Grandmaster Huang (黃乾量) and the Tien Shan Pai (天山派) Lineage

Tien Shan Pai  (天山派)

Tien Shan Pai is a northern style which originated in the Tien Shan mountains of northwestern China. It is well known in Taiwan as an effective fighting style. At the same time, it also contains graceful empty-hand and weapons forms stressing rhythm and “ing shou”–the demonstration of power accentuated by solid thuds made by the hands. Tien Shan Pai self-defense is characterized by attacks from the side coupled with multiple blocks, so that if one block fails, the second can cover. Footwork is considered essential to countering attacks; Tien Shan Pai focuses on low, steady steps to the side, along with swift “hidden” steps to trick the opponent.

Read more about the Tien Shan Pai style here.

Huang Chien-Liang

Huang Chien-Liang (黃乾量)

Grandmaster Huang completed his academics by completing his college education, earning a B.S. degree from the National Chung Shing University, Taiwan, R.O.C. Since then, he developed his dedication for Kuo Shu and has trained in it for over 50 years and taught for more than 40 years. In his devotion to this doctrine, he founded and served as Chairman and first term President of the World Kuo Shu Federation, and, in 2006, was re-elected for a second term. He finished his second term in 2010 and currently serves as Chairman of the Board. He is also President of the United States Kuo Shu Federation, and in 2000, he was the first inductee into the Kuo Shu Hall of Fame.

Since 1988, Grandmaster Huang has promoted and sponsored numerous national and international Kuo Shu championship tournaments; from 1986 to 2000, he served as Head Coach of the United States Kuo Shu Team, which competed in the World Cup and other international tournaments. Grandmaster Huang has been called the “Maker of Champions” because of the many competitions his students have won in forms, weapons and full-contact Lei Tai fighting. In addition to his students winning World Lei Tai Championships, at the 2nd World Kuo Shu Federation Tournament (Singapore, 2006) and the 3rd World Kuo Shu Federation Tournament (Germany, 2009), his students also won Gold medals in Tai Ji Quan form, weapons, and Push Hands. Grandmaster Huang founded the U.S. Kuo Shu Academy in Owings Mills, Maryland, USA, and teaches Tien Shan Pai Kung Fu, along with other Northern styles, as well as Tai Ji Quan, Xing Yi Quan, and Ba Qua Zhang. He was Director and Chief Arbitrator of the 7th World Cup Chinese Kuo Shu Championship in Taiwan.

Grandmaster Huang Chien-Liang

Grandmaster Huang is the only full heir to the 63rd generation Tien Shan Pai Supreme Master Wang Chueh-Jen, “the Double Broadsword King of China”. As the outstanding supporter of Tien Shan Pai in the world, Grandmaster Huang has concentrated his efforts in the arena of the United States, Europe and South America. He is known internationally as “Kuo Shu World Bao Qing Tian”; China’s most famous judge, and is an international Kuo Shu Coach/Instructor and international Kuo Shu Referee “A”, the highest ranks, by the International Chinese Kuo Shu Federation (ICKF). In 2004, Grandmaster Huang received his 10th Tuan degree, the highest rank from TWKSF and was certified at the 10th Tuan level by the World Traditional Martial Arts Union.

Grandmaster Huang travels around the world teaching seminars on a variety of topics, including Dao Meditation, and he has produced videos on Tien Shan Pai, Qin Na, Tai Ji Quan, and Xing Yi Quan. He designs and implements instructor, judge and referee certification programs, and has also introduced a new grading and ranking system for TWKSF. He has been an adjunct professor in Tai Ji Quan at the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex, Maryland for over 25 years, and formerly taught Tai Ji Quan at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. He has spent much time assisting in the training of Lei Tai full-contact fighters from the United States and other countries; these fighters have gone on to win full-contact competitions at national and international Kuo Shu tournaments, including the World Kuo Shu Tournament.

See more photos and read more about Grandmaster Huang here.

Wise ways to meet the summer season from Shih Fu Eileen

This year Summer clearly demonstrates the explosive, yang nature of the Fire Element. Chi is abundant and at the peak of the seasonal rhythms with long, hot days. The Fire Element brings rise to the activation of the Triple Warmer Meridian (also know as Triple Heater or San Jiao) which brings balance to the body's systems and regulates internal body temperature.

The Heart pumps the blood and according ot the ancient Neijing is considered the ruler of the human body, as well as the seat of consciousness and intelligence. Making the choice to nourish this crucial element in daily practice, life will be long, healthy and secure.  Summer is also the time of Pericardium (Heart Protector) and the Small Intestine.

Pericardium Meridian, Copenhagen School of Shiatsu

Small Intestine Meridian, Copenhagen School of Shiatsu

Cooling, yin practices such as Tai Chi will help to keep cool this summer. Please feel free to utilize Body Balance Academy anytime we are open for classes. We'll keep the temperate at about 73 degrees in the studio. Please feel free to take extra classes during any heat wave. The tea corner is always a place to catch up on work or watch as this year's International Competition Team practices the skills they will take all the way to Baltimore at the end of July.

