A PRIL / M AY 2023

Following the official launch of the ITQF
we are moving on to activate some of the
initial aims. Events are now being planned
to take place next year. We will be
engaging with Master practitioners and
senior instructors to offer courses and
events.
Please check the “EVENTS” page at
www.ITQF.com or see ‘Events Watch’ in
the Newsletter.
There are a number of articles in the
Newsletter that we hope you will find
informative.
If you would like to contribute, even
occasionally please contact Ged at
Info@ITQF.com.

The ITQF is a membership organisation for

any and all who are interested in the
practice and understanding of Taiji and
Qigong. Membership is open wherever
you are in the world.
Christmas Eve in
exchange is that in Japan, Chinese characters
are pronounced as they are used in Japanese,
so for example Tai Chi Chuan is Tai Kyoku Ken

Wakoshi and Wu Style is Go Shiki.

Japanese people, despite the high uptake of

Before travelling to Japan for the Christmas vaccines, are still taking the covid pandemic
very seriously and are all resolutely wearing
holidays I contacted the ITQF to see if there
were any Tai Chi clubs in the Tokyo area that I masks in all social situations, the vast majority
still even wearing masks outside despite
could visit and train with while I was there.
government advice that it’s now unnecessary.
After a bit of searching, our secretary David
All my interactions and training took place
Hackett suggested I get in touch with Mr
fully masked.
Yoshinori Koike based in Wakoshi - a big
suburb north of Tokyo. Although Mr. Koike’s
We arrived at the school hall for training in
school, the Taijiquan Friendship Association
good time. A beautiful space with a highly
(TFA), has over 10,000 students, the only
polished wooden floor typical of Japanese
contact we had for him was his Facebook
schools. Mr. Koike’s students including his
page. After a little further digging I found the
granddaughter (this club really is a family
TFA website and eventually an email address.
affair) were, in true Japanese style, incredibly
Mr. Koike kindly replied in person and straight
welcoming and excited to find out all about
away we arranged to meet at Wakoshi train
me and my travels. One of the students spoke
station at 12:30 on Christmas Eve, with a plan
excellent English which helped enormously,
to train from 13:00 to 15:00, and then to visit
the “kids who practice long fist” if there was and later the husband of another student
time. introduced himself as a professional
interpreter. He had been brought along
I had been in Japan just over a week when I specifically to help, showing an incredible
headed to Wakoshi. Sadly, my luggage hadn’t effort to make me feel comfortable.
been so lucky and was, according to Finnair,
still at Heathrow as far as they knew. So, I
turned up at Wakoshi station in the clothes I’d
worn on the flight 9 days earlier; no training
clothes or slippers (a word of advice, if you’re
6’4” with size 13 feet, make sure you take
some spare socks and some slippers in your
hand luggage when you visit Japan).

