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Pacific Kung Fu Conquest

 

Considering the current ambitions and scale of expansion of the Oceania Kung Fu Wushu Federation Limited (formerly known as Kung Fu Wushu South Australia Limited), you could imagine the magnificence of the recent Oceania Kung Fu Wushu Championships taken place on 21 October 2018 in Melbourne.

Have a look at the clip compiled from the videos published by Councillor Sean O”Reilly. After a cute Dragon Dance, if you are still watching, you will see Mr Dana Wong, the President of Kung Fu Wushu Victoria, opening the competitions, Mr O”Reilly greeting the unsuspected participants on behalf of Greater Dandenong City Council and Mr Glen Keith, introduced as a Senior Vice-President of the Oceania Kung Fu Wushu Federation. As you might remember, Mr Keith used to be the President of Oceania Wushu Federation – the organisation that ceased to exist after Glen unsuccessfully challenged the position of the IWUF (International Wushu Federation) President. During his presidential campaign, Mr Keith strongly criticised IWUF for its policies, particularly, in regard to so-called “Post Box” Member Organisations (It’s still online).

Apparently, something (or someone) has changed since then and now we see Mr Glen Keith happy to welcome a dozen or so new Oceania Members joining the Federation under new management. Among them are Norfolk Island – an external Australian Territory with population ~1,800 – and Tokelau – a dependent Territory of New Zealand with population ~1,500. Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji are, of course, much bigger but we are yet to see their contribution to the development of Wushu in our region. 

The rest of the Competition will forever remain in the memories of those who attended it but is unlikely to be known to the rest of the world. The last published results of Oceania Championships belong to 2014…

Tai Chi, Wushu & Qigong in Today’s World 2018 Conference

by Dr Khoo Cheng Choo

Our annual “Tai Chi, Wushu & Qigong in Today’s World” Conference on 22-23 September 2018 drew together a diverse forum of Tai Chi, Wushu and Qigong enthusiasts, practitioners and researchers at Macquarie University.

The two-day conference was packed with thought-provoking presentations including Dr Emily Yang’s current research on the effects of Tai Chi on stress and cardiovascular function in patients with coronary heart disease and hypertension at the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) Health Research Institute of Western Sydney University.

The presenters did an excellent job of integrating their informative and interactive talks with accomplished  demonstrations and audience participation.

The often complex and abstract themes of Tai Chi philosophy and practice, Qi, breathing and ‘sung’ movements were expounded and clarified by many presenters.

Ahtee Chia’s ‘Journey Towards Life Mastery Through Taiji Quan’, Rusel Last’s ‘Integration of Taiji & Qigong into Traditional East Asian Medicine’ and Rob Russo’s ‘What Does It Mean to be “Sung’ carried similar Tai Chi principles and advocated relaxed and natural flow of movements in Tai Chi practice without the exertion of brute force. 

Brett Russell‘s talk and demonstration of ‘Jin Gang Chuan’s Buddha Warrior Attendants Fist’ was mesmerising and his short but effective audience-participation Qigong exercise positively sent our Qi spiraling.

Rosilah Sani’s ‘Tai Chi and Aromatherapy – Discovering the Synergy’ related the journey of a woman with chronic allergies who overcame the ailment through her integrated practice of using aromatherapy with Tai Chi. It drew interest from many in the audience as they saw the potential of using aromatherapy in conjunction with Tai Chi and Qigong practice.

Other stimulating sessions included Dr Larissa’s ‘Wushu, Tai Chi and Qigong in Australia – Who’s in Charge?’, the Round-table discussion and Ahtee Chia’s Workshop on the ‘Methods of the Five Stages of Taiji Quan Training’.

In his workshop, Ahtee explained and demonstrated breathing techniques and basic Tai Chi grounding movements and stances and how they should be executed without force. Participants then enjoyed a session of practising the movements individually and with partners under Ahtee’s guidance.

Readers will be pleased to know that a compilation of all the Conference presentations has been published on ISSUU and selected videoclips are available on ausWushu Youtube channel and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ConferenceTQW/).

Finally, it is heartening to note that both verbal and written feedback from the audience about the 2018 Conference indicated that it was a very successful and satisfying event. All participants said they enjoyed the Conference and benefited from the varied presentations related to the practice of Tai Chi, Wushu and Qigong. Many appreciated the opportunity and platform for sharing ideas. Others suggested that the programme should be published earlier on Facebook.

It is anticipated that many, if not all of these suggestions and recommendations will be taken and integrated into future Conferences.

So here’s looking forward to the 2019 “Tai Chi, Wushu & Qigong in Today’s World” Conference at Macquarie University.

