As most of you know Embrace The Moon was honored this past weekend to host Chen Family 19th Generation Lineage Holder & Standard Bearer, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang on his first trip back to the US in 4 years. He only made four stops and we were thrilled to be not just one but the largest one! We had well over 90 people in attendance over 3 days, with a record breaking 72 on the floor Saturday morning. With any other teacher I would have been nervous about that many people in only 1400 square feet, but not Grandmaster! He is both Taijiquan and Spatial Organization expert. It was a fabulous workshop!
We were all very fortunate to have such an intimate experience with him in our own town. His workshops in China have hundreds of people now and even we disciples rarely have a chance for more than a handshake. Everyone received instruction, correction, and the most valued, demonstration. All with the intent to "make clear." Grandmaster was, as always, gracious and in great spirits, encouraging all of us to "relax," "calm down," and "keep good posture." His voice & presence conveys these instructions as the best invitation you could ever receive and one you cannot refuse! We all gained a great deal from our experience and will mine the lessons for years to come.
In addition to the honor of hosting GMCXW in my school, I also had the pleasure of hosting him in my home. For one week, I got to live with the Grandmaster! He is a lovely guest, very funny, personable and with great manners. And he cooks! After a big shopping extravaganza at Uwajimaya, Grandmaster takes over the kitchen duties. His recipes are simple and nourishing. Squash soup is his favorite and by the way, he says our region has the best squash this side of the Chen Village! Everyday we enjoyed his special soup for breakfast: 2 types of squash, long cooking oatmeal and my personal favorite, rice balls! Over the years he has researched his personal recipe as one might imagine one of the world's great Martial Artists would do! He knows just the right water temperature, the right timing for adding the ingredients and how long it all needs to cool before eating.
The most interesting ingredient of his soup though was not the delicious regional squash, it was his Standing Meditation while the soup was cooking. Each and every time Grandmaster was in the Kitchen, whether it was for soup or for tea, while he waited, he Stood. Yes, he also Stood at other times, sometimes for 45+ minutes, including dantien circles, hip circles and so on, but it was these frequent and shorter Standings that really caught my attention. We Taijiquan teachers are always encouraging our students to just do a little bit every day. Indeed! It is also true for the Grandmaster!
Grandmaster CXW just turned 70. He looks fabulous and moves with ease and grace. In fact our weekend workshop and my week with him was woven with many conversations and examples about Taijiquan and Qigong and aging - including him showing us one of his students who is 94 years old. She has one of the most significant practices I have seen, started not when she was 7 but when she was 59 after a serious fever almost killed her. The doctors "wrote her off."
GMCXW often used the term "circulation situation." The more I thought about this, and observed him in his daily life, the more I understood his frequent habits of working with his internal circulation. And truly, we all know stagnation is the root cause of aging poorly. So for me, the magnificent demos and rich, deep form corrections were incredible but the most powerful aspects of the week were observing his smaller habits and knowing they are accessible to Grandmaster and beginner alike. Truly, Taijiquan and Qigong need not be big deals in our life, they simply need to be a part of our everyday life.