Thank you for all your support for our largest team ever.

-Shih Fu

You have just 250 milliseconds to catch a fall

You have about 1/10 of a second to catch a glass of water when you knock it over.

You have 1/4 of a second  to catch a fall. That's the minimum time the brain needs to regiater that your body's off-kilter and to do what it takes to avoid a tumble.

"Anything less than 250 milliseconds--you're probably not going to catch yourself," says Daniel Ferris, a University of Michigan professor of kinesiology. In a recent study on balance, Ferri's team homed in on the left sensorimotor cortex,

an area of the brain thought to be responsible for coordinating motion. When you realize you're falling, this region responds first, sending out the neural signals that set your body in motion to (ideally) restore stability--all within a quarter-second. Now that's what we call quick thinking. - Spirit Magazine, March 2014

(Thank to Susan Fink for this tidbit.)

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40

Returning is the motion of the Tao.
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
The ten thousand things are born of being.
Being is born of not being.

What's the Enneagram?

Shih Fu Eileen introduced Body Balance students to the Enneagram many years ago. Local practitioner Marion Gilbert has spoken many times to the Lotus Study Group. Shih Fu Tina teaches Enneagram workshops.  So, I was really pleased to see that the Enneagram Institute has upgraded its website.

It's much easier to explore the nine personality types, take tests that would help you assess your own type. There's even a great feature comparing the relationships between all the types.

The Nine Types of the Enneagram

Marion Gilbert teaches and affiliates with Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. That organization is different from EI.  Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition also has a good website to explore the personality types, take a test to determine your type and find trainings and workshops.

What's the Enneagram? Here's an answer from the Narrative Tradition group:

The Enneagram is a powerful tool for personal and collective transformation. Stemming from the Greek words ennea (nine) and grammos (a written symbol), the nine-pointed Enneagram symbol represents nine distinct strategies for relating to the self, others and the world. Each Enneagram type has a different pattern of thinking, feeling and acting that arises from a deeper inner motivation or worldview.

The Enneagram fosters greater understanding through a universal language that transcends gender, religion, nationality and culture. While we are all unique, we share common experiences. As representatives of each type tell their personal stories in the Narrative Tradition, we see that the ways people meet life’s challenges and opportunities fall within the nine personality types.

Enjoy exploring the Enneagram!

From one point of view, the Enneagram can be seen as a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. It is common to find a little of yourself in all nine of the types, although one of them should stand out as being closest to yourself. This is your basic personality type.
Everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. This is one area where most all of the major Enneagram authors agree—we are born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment. It also seems to lead to certain unconscious orientations toward our parental figures, but why this is so, we still do not know. In any case, by the time children are four or five years old, their consciousness has developed sufficiently to have a separate sense of self. Although their identity is still very fluid, at this age children begin to establish themselves and find ways of fitting into the world on their own.
Thus, the overall orientation of our personality reflects the totality of all childhood factors (including genetics) that influenced its development.
- See more at: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works/#sthash.KvECcBUt.dpuf

Everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. This is one area where most all of the major Enneagram authors agree—we are born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment. It also seems to lead to certain unconscious orientations toward our parental figures, but why this is so, we still do not know. In any case, by the time children are four or five years old, their consciousness has developed sufficiently to have a separate sense of self. Although their identity is still very fluid, at this age children begin to establish themselves and find ways of fitting into the world on their own.
Thus, the overall orientation of our personality reflects the totality of all childhood factors (including genetics) that influenced its development.
- See more at: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works/#sthash.KvECcBUt.dpuf

From one point of view, the Enneagram can be seen as a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. It is common to find a little of yourself in all nine of the types, although one of them should stand out as being closest to yourself. This is your basic personality type.
Everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. This is one area where most all of the major Enneagram authors agree—we are born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment. It also seems to lead to certain unconscious orientations toward our parental figures, but why this is so, we still do not know. In any case, by the time children are four or five years old, their consciousness has developed sufficiently to have a separate sense of self. Although their identity is still very fluid, at this age children begin to establish themselves and find ways of fitting into the world on their own.
Thus, the overall orientation of our personality reflects the totality of all childhood factors (including genetics) that influenced its development.
- See more at: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works/#sthash.KvECcBUt.dpuf

From one point of view, the Enneagram can be seen as a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. It is common to find a little of yourself in all nine of the types, although one of them should stand out as being closest to yourself. This is your basic personality type.
Everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. This is one area where most all of the major Enneagram authors agree—we are born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment. It also seems to lead to certain unconscious orientations toward our parental figures, but why this is so, we still do not know. In any case, by the time children are four or five years old, their consciousness has developed sufficiently to have a separate sense of self. Although their identity is still very fluid, at this age children begin to establish themselves and find ways of fitting into the world on their own.
Thus, the overall orientation of our personality reflects the totality of all childhood factors (including genetics) that influenced its development.
- See more at: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works/#sthash.1QyZr0RW.dpuf

