Healing through Tai Chi
On my journey of Yuan Chi Tai Chi I have discovered internal therapeutic benefits in our style.
Whether it be push hands, our Dance, CMC or sword forms.
‘It’ starts with a connection that activates from within and becomes an undulating ebb of nurturing, healing, connecting flow that emanates from within and flows outwards as far as we are able to let it go or surrender. This energy is the all pervading power that physically flows through us and resides in us all.
Under the instruction and teaching of Master Ric Lum I have experienced the physical benefits and health benefits of this all pervading power or Chi energy. It works from within and is the true connection and meaning of the Chinese term ‘Tai Chi’.
I strongly recommend a class with Master Ric Lum to gain this experience.
sincerely
Ray Hampton
5/05/2015 10:23 PM
Ric didn’t explain much but.. what came after was totally amazing as John’s and my arms floated up without effort or muscle contraction and with a 90 degree turn of both palms, my arms would slowly descend back to the starting position. After achieving the arm lift for numerous times, I felt revived, and my vision became very bright, and I was able to see objects clearly into the far distance.
Ric is a brilliant teacher with such talent to analyse each individual’s capabilities and apply the relevant or necessary method to harness the correct posture for better understanding of CHI flow in each position of the Tai Chi form. Learning Tai Chi from him is so effortless and joyful that every session is treasured.
18-12-04
Master Michael Lee
Nam Fong Tong Long
Dear Sifu,
I appreciated our conversation today. It is – as always – very timely and reminded me of what is truly important, what is the “unseen” I am looking to bring forth. Thank you for following your path and for persisting with it…
Your journey is so very important. I want part of my material energy to flow to you.
There are so few people where conversations flow for me and I have decided that this is most likely because I’m trying to “dumb down” what I say in order to communicate with people. It just is too hard. I have decided to speak my truth a lot clearer. But like the butterfly story, it is a journey of becoming for me.
Gregor Ptok
18/12/2014 9:38 PM
Ric is a very precise teacher, which my joints, alignment and posture have all benefited from. Ric is also concerned with more than the outer ‘dance’ aspects of Tai Chi – which I appreciate.
The shifts, for me, have been more than physical. Beyond the dance, I have learned about myself.
Sharon-Smith
Comparison of Old to Ric;
With Ric I have a much better Flow and feel of my energy, internally my organs feel softer and I feel as though I am moving forward. No stop / start. Leave your ego at the door when training with Ric. Ric is able to simplify, or I find Ric is able to intricate. That is very helpful as you move along the winding river.
Cameron Verrills
*20-11-04*
I met Ric Lum Sifu many years ago in one of Chin Woo’s annual X’mas
party and found him to be very interesting and a knowledgeable person.
I’ve trained in Martial Arts since 1973 and also met many elite masters
over the years; Ric Sifu was the only one that got my attention even
though he did not perform a single form at the party. Around Sep, 2001
in Kensington, Sydney, I was teaching some classes in a Catholic school
and during my lunch break, Ric started sharing some of his Tai Chi with
my brother and me under a tall tree on a side walk. The experience of
this gathering has changed my way of viewing Tai Chi Chuan forever.
Ric started to instruct us to relax and sit in a Tai Chi stance, then he
told us to relax our shoulders and drop our arms forward; then in a
couple of seconds later, our arms raised up on their own as they were
carried upward by a pocket of air. My brother and I looked at each other
and thought what the hell was going on??!! We could repeat this action
for many reps, and the sensation was just wonderful. After the lesson,
my brother told me he could see objects far away and with very clear
vision. For myself I was pretty excited just to feel the Chi for the
first time.
A few years later I decided to begin some lessons with Ric Sifu, mainly
due to an accident that I had a few months ago, and I was looking for
some form of recovery of my health. Anyway, after a week of learning Tai
Chi from Ric Sifu, I could get the Chi flowing and lifting my arms
again; in fact, one day my right arm lifted up over my head for almost
45 minutes without any effort on my part. ?Pretty amazing stuff?, I told
my brother and my martial art students during a practice session in
Condell Park High School.
During a Gung Fu training session a month ago, I was teaching my
students about some Mantis forms, and after the training session, I was
playing with some moves in Ric’s Tai Chi form. One of my students
Godfrey came over to see what I was practising, and at that moment he
could feel my chi transmitting to him. Godfrey told me he could feel the
cool chi in his palms as I was doing the moves, It was pretty amazing!!!
Another student Tyson also felt this cool chi in his palms as he was
doing the Southern Mantis Sarm Bo Gin form; they both smiled and looked
at me as if I was an amazing person!