Mr. Koike met me on the dot at 12:30, and

greeted me with a gift of a couple t-shirts - he
also had a pair of slippers for me in the car. A
godsend! I reciprocated with some English tea
that had fortunately been in my hand luggage.
Despite my extremely basic and faltering
Japanese we were off to a good start,
managing to introduce ourselves and get a
little background. Mr. Koike is a long-term
student of Grandmasters Li Tian Ji and
Professor Li Deyin and has built the TFA from
scratch. I explained to him that I teach Wu Soon we were ready to start training. The
Family style and I’m a disciple of Grandmaster class, almost entirely more mature students,
Wu Kwong Wu. What I discovered in this basic was split in 2, some to practice Qigong and
the other to practice Yang long form with Mr.
Koike. After a gentle warm up we began from
the beginning of the form as the class was at
various levels. Interestingly the form is taught
using a counting system with each form
broken down into counts of 5 movements, not
unlike how we teach at Wu’s Academy
Bethnal Green.
After demonstrating then performing small
sections as a group, Mr. Koike started giving
corrections and it was at this point the
universal language of Tai Chi took over. My
poor interpreter jokingly told me he felt
redundant as Mr. Koike made the same vital
corrections as we do all over the world: tuck
the pelvis, raise the crown, drive the
movement from the hip, feel your root. As a
Wu stylist it was fascinating for me to feel the
large circles in the form whilst identifying the
same principles at the core of the movement.
After 45 min or so we had a short break and
chance for some more chat. It turned out that
Mr. Koike had been to UK once and trained
with Richard Watson and Faye Yip. We also
found time for the Japanese ritual of
exchanging meishi or business cards.
We finished training and bid our fond
farewells to the students, many of whom
telling me they hoped I’d be back for
tomorrow’s session. We jumped in the car
and dashed across Wakoshi, Mr. Koike telling
me en-route he has a 95 year old student who
still trains every day.
Any idea that this club is focused on the
elderly immediately evaporated when we
arrived at the next gym in time to catch the
end of the kids Wushu lesson. Amazing group
choreography and energy from kids, some as
young as five. Some of the teenagers were
members Japan’s national Wushu team so as
you can imagine the standard was impeccably
high. I was introduced to the whole group,
and, as it was Christmas Eve, the kids soon
dubbed the big white European Santa Claus…
Members of the Wushu group stayed on for
Mr. Koike’s Tai Chi class. Unlike previously,
after a brief warm-up the focus turned to
stretches, first using the wall bars and then
dynamic routines based on kicks from the
form progressing across the hall. These young
people displayed an incredibly high level of
flexibility and strength under Mr. Koike’s
instruction - I saw stretches I didn’t know
were possible. I’m introducing at least one
into my own stretching regime, although I
think others may be beyond me!
Then began instruction in the Yang family 24
form, again in sections from the beginning
with counting and corrections, all with the
same degree of detail and focus on basic
principles as with the first group.
Soon it was all over, and, after chatting to a
few of the students (discovering one had been
to Blackpool as she was a ballroom dance
costume designer) I was whisked back to
Wakoshi station. The overall impression of the
day was of generosity, not just towards me
but to the class in general and between the
students themselves. Everyone was highly
engaged in a very positive atmosphere
regardless of age or level. I couldn’t work out
whether the absence of pushing hands was a
covid restriction or that these sessions were
scheduled to focus purely on the form.
I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Mr.
Koike and his wonderfully welcoming students
for a fascinating day and I hope we can keep
in touch and extend our Tai Chi family further.
Article written by Jono Podmore – Wu
Academy, Bethnal Green
ITQF - Growing Taiji and Qigong through
collaboration
Tea, Qi & Me
This corresponded for me very nicely with each of
the healing sounds and organs from the Health
Qigong set – Liu Zi Jue.
What is the link between Chinese Tea, Health
Qigong and Meditation? They are all part of my
workshops – Tea, Qi & Me. I started these
workshops in 2020 and I am currently working
out how to move these forward but they are
different from anything else I have done before
and it just shows the options and variations that
can take place with Taiji and/or Qigong at the
core.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am a huge