From one point of view, the Enneagram can be seen as a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. It is common to find a little of yourself in all nine of the types, although one of them should stand out as being closest to yourself. This is your basic personality type.
Everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. This is one area where most all of the major Enneagram authors agree—we are born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment. It also seems to lead to certain unconscious orientations toward our parental figures, but why this is so, we still do not know. In any case, by the time children are four or five years old, their consciousness has developed sufficiently to have a separate sense of self. Although their identity is still very fluid, at this age children begin to establish themselves and find ways of fitting into the world on their own.
Thus, the overall orientation of our personality reflects the totality of all childhood factors (including genetics) that influenced its development.
- See more at: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works/#sthash.1QyZr0RW.dpuf

From one point of view, the Enneagram can be seen as a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. It is common to find a little of yourself in all nine of the types, although one of them should stand out as being closest to yourself. This is your basic personality type.
Everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. This is one area where most all of the major Enneagram authors agree—we are born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment. It also seems to lead to certain unconscious orientations toward our parental figures, but why this is so, we still do not know. In any case, by the time children are four or five years old, their consciousness has developed sufficiently to have a separate sense of self. Although their identity is still very fluid, at this age children begin to establish themselves and find ways of fitting into the world on their own.
Thus, the overall orientation of our personality reflects the totality of all childhood factors (including genetics) that influenced its development.
- See more at: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works/#sthash.1QyZr0RW.dpuf

From one point of view, the Enneagram can be seen as a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. It is common to find a little of yourself in all nine of the types, although one of them should stand out as being closest to yourself. This is your basic personality type.
Everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. This is one area where most all of the major Enneagram authors agree—we are born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment. It also seems to lead to certain unconscious orientations toward our parental figures, but why this is so, we still do not know. In any case, by the time children are four or five years old, their consciousness has developed sufficiently to have a separate sense of self. Although their identity is still very fluid, at this age children begin to establish themselves and find ways of fitting into the world on their own.
Thus, the overall orientation of our personality reflects the totality of all childhood factors (including genetics) that influenced its development.
- See more at: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works/#sthash.1QyZr0RW.dpuf

From one point of view, the Enneagram can be seen as a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. It is common to find a little of yourself in all nine of the types, although one of them should stand out as being closest to yourself. This is your basic personality type.
Everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. This is one area where most all of the major Enneagram authors agree—we are born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment. It also seems to lead to certain unconscious orientations toward our parental figures, but why this is so, we still do not know. In any case, by the time children are four or five years old, their consciousness has developed sufficiently to have a separate sense of self. Although their identity is still very fluid, at this age children begin to establish themselves and find ways of fitting into the world on their own.
Thus, the overall orientation of our personality reflects the totality of all childhood factors (including genetics) that influenced its development.
- See more at: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/how-the-enneagram-system-works/#sthash.1QyZr0RW.dpuf

Artist Reception at Body Balance June 13, 12-3pm | Linda Byrne & Tina Heck

Beautiful Art in a Beautiful Space

Absorbing the natural beauty around us in Nevada County, come and see how two local artists have translated what they see, feel, and experience into art.

Linda Byrne, a professor at Sierra College, works mostly in acrylic and printmaking media, often combining the two on canvas using woodcut, monoprints and collagraphs, sometimes printed on handmade papers. By mounting prints, on canvas, she develops images using paint and color to extend or change meaning. Woodcut images from multiple blocks and collaging new elements cut from other prints tell new visual stories. Painting over the prints with acrylic adds directness and the sensuality of color, allowing her to put flesh on the black and white bones of the woodcut, and add layers of meaning through obscuring or enhancing various areas.

Linda's art on the left, Tina's on the right

Tina Heck, working with acrylics on canvas, focuses primarily on Sierra landscapes. She works with color, form, and light to capture both concensus and discord in the complexities of the Sierra Nevada terrain in these larger scale pieces.

An avid followers of the American Arts and Crafts movement and the woodcut prints and lithographs that emerged in the 1920's and 30's, a small series of paintings are reflective of those earlier styles of printing in flat colors and hand-drawn shapes.

Art is on display at Body Balance Academy from now until July 31, 2015. 

Join Linda and Tina for an exclusive showing of their artwork and a chance to meet the artists at the studio on Saturday June 13th from noon until 3:00pm.

Tai Chi is not poetry, but listen to this...

When I heard Wendell Berry's reading of this poem, I immediately thought of Tai Chi. Not just the form or the experience of practicing the form, but the entire Taoist way of life. Berry has lived much of his life close to the land, stewarding a family farm in Kentucky. He thinks, writes and speaks about this relationship to the earth, and to each other, with reverence.  Listen to the poet reading and maybe you will agree.

Poet, novelist, farmer Wendell Berry

 
HOW TO BE A POET
(to remind myself)

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill — more of each
than you have — inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.