A site honoring the teachings of Kuo Lien Ying and the magical time that we were able to learn from Si Fu
_____________________________ Gordon Guttman _______________
Facts from the beginning of the National Party
Esteemed T'ai Chi boxing master - Wang Ch'iao Yu
T'ai Chi master Wang Ch'iao Yu ws born in 1836. During the latter Ch'ing
dynasty, Yang Lu Ch'an was hired to teach the sixty-four movement style of
T'ai Chi to Dai Ch'i, the brother of the emperor. When Yang Lu Ch'an and Dai
Ch'i practiced, Wang Ch'iao Yu alson proacted with them on the side as he
was not of noble class. Many years later, Ch'iao Yu got the essence of the
entire Yang 64 movement system. After Lu Ch'an died, the emperor's brother
was very surprised when Yang Pan Hou broke the rules of the cast system and
allowed Ch'iao Yu to be a formal student and accepted into the Yang school.
T'ai Chi should be flexible and grounded. The soft and hard are combined to
attain it's function. Ch'iao Yu felt that the virtue of persistence was the
most valuable aspect of practice and produced the best result. Before the
age of 54 it is best to practice for strength and flexibility and using
weapons. After the age of 54, one should focus the practice on the internal
and spirit to learn self control and calmness. Then the internal and
external then melt together to create the perfect person. Naturally, this
will prolong one's life span.
After Ch'iao Yu was 64, he began the practice of meditation and breathing.
He sat for long periods of time at a temple practicing his meditation skill
and ate once a day with no feeling of hunger. In the 1930's he was
almost 100 years old yet still performed the sword and staff for many people.
He had a long silver beard and powerful spirit. It is recalled that he
practiced on the snow with the red silk sword tassel contrasting the white and
the reflection of the sun in the blade caused people to feel astonished.
Near the end of his life he was taken by his students to Pei Ching and given
very comfortable accomodations. Every day in his late years, he was generous
in aiding the needy people and helped people who were troubled or sick.
People called him humble and kind. He lived to the age of one hundred and
three and died of a problem of not being able to cough up phlegm. His best
student was Fan P'ei Cheng. Also, some famous Chinese doctors wher his
students. His spirit lives with us today.
____Gordon Guttman____________________
Perhaps because I lived next door to Mr. Kuo, he gave me the opportunity to
push hands with him sometimes. He never tapped my head or anything like that.
He showed me how the body works and it was exactly the way the book described it.
When I pushed him, it really felt like I was hitting a wall of ball bearings. His
push hands was much different than I experienced with the other students even the
advanced ones. When I pushed with him, it was very close and not rote movement. but
his ability to pivot and turn the spine and interpret movement astonished me. I, at that
time had no real idea of how it was done, but after Iread his book for the thirtieth
time, I got the picture or at least part of it.