Jian Qian.)

Another book that we can highly recommend is Louis Swaim's excellent translation of the great book Fu Zhongwen's Mastering Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan.

REMINDER If you haven't already done so, please remember to sign up for club membership by filling out the membership form (pdf file) using This Link for 2009 AEA Membership form.  Thanks!!   
 

Some Recent Workshops

(e-mail announcements are made for special workshops)

• Workshop with Yang Yang Thursday Nov 9, 2006
• Two January workshops by Su Zi Fang. Tuesday January 10 and 17, 2006 11:30 Bulding D8 Room 1010
• Sam Tam Workshops (Yichuan) - "Putting Qi in your Forms (I & II) and Pushing Hands (I & II) "
• Qigong Workshop by Michael Tsuei.
• Eight Section Brocade Form from Helen Zhu
• Wednesday, Sept 15: Daniel Wang workshop (part 2 practicum) Del Aire Park
• Wednesday, Sept 22: Sun Angung workshop (part 2 practicum) Del Aire Park
• Tuesday, Sept 28: Dr. Jing Chen workshop - Calligraphy / Chen style
• Saturday, Oct 16: There will be a members field trip - visit to a Zhao Bao stylist
• Wed, June 23 - Shin Lin workshop seminar: "Latest Research on Tai Chi and Practical Qigong Exercises"
• Group founder Alan Kan presented two workshops on standing medication - hands down posture and hands raised posture (See the Resource page for an extended description.)
• Thurs, Aug 26 - Daniel Wang workshop.
• "Introduction - to Muscle Cycles and the Five Elements." (More about this workshop can be found on the Resources page and on a Workshop Summary page in the Club Private section.)

Benefits of Tai Chi Practice

In addition to being one of the main branches of Chinese kung fu, Tai Chi Chuan is well known as effective practice for stress reduction and health improvement. Tai Chi has sometimes been described as joint yoga because of the character of the movements. Tai Chi has elements of Qigong, standing and moving meditation. As a martial art, Tai Chi Chuan is built on balance, body structure, relaxation and patience. It is also built on "chi" which might be described as the unifying component ("intention") that integrates the physical (substantial - e.g., body) and the nonphysical (insubstantial - e.g., mind). At high levels Tai Chi Chuan is an extremely effective martial art, but it can take a a long time to learn. These and other aspects of Tai Chi make the practice of Tai Chi Chuan a life style choice rather than a quick course of self-defense techniques or quick fix set of health exercises.

Last Modified: March 29, 2009