Featuring such classics as:
Tape : 2 of Master Tan's pieces of demonstration music for both hand and sword forms.

After the journey, the relative shade and freedom of movement of the back garden were a welcome relief. Seven hours hurling along Wales' finest trunk roads from Huddersfield to Port Lion at the start of the 1999 heat wave had left me weary. Following some much needed refreshment, those of us who were camping pitched our ethnic 'nomad-style' accommodation (£39.99 from Millets) at the top of the garden before getting down to some t'ai chi.
Being a recent addition to the Zhong Ding community, I had only been taught by Craig Jackson at his Wednesday evening classes in Huddersfield. My first experience of Vinnie Jones as an instructor was instructive. I found that the differences in teaching style made me more aware of the areas for improvement in my form. Unfortunately, the humidity was unbearable, and in keeping with the Taoist principle of yielding, we gave up. The evening was frittered away with food, Guinness and conversation on the expansive
veranda, and the surrender to sleep was easy.
Saturday morning began with those frequent camping companions Mr Hangover and Mr Sunlight-through-the-canvas. (Mental note to self to kerb drinking!) After breakfast an excursion was undertaken to a local thicket to harvest staves for the staff form we would learn later in the day. I will long cherish the memories of two grown men hanging from a silver birch branch with a junior hacksaw, trying to persuade the branch and it's tree to part company. The staff now stands proudly in my shed.
Back to the garden. The first exercise was Iron Shirt Chi Kung. For 30 minutes, a small group of t'ai chi practitioners sat in a circle on the ground and held their breath, compressed their internal organs, stretched and breathed their way through a series of positions. The effect was a relaxation and mental preparation that proved vital in the hot hours to follow.
I was keen to try my new staff and was soon stumbling through the White Crane Single Ended Staff form. Whilst simple, with only 36 movements, the form is sufficiently dynamic to appear impressive, including sweeps, strikes and a drop of the weapon. Given that this was my first auxiliary form, I was pleased to have taken to the staff so quickly and to have learned a form in a weekend. I found myself easily able to control the amount of effort that I put into the practise. Initially I was throwing the thing around, putting
serious jing into the strikes, sweeps and blocks. I then started practising in a much more restrained manner, placing the staff in the various positions. Both approaches shed new light on my technique and suggested
improvements.
Saturday and Sunday morning over, a quick trip to the beach and dip in the sea (for me only) preceded the slog back up north to the Mountain Kingdom of Huddersfield. I went with a tent and came back with a staff form. Thanks are due to Vinnie, Diana and their helpers who made it the first big weekend of the summer. See you next year!
Giles Dring!