Last night we did a mock run through of the Gold Eagle assessment
25/07/2013 13:01
Last night we did a mock run through of what the Gold Eagle assessment would consist of as we have two students trying to get ready for the November date.
This assessment consists of the 2nd Shibashi Qigong set plus the Yang 108 long form set, a demonstration and oral discussion on Song Shen Wu Fa (SSWF) as well as a paper on “My Thoughts on Song.”
We spent quite a while on going over the basics of SSWF and the question came up as to why I don’t teach this fantastic set of exercises (that so clearly demonstrate the basic fundamentals of Taiji) to the beginners.
My answer was that, even though SSWF is based on the fundamental concepts of:
Relaxation
Flow
Root
Connectivity (9 Pearls)
and Counter Force
The exercises are (IMHO) too complex physically for beginners (who usually struggle with body awareness) to perform and benefit from.
For those that are not aware of SSWF, it is a set of five exercises that while look fairly easy to perform from a distance are in fact a supreme tool for helping any internal artist to gain the above fundamental skills and put them into your taiji practice.
Maybe I’ll do an introductory video one day for our youtube channel?
On that note, if there are any taiji players in the area that would like to get a taste of SSWF, I invite you to come to the club on any Wednesday night and I’ll show you a form or two.
Peace
Rod
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