www.Longfei-Taiji.co.uk	Longfei Taijiquan Association of Great Britain
		Longfei Newsletter Volume 7 Issue 1

The Opening of the International Institute of Dao Yin Yang Shen Gong

Biarritz is the home of Association Kunming, a thriving centre of Dao Yin Yang Sheng Gong, which has been host to Professors Zhang Guangde and Hu Xiao Fei on many occasions.

Professor Zhang is so appreciative of the work of this non-profit making organisation that he asked for its help in realising his long-held dream of establishing a school to act as the focal point for Dao Yin Yang Sheng Gong in Europe.

The result was that in October 2005, the opportunity to train in Dao Yin Yang Sheng Gong in Europe was enormously improved when the International DYYSG Institute opened in Biarritz.

Professor Zhang's intention is that the Institute will be unique in Europe in that its programme will cover the whole of the DYYSG system, the teaching will be exclusively by the Professor and all assessments - where appropriate - will be carried out by him. In practice, it's even better than that. Working with Professor Zhang is a special experience in itself, but while at the Institute he is supported by his nephew Jian Zhang and professional colleague, Doctor Zhu Miangsheng.

Jian Zhang has worked exclusively with his uncle for several years now, and in the tradition of Chinese families, he is being groomed to succeed him in due course as the principle instructor of DYYSG in China. In Biarritz, Jian Zhang's role is to demonstrate the sequences, and it would be difficult to imagine anyone being able to do them better.

Doctor Zhu Miangsheng is one of the most accomplished and experienced teachers of Traditional Chinese Medicine in France. Chinese (obviously), but with excellent French, her translations and further explanations of Professor Zhang's teaching add a whole new element to the experience. She is President of the European Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Initially the Institute will run for three years, operating for two weeks twice a year, in April and October. Each fortnight is arranged as a series of modules, each one based on a number of three-hour units. Participants may take as few modules or as many as they wish, but only those who take the entire course (and it's still not too late to begin...) will be assessed by Professor Zhang and - if successful - awarded the qualification of "international DYYSG teacher". All participants however, are provided with a "passport" in which their attendance at their chosen seminars is recorded.

The general organisation is straightforward - six hours a day at the weekends, three hours each evening on weekdays, with one rest day per week. With such a structure, intending participants would do well to look upon their visit as a working holiday, as you will have plenty of time to relax or to enjoy Biarritz, Bayonne and the surrounding countryside. In October the weather was so good that people were able to spend time on the beaches, even swimming in the sea! I had a wonderful time between modules visiting some of the small villages in the foothills of the mountains, and even managed a trip across the Spanish border.

As an added attraction for participants from England, anyone who is currently teaching - dao yin, taijiquan, qigong etc - and who wishes to join the English DYYSG Association, will be recognised by the Association as an accredited teacher in the forms they have studied with Professor Zhang at the Institute. Accreditation lasts for three years, and for those already accredited in a particular form, that accreditation will automatically be extended for a further three years in the light of their attendance.

So that's how it's all set up, but what is it actually like to participate? In a word - great!

Professor Zhang with Doctor Zhu Miangsheng (right), President of the European Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who provides excellent translation and explanations

When I moved into my house in France in 2001, I had no idea even of the existence of Association Kunming, and, coming from Jersey, Biarritz itself seemed an immense distance away. In fact, it's only a three-hour drive, so I have found myself by pure chance on the doorstep on what is probably the best dao yin teaching in the world.

So, on 22 October of last year, I moved into the small country gite that was to be home for a fortnight, and the next morning found me getting hopelessly lost trying to find the venue, even though I'd been there several times before.

The Larochefoucault Sports Hall is a huge purpose-built facility, and it needs to be big, as the average class size for the Institute is more than 60. It is situated just a few minutes from beach and shopping streets of Biarritz, and many of the participants who had travelled to be there were able to walk to the hall from their hotels.

As I have come to expect from the French, the welcome from the local participