A Very Special Retreat – We have a very special retreat coming up in September with an extremely experienced and gifted Tai Chi teacher. Christian Birch will be running a retreat for us on September 11th to 13th at Braziers Park, Oxfordshire.

Christian’s tai chi lineage has two arms.
For many years he studied under John Kells in the Cheng man Ch’ing form (the form that he went on to teach to Andy Spragg.
John Kells was taught by Dr Chi Chiang-tao (1919-1994): the top student of Cheng man Ch’ing (1900-1975) and a supreme teacher of his generation. John opened the British T’ai Chi Ch’uan Association in 1970 and started teaching. This was one of the first Tai Chi schools in the UK. It is estimated that from 1977 to 1993 John taught over 10,000 students. It was here that Christian studied with him and became one of his principal students.
Christian then decided to branch out his study and was extremely lucky to meet Dave Martin, 2nd Generation Disciple of the late Sun Jian Yun (granddaughter of Sun Lutang), who agreed to teach him and with whom he is still studying.
Christian’s knowledge of the art of Tai Chi is phenomenal with both depth and breadth. His retreats are an extremely rewarding and fulfilling experience.

Sun style t’ai chi ch’uan was developed by Sun Lutang, who was considered expert in two other internal martial arts styles: xingyiquan and baguazhang before he came to study t’ai chi ch’uan.
This unique form of Tai Ji Quan was created by the famed master Sun Lu Tang (1836 – 1933), and draws on the fundamental principles of Xing Yi Quan, Ba Gua Zhang and Tai Ji Quan. Sun Lu Tang was a student of some of the greatest internal martial arts teachers of the nineteenth century – a time of immense creativity for the Chinese martial arts – and produced seminal works on all three internal styles, famously describing them as “one family”.
Sun style Tai Ji Quan incorporates footwork from Xing Yi and Ba Gua, the striking of Xing Yi and the softness and roundness of Tai Ji Quan. The stepping is natural and lively. When stepping forwards the back foot follows up and vice versa when stepping backwards. The postures are higher than in other forms of Tai Ji Quan, putting less stress on the knees. The form consists of 97 postures which are performed like clouds floating through the sky. A unique feature of Sun style Tai Ji Quan is the Kai/He ( Open/Close ) posture to gather and concentrate the energy. This is not found in any other style of Tai Ji Quan.

The retreat will cover an introduction to the form and to some of the two person pushing hands work

http://www.re-vitalise.co.uk/product/september-tai-chi-at-braziers-11th-september-2015-50-deposit/