What Tai Chi Means To Me

Copyright 2023 James C Horner

What Tai Chi Means to Me:
Letters
To Terence Dunn,
Randy Elia,
Tony Shu,
Tim Tung,
Jesse Tsao,
Tina Limer

 

Cheng Man Ching’s 37 form
interpreted by Terry Dunn

 

Relax is what you told me, Terry.

Intent lodges in my mind’s eye.

Smile! No thousand-yard stare.

Music. Flow, when nobody cares that you do Tai Chi.

Martial cool stuff, hidden, soft,

like a beautiful lady’s wrist.

Balance yourself, rooted to the earth,

like Cheng Man Ching Pushing Hands.

Tai Chi For Health – Short Form by Terry Dunn opening montage, 1989.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Yang Style, Guang Ping Tai Chi,
interpreted by Sifu Randy Elia and Sifu Silvia Gattner

Salute the Buddha begins my balance.

Sifu Randy, your voice invites me to relax.

Sifu Silvia stretches our tight hams with NewAge music.

Stepping back to repulse those monkeys makes me smile.

When I go back, I think forward,

When I go forward, I think back: my intent

leads my eyes beyond my fingers,

but I still don’t feel the Chi.

Deflect, Parry and Punch – “Look how far you’ve come!” says Silvia.

All 64 postures are martial!

Sifu Randy and Pete Schmidt demonstrating martial applications of Guang Ping Tai Chi

Randy Elia, seated, center; Silvia Gattner standing far right

___________________________________________________________________________

Yang Style Tai Chi- 24 Short Form,
interpreted by Tony

 

Martial arts in gentle Tai Chi?

“Balance,” you say, Tony. “Now bump me hard.

Relax as you collapse down like a snake;

spring up like a golden cockerel standing on one leg.

Music has no place in our Tai Chi; Fa Jing erupts from within.

Smile when you part the wild horse’s mane.

Intent I cannot teach you; just lightly stick to me wherever I go.”

________________________________________________________________________________

Beautiful Sunset Fan,
interpreted by Shihan Tim Tung

 

An open fan disguises your intent.”

You mean, Shihan Tim, a martial

art?” “Coil and chop, snap, stab and balance.”

You play us rousing Chinese music to relax.*

Just follow the Kung Fu Song (not the Kung Fu Panda music).

To blast out tunes, I give you a JBL Flip.

Tony, unhappy, bows, with a smile.

Beautiful Sunset Fan, interpreted by Faye Yip, whose father, Li, Deyin, created it.
______________________________________________________________________________

Wudang Tai Chi Sword,
interpreted by Jesse Tsao

 

Smile!” “Why, Jesse? You’re holding a sword!”

Intent sounds harmlessHeavenly Horse Flies Across Sky.

Relax, like a white ape offering fruit.

Balance, as I slide-step as if in muddy circles.

Martial moves at last. “Four ounces deflects a thousand pounds.”

Music for marketing. Stillness for motion.

Master Liang performs Wudang Ta Chi Sword

with  NewAge sci-fi music

__________________________________________________________________________


Qi-Gong:
Eight Pieces of Brocade,
interpreted by Tina Limer

Breathe in, breathe out suffices for your music.

Eight pieces of silken brocade, your smile.

Medical Qigong, no martial intent.

So Clench the Fists and Glare Fiercely isn’t martial?

Raise my heels and rock on my toes for balance.

Thanks, Tina, for teaching me the hardest move: Relax!
___________________________________________________________________________

Send-off

Relax in a crazy world; make six healing sounds my music.

Intent is not intense, but a smile.

Martial kicks are not my kicks; at least, I’m good at balance.

___________________________________________________________________________

Beautiful Sunset Fan and Tai Chi Kung Fu Fan are traditionally performed to the music and lyrics below. In 2008, its creator Li, Deyin chose 2008 experts to perform it before the Olympics in Bejing. Tim Tung taught me this form over one year. It has taken 10 years to learn all the martial applications.  True Kung Fu ! “The term kung fu can also signify careful preparation for the performance of any skillful endeavor without interference from the intellect or emotions.”

1

Lying like a bow

Standing like a pine

No moving, no swaying

Sitting like a bell.

Walking with a gust of wind

Southern Fist and Northern Kick

Shaolin Wudang Kung Fu

Tai Chi Bagua linked Palm

China has amazing kung fu.

 

(Repeat verse 1, faster.)

 

2

Stick sweeps a large piece

that one spear picks a line

like a bird in a cloud

So proud as the sky

External Kung Fu training muscles and bones

Internal training a breath

Hard and soft without bowing,

we have heaven and earth in our hearts.

 

(Repeat verse 1)

 

3

Breeze sword in hand

Look at those double knives

If a Kung Fu expert is in action

You’ll know whether

he is real or not.

Hands are two doors

underneath the foot is a root.

Four directions of water and soil nourished

our Chinese martial arts soul.

 

4

One Dragon in the East

Sons and daughters like heroes

The sky is high, the land is wide

the wind blows eight ways.

China has amazing Kung Fu.

One Dragon in the East

Sons and daughters like heroes

The sky is high, the land is wide

the wind blows eight ways,

China has amazing Kung Fu.

China has amazing Kung Fu.

 

中国功夫 (Zhong Guo Gong Fu – Chinese Kung Fu)
Singer: Tu Hong Gang (屠洪刚)

 

 

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