Writing this history is revealing great stories and also very specific pivot points upon which my life turned. While my day to day ticked along, specific moments along the way shifted or completely altered the direction I myself took, and therefore the direction I developed and guided my school. The nurse at Macrina Bakery, Dr. Taylor, Gao Fu, The Moving Space, Gaspar Garcia, Chen Xiao Wang, The Moon on Market Street….at the time I don’t think I looked at these moments in this way; I just took the turns as they came. At the same time, it is clear following my chosen path has given me more than physical health and skill, it also taught me to observe, to feel and act courageously when the time is right, even if the outcome may not be apparent until many years later.
2011 was another pivot year for me, catapulting me back to China. Chen Xiao Wang had called us all back to the Village in March to take another Duan Wei test. This was to be several of our 6th Duan’s, and if passed, would be last test we would ever have to take. Chen Xiao Wang told us all if we wanted to do it, now was the time because everything was going to change after this. Indeed, the head of the International Wu Shu Association was retiring and the method for testing and grading was to change dramatically. Of course, we all got on a plane and headed back to the Village.
This testing experience was stressful but not as overwhelmingly so as in Luhačovice. We did not have to take a long-written exam as we did before, we instead were required to craft an essay about our experience of training and why we considered it of value to our life. I’m actually not sure who translated those essays, or if they ever were, but I remember enjoying writing it and having plenty to say. Betty Dong, Allison & I performed together. The testing board was CXW, CXX, the Head of the WuShu Organization, Davidine and Jan. As with Luhačovice, we performed a few minutes each of empty hand and a weapon. Ranks were awarded later that day from 3-6thand we all matriculated to our 6th, relieved this was it.
A seminar followed and another disciple ceremony. As always, these events were packed, more this year than ever. It was again so much fun to connect with our pals from all over the world and to feel our family grow. Moonites Doug and Kevin joined this training as well as did several of Allison & Bill and Derryl’s students. After the event Kevin, Doug and I joined Allison & Bill’s group to Xi’an. We saw the Terra Cotta Warriors, trained by the Old Wall, visited the first Mosque in China and ate delicious spicy food in the Muslim district. To this day, Xi’an remains one of my favorite cities anywhere in the world. Doug, Kevin and I continued back to Beijing where I showed them around my favorite spots.
The pivot point I refer to above came mid-way through this trip. During the March training I realized I was completely overwhelmed with the number of people and while as much fun it was to be with all the international friends, it was becoming less and less easy to actually learn Taijiquan within this setting. For me, there were just too many people. I remember feeling lost and ungrounded by it all when I saw David Gaffney and Davidine Sim walking down the sidewalk in the quad. They were so relaxed and calm; there was something about their continence that compelled me. Whereas I didn’t know what it was, I knew instinctively this was what I was looking for from my training. We chatted a bit and they told me they were having a few days training with CXX in his private quarters. A few months later, in October, I returned to the Village for a 10-day training with CXX, organized and led by “The D’s.”
I had hosted CXX 5 years already in Seattle, but frankly I never quite “got” him. Even though I had decades of hard, traditional training under my belt, The “old school” training CXX embodied alluded me. This seminar though, the jigsaw puzzle began to fall into place.
CXX guided all of us, hands on the entire way, through the entire Laojia Yilu. In one continuous sequence after sequence he kept our structure true, glided our center of gravity across the training floor and compelled our bodies through the rotations in such a way that the overall connections were at once obvious and accessible. I felt light yet powerful, grounded yet fluid. Mind and no mind. I knew at the moment of the first sequence this is what I was looking for. I knew CXX would take me further into Taijiquan and teach me how to find Taijiquan for myself. The next year, when CXX came to Seattle, I knew exactly what to do with him. The Seattle six-day “Village Training” was borne.
This small and intimate training restored my ground. It was also October in Chenjiagou, the most beautiful time to visit China. Around the Village Corn Totems dried in the sun, harvested beans and peanuts laid out on the streets of the Village, also to dry. Dappled sun illuminated The Ditch. I adored the close students of David & Davidine who were also there and who batted me around like a mouse with their British English & humor! They remain my training brothers & sisters to this day…despite the fact we have a hard time understanding each other’s English!
David and Davidine themselves also had a profound influence on me during this training. I glued myself to them throughout the workshop, mirroring them, stealing whatever I could from them. Their combined skill, their history within the Family and Davidine’s high level of generous translation opened a door wide for me this trip, and in doing so also for my students, into the both Chen Family Taijiquan and the Chen Family itself.
The Moon continued rocking the floor with robust classes and continued workshops with Gaspar, CXW, CXX, CB. This year was also Chen Zi Qiang’s first visit to Seattle.
From upper left: The Training with CXX & the D’s, Duan Wei Testing, Corn Totems, The International seminar, Doug, Kevin & Kim at the Great Wall, Biking in Chenjiagou, Xi’an with Bill & Allison’s group, Writing the essay with Betty Dong, CZQ’s first Seattle visit.