About the Instructor

Instructor Michael Tang is a member of Australian Kung Fu Wushu Association, co-coach at UTS Kung Fu Club and the head instructor of M Cube Tai Chi Academy (formerly Sydney Tai Chi Academy). With 10+ years of coaching experience and 20 years of martial arts, he may appear rather young and distant from a typical “Tai Chi Master” image, but his background in material art training, specifically in Tai Chi, is undoubtedly beyond his outlook. 

Michael officially started training in Chen Style Tai Chi since 1997 under Grandmaster Chen Qingzhou’s (陳慶洲) disciple, Dr. George Cui (崔鵬德), in Auckland, New Zealand. When he moved to Los Angeles, U.S.A., for his bachelor’s degree, Michael also trained with contemporary Wushu and won the grand champion titles in two consecutive years at the San Diego Grand Championship. During the years working overseas, besides the various and numerous Kung Fu styles that he trained under Master Simon Shih, he had the honour to become a disciple of Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang (陳小旺), the Headmaster of Chen Style Tai Chi, and trained under his guidance. Michael is currently the only “indoor” disciple of Master Dr. George Cui, and has been officially granted the permission to open classes in the names of Chen Style Tai Chi.  

Michael is also on his path in obtaining his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, specialised in gesturing and embodied cognition. Incorporating the theories into practices, all of his classes have been carefully designed to meet both the learners’ learning efficiency as well as their bodily performances. In addition to teaching, his integrated and blended perspectives on western and eastern medicine and body mechanics are also incorporated into his resourceful coaching style.  

The Ending Move of Tai Chi.

During the practice of Taichi, ending move is an especially important move in the routine and in basic practices. Taichiquan focuses on the practice of thoughts, mind, and qi. As we practice the routine and the single exercise, the qi is activated and transferred around the body. In order to return the activated Qi back to dantian when we finish our training sessions, the ending move plays crucial role in this practice.

The ending move we practice at the end of sessions composes of 3 sets of inhales and exhales:

First set: inhale with focus on our thumbs, raise arms from the sides of our body till over head; exhale with focus on the index fingers, and lower the hands down to the position of dantian.
Second set: inhale with focus on the middle fingers, raise arms forward, up to the level of your collar bone; exhale focusing on the ring fingers and lower the hands back to dantian.
Third set: inhale with focus on the inner side of the little fingers, raise arms from sides till over head, while shifting the weight to the right leg and raise the left leg; exhale with focus on the outside of the little fingers, lower the hand back to dantian, while slowly put the legs together and stand up straight as you finish exhaling.

Here is a short and condensed explanation from the perspectives of Chinese medicine. The layers of the meridian (channel) in our body, from the outer most to the inner most layer are as follows: LU (thumb),  LI (index finger), PC (middle finger), SJ (ring finger), HT (inner little finger) and then SI (outer little finger). Also, LU and LI are directly connected, so do PC and SJ, and HT and SI. Therefore, in the designed ending move, with each inhale and exhale, we are able to direct the activated Qi back to dantian in an organised fashion, closing from the outer layer towards the inner layer, and store the Qi generated/harvested/activated during the training session in our body.

I am no experts in Chinese medicine nor specialist in Qigong. If you are interested in further reading, please refer to other source, such as Wikipedia.

Happy training.

-movement
-mindset
-mastery

Fundamental Movement Exercise

Here comes the Taichi Class review.

1. Breathing Exercise (Up & In)
2. Breathing Exercise (Open & Close)
3. Hold the ball (Skipped in class)
4. Hold the ball and Turn your hip.
5. Forward Arm Thrusting
6. Single Outside Circle (Right & Left)
7. Single Inside Circle (Right & Left)
8. Flat Brush (Right & Left)
9. Figure 8 (Right & Left)
10. Double Outside Circle 
11. Double Inside Circle 
12. Double Circle (the same direction)
13. Double Flat Brush
14. Double Figure 8
15. Shoulder Exercise (Forward) https://youtu.be/Eh49NmRGtGQ?t=3m56s
16. Shoulder Exercise (Backwards) https://youtu.be/Eh49NmRGtGQ?t=9m37s
17. Roll the ball (Forward & Backwards)
18. Twist the ball (Forward & Backwards)
19. Breathing Exercise (Wings spread)
20. Closing 

In this link, https://youtu.be/K4egpA5TfP8, you will find 6.Single Outside Circle (Right & Left), 10.Double Outside Circle, and 12.Double Circle (the same direction). 

As a supplement, here is a link to the original Chen Xiaowang’s fundamental exercise. This is adapted and modified into the current version. It is always good to look at the master’s movements. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws0-bNFzVg8