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Yesterday, I met a woman who is wondering starting Taichi.
She is in her 20th and skinny, and has no experience of exercise.
"I would like to change my life. I am not good at exercise, but Taichi looks different because of slow movements and it is like meditation", she said.

I answered :"Yes and No. You can change the way of your life through Taichi somehow. But the real Taichi is not what you imagine"

I explained to her why i said "Yes and No" to her.

1. In her imagination, Taichi is an exercise in the park early morning. It is so- called "Simplified 24 style". This is the exercise which is built by Chen, Yang, Wu and Sun style masters ordered by Mao Zedong. Because chairman Mao wanted somehing like "Radio Taiso(exercise by the radion in Japan). But unfortunately, it is good for health, But it can not change your body and mind. If you diciede to get up early everyday, it can change your life style though.

2. It takes long time to learn Taichi. Every Taichi movements are against the way of movements in your daily life. You have to move your arms and legs at the same time, for example. And you have to do it naturally. By doing this, you can activate your blood vessel and activate your brain. It takes at least 3months.

3. At the beginning, Taichi is like Hula dance with squat. It build your leg and back muscle stronger. So you can jump even if you are old.

4. The conclusion: You have to do practice everyday, even if it is 5 minuits a day. Changing custom takes time.

5. And at the same time, you can learn self- protection technique, needless to say.

So she dicided to be a Taichi learner.

I would like to write down what my master always has talked to me.
It is the title of today's blog, "what is the difference between to learn Taichi from a master and to learn at school.

As you may know, chinese martial art was very popular in late 70's to 80's because of Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Many people hoped to learn Chinese martial arts, but it is very hard because of the system of China.
In the middle of 80's (after the Cultural Revolution and Deng Xiaoping's reformation…), PRC finally opened their borders to foreigners. Even though, it is still hard to stay in China for long time. It was the only way, to go to the "Kung-fu" school in the main land or Hongkong or Taiwan.
At this kind of school, you can learn "Kung-fu" but you can not learn how it works and what it means.
And honestlly saying, you can not master the chinese martial arts only for a few years or only for ￡1000. Chinese martial art is a traditional culture and it is same as learning piano or violin from good teachers in Europe.

The traditional way to master Chinese martial arts is to learn directly from a good master. To fullfill the purpose, you have to send many presents to him or butter up the master.
For example, you have to notice what he wants… like e- bike, mobile phone, good foods, liquors and so on.
Through this process, finally you can build a "guanxi"-relationship-, and he will start teaching you the essence of martial arts which you can not learn at school.

I will never ask those kind of presents or something as my master's order.
So do not hesitate to contact me to learn the essence of Taichi.