| Feature Article Grandmaster Fu Sheng Yuan, an inspiration for Tai Chi practitioners
–
Chief Instructor Brett Wagland
Grandmaster Fu, Fontane and seminar students
Photo taken by Chief Instructor Brett Wagland |
In January this year (2002), the Academy
conducted a three day intensive Tai Chi seminar with Grandmaster Fu Sheng Yuan, fifth
generation patriarch of the Yang family Tai Chi. Assisting Grandmaster Fu in this course
were his disciples, Brett Wagland and Fontane Ip. The purpose of the seminar was to give
students a unique opportunity to learn the entire 85 form directly from Grandmaster Fu
himself. Few people have learnt the complete form directly from Grandmaster Fu!
When students heard of the initial proposal, many were enthusiastic. However, the idea of
being drilled through the movements for six and a half hours a day seemed too much like
hard work. Normally, in a ten week term system, it would take three and a half terms to
complete the whole form. Twenty-five participants from all over Australia attended the
course.
Day 1
By the end of the first day, everyone was bone tired - six and a half hours of Tai Chi and
standing for what seemed like an eternity in a single posture, while Grandmaster Fu moved
from student to student, adjusting feet, arms and body. "Relax. Watch me," he
commanded. The details were becoming more visible, as the old master moved like a great
flowing river - slow, clear, purposeful and strong.
There is something very special about watching one of the last of the old generation of
Tai Chi masters performing the movements. Born into a Tai Chi family, practising since the
age of nine, Grandmaster Fu knows the movements in the greatest of detail. His way of life
has existed for hundreds of years. Now that China is embracing the western ways, this
ancient, cultural knowledge is gradually being lost.
 Day 2
Everyone was there - a good sign! The hours ticked by and miraculously, we had passed the
half way mark. After a while, we stopped counting how many times Grandmaster Fu asked the
group to do "Wave Hands like Moving Clouds" - over and over again! Some of these
students had never done Tai Chi before. This was a courageous effort!
Students commented that although their bodies were tired and they had slept like babies
last night, there was a feeling of deep relaxation and internal work taking place.
Standing in a Tai Chi posture helps the body to make certain postural and muscular
adjustments. The longer one has to stand, the more one has to relax. Students were
surprised to find how quickly their bodies had adapted and found the second day less
tiring.
Grandmaster Fu explained, "Keep the mind quiet, so that it can focus on the movement.
This helps the body to relax more deeply which in turn conserves energy." In Chinese,
this is called cultivating the spirit (shen). "Spirit" here refers to vitality,
awareness and naturalness.
Day 3
Last day, everyone was still there! Students' bodies seemed stronger and their movements
felt more focused. Many aspects of Tai Chi were covered in great detail under the expert
tuition and guidance of Grandmaster Fu. The students were taught to move slowly, relax the
shoulders, sit the wrists and distinguish clearly the solid from the empty. At the end of
the day, Grandmaster Fu asked the students to do the whole form one more time and they did
it!
Grandmaster Fu answered many questions. He spelled out in no uncertain terms the training
requirements if one would like to develop Tai Chi to a high level. He always emphasised,
"Class is for learning. Practice is what you do at home."
Fu Zhong Wen with the
Great Yang Cheng Fu in 1932 |
One participant asked Grandmaster Fu the difference between
the Beijing 24 form and the 85 form they were learning. Grandmaster Fu replied, "85
form is the Yang family Tai Chi. It was passed down from my great granduncle, Yang Cheng
Fu, to my father, Fu Zhong Wen. Fu Zhong Wen was the heir to the Yang family Tai Chi
system when Yang Cheng Fu passed away. The 24 form is a committee generated form developed
by non Tai Chi practitioners. It is not based on traditional training methods which made
Tai Chi famous. Rocking the weight back in the 24 form breaks the flow - a complete
disregard for Tai Chi principles. The 24 form is only about five minutes long, while the
traditional Yang form takes twenty minutes to complete. Although the 24 form is supposedly
based on the traditional form, there is no comparison. You cannot develop real Tai Chi
skill or kung fu with the 24 form."
Knowing how impressive Grandmaster Fu's weapon forms are, Fontane requested him to perform
the sabre. It was a rare treat! Grandmaster Fu gave a stunning, vigorous demonstration of
the Tai Chi Sabre. Grandmaster Fu's movements were fast and powerful like lightning - an
amazing feat from a seventy-one year old man! Everyone was in awe! Grandmaster Fu's
lifetime of training was obvious to all. We understood why he is called the Grandmaster.
