Translations (译文)
Connections is available in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Chinese. We are very grateful for our translators who volunteered to translate: Rubén Coirini, Daniela Famulari, Gennaro Ripa, Françoise Desagnat, Jean-Claude Miremont, Thilo Krienke, Davi Garritano, and Li Mingyang. Thank you very much! Here are the links to the other languages:
Welcome to Our New Members
I would like to welcome all new members who have recently joined Yang Family Tai Chi. Thank you for joining us and welcome to our tai chi family! I am happy you have chosen to join us and hope that you feel welcome and receive great value from your membership.
I hope that all members will have a long and fulfilling relationship with our association. For those members who have been with us through the years, I appreciate that you have chosen to stay with us as we continue to spread tai chi chuan worldwide to help humankind.
Sincerely,
Yang Jun
President
Grandmaster Yang Zhenduo's Birthday
Grandmaster Yang Zhenduo always hoped that tai chi chuan could be used to bring people of different cultures together. To commemorate his birthday, our members and students around the world performed the 49 Form that he created. A video was made of these performances across countries with his voice calling the movements.
During his life, Grandmaster Yang Zhenduo generously shared Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan and contributed to the health and wellness of thousands of people around the world. He was a teacher who not only taught us tai chi, but served as a role model. Through his own example, he taught us how to treat each other with kindness and respect, the importance of a high moral standard, and what duty and commitment look like. He had a love for people and a caring, gentle personality that made those around him feel comfortable and respected. Today, he continues to be greatly loved, greatly missed, and greatly appreciated by those whose lives he touched through his teaching.
Sword Seminar in Mexico
In July, Master Yang Jun traveled to teach an in-person seminar for the first time since the start of the Covid19 pandemic. The seminar was organized by the Yang Family Tai Chi Center in Mexico (Director: Daniel Corona). People from all over the country attended the 3-day sword seminar. While over 100 people wanted to attend, attendance had to be limited to 75 people due to Covid19 restrictions. Master Yang was very happy to be teaching in person again and was very pleased to see that people were still enthusiastic about practicing tai chi and had continued to practice during the pandemic.
Master Yang Jun's Online Traditional Form Seminar
The third section of Master Yang Jun's seminar on the Traditional Form takes place October 6 - November 6. You may register for this section or for the entire seminar as recordings will still be available to view for a limited time after the seminar ends. Classes (in English) are taught via Zoom twice per week. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with Master Yang!
Cheryl C. - There is always something to improve and I am learning so much in the seminar. Thank you, Master Yang!
Robb W. - I have been studying Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan for a number of years and have found every time I take a seminar with Master Yang Jun, I learn something new and amazing and incredibly valuable. I am enjoying this seminar very much!
Conny L. - Thank you very much Master Yang. It's an honor and great joy to study with you! Two lessons a week for such a long time, wonderful!
DD H. - I love how Master Yang encourages us to share videos of our tai chi practice. He watches them all to see where we can improve and gives us weekly group feedback. I always feel like he is talking to me! It's been an incredibly valuable learning experience and also makes me feel very motivated to practice. I feel like I am in his classroom even though I'm watching online.
Patricia H. - Master Yang’s teachings have been a revelation to me. I see now how, even if one practiced tai chi for 50 years, one could still be learning.
Jean-Claude M. - The format of the seminar allowed everyone to benefit from this teaching whatever one's experience, in a personal way according to one's level of commitment in tai chi. I am especially grateful to Master Yang Jun for the incredible amount of information presented. He has bridged all the gaps between theory and practice that are difficult to cover in the course of a day-to-day teaching. Thank you. Expectations for what is to come next remain high.
Tom - The initial introduction, with its subject depth, was superb and really helped clarify many questions. Thank you!
Jorge R. - Congratulations to Master Yang Jun, and everybody involved, for a job well done. Overall, in a year when we sadly missed the opportunity to attend in-person seminars with Master Yang Jun, this course has managed to fill a huge gap. Thank you, Master Yang, for your teaching, your attention to detail, your commitment to further our progression with such a complete curriculum, and the generosity of your time.
Lisa Z. - Thank you for this great opportunity to be able to attend your classes. I've been waiting for years. Great seminar!
Andy L. - Thankful and grateful!!! Totally AWESOME teaching. Totally speechless about how professionally organized the staff are.
Footwork Positions
Klaus Kaysers (Associate Instructor in Köln, Germany) has created summaries of the end positions of the footwork in the Tai Chi Kung (10-movement) Form, the 13-Movement Form, the 16-Movement Form, the Essential Form, the Senior Form, and the Traditional Form. He kindly offered to share links to these summaries for our readers. Below are the 16-Movement Form and the Senior Form. See our June 2021 newsletter for the Tai Chi Kung Form and Essential Form. We will share the others in the next newsletter. A big thank you to Klaus for sharing his work!
Download links:
16-Movement Form
Senior Form
Tai Chi Instructor Invited to Speak to Medical Students
Judith Rew, instructor and manager of Tai Chi Montclair, was invited to speak to first year medical students at Rutgers University Medical School, Newark, on August 12 about the health benefits of tai chi. Students could attend sample classes in order to experience what patients would, with an emphasis on pain avoidance and relief. This was part of a complementary and alternative medicine special session on August 12, 2021. It began with a lecture by a member of their faculty on the value of "complimentary" therapies. Also presenting were representatives of yoga, meditation, and acupuncture. About 100 students attended the event.
