THE PRACTICE OF TAIJIQUAN IS A DAILY JOY
Professor Javier Galve
a professor of computer science and a teacher of Taijiquan
I attended three Chi-kung courses with Sifu Wong before contacting him for a Taijiquan course. His Taijiquan web page was the spark that lit up my mind. Taijiquan as a martial art or as a way of developing internal force had been merely theory and nothing else for me. I felt for a long time that my Taiji had been lacking something like that.
I took advantage of one of his visits to Spain and phoned him. Sifu scheduled a ten-day course in Malaysia and we went ahead with it in summer(1998). Once in Malaysia, I had one of the most profound experiences in my life. Besides the impact of such a beautiful country, the teachings of Sifu Wong and the knowledge that he gave me turned around my previous eight years of Taiji practice.
The sessions consisted of hard work. The first days, we spent some time correcting the stances and the Taijiquan patterns that I had learned incorrectly. Sifu pointed out that my back was bent and it was true that I frequently had back pains (I had the beginnings of scoliosis).
Every day, after the Taiji form, Sifu let the Self-Manifested Chi Movement work in my body. I felt a "healthy pain" in my back and in my legs. I particularly remember one session when I spent about one hour in a very special state of mind. I passed through various stages. My body moved in circles at first and then forward and backward. After that, I began to feel like a snake, and I even saw internally (don't ask me how) the point in my spine that was damaged.
Javier and Sifu Wong's son, Wong Chun Nga, after a sparring session
Through the gift that Sifu has, he passed to me “from heart to heart,” as he says, the knowledge and ability to clean chi blockages using Taiji to tap cosmic energy and how to see Taiji as a meditation technique. Because of that, I see Taiji as a way; a path to develop a “chi sensibility,” which is like saying a “life sensibility.”
After yin always comes yang. That is a wisdom message for daily life. Taijiquan makes every day, every time of practice and every movement a different experience. “Open your heart” was the phrase he told me at the beginning of the training session every day. Feeling his advice, the practice of Taijiquan is a daily joy and that is something for which I shall always be grateful to Sifu Wong.
Madrid January 9th, 1999
Javier