After that session, I began to experiment in lifting my students? arms
using this cool chi, and to my surprise I was able to do it. It got
better as I was practising more and more tai chi everyday, and now to a
point that I could feel their arms in the actual lift!! The chi in my
Tai Chi movements is now more and more connecting than ever; by that I
mean I could feel different chi flowing in my movements and also
discovering many of the hidden chi compartments within the form.
As for my Southern Mantis Tong Long and Choy Li Fut Gung Fu, well, I
have to say that I have taken a giant leap forward, by that I mean my
students could see that I have roundness and internal power even within
my linear Mantis forms. As for Choy Li fut, well those low stances feel
effortless to do now. This is one amazing journey of true Tai Chi, and I
must thank Ric for sharing his knowledge with me and my brother Michael.
Despite “dabbling” for a few months several years ago, I only truly discovered Yuan-Chi Tai Chi Chuan recently, joining Master Ric Lum’s class in January 2013.
As a scientist and an artist I felt drawn to Tai-Chi for its beauty, its diversity and a sense of curiosity and wonder.
So far, I have come to see Yuan-Chi Tai Chi Chuan not as a set of tasks and goals to be rushed through (of which life has plenty) but as a journey to be enjoyed at its own pace, and one which I am only just starting. This has proved a wonderful stress relief and an escape from the world of deadlines and commitments. Additionally, Tai-Chi is giving me a new awareness of myself, those around me and my environment.
Neelica Raffel
It has been some seven months now since I started coming to Yuan-Chi Tai Chi Chuan with Master Ric, (not-with-standing a near two month absence during Christmas and New Year!), and in recent weeks I have had the fortunate opportunity to attend many classes per week. The more I come the better I feel!
During this time I have had the most wonderful experiences of increased calm, an inner quietude and greater acceptance of what is. The journey to this place has not been without its hurdles, but I do believe completely that Yuan-Chi Tai-Chi has been instrumental in bringing about this shift in my mental, emotional and physical condition.
I began Tai Chi with a long-suffering hip injury that is considerably improved and causes me significantly less pain or discomfort. I have greater movement in that joint and improved balance and strength overall.
My every experience of Yuan-Chi Tai-Chi during class always leaves me in a better place and my mind can clear and be free of burdens, worries and distractions. It is meditative for me and I feel lighter and more peaceful at class end.
The greatest trap for me is to get “too much in my head”. The expression “go with the flow” has never carried greater significance than in Tai Chi. Once it comes to you, you cannot ignore it, you cannot deny it, and it will move you???..quite literally.
I was very pleased and impressed with your approach and the emphasis given to The Way.
Your approach certainly struck a chord with me and I’m very keen to learn and develop my connection with / awareness of Chi and make that part of the external movement which, in turn, I hope to control without using muscles. I guess it’s about learning to Dance as you say.
15/06/2011, Chris Crane
Stefanie Fleishhaker, Salzburg
Subject: Real Tai-Chi?
Met a (family)friend who has been doing Tai Chi for a long time already.So
we did it together once.
It was very interesting. The moves were quite the same, but also totally
different.
Hard to describe, but it was as if the forms were not clear, not
exact… maybe without purity. I cannot find the right words.
I understand now what you mean, when you talked to me about real Tai Chi
Chuan! As I saw this kind of Tai Chi, I knew what it meant to practise
“real” Tai Chi. 🙂
Happy greetings from Salzburg to Sydney,
Steffi
Subject: THANKS
Thank you VERY much Ric. I’m sure you know that you have made a big difference to my life and my health.
Brenda Hunter
Not too much to mention, except that today I received the first real
inkling how easily Ric could destroy me if ever he felt the need! A
quick “shoulder lean” towards my sternum had my heart miss a beat, leaving me
breathless and a little befuddled. This was with my arms crossed over
my chest as protection, and little real momentum and no “internal”
energy added on top of the blow. I am beginning to appreciate what Ric
means when he says that the people who came up with these gently lethal
movements must have been scary scary people.
Subject: RE: the only constant is..
Ric,
I just wanted to take this moment to let you know how much I’ve appreciated your teaching and guidance. I’ve learned so much from you in different ways, and in such a short time! I hope this wonderful learning process can continue somehow, even when I’ll be on the other side of the planet. I’ll really miss not only the classes, and the camaraderie with you and the students, but also your kind and big-hearted presence. Sydney is lucky to have you! (Or maybe I should say, you have Sydney…? 😉
A heartfelt thanks,
Amy Brookes
Subject: *Introspection+*
* what you were doing with Gregor when I arrived (and what I’ve watched you do with Holly)
* “follow your …” (that was amazing)