Written by Sifu CJ Rhoads
I had no idea what I was in for.
The name of the workshop was unassuming. Myths and Meanings of Tai Chi. I figured at best, a recitation of all the familiar stories of Tai Chi. At worst, ninety minutes off my feet after a teaching a grueling qigong workshop.
I was at the Tai Chi Gala & Intuitive Arts Retreat. This fabulous event has been going on for years, organized by the renowned Loretta Wollering, who previous managed the celebrated Tai Chi Farm that started in the 70’s for late Master Jou Tsung-Hwa. Tai Chi Gala recently moved from godforsaken Albany, New York, to the Poconos in Pennsylvania – less than two hours from my house (yay!).
The workshop leader on this particular session was Sifu Stephen Watson (not ever Steve, but the full Stephen), a well-known highly talented martial artist who is as immersed in the philosophy as he is a demonstrated skilled player. And a hugger to boot.
Well, I got an eye-opening seminar on a fascinating topic that has launched me on a journey, nay – a quest. A hallowed quest, perhaps.
Allow me to explain.
Stephen shared with the large group of people attentively hanging on his every word his own mental excursion surrounding the odd topic of posture names.
Those of us who do Taijiquan know well the idiosyncratic quirkiness involving the names of the movements and postures. Though some names are rather self-explanatory (Step Back, Parry and Punch, Kick with Right Heel, etc.) Others are poetic (Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail, Snake Creeps Down, White Crane Spreads its Wings, Buddha’s Warrior Pounds the Mortar, etc.) Other than using the names to help remember the different moves, few people give the names much thought.
But not Stephen. As per his usual theme, he wants to know why. (His motto is When you have enough Why’s you have Wise.) As he does the moves, he ponders the meaning of the name. It seemed to me that he uses the thought process as a koan (a paradoxical anecdote or riddle used to achieve enlightenment by demonstrating the inadequacy of logical thought).
For example, Stephen spent more than ten minutes talking about Single Whip. Now I’ve always assumed it was named after a bird; the whip bird. When Stephen said he hadn’t heard of that one I looked it up and it appears that the whip bird is only in Australia – hardly a good candidate for having a Chinese Martial Art Posture named after it. No – indeed, Stephen gave a few different possibilities for the name. The most intriguing had to do with facing west, the land of the immortals, and opening one’s heart to them, seeing whether or not they are ready to take the player to that sacred land. No – not yet? Well then, creep down like a snake and continue on one’s journey.
Stephen also shared an explanation of Yin and Yang that I’d also never thought of before. He clarified that Yin and Yang can only be described in relationship to something. He positioned three people in the room. The person in the middle (like the childhood-game Monkey in the Middle) started equidistant from the people at the ends, which we will call A and B. Then (at Stephen’s direction) the person in the middle walked closer to A than B. The aggressive positioning on A made that the Yang side. The more distant positioning to B became the Yin side. Then the person reversed it, and walked closer to B than A. Yang became Yin and Yin became Yang, for now the Yang side was due to the short distance between the person and B. You could easily see, in this demonstration, that you can’t explain which side is Yin and which side is Yang without both of them being there, because it is not the objective distance, but rather the relative distance which explains which is Yin and which is Yang. Light bulbs flashed and visions of Eureka danced through my head. I’d never quite thought about it that way – but it explained so very much!
To help guide him on his mental tour he has somehow found a tiny out-of-print book called How to Grasp the Bird’s Tail if you Don’t Speak Chinese by Jane Schorre (with calligraphy by Margaret Chang) published by North Atlantic Books in 1997.
This book is unbelievably captivating. As soon as I started reading it I knew I had to have it. When I told my friend Violet how much I paid for this petite booklet, she was aghast, and perhaps had decided that I was out of my mind. But just listen to the author’s explanation of why she wrote this book;
It all began one day when my friend, Margaret Chang and I were having lunch together after our Taiji session. She was explaining that, to help her Taiji students get a feel for the movement, she tells them that An, usually translated into English as Push, is the Chinese verb used for massage, to push into something. And somehow knowing this always changes the quality of their movement, even if only in a very subtle way…Margaret’s bit of information about An set off a small alarm in my head. What else did she know about Taiji that I did not – just because Chinese is her native language?…It occurred to me that exploring each name for possible meaning might be fun.
I did not know that An, which has always confused me because though it is called push, I was often told that it wasn’t really push, that the concept was really closer to down. The explanation of the push in massage explains the whole thing so perfectly, that the same little alarm bells went off in my head too.
I wanted to know more. And, indeed, this book is a wonderful guide toward that end. But it is out of print, and remaining copies are uber-expensive. So I joined Stephen in his quest; to find the original authors and copyright holders and republish the book.
Actually, I’ve done this just recently for another author who had written an extremely important book that had gone out of print. Patricia Herman wrote a book called Evaluating Economics of Complementary and Integrative Medicine. It was published by Samueli Institute, a non-profit that closed up shop last year. Patricia was unable to get access to the account that had published the book on Amazon, and as a result it was no longer in print. She was able to send the files to me, and I just published them on Amazon under HPL Publications, the publishing division of my company. I could easily do the same for Jane Schorre and Margaret Chang – if we could only find them. Hence, the quest. If there is anyone who knows where they are, please have them contact me so that we can get this wonderful book back on the virtual shelves at a reasonable price for everyone.
About the Author: Dr. CJ Rhoads has been studying Taijiquan for nearly thirty years. Rhoads is one of the founding members of the Taijiquan Enthusiasts Organization, a worldwide virtual organization of health and martial artists. She is also the developer of Pacem In Vita, a leadership and self-development curriculum for children and adults based upon the principles of Taijiquan. In 2010 she was named Taijiquan Promoter of the Year and admitted to the Hall of Fame by the Fellowship of United Martial Artists in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Rhoads holds several certifications to teach Taijiquan and is a professional member of the National Qigong Association. She was named the National Champion and Gold Medal winner in Female Push Hands in Washington D.C. in October 2009 at the International Chinese Martial Arts Tournament circuit.
Rhoads has firsthand experience regarding the transforming powers of the gentle art of Taiji. CJ was in a devastating car accident in 2002. In 2004 she was told by doctors in 2004 that she had gotten “as good as she was gonna get” – but was still in severe pain and could not work. Just a few years later, with the help of a team of doctors and pain management specialists, and through a combination of Taijiquan, Pilates, Massage, and Myofascial Release she was able to mitigate her injuries. She was not only able to return to work, but was able to exceed all expectations. Currently she is working on a often-requested DVD of her Pain Freeing Qigong, a series of qigong forms that not only help with pain relief directly, but also provides a mnemonic for lifestyle changes in order to remain pain free and holistically healthy.
Related Articles:
Please visit www.VioletLiTaiChi.com for more articles on Tai Chi, Qigong, and healing arts. Share the article on your social media to raise the awareness of the art. Thanks!
Thanks Violet for all the good work you do keeping us informed. I bought the book. Just started reading it. Wonderful,