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”. Essentially, Pattern Language is the way of describing good design or patterns of useful ...  read more

Want to feel like a beginner again? Go and train in China.   Remember that night back when you started your Taiji journey? For most of us it happens somewhere around the fourth lesson. You finish a class feeling like it’s all too much, you’re legs are aching, and a little voice in the back of your head is saying “maybe this isn’t for you”, but you push on because you are going to crack this thing, no matter how ...  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 Taiji Sword is one of the forms of Wushu loved best by the public, and was created and developed on the basis of Taijiquan. Its movements are gentle and harmonious, and its sword strokes clear, and it differs from other sword styles in its sequence and structure and in the degree of strenuousness.   ...  read more

Dong Yue (East Mountain) Taiji is a style that many people consider to be the Taiji of the 21st Century as it unites diverse martial systems into a cohesive whole. Created by Professors Men Hui Feng and Kan Gui Xiang to commemorate the New Millennium, Dong Yue focuses on the concepts of Heaven, Earth and Man, combining the very best of the internal martial arts Taiji, Xingyi, Bagua, Baji, Chuo Jiao and Fanzi to create a harmonious and rich expression ...  read more

We were extremely excited and honoured to welcome Master Hong Wei Guo to our East St Kilda class recently where he gave the students a taste of training in the Hong Style of Taijiquan. Hong Style Taijiquan is named after its founder Grandmaster Hong Junsheng, a 10th generation practitioner of Chen style taijiquan. Grandmaster Hong considered Master Hong Wei Guo as his adopted grandson as well as a disciple, so Master Hong spends the majority of his time travelling around ...  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. From a mathematical perspective, if something is moving at a constant rate we refer to this as a steady velocity. This is what a cruise control on a ...  read more

Tai Chi (Taijiquan in Chinese meaning “Supreme Ultimate Fist”) is literally an internal Chinese Martial Art that has been practiced in China for both its self-defence training and health benefits since the 16th Century. Although it is a branch of the Chinese Martial Arts (Wushu), today it is predominately practiced for wellbeing including the prevention or improvement of illness and disease, and the stresses and strains of modern living. Taijiquan training usually involves several elements including Neigong (內功; breathing exercises, ...  read more

The stage-diving wild child of rock, Iggy Pop of The Stooges, credits 40 minutes of Qigong a day with staying on the road, staying sane and still having pecs at 65 years of age; Lou Reed, singer and guitarist from The Velvet Underground tamed his "rock and roll animal" by practicing Tai Chi for three hours a day; The American Grammy winning music producer, actor, rapper and leader of the Wu Tan Clan (rap group), RZA has trained in Kung ...  read more