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The Early Years: Teaching, Competing, Chen Village And My Book
I was only 20 when I started to teach Tai Chi. I had been training for two years prior to this. The first year I practiced 4-5 hours a day, the second, 10 hours a day. It was hard work and intense, but it was well worth it. At that time, I would often practice outside the Tuen Mun post office. On one of those days, a secondary school student named Yiu saw me training and he asked if I would teach him Tai Chi. He became my first student. A few days later while I practiced in another location, two more people asked if they could join me. That was how it all started. Despite the 2 year training period, the number of students grew quickly. It was only by referral, friends introducing friends. I was so surprised by this!
There were 10 students. I taught them the old and new form of Tai Chi. I pushed them hard. I had them doing the low horse stance where they dropped their hips to knee level then I had them move from side to side (weight transformation practice) for 30 minutes. I added 15 minutes of still postures, a total of 45 minutes of practicing the low horse stance! Everyone worked hard and they perspired a lot! They were definitely some of the best students that I ever taught.
At that time I was also competing in international competitions in China. These were very large gatherings, up to 5,000 competitors would showcase different styles of Tai Chi.. The games were divided into different categories, Tai Chi form demonstrations, short weapons, long weapons and push hands. About 120 people competed in the Chen Style Tai Chi category, this included Masters from Hong Kong. Although I had only been studying for 2 years, I was ranked number 11! I had scored higher than many of the Masters who had been practicing for much longer than me.
While in my 20’s I also started to train in Chen Village, the birthplace of Tai Chi. In -10 degree weather while everyone else slept, I would wake up at 5am to practice the horse stance for 3 hours. I practiced moving my hips up and down, left to right until I was exhausted. Then in 2006, when I was 25, I spent 2 years writing a book about Chen Style Tai Chi.
Even now my passion for Chinese martial arts only grows. I wake up every day and think about how fortunate I am. As I reflect back I am always grateful that fate and hard work brought me to where I am today. Kung Fu was my calling.