This book is now available on Amazon. I’ve mine, go get yours today.

Due to the extended Safer At Home initiative, Fitchburg Senior Center offered me the opportunity to make a video of our weekly warm-ups and silk reeling exercises and because the space is small and tight. I’m only doing the stationary portion of the silk reeling exercises.

The video is available at http://factv.fitchburgwi.gov/CablecastPublicSite/show/12329?channel=2 as well as scheduled air times. I hope by the time we get back together in person again, we can add on standing corrections, moving steps , and do the forms together. Until then, please stay safe, protect not just yourself but others through social distancing, earning masks etc until we are sure our healthcare system is ready for us to get the coronavirus. It is not “IF” but “when” we will get the virus.

To all my taijiquan friends:

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, taijiquan friends from all over the world have sent us a lot of greetings of concern. Under the leadership of my government, the epidemic in China is now under control and the crisis situation is easing. Today COVID-19 has spread on a global scale, and each of us is just an ordinary member of the global family. Although we are not all able to be fighting the virus in the frontline like medical and hospital staff, we can all contribute to our country’s effort by protecting ourselves.

My friends, following the outbreak in my country, I wish to convey to you China’s valuable experience and the measures taken to prevent the spread of the contagion. You must treat the virus outbreak very seriously and protect yourself well!

1. Stay at home as much as possible

2. Wear a mask when you go out

3. Keep distance between people

4. Avoid crowds

5. Avoid touching things; don’t rub your eyes

6. Be sure to wash when you get home

7. Leave outdoor coats and shoes at the door

8. Avoid bringing the virus into your home

9. The house should be ventilated every day

10. Keep regular hours and eat a balanced diet

Remember to practice Taijiquan every day! Enhance your immunity!

Friends, please protect yourself. I look forward to meeting you again!

Chen Ziqiang

致我的太极拳朋友们：

自新型冠状病毒爆发以来，世界各国的太极拳朋友给了我们很多关心和问候，在中国政府领导下，我国的疫情目前已经得到控制和好转。现在新冠肺炎疫情在全球多国暴发，而我们每个人都只是全球大家庭中普普通通的一员，我们没有能力像医护工作人员一样冲锋在前，但是保护好自己，就是为大家为国家做贡献，我的朋友们，经历了我国的这次疫情，我希望把我们国家在疫情防护中的重要经验转达给你们，请你们一定要慎重对待此次病毒疫情，保护好自己！

1、尽量在家不外出

2、外出必须带口罩

3、与人之间有距离

4、搭乘电梯避人多

5、少触碰、勿揉眼

6、回家一定要清洁

7、外套鞋子放门口

8、防止病毒带家中

9、居家每天要通风

10、作息要按时饮食要均衡

一定记得每天要练拳，增强免疫力，朋友们，保护好自己，期待与你们再次相见！

陈自强

Hi friends: a very powerful message Kim Ivy received from Chenjiagou on WeChat, from Cui Bing, CZQs wife, CXX’s daughter-in-law. (WeChat has a translation feature).

Hello! Kim, how’s it going? How are you and your family? The news shows that the number of sick people in the United States has increased a lot. Are you all right? Hope all is well! This virus is too cunning, at present in addition to stay at home, there is no other way to resist, must not go out, do not contact with others. It took us many days at home to get this virus under control. Be sure to take care of your body! You must be careful! Try to avoid going out and practice tai chi every day at home, because China is in the process of treating and fighting viruses. Many health care workers and experts working on the front-line are advocating taijiquan to improve their immunity, enhance heart and lung function, and resist the invasion of viruses while treating the virus with medicine at the same time. Wish you and your family peace!

As we all stay at home for the people we care about, practice calming down through the standing posture longer.

Like I said many times, the first stage of standing is to calm the mind. Really, there’s nothing better to do now but learn to calm the mind. Once the mind is calm, you will find your body, you will find your center. Once you found it, let the mind rest there.

Your body will settle in and the weight in the upper body disappears as each muscle group find its equilibrium state and each part of the body stack on the next part and eventually the upper body just rest.

The quads are burning now, let it burn. Strength is building up. Strength is what we need now to prepare ourselves for the next phase.

So I have been asked if I would conduct online taijiquan classes and my feeling is that there are plenty of videos online already and while some are accurate and some are not, they all serve their purpose in getting you to move (if you are sitting and reading this, get into standing posture) … coordinated or not.

So … instead of sharing more videos, I decided this a a good time for Q&A. Shoot me questions on your taijiquan practice and I will answer them. Email me your questions.

While I can’t make corrections physically, I hope my verbal cues can guide you through. Another avenue I am pursuing is corrections through videos. You take a video of your practice, I use a coaching app to mark up where I think you can make corrections. You get the idea.

Until we meet again, keep practicing. This is a good time to practice calming the mind, you can’t go anywhere anyway. 🙂

https://vimeo.com/396275689?ref=fb-share

I am sad that I will no longer be able to get my corrections from this fine teacher in US. For the last decade or so, Grandmaster Chen Xiao Xing has been giving me pointers, making corrections and sharing stories from the village. If it wasn’t for him (and his son Chen Zi Qiang) my taijiquan will not have gotten to this level. Every move I make, I can still hear his voice, feel his touch and also that look when I make a mistake or ask a silly question. I’ve been complimented and I’ve been scolded. I would not ask for anything less. I will have to sought him out in Chen village now for that’s where he will be after this year’s tour outside China.