At the Zhan Zhuang and Tai Chi Chuan DaoRen seminar. Organized by Florante, my younger brother, it was held at the main conference room of the Bahay Kanilaw in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. The seminar was actually a repeat of a seminar I taught two years ago to introduce students to the traditional techniques of Tai chi chuan training, starting with Zhan Zhuang postures and moving stances, eventually going to the basic Tai chi chuan movements. The regimen is quite accessible, even to the older practitioners and those with certain disabilities. These techniques become the foundation for the more complicated fist and weapons forms of Traditional Yang Family Tai chi chuan system. I have taught the same seminars in other parts of the world — in the US, Cyprus, London, and Egypt. In the Philippines the predominant Tai chi form is the contemporary Wu-Shu set that was choreographed for competition by the government in China. The traditional Tai chi forms are hardly seen in the parks there. What I have been trying to do in teaching Zhan Zhuang and Tai chi chuan DaoRen together is to bring back the Tai chi practice to its basic traditional components — the 8 core movements, the dantian breathing, and the focus on the integrated physical, energetic and spiritual aspects of the tradition based on the Traditional Yang Family Tai chi chuan system.