tea drinker and when ATTIC (All The Tea In China)
Teas contacted me to set up a stall at an event I
was running, little did I know the journey that
was about to begin. Both myself and them have
moved on in those years in our own way but the
common thread between us is the tea. I took part
in their tea’cher training at the beginning of the
first lockdown and I had already had an idea of
how to integrate tea and Health Qigong into a
workshop following a Tea Circle that ATTIC Teas
had run with me and some of my students.
Over the year with help and support from Anne
and Ric (of ATTIC Teas) and by doing some
sample workshops at online events I launched my
new workshops in March 2021 as we entered the
Spring. They were delivered online with the hope
that face to face sessions would take place later
in the year. The online sessions were successful
and worked well for the students. As yet I have
yet to deliver them face to face however from a
practical point of view I may decide to continue
online.
ATTIC’s aim has always been to re-sacredise the
tea during the selection, the brewing and the
drinking of the tea. Tea provides us with energy
and ways of healing, just like Health Qigong does
and both work on the Five Element Theory. They
have six teas – green, black, pu’erh, white and
oolong as well as a Blend (a mix of all five teas).
Our first season was Spring/green tea and the
Liver movement from Liu Zi Jue (Six Healing
Sounds). The green tea is introduced and tasted
followed by the Health Qigong practice then a tea
meditation. Following that there is a sharing
circle in which I split the group into smaller
groups to share their experience of each of these
aspects. I created six workshops in total. The rest
of the sessions were spaced over the year to
coincide with the seasons.
Over 2023 I will be looking at ways to create one-
off sessions and to deliver another course,
probably online. There are so many possibilities
and this year I will be working with Liverpool John
Moores University to explore the different
options for taking these workshops to a wider
audience.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the
workshops, then please contact me via email:
angela@angelataichi.co.uk
Article written by Angela Howarth, Deyin &
BHQA Instructor
ITQF - Growing Taiji and Qigong through
collaboration
Events Watch in 2023
World Tai Chi Qigong Day 29th April 2023
The ITQF and Deyin Taijiquan Institute in collaboration are pleased to announce this Qi and Spirit
Festival as a special celebration of the World Tai Chi Day event. This special event will be offering
fantastic health tips as well as physical wellbeing and mindfulness techniques to hundreds of
members and Tai Chi enthusiasts throughout the UK, Europe and the World.
The festival will consist of short sessions and talks, conducted by highly qualified instructors and
experts. No charge for ITQF and Deyin members. Non-Members welcome at a higher rate. In person
celebration in Telford and Zoom Online.
A detailed Programme will be available in due course, why not reserve your place first and see the
exciting programme unfold to you later!
We anticipate that this event will be extremely popular and get booked up very quickly, we strongly
recommend members and enthusiasts to book early to avoid disappointment.
https://www.itqf.com/index.php/events/itqf-events

Qigong Global Summit

Master Faye is pleased once again to be working with our partner organisation Shift Network,
taking part in the free online Qigong Global Summit! Delivering an experiential session to
demonstrate Ba Duan Jin Qigong
I’m honoured to be among more than 35 leading Qigong teachers, masters, and doctors in this
year’s Qigong Global Summit,
including Daisy Lee, Deng Ming-Dao, Master Chunyi Lin, Lee Holden, Lindsey Wei, Grandmaster
Mantak Chia,
Master Mingtong Gu, Teja Bell Rōshi, Mark Tanaka, and many others.
RSVP here for the Qigong Global Summit — at no charge
https://shiftnetwork.infusionsoft.com/go/qgs23a21871/a21871
Seasonal Qigong & Taiji (United Kingdom) – series of
events January to October
A set of 6 full day workshops spaced out during the year exploring the seasonal influences elements
within Qigong and Taiji Quan. Included is in-depth advanced seasonal information and how to apply
this to your daily life. The inner wisdom of these traditions are thousands of years old, the
movements and practices are constantly changing from generation to generation and yet everything
is directly applicable, right now, to modern life in the 21st century.

For more information contact: sue@suewoodd.com or message 07788 584746

Sue is a Level 5 Master of the International Taiji Qigong Federation

Wu’s Tai Chi Chuan Academy: 4th – 8th May

Five-day residential course open to members and non-members of Wu’s Tai Chi Chuan Academy

Full information and pricing can be found on the website

https://www.wustyle-europe.com/residential-courses

International Event (France): Weekend May 13th-14th

International Taiji Kung Fu Fan Workshop

Taught by Mdme Faye Li Yip and open to all

Faye is a Level 5 Master of the International Taiji Qigong Federation

Located in Bordeaux, France

Email Claude Bergeat to get full details at - dragondejade33@gmail.com

The London Competition for Traditional Tai Chi

Chuan: Sunday June 11
Hosted by Wu’s Tai Chi Chuan Academy, Bethnal Green, London

For more information follow www.wustyle-europe.com/the-london-competition

Watch out for another Judges Seminar the day before.

Deyin Taiji & Qigong Summer Retreat: 11th – 14th
August 2023
Hosted by the Deyin Taiji Institute
Lilleshall National Sports Centre
Full details available at
https://deyin-
taiji.com/yipevents/event_info.php?page_alias=deyin_summer_residential_retreat_2023

Any views or opinions expressed by the Contributors to this Newsletter are

their views and opinions and are not meant to be interpreted as the views or
opinions of the ITQF.