I am very religious about doing my taiji training early every morning as I was instructed to by my Taiji father Teo Ah Keng. I value my students because they keep me doing my training & ask all sorts of questions. Before I met Ah Keng I had done KunTao training with an old master who was also an acupuncturist. It was a small group of 8 students & I was the first non-Chinese person the teacher had ever accepted. We trained against sandbags & soaked our limbs in herbal medicine & I wasn't allowed to bathe until the next morning. A judge at Martial Arts tournaments & a member of the Singapore Teacher's Band who sat behind me in rehearsals advised me to change to Taiji. He said that hard stylists decline after 30 & people who did taiji kept improving & kept their health & flexibility to a great age.
I taught Ah Keng conversational English in an evening class in 1971. We did a swap after I moved out to Changi to teach at the ANZ High School. I continued to work with Ah Keng on improving his English & he taught me Taiji & heaps about Chinese philosophy & culture. In 1988 when I was in Singapore for several months training with Ah Keng & Mr Chua I was taken to meet my taiji grandfather. Ah Keng & his Taiji father Si Mok Tie both died in 1989. Mr Chua Joo Ban, who inherited Mr Sia's sword wrote to me saying 'as the eldest son' I could send money to Ah Keng's widow & 3 children to help them. My wife, Singapore born was stunned that I had been accepted completely into the taiji lineage. For a year I sent Ah Keng's family all my spare cash & I felt honoured to do so.
Over the years I have made a few more overseas trips to learn more taiji from various teachers. In 1992 I went to Jou Tsung Hwa's Taiji Farm near NYC having written to him for several years. I met my taiji uncle William Chen & trained with his push hands class in NYC & I met many other taiji instructors & saw their demonstrations. In 2000 I went with my wife & son to Beijing & Qingdao to see 2 of my students who were teaching English & learning TangLang with Bi Shifu. Michael & Matthew also took the time to learn 32 & 42 taiji sword which they brought back & taught us. M&M have returned many times to train with BiShifu in Qingdao. In 2002 I trained with the Chen Taiji master in Dublin & went to the Raja Yoga centre in Mombai. I stayed with John Painter to learn Bagua walking & other skills. In 2005 members of group of went to Qingdao with M&M & stayed with Bi Shifu & his father in a traditional compound in the LaoShan district. We learned Tui Shou with Pan Laoshi, Bi Shifu's Kungfu sister, who had been a professional martial arts teacher all her life having started learning with her father when she was 8 years of age. This year I went with Olly one of my seniors to train with Shi Mei Lin, Wu taiji in Wellington for a week. Currently learning Hao traditional 81 steps with Rob, a student of Peter Wu, Melbourne exBeijing.
For about 45 years I have read about & practised Yoga & Meditation. In the early 1980s I discovered the wonderful, comprehensive teachings of Swami Satyananda Saraswati & took formal instruction in Antar Mouna - inner silence from Swami Poornamurti & others. I continue to do Antar Mouna when ever there is a moment to hold focus. I have been to many taiji, yoga seminars & Buddhist meditation retreats over many years.
Music teacher, Voice Production & Singing Teacher & piano player. I still play piano regularly for community events & sometimes in pubs & clubs. Also taught many other subjects in my career including History, Geography, English, Creative Writing, Drama & Theatre. Played in the pit for many shows, have been a performer, musical director, conductor, stage hand & so on. I started learning to play brass when I was 9 & I played bassoon for many years. There is a short clip of me improvising on a technics electric piano on YouTube. Taught in NZ, Aus, Singapore, Papua New Guinea. Hypnotherapist & have attended many conferences with leaders in that field & in psychotherapy generally. Have an ongoing interest in anthropology especially in the Pacific & Aboriginal peoples. In the cultures of China & India. Love the bush & mountains especially Fiordland in NZ. I walked the Routeburn with full pack when I retired @ 60. My wife a Singapore born Indian is a linguist, Natural Therapist & an excellent cook.
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