Taiji Affinity | Open Class at Capital Airport Customs

Chinese Tai Chi· Promote the Dao and cultivate righteousness

On March 7, 2019, the Capital Airport Customs specially invited Master Yang Songquan to give a lecture on the traditional Chenjiagou Tai Chi, aiming to help more employees achieve physical and mental health, improve their mental outlook, and build an excellent corporate culture.

Many leaders and employees who are interested in Tai Chi attended this open class. Through Teacher Yang Songquan’s teachings, guidance and problem-solving, everyone personally felt the profoundness and vastness of Tai Chi culture. The venue was fully occupied and the atmosphere was lively.

Let’s review the wonderful moments of that day together!

The following content is based on Master Yang Songquan’s on-site speech

Chenjiagou is located in Wen County, Jiaozuo City, Henan Province. From Dong County in Wen County to Chenjiagou, there are a total of thirteen gullies along the way. Among the thirteen gullies of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, Chenjiagou is the last and longest one. This gully is very straight and the sun can often be seen. It was also called “Changyang Village” in the past.

This place enjoys unique advantages and is blessed with outstanding people. The four major Huai medicines produced here are very famous (Huai yam, Huai Rehmannia, Huai Chrysanthemum, and Huai Achyranthes bidens), and many martial arts experts and Tai Chi masters have also emerged. Up to now, men, women and children of Chenjiagou have been promoting Tai Chi and spreading the right path of health preservation all over the world. This is the pride of Chenjiagou, the pride of Wen County, Henan Province, and even more so, the pride of the country.

At present, Chenjiagou has been officially named by the state as the “Birthplace of Chinese Wushu Tai Chi”, “Birthplace of Chinese Tai Chi” and “Research Base of Chinese Tai Chi Culture”. Chenjiagou has long become a Tai Chi holy land that people all over the world yearn for.

In Chenjiagou, spending a day and a night resting and observing, one can sense a kind of inspiration, which leads us towards youth. This is the mystery and magic contained in Chinese Tai Chi.

Tai Chi Chuan is life, and its cradle is the traditional philosophical thought of “Tai Chi Yin and Yang”. The so-called “quan” also means “quan”. Tai Chi possesses the comprehensive nature of parents.

Practicing Tai Chi can balance Yin and Yang in the human body, and make water and fire in harmony. Men can be firm yet gentle, and women can be gentle yet firm. Such people can be called “men” and “women”, and this “zi” has a similar connotation to the “zi” in Laozi and Confucius.

As for ordinary people, we can only call them men and women.

This is the most comprehensive and overall impact of practicing Tai Chi on everyone.

No health, no “well-off life”

Everyone knows “striving for a moderately prosperous life”, and a moderately prosperous life encompasses both material and spiritual abundance.

However, people often only attach importance to its tangible material aspects, taking money as the sole criterion for measuring a “moderately prosperous life”, while neglecting its intangible spiritual aspects, especially health. So, people’s living conditions are getting better and better, but various diseases are also increasing.

Such a life probably cannot be called a true “moderately prosperous level”.If Chinese people want to stand up and achieve a moderately prosperous society, first of all, everyone must be healthy.

Arm the knives, guns, swords and staffs within the body

Modern people are generally impetuous and irritable, and their liver and gallbladder are on the rise. This is a kind of regression.

High technology has replaced human labor, and all kinds of substances have filled human brains, making humans further and further away from the way of nature. Many people feel uncomfortable seeing everyone (including their own relatives) because their bodies are out of order and unhealthy. This is directly related to everyone’s health.

Life lies in movement. The promotion of traditional Chinese medicine, the “Huangdi Neijing”, and Taoist culture in China:Everyone is their own most responsible and best doctor, and everyone is fully capable of curing the diseases within themselves.

Health preservation is a war between humans and nature, between humans and bad people, and between humans and diseases. Therefore, there must be a gun barrel in a person’s body. If one’s entire body is armed with knives, spears, swords and staffs, and is filled with abundant inner energy, then one is qualified not to be bullied by bad people or diseases, and only then is one qualified to talk about health preservation.

Tai Chi can resist the invasion of all evil spirits externally and align with the righteous energy of heaven and earth internally. It is the most perfect exercise for health preservation.

Develop wisdom

“Wisdom” is different from “intelligence”.

The education that modern people receive from childhood and the book knowledge they read mainly focus on exercising the left brain and enhancing their “intelligence and wisdom”. By practicing Tai Chi, the right brain can be developed, thereby unlocking the aspect of “wisdom”.

The left brain is the “head” and the right brain is the “mind”. As the name suggests, the left brain is a pocket that can hold limited knowledge. The right brain is like an ocean, where there is boundless life and boundless wonders.

Practicing Tai Chi for three years can develop our right brain, which is a healthy and wise brain. In the right brain lies the world’s most precious hospital, the largest library, and inexhaustible great wisdom.

By practicing Tai ChiNaturally, I came to understand the connotation of China’s five-thousand-year-old traditional culture. I (the master calls myself) give lectures all over the world, which is to use the wisdom in my right brain to teach.

Can one practice Tai Chi when they have knee pain?

The master replied:

This friend (the questioner on the spot) is obviously an active worker in the unit. But everyone only knows to study well and work well, but forgets the first words of their ancestors – good health. Only when one is in good health can one work for the Party, and only when one is in good health can one’s family be harmonious and all things go well.

