Paul Fretter UK

My  training  began  in  1982-83  when  I  took  up  Judo  for  a  short  time.   Then  in  1984  I  began training  in  Karate;  first  of  all  Shito-ryu  with  Ken  Johnson  in  Nottingham  and  then,  in  1986, Kyokushinkai  (and  Judo)  with  Steve  Grint  in  Lowestoft.   The Kyokushin  way  of  Karate  was very  tough  and  physical,  with  an  emphasis  on  body  conditioning  and  sparring;  all  of  which was a lot of fun, and it was Steve who first said to me ͞when you begin to teach, don͛t hold back  any  secrets͟.

In  1988  I  moved  to  Norwich  and  began  training  in  Goju Ryu  Karate  Do  with  Bob  Honiball,  and  I  took  to  this  system  like  a  duck  to  water  as  both previous systems were based on it, and it had a no-nonsense approach with a clear technical foundation.   I  passed  my  first  black-belt  grading  in  1991 –  a  humbling  four-hour  ordeal  of exhaustion under the scrutiny of Mr Richard Barrett – and in the same year I also followed Bob to take up learning Taiji with Pete Dobson.

In 1997 Pete brought Wee Kee Jin and Yek Sing Ong to the UK after meeting them on a short trip to New Zealand.  Pete then suggested that  we  should  let  go  of  our  current  Taiji  practice  and  all  begin  again  together  under  Wee  Kee  Jin,  as  his  system  was  much  clearer.   If  Pete  was  brave  enough  to  let  go  of  his  current practice  and  teaching  in  order  to  progress,  then  I  was  prepared  to  follow  him.  So  then, under  Pete͛s  guidance,  and  along  with  my  friend  and  karate  teacher  Bob  Honiball  and  a small number of other stalwarts, we all began our training again. In  1999,  we  spotted  the  link  between  Master  Huang͛s  first  White  Crane  teacher  and  the founder  of  Goju  Ryu,  and  Wee  Kee  Jin  then  offered  to  teach  the  White  Crane  to  us  in  the UK.

My  Goju  Ryu  fifth  Dan  grading  was  in  Okinawa,  2006,  and  then  in  2007  I  took  the decision to focus my training on Taiji and White Crane so that I could properly explore the ͞Ju͟  or  softness  that  was  present  to  some  degree  in  Karate,  but  so very  elusive.  I consider myself very fortunate to have gone through the journey in Karate that led me to the place I now  find  myself,  and  the ͞Do͟  (the  philosophy  of  the  way)  has  never  left  me.   My  path continues through practicing and teaching Taiji and White Crane, and I am very fortunate to have known and trained with Wee Kee Jin͛s guidance for so long.

https://www.taiji.org.uk/

Jacueline Ansem NLD                       

 I am born in 1959 in Utrecht Holland. 

As long as I remember I was fascinated by eastern Martial art. The oldes was the Water Margin of Liang Shang Poo. 

I had alway something with using the body, to feel happy. 

When a friend started te study Chinese, I had the possibility to come over to her place in Beijing. She organized a acupressure course in Hangzhou for me. And during this course, I was lucky to study Taiji and qigong, as relax moment. 

 This was the moment I thought yes Taijiquan is fitting with me. 

 When coming back I saw that there was a taijiquan teacher near to my place and I decided to follow his course Cheng Man Ching. (1999) 

After 3 years I started to take over lessons of my teacher. And I had the urge to understand more of the Taiji. Started with other teacher, from then also doing some push hands. 

In 2002, I met Wee Kee Jin and decided to follow his system. Because it was the first time I felt some energie and in quoting the classics I got the feeling that I could learn a lot. So Jin was from that time my principal teacher two week a year. 

A moment I decided to take myself even more seriously. And went for NZ. Jin his month camp. My head was spinning from all the informations. 

So back in Holland I started to go to a teacher more into this system Anneke van der Loos. And I (we ) had the luck that Paul Renall, started to live in Europe and was willing to teach 8 weekends in a year. He did this two years. He learned us diligently the Taiji short form and push hands. Later this became less weekends. 

At the end I can say that I’ve been 6 times in NZ. 

Did in 2012 instructors exam and in 2018 teachers exam. 

On weekly basis I give two or tree times lessons in the psychiatry, where I have to adap a lot! And almost all this years, I teach to a big or small group of private people. 

Together with two other qualified student of Jin, we took over the lessons of Paul Renall. And this year was our 10th anniversary; 4 times a year teaching short form and Push hand paterns to students of Jin, without regular teachers. 

During Haßfurt Push hands I wil teach my understanding. formed by, self training (l tranlated the classics in Dutch) teaching and having short experiences with other style teachers. 

The important thing in my opinion is levels of relaxation, and putting the classics in taiji work and waiting! all to gain more understanding and mastering the sticking, joining, adhering, following, don’t resist and don’t disconnect. What you need in partner work and eventually in “free” push hands. 

http://www.taijiquanlesamsterdam.nl/

Epi van de Pol

Epi started his martial art training in 1973, when he was 21 years old, with judo and then karate, jujitsu, kendo, iaido, aikido, kenjitsu and western fencing. Epi stopped after six years with these arts to continue doing only internal martial arts. In 1975 he began to train in tai chi chuan and has been teaching tai chi since 1979. For more details see “Interview the European Internal Arts Journal” 
In 1982 his first tai chi chuan teacher Kwee Swan Hoo who was a student of dr Chi Chiang Tao (student of Cheng Man Ching) started the STN (Association
Taijiquan Netherlands) to developing the level of tai chi chuan in Holland. Epi was a member of the board from the start and Chairman since 1984 till 2014. In this function Epi met many tai chi chuan masters and teachers in Yang- Wu- and Chen style. Epi was the president of the TCFE (Taijiquan and Qigong Federation for Europe)
from 1997-2000.In 2015 Epi was knighted in “de Orde van Oranje Nassau” for his national and international achievements in tai chi chuan.In 2002 after his divorce, Epi spent a sabbatical period of five years to spend totally on training tai chi chuan with Wee Kee Jin and Peter Ralston in New Zealand, USA and Europe, paid by renting out his house.The main influences in his tai chi are Kwee Swan Hoo, William Chen, Wang
Yen Nien, Serge Dreyer, Chu King Hung, Peter Ralston, Patrick Kelly and Wee
Kee Jin. All yang style and especially Cheng Man Ching’s short form. Beside the main influences he trained and interviewed a long list of Cheng Man Ching’s direct students like William Chen, Benjamin Lo, Liu Hsi Heng, Chu Hong Bing, Hsu Yee Chung, Katy and Ellen Cheng, Ken Vansickle, Natasha Gorki, Maggy Newman and some 20 more.Thanks to Rencontres Jasnieres and other international tai chi chuan meetings, Epi has been invited to teach in France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Scotland, Spain, Czech Republic, New Zealand and Israel.Epi has written numerous in-depth articles for Dutch, British, German and South African tai chi chuan
magazines. The last project is to publish a book on the interviews with direct students of Cheng Man Ching.
His main interests in tai chi are the internal principles, swordplay and pushing hands.
Epi is also a naturopath and teacher in homoeopathy and TCM (Traditional Chinese medicine).

https://www.epivandepolworkshops.com/

Dr. Herbert Winter

Jahrgang 1959, lebt in Fürth.

Erster Kontakt zu Tai Chi Chuan bei Toyo und Petra Kobayashi,

seit 1996 Schüler von Wee Kee Jin,

Instructor Taijiquan School of Central Equilibrium.

Was Tai Chi Chuan für mich ist:

Meinen ersten Kontakt mit Tai Chi Chuan hatte ich Anfang der 90er Jahre in Dietfurt. Eigentlich war ich zu einem Zen-Kurs gekommen, noch interessanter fand ich jedoch das Tai Chi „in den Pausen“. So wurde ich Schüler von Toyo und Petra Kobayashi.

1996 lernte ich Wee Kee Jin in München kennen. Obwohl ich bereits eigene Kurse unterrichtete, wechselte ich sofort in das Übungssystem von Huang Zheng Shyan, das mir noch effektiver erschien als das, was ich bereits kannte.
Schwierig war gar nicht so sehr die Umstellung im Unterricht, als vielmehr der Anspruch, die äußeren Bewegungen auch mit dem Geist auszuführen. Die Verbindung von Körper und Geist, die zunächst nur synchron läuft, soll auch „verbunden“ werden. Das europäische Denken trennt Körper und Geist, hier sollen sie zu einer Einheit werden, Körper und Geist werden Eins.

Ich übe und unterrichte den Yang-Stil in der Tradition von Cheng-Man Ching. Huang Zheng Shyan war Schüler von Chang-Man Ching. Wee Kee Jin seinerseits war langjähriger „innerer“ Schüler von Huang Zheng Shyan. Nach Huangs Tod gründete er die Taijiquan School of Central Equilibrium. Wee Kee Jin unterrichtet in Europa und Neuseeland.

In jedem Üben gibt es ein „perfekt sein“. Das ist der Wunsch, das, was man macht, mit Freude zu machen. Das, was ich als Anstrengung hineingebe, bekomme ich als Energie- und Freude-Geschenk vielfach zurück.

https://www.taiji-blog.de/