Presentation on Tai Chi and Western Medicine
The University of Uruguay and the Confucius Institute organized the 2nd Taiji and Qigong Seminar which was held in June. The purpose of the seminar was to share Chinese culture in Uruguay. Ramon Suarez (Yang Yata 杨雅塔) and Ricardo Suarez (Yang Yapan 杨雅盼), who both have extensive experience in the practice of tai chi in health centers, gave a presentation titled "Meeting Between Traditional Yang Tai Chi and Western Medicine of the 21st Century". Their presentation included some topics in physiology and pathophysiology that could explain the good effects on health that tai chi provides. They concluded that tai chi, in addition to being a martial art, is a mind-body exercise capable of integrating mental focus, body posture and movement with efficient breathing. These are all closely linked to physical and mental relaxation, meditation, self-knowledge, and a good quality of life. Modern Western medicine and tai chi complement each other very well and tai chi is being used more often in Western medical treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention.
Redmond YFTC Center Ranking Event
The Redmond Yang Family Tai Chi Center conducted the first Distance Ranking Event via Zoom over four consecutive Saturdays in May. Thank you to all the judges who were instrumental in creating a supportive Zoom environment to help students become acquainted and comfortable with the Zoom platform before their testing date. This took hours of preparation and we are pleased that all students passed.
We would like to congratulate all candidates on their ranking achievements:
Level 1 - Katherine Ip and Marian Stewart
Level 2 - Andrew Holmes-Swanson, Chris Wilson and Jorge Rio Aguilar
Level 3 - Alain Roy, Cheryl Cliney, Judy Stone-Goldman, Martin Middlewood and Rita Tan
A few students from the Redmond Yang Family Tai Chi Center gathered together with Master Yang and Jason Yang at Grass Lawn Park on Saturday, July 31st to perform the 49 Demonstration Form in honor of Grandmaster Yang Zhenduo's birthday. Here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/fw1Gca8o0zQ
Summer Seminar in France
The Paris Yang Family Tai Chi Center and the Toulouse Yang Family Tai Chi Center, organized a week of summer seminar in Périgord, west South region of France from August 14-20. The event was supported by Yang Family Tai Chi School in Lyon. Participants gathered in the town of Vitrac (Near Sarlat) and enjoyed tai chi, weapons, meditation, qigong, and a variety of other fun activities. It was wonderful to gather together and enjoy days of fun, friendship, and tai chi!
Michigan YFTC Center
The Michigan Yang Family Tai Chi Center had a fun and busy August participating in three cultural events. On August 1, they performed hand form, sword, saber, push hands, and fan at the Family Fun Days event at Beacon Park in Detroit. On August 7, they performed the 49 Form and fan at the Asian Rice Festival. On August 27, they performed the Essential Form, fan, and 67 Sword Form at Asian Night during the Michigan Culture and Diversity Festival.
Family Fun Days
Asian Rice Festival
Michigan Culture & Diversity Festival
YFTC School in Mendoza, Argentina
From Saturday August 7 until the end of February 2022, the YFTC School in Mendoza (Director: Viviana Uliarte) will be offering free classes every Saturday on the fundamentals of tai chi practice. These classes include topics such as Yang Chengfu's 10 Essential Principles, footwork, fixed postures, etc. They provide the opportunity to try Yang Family Tai Chi for those who are unable to attend our regular classes and also help our future tai chi instructors gain some teaching experience.
More information:
Phone: +54 9 261 6 133550
Facebook
Moving to Arizona
Pete and Kasia Voll are moving from Front Royal, Virginia to Prescott, Arizona with plans to offer lessons in January 2022. Pete is an Academy Instructor with our international association and has achieved Gold Tiger rank. Kasia has achieved Copper Tiger rank. They will be available to travel the U.S. to offer workshops on forms, applications, push-hands, understanding energies and philosophy as well as modification of movements for limited abilities. They will also be offering courses for Bagua and Xingyi. Please visit their website for more information. www.fullmoontaichi.org
Journal Gem
"Finding Inner Peace: Teaching Tai Chi in Prison" by Judith Rew. Issue #37 (2015), pages 35-42.
This article can be found in our Members-Only Area on our website.
Contribute to Our Journal
Posting to Yang Family Tai Chi's Social Media Pages
Want to post news on Yang Family Tai Chi's social media pages? Yang Family Tai Chi would like to keep its social media pages updated with current information from the association, centers, and schools. Ana Horta is managing Yang Family Tai Chi's social media pages on Facebook and Instagram. If you would like to share news on Yang Family Tai Chi's social media pages, please send an email to Ana at anamaghorta@gmail.com.
VISIT YANG FAMILY TAI CHI'S SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES
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Become a member of Yang Family Tai Chi! For more information about membership benefits and how to apply, please visit our membership page on our website.
Previous Issue
Did you miss the last issue of Connections? You can read it here.
Next Issue of Connections
Carolyn Fung, Editor
Connections is published in March, June, September, and December. We publish association news and school news (upcoming events, recent past events, awards, other news) but not general school advertisements.
The next issue of Connections will be published in December 2021. Please send any announcements to me at carolyn@yangfamilytaichi.com by November 19, 2021.
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