Many friends have knee pain. They can only go to the hospital for a good check-up and rest for a few days. But, does this mean that the disease disappears? Everyone has social security and medical insurance. But does this guarantee that our bodies won’t be bullied by diseases?

Not at all.True health comes from the “movement (transformation)” within our bodies, rather than from external factors such as hospitals, doctors, and social security.

Today, all of you are in such high spirits to attend the class. No matter what the doctor says, I think the problems you have are all minor ones. I can first teach you a few small health-preserving exercises to help you solve the minor problems on your body first, and then calm down to practice Tai Chi.

Since Tai Chi is the Way, can we see it?

The master replied:

Sure. The Dao is right before our eyes, so it is completely visible to everyone.

All the “movements” in the world can be classified into three types: labor, activities and sports.

Labor, which relies on muscle strength and harms the body, is called labor.Most of the daily work of modern people is labor.

Activity, which relies on the strength of the muscles and bones and depletes the muscles and bones as well as the body, is called activity.For instance, in sports like running, swimming and volleyball, many retired athletes, although not very old, have aged and even become disabled, all due to the wear and tear of their muscles and bones.

Movement, in the term “yun”, refers to the transformation of the qi of heaven and earth, making the human body conform to the way of heaven and earth. Tai Chi is the only sport in the world. It is a circular movement that generates energy through the circular movement within the body and is beneficial for physical health. It is called Chinese Tai Chi.

Only when one practices the physical form to the extreme can one truly understand the wonders of Tai Chi

The master demonstrated on the spot the concept of “the interdependence of being and non-being” in Tai Chi.

A friend grabbed the master’s hand and twisted it outward at the fastest speed. He found that the master’s arm could rotate freely and intact while standing upright. When this friend twisted the master’s arm, the master’s arm “disappeared”, so this friend acted as if he hadn’t caught the other person. Instead, he almost sprained his back due to excessive force.

If it were an ordinary person, not only would they be unable to maintain upright posture, but they would also get injured in their arms.

This is a phenomenon that modern physiology and medicine cannot explain, but it truly exists in the practice of Tai Chi and is also the “mutual generation of being and non-being” in Tai Chi.

Taiji is originally boundless, and boundless gives birth to Taiji. When the tangible joints are practiced to the point of nothingness, “nothingness” is the “true existence”. In traditional Chinese culture, it is believed that when a person has nothing, he has everything, which is called “great sacrifice leads to great gain”.

The unity of heaven and man

The master demonstrated the “harmony between man and nature” of Tai Chi on the spot.

Eight young friends simultaneously held one of the master’s fingers with their joints reversed. When the master stood, the eight of them worked together but still couldn’t make the master squat down (as shown in the left picture below). When the master bent his knees, the eight people worked together but still couldn’t make the master stand up (as shown in the right picture below). It was even impossible to move the master’s hand down or up by half an inch.

The master was so deeply rooted that no matter how hard the people around him tried, they couldn’t shake him. This is also something that modern science cannot explain.

In the practice of Tai Chi, this is called “the unity of heaven and man”. When the eight qi channels in the upper, middle and lower parts of the body are unobstructed, the fingers, the eight liao points and the eight trigrams under the feet are in harmony, and the human body becomes a complete microuniverse. He who has one masters the world. The head is the sky and the feet are the earth. Between the heaven and the earth are the five internal organs and limbs of the body. This is the world, which is the “Dao” of the Chinese people.

When the microcosm of the human body combines with the macrocosm of nature, it can generate incredibly huge energy. Therefore, Tai Chi is a cosmic movement that connects the qi of heaven and earth.

Finally, the coach and the veteran trainees from the customs performed Chen-style Tai Chi programs such as the first and second sections of the Old frame and Tai Chi Single Sword to the new friends, winning rounds of applause.

Little Tai Chi

The first fifteen forms of the old Chen-style Tai Chi Chuan are called “Little Tai Chi”.

This is the most traditional and authentic Chenjiagou Tai Chi, inheriting the ultimate skills of the sages in their original form without any adaptation. Just as the Forbidden City and the Great Wall in China cannot be transformed into high-rise buildings, traditional Chinese medicine cannot be changed into a combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

The preciousness of traditional Chinese culture lies within it. Once adapted, its essence will be lost.

The Twenty-four Forms of Tai Chi Single Sword

The single sword, also known as “single Dao”, emphasizes that the sword is like a fierce tiger. When practiced, it exudes an imposing momentum and is the best tool for self-defense, physical fitness, and health preservation.

Old Frame No. 2 (Gun Hammer)

Erlu Quan is characterized by its speed, strength and vigor, with a blend of strength and softness. When practiced, it has the spirit of a strange python emerging from its cave and a fierce tiger descending from the mountain. There is the divine might of a dragon emerging from the sea and a lion shaking its fur.

Only through the right methods and time can Chinese kung fu become stronger and younger with practice.

[Oral account by Master Yang Songquan, compiled by Disciples Xie Yingying, Liu Yiling and Xu Hong]

Special thanks to: Commissioner Duan Kai, Personnel and Political Affairs Department of Capital Airport Customs, Trade Union of Capital Airport Customs, and Tai Chi Association of Capital Airport Customs