The definition of a true martial arts practitioner continues in this segment as we look at the third of the five Important Actions; Respect. read more

We continue our understanding of what WǔDé (Martial Morality) is and why it is so fundamental to differentiating truly great martial arts practitioners from the not-so-great. Our first instalment looked at the first of the 5 Important Actions, being Humility. Here we look at the next one, Loyalty:
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We all spend an enormous amount of time looking at videos, demonstrations and competitive performances of Chinese Martial Arts practitioners. We think we see whether they are “good” or not; whether they display the correct techniques, whether we can see “quality in their movements”, “power and harmony”, “coordination”, “spirit, rhythm and style” but the fundamental thing we are not seeing and what truly defines whether they are masters of their craft or not is WǔDé (武德) – Martial Morality. read more

Pattern language was defined by the widely influential architect and design theorist, Emeritus Professor Christopher Alexander, and first brought to light in his book “A Pattern Language”, and subsequently in his famous work “The Nature of Order”. To give you a feel for Alexander’s thought processes one of his statements was “No one can be close to others, without also having frequent opportunities to be alone”. read more

Concluding part of a lecture at the Wuhan International Taijiquan and Taijijian Display and Exchange Meeting, Wuhan, China, April 1984 by Distinguished Taijiquan expert Li Tianji  read more

A lot of Taiji practitioners in their early learning find it extremely difficult to understand or utilize the concept of fluidity of movement. This is especially so when faced with the transition from one movement to the next and how to give the movement finality, while still appearing to be in motion. read more

Text of a lecture at the Wuhan International Taijiquan and Taijijian Display and Exchange Meeting, Wuhan, China, April 1984 by Distinguished Taijiquan expert Li Tianji

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. read more