The Taiji School - Auckland NZ

If you are in the UK and looking for good Taiji, Joe is highly recommended.
An excellent communicator and skilled practitioner - not a common combination.

joetaiji, Tai Chi & Meditation classes, Northeast England, UK, Traditional Taiji in the footsteps of Patrick A Kelly, Huang Xingxian, Huang Sheng Shyan lineage, classes, Northeast England, UK.

The deep emotions

One of the benefits of the spiritual training of Taiji is that beyond the physical benefits of health and energy we also gain tools of emotional management as our sensitivity into the subtle functions of the nervous system gives us earlier awareness of the effects of our hormonal and psychological patterns of response on the level of the body. This gives us a gradually increasing freedom from the animal responses of the body as we get better at catching ourselves before we fall into ingrained emotional patterns of reaction.
However, the greatest emotional benefits lie in the first level of our being beyond the body, sometimes called the deep emotions.
The deep emotions are beyond the physical and chemical patterns in the nervous system and the hormonal system, beyond the animal reality of our physical bodies, and is the source of our deepest most positive emotions independent of the temporary physical body. It is by feeding, nourishing and growing stronger our deep emotions that we gain not only freedom from the negative emotions of the body, but also allowing our deepest most positive emotions to take a larger and larger place in our lives.
Gradually the animal is reined in and selfless respect, gratitude and humility can take its place in our lives.

In the photo Taiji-master Patrick Kelly practicing yuantui(round arms,圆推) with his wife Marianne

It may seem strange seeing a post like this on a Taiji School page, but at the heart of the matter, good esoteric systems are digging into the same thing - the deeper parts of ourselves.
Different systems express it in their own understandings, but this is like different signposts pointing to the same place

TRACE THE EGO TO ITS SOURCE

“Be still and know! This is to be done by practising the art of meditation deep into its second stage and then--for it cannot properly be done before--tracing the ego to its hidden lair. Here it must be faced. Being still involves the achievement of mental silence, without which the ego remains cunningly active and keeps you within its sphere of influence. Knowing involves penetrating to the ego's secret source where, in its lulled and weakened condition, it can be confronted and killed.”

“When the great battle is over, the Overself will give you back your ego without giving back its dominance.”

Tracing back to the source: https://www.paulbrunton.org/notebooks/8/5

Translated from DE Zachte Kracht Taichischool

Who are the old masters?

Patrick Kelly began his esoteric studies in the 1970s with three main teachers. The taiji we practice is an intelligent synthesis of the 3 internal systems. Sufi/Gnostic, Daoist/Buddhist, yoga.

He taught Taiji to one of the most talented Taiji teachers of recent times, Master Huang Xingxian (1908-1992).

He learned Gnostic wisdom from Naqshibandi Sufi Abdullah Dougan (1918-1987)

He studied Raja Yoga with the Rajasthani Yogi Mouni Maharaj (1899?-2007)

Since the early 1980s, Daoist Master Ni Huaching (1898-) has been a friend and advisor.

The old Masters walk the road for us and offer help and support when you reach out.

Sensitivität in den Pushing-hands:
Beim Üben der Taiji-Form ist es wichtig, entspannt zu sein. Der Körper ist korrekt ausgerichtet und zentral stabil. Die Bewegungen sind sanft und die Körperhaltung genau. Das gilt aber nicht nur für die Taiji-Form, sondern auch für die Partnerübungen (Pushing hands oder Tuishou).
Meister Huang hat dies klar formuliert: "Ich habe noch nie jemanden mit einer hohen Stufe in den Taiji Pushing-hands gesehen, der nicht zuerst extrem genau in der Taiji-Form war."
Beim Üben der Form lernen wir, innere Kraft aufzubauen und die Kontrolle über unser eigenes Zentrum zu gelangen.
Erst wenn dies geschieht, werden wir auch die Pushing hands subtiler ausführen und das Wechselspiel von inneren und äusseren Kräften verfeinert anwenden.


When practicing the Taiji form, it is important to be relaxed. The body is correctly aligned and centrally stable. The movements are smooth and the posture is accurate. This applies not only to the Taiji form, but also to the partner exercises (Pushing hands or Tuishou).
Master Huang has stated this clearly: "I have never seen anyone with a high level in the Taiji Pushing hands who was not first extremely accurate in the Taiji form."
In practicing the form, we learn to build inner strength and gain control of our own center.
Only when this happens will we also perform the pushing hands more subtly and apply the interplay of internal and external forces in a more refined way.

Based on Patrick Kelly: Infinite Dao

A great description of the right effort in learning and practicing TaiJi

The best way to learn the subtle internal movements of the Taiji form is to follow a more experienced practitioner accurately whilst keeping our deepest concentration inside ourselves.
That allows the Deep Body's Intelligence to learn and grow, supporting the overall internal growth process

We're into our second week of new beginners classes & have expanded classes to include a Thursday early evening class too.
We can still take a few more beginners students though. It's best to join within the 1st month, after that the learning curve gets a little steeper.
Message or email [email protected] for more info.