 

The Qigong Global Summit

Feeling stressed? Having trouble unplugging from your full — sometimes too full! — life? You might be looking for a simple practice that can help you find more balance… physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Or maybe your energy is low, you feel rundown, and you’re vulnerable to illness — or you have a chronic condition — and your go-to remedies and practices aren’t enough to turn things around.

It’s time to take your health into your own hands.

A daily Qigong practice, available to everyone, can immediately lower stress, increase energy, prevent illness, and support you in rejuvenating your body, mind, and spirit. With Qigong, you can learn to bring healing energy — known as “Qi” — to particular parts of your body to transform anxiety, stress, and disease into self-confidence, inner peace, and optimal health. As your body responds by doing what it’s designed to do (heal and re-balance itself), blockages in your flow of Qi disappear and your full life force energy moves smoothly, radiating out into all aspects of your daily life. During The Qigong Global Summit, some of the world’s foremost Qigong teachers — including Master Mantak Chia, Daisy Lee, Lee Holden, Dr. Effie Chow, Dr. Roger Jahnke, Master Mingtong Gu, Pedram Shojai, Sifu Ama Lia Wai Ching Lee, Robert Peng, and others — will show you simple yet powerful practices to cultivate abundant Qi flow for your health, healing, and daily life.

These Qigong teachers, masters, and doctors in the first-ever Qigong Global Summit will share insights into the practices of Qigong, Tai Chi, Martial Arts, and Traditional Chinese Medicine — as well as how Qi is the foundation of all of these ancient arts, and more.

Through beautiful, high-quality video, they’ll illuminate both the philosophical and practical components of working with Qi — and offer simple practices you can use right away. Our highly esteemed teachers will offer their wisdom on how to discover your inner healing potential, and perspectives on how to flow with the challenges of daily life.

More info

 

An Introduction to Tai Chi: Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School

As an ancient Chinese practice, tai chi may seem foreign and even intimidating. Perhaps your only experience with tai chi is watching video clips or seeing photos of large groups of Chinese people doing tai chi in parks—a rare occurrence in the United States. Only about 1% of the U.S. population, or about 3.65 million Americans, reported doing tai chi in 2015. That means a lot of Americans are missing out on myriad benefits that tai chi has to offer. The goal of this report is to make tai chi more familiar, more accessible, and easy to practice regularly—even right in your living room.

Mind-body exercises, such as tai chi and yoga, have been gaining popularity over the past few decades. This is not surprising, given the increasing number of studies on the positive effects of these gentler forms of exercise—everything from lowering blood pressure and managing depression to building strength and improving balance. There is even evidence that tai chi may help you live a longer, more vital life.

For roughly two decades, I’ve been working to bridge the gap between the practice and the science of tai chi and to integrate it into Western health care. By day, I am a medical researcher at Harvard Medical School, and by night, I am a community-based tai chi instructor.
My interest in tai chi grew out of a passion for sports and martial arts that started when I was in high school. It was during that time that I also became interested in science, which led me to study human ecology and get a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from Harvard University. But it wasn’t until a trip to China in 2000 that my two worlds came together, and I made a major career shift, ultimately resulting in my current position as research director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, which is jointly based at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

In my role as a scientist, I focus on objective, rigorous scientific research to understand what works, what doesn’t work, what is safe, and what offers promise to help people. Yet while I use research and science to inform my personal tai chi practice and the classes I teach, I must suspend pure rational thinking at times in order to get the most out of my practice. Tai chi and other meditative arts include tapping into intuition and imagination, processes less understood by science. In this report, I’ve brought these two worlds together to introduce you to tai chi and give you a program so you can begin practicing this gentle, mind-body exercise today.

Prepared by the editors of the Harvard Health Publishing in consultation with Peter M. Wayne, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Director of Research, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. 45 pages. (2018)

https://www.health.harvard.edu/exercise-and-fitness/an-introduction-to-tai-chi

Tai Chi, Wushu & Qigong in Today’s World

The Organising Committee is inviting everyone interested in Tai Chi, Qigong and Wushu to take part in the forthcoming inter/multidisciplinary Conference in Sydney at Macquarie University on Tai Chi, Wushu and Qigong in Today’s World.

The aim of the Conference is to provide a venue for an interdisciplinary forum with the intentionally broad scope to bring together Australian and international scholars, practitioners and teachers from different fields and various directions including, but not limited to cultural, literary, philosophy and social studies, sports and medicine. The conference will include paper and poster presentations, workshops and seminars by practitioners, teachers and researchers.

The round table/forum is also envisaged during the Conference where the challenges and problems will be discussed.

More information…

Tickets can be purchased at Eventbrite (free for Presenters, Volunteers and Students and 50% discounted for members of Wushu & Tai Chi NSW).

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