One cannot help but respect this man's skill and dedication.
Back in ACT
The seminar finished in Sydney on Monday night. Brett and Fontane had to return to
Canberra for classes on Tuesday night. Naturally, they were back on deck but they were
amazed to see that some of the students who attended the seminar were in class that night!
They were glowing. One said, 'My body loved it! Let me know when the next seminar comes
along."
All the participants should feel very proud of themselves. Now they know how much they are
capable of physically and mentally. Once one has done so much, practising one round of the
form (twenty minutes) seems easy. Most people don't know how much potential they have.
Only when they have gone through experiences like this, do they realise how much they are
capable of. The body is amazingly adaptable, even though it may not seem so for beginners.
Once the mind is willing to learn and determined to practise, the body will follow.
Brett and Fontane would like to congratulate all the participants for their great effort
and achievement. They naturally feel very proud of their students in many ways, especially
for having the courage to attend three days of intensive training.
They all look forward to more workshops with Grandmaster Fu in the future! Below are some
comments from students who participated in Grandmaster Fu's seminar:
"To me, the three days with Grandmaster Fu were priceless. I thoroughly enjoyed the
instruction, the gentle humour and the hard work. The company of the other participants
was an added bonus.
The adjustments Grandmaster Fu made to my posture during various elements of the form made
a surprising difference to the way my body felt and moved. In fact, I seemed to absorb as
much of the instruction with my body as I did with my mind."
Ivar
"It was a great privilege to learn from such an
expert as Grandmaster Fu. His instruction in correct positioning brought an entirely new
dimension to my Tai Chi experience. The intensive format, learning the long form in three
days, was hard work but very effective. It gave the opportunity to be thoroughly drilled
in both the moves and the sequence. Since then, I have consolidated the learning from
Grandmaster Fu's book and from the Academy's videos and am now confident in the sequence.
I practise every day, usually at least one long form.
Thanks for organising the seminar. I would recommend it to anyone, and particularly those
with a little Tai Chi knowledge from other styles. Having experienced authentic Yang, I
have no desire to go back to other modified forms.
Looking forward to seeing the photographs, newsletter and your website update. It is a
very good site and you have some very good resources there, particularly the articles and
your description of the Tai Chi experience. Your video, Greater Strength and Balance, is
an excellent training tool."
Andrew
"For the past four years, I have been living in
Sydney. I have been unable to locate any Yang style instructors who can provide the high
level of commitment and expertise of the Tai Chi Academy, Canberra where I originally did
my training. Attending the seminar reminded me of the benefits of daily practice, gave me
the motivation to continue and was extremely helpful in improving my form."
Narelle
"Heather and I thoroughly enjoyed the three days -
despite the aches and pains brought out by such intensive training. We found that,
particularly for our situation where we had been virtually away from Tai Chi for a couple
of years, the intense revision and repetition of moves was invaluable. It was also
wonderful to see the movements done by Grandmaster Fu several times and to appreciate how
we should be really doing them. We would thoroughly recommend such a seminar to those who
really want Refinement."
Wayne
“The real benefits that are gained from
learning from someone of Grandmaster Fu’s calibre are not the big things but the
little things. Doing a seminar like this enabled me to pick up on a number of small
changes to the way I do the form. These small changes have made a big difference in the
effect that doing the form has on my body and ultimately on me.”
Leon
"The weekend with Grandmaster Fu has
given me the desire to expand my knowledge about Tai Chi. Prior to the seminar, my
practice at home was limited. I didn't feel motivated to do the Quiet Standing. Although I
knew I had faults, I thought I was doing ok. Because of lack of consistency in my
practice, my faults were never going to be corrected. The continual repetition and
correction of the movements during Grandmaster Fu's seminar has helped me to correct some
of my faults in my practice. Time and time again, Brett and Fontane tell us to practise
when we go home - this is so true! Now that I'm home, I find that I have the motivation to
keep the momentum going and practise every day."
Jenny
"The seminar with Grandmaster Fu will go down as one
of the BIG experiences of my life. It was one of those amazing opportunities where I was
able to transcend my previously held idea of my limitations. It was very hard physically
yet the more aware and focused my mind, the easier I found to accept the intense pain in
my poor, overworked thigh muscles.
Another of my limitations has been that I could not keep my right hip straight while
sitting back. For the five years I've been doing Tai Chi, my 'funny hip' has always been a
problem. When we were asked to stay still and hold the sitting back posture on the first
day of the seminar, Fontane adjusted my right hip which was very very uncomfortable. Late
on the second day, much to my surprise, my body suddenly seemed to let go and I was able
to keep my hip straight without any discomfort at all.
During one of the breaks on Day 3, I lay flat on my back on the floor, feeling as
exhausted as I have ever been in my life - and that INCLUDES the effects of altitude when
I arrived at high camp at 6,000 metres in the Himalayas - and thinking that there was no
way I could move, let alone get up and do another hour of the form before lunch. Yet I
could and I did.
I came out of the seminar with a deep confidence in myself that I don't think anyone or
anything can take away from me. I also feel as if my Tai Chi shifted to another level.
Even though since the seminar I have been away a lot and consequently missed many classes,
I feel that I am still working at the level of development I attained at the
seminar."
Nola
"The first thing that really comes to mind was
learning to relax my shoulders, a problem for me since day one. After the second session
on the first day, my shoulder muscles were so tired I had no choice but to use the minimal
amount of effort required to hold the postures, something that only intensive training was
going to reveal to me. This was an added bonus on top of everything I learnt from
Grandmaster Fu.
Stepping was a major area where I was corrected - stepping distance, stepping forward into
the diagonal stances, coordinating the stepping with the upper body movements (especially
Step Back to Repulse the Monkey), stepping in White Crane, empty stance foot placement.
This was also a weakness of mine exposed in my Sabre form.
Arm and hand positions were another area I was corrected in almost every posture -
covering the body centre in Brush Knee and Single Whip, the circular movements during
transitions, the height of my arms in postures like White Crane, Sidle and Tame the Tiger
and Raise Hands. Sitting the wrists in the correct places was something I was not very
mindful of before the seminar. My entire Grasping the Peacock's Tail sequence has changed
and it feels much more relaxed, flowing and coordinated. The introduction of jin dian to
some of the sequences, Grasping the Peacock's Tail, Single Whip and Brush Knee, really
helped me focus on the subtle position and movements of the arms, wrists and hands during
the transitions.
Grandmaster Fu's ability to alter my entire posture and weighting by only moving my arms,
hands or torso slightly was amazing. When combined with relaxed shoulders, I was finally
able to relax into some postures which had always felt awkward, which in turn exposed how
weak my legs still are.
Being one of the younger students, I learnt a great respect for older people who lasted
the entire seminar as I really struggled at some points myself. It was amazing to push my
body beyond its limits and watch others doing the same. Never has my entire body felt so
drained of energy as it did on the second morning. The interesting thing being that on the
third morning it wasn't as bad.
Being a shy person by nature, I really enjoyed getting to know some of the people behind
the faces I had seen at training last year and I learnt something from everyone I talked
too.
Last but by no means least, Grandmaster Fu's performance of the Sabre was awe-inspiring!!
Anyone who doubts Tai Chi's ability to keep the body fit and agile into one's senior years
should see Grandmaster Fu in action. At least I can say I am one of the privileged few who
have and I will remember it every time I need more motivation for practising harder.
So thank you Fontane and Brett for giving all of us who attended a life experience that
money can never buy. And my personal thanks for encouraging Grandmaster Fu to perform the
Sabre for us - a priceless experience!"
Stephen
"I found the seminar weekend most useful. It suited me
well to learn the entire form in one hit, rather than spend weeks or months only learning
small portions at a time.
My practice has been going well since the seminar. I enjoy practising the form. I have
come to see certain benefits the form has upon the mind and body which I did not expect to
see.
I live in a secluded location in the country, and have no contact with other Tai Chi
practitioners. Over the years, much of my kung fu practice has been in solitude and
isolation, and I have benefited from it. I am sure that as I continue my study of the
form, I will come to understand it further and discover more potential benefits in
it."
Graham
"The time I spent in Sydney with Grandmaster Fu and
Brett and Fontane was most enjoyable and best of all, educational in the improvement of my
Tai Chi form. I would be most interested in any other intensive seminars you conduct,
either in Sydney or Canberra."
Ernie
"It was truly the best seminar I've ever attended -
not only being taught Tai Chi from a great master, but also everyone getting together and
only concentrating on Tai Chi. That was great! Thank you for everything. I'm looking
forward to seeing you again."
Hideki
.TOP |
