28 Thursday Feb 2013
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This is the form I am currently studying with my teacher, Liu Sensei. I am almost at the end of the form.
I chose this video to show you what it is about: this tiny Chinese young woman is graceful and powerful at the same time, she can be really fast and combine hard and soft: a real Master!
28 Thursday Feb 2013
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Next March, on the tenth, at the trials in Tokyo Prefecture, I won’t be fighting against anybody but myself.
It’s hard to defy fear and tension, not to feel overwhelmed by the implacable look of the four judges sitting at the corners of the koto area, to keep your internal rhythm and calmness when outside announcements are given repeatedly.
Someone may argue why I do this. My answer is that I want to compete because it gives a strong motivation to improve; the way for mastering Tai Chi is very long and sometimes you need your spark to become a fire, in order to refine your technique, make your style look more beautiful and maybe be able to inspire people to approach Tai Chi.
So, if you want to watch me come to the Shogo Sport Center in Hamacho (Chuo-Ku), on March the 10th: I will perform “24 Yang Style” form, around 2:30, in koto # 1. My number is 223.
But the most important thing is that you’ll be delighted by hundreds of athletes performing every Style of Tai Chi and Kung Fu, using many different weapons. I think that if you come you’ll be tremendously inspired and motivated in your practice, as well.
I hope to see you there!
24 Sunday Feb 2013
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Yesterday I participated to the rehearsal for the Tokyo Prefecture Trials that will be held in Hamacho next March, on the 10th, at the Shogo Sports Center. The first two people selected for each category will attend the 30th All Japan Wushu Taijiquan Championship, next June. I will perform 24 form Yang Style.
My rehearsal went well, I was nervous but I could control the tension and my balance and focus were not affected by the fear. Although I have to say that I felt stiffer than usual and still a lot need to be improved. Tai Chi is really hard to master. Liu Sensei was watching me and at the end she gave few valuable suggestions and I will work on that in the next days.
I shot two videos of my companions and I want to share one: it’s called Tairen and it means “Fighting Couple”. These tow people are among the most talented athletes we have in the Bujutsu Tai, the association I am a member of and were Liu Sensei and her husband, Ra Sensei, teach. I am currently working on the format of this video and as soon as I can I will post it in the “Videos” page.
20 Wednesday Feb 2013
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Yesterday I practiced Chen Style with my teacher, Lu Sensei, in Meguro. It’s a very ancient Tai Chi style, with a lot of jumping, kicking and a pace faster than you would expect from Tai Chi. Unlike Yang Style, it has a rhythm, determined by accelerations and fast releases of energy; it’s a continuous alternation of engaging and relaxing, of contracting and expanding, very hard to master. Yesterday we practiced “Cloud Hands”, and even if it has the same name, this walk is totally different from Yang Style; you cross your feet, moving diagonally instead of laterally, you step out putting down your heel instead of the toe, your knees are bent and your palms switch from “giyakukenshi” to “junkenshi” every step. There are so many things to keep in mind…I totally understand my students that are learning “Cloud Hands”, Yang Style. I am a student and a teacher at the same time, and this makes me see things from different perpectives: I am a better student to my teacher and I am a better teacher to my students.
06 Wednesday Feb 2013
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When we perform the “Tenzan Lenko” Chi Kung routine we stretch the fingers and all the joints of the body.
While we stretch we also focus on the name of the fingers; the 4th finger from the inner side (anular finger) is called “kusuri youbi”, the “medicine finger”, by the Japanese. The name seems to originate in Yakushi Nyorai (the Buddha of healing and medicine in Mahayana Buddism) using the fourth finger when melting the medicine in water, long time ago. My dear friend Hideno Yagi passed me this information a while ago, as soon as I heard this interesting way to refer to the anular finger.
She also passed me a nice picture of Yakushi Nyorai that you can see in Buddhist temples in Kyoto, Nara and Kinki area, besides Kanno and Amitabha.
04 Monday Feb 2013
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This video is meant for my new students that today practiced with me in Hiroo. Not much space is needed to perform this sequence, that’s why I highly recommend it to everyone, as a form of meditation in the morning or as a way to improve the basic stances.
…Keep breathing, relax your shoulders and hips, tuck your tail bone slightly in and gather the energy from earth…You will feel your energy circulate through your body, you’ll drop all your thoughts and your mind will reach into a calmer state…
22 Tuesday Jan 2013
Estela, Laura, Flavia and I are practicing “Part The Wild Horse’s Mane” on tatami, bare foot, in Ebisu Prime Square Building, Tokyo.
Our balance is even more challenged since we don’t wear shoes!
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11 Friday Jan 2013
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My motto is: “Keep on practicing until your moves become as smooth as pebbles in the river”.This is the “recipe” for the 24 Yang Form:
-Open to the left,
-hold the ball,
-Part the Wild Horse’s Mane, three times,
-White Crane Spreads Its Wings,
-Brush Knee, three times,
-Play the Lute,
-Repulse the Monkey, four times,
-Ward Off to the left and to the right,
-First Single whip,
-Clouds Hands, three times to the left,
-Second single whip.
To be continued…
PS: My mom liked the picture a lot!
11 Tuesday Dec 2012
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Yesterday I asked my Tai Chi teacher Liu Sensei how to relax hands, because I feel mines are kind of stiff and contracted. She answered that first you need to be pushing or releasing energy in any other different ways, to be able, afterwards, to relax.
Usually relaxation comes after you sink your wrists and you need to visualize the energy coming out of your middle fingers.
This explanation was really enlightening and, once again, consistent with Taoism’s principles: Tai Chi is an endless alternation of releasing and receiving energy.
Reminder of what we did last lesson
We practiced the backward walk, emphasizing the importance of not to cross your legs while doing this move: crossing your feet would, once again, compromise your balance and, hence, your stability.
We then studied the arm’s moves and combined them to the legs’ ones: now we know how to “Repulse The Monkey”.
We practiced “Eight Style” and went further on in “24 Yang” form: from “Playing The Lute”, till “Repulse The Monkey”, “Ward Off” and “Grasp The Sparrow’s Tail” left and right, “First Single Whip”, “Clouds Hands” and “Second Single Whip”.
Now my students know 60% of “24 Yang” form!
10 Monday Dec 2012
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Last year I wanted to paint using the traditional Chinese painting style, and the background of this photo came up. I had a lot of fun with Chinese brushes and sumi ink! My daughter Virginia shot a photo in which I stand one leg, my mom saw it and she wanted to have a larger print. So I combined it with the background, trying to blend it in and this is the result! I hope she likes it, it’s my Christmas gift for her! In this artwork I was able to combine my two major passions, panting and Tai Chi!
Tai Chi drops 