This weekend, I participated in a Chen-Style tai chi chuan weekend seminar followed by a private session with Chen Yingjun, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Wang’s son. These names may not mean too much to you, but they stand for the highest and purest skills that can be found in the Tai Chi world.
After training for over two years, completely isolated from any teacher or group, I was really looking forward to meeting Yingjun. Almost exactly ten years ago, I had already learned from his father Chen Xiao Wang in Germany, and so it was amazing to have this continuation of such incredible teachers. Yingjun started Tai Chi at 8 and had trained since then under his famous father. I guess it is not easy being compared with a living legend, but Yingjun seems to handle this in a very relaxed way.
During a lunch break, we talked about training and focus and Yingjun told me that he had been fully dedicated to Tai Chi training for the last few years. ‘Now I am almost ready to teach’, he said. Let’s get this right; Yingjun skills are already world-class. His movements and his power are so far developed that it is hard to imagine that there is any improvement possible. At least this is what I thought. ‘I still have to improve a lot; there is so much more possible’, said Yingjun, as if he had read my mind.
I was still thinking and looking at this smiling face. Here I was sitting beside a young, extraordinary man, who represented the exact opposite of our fast and superficial world. In his world, there is neither space for pretending to know something nor for people with a big mouth. You can either do it or not— you can’t fake tai chi. ‘I needed to work on my foundation, strength and perfect my skills before I start teaching’, Yingjun continued. ‘Tai Chi is like real life; without a good foundation, your skills stay weak, whatever you do. Focus on one skill at a time and train hard until you achieved it, then your skills will skyrocket’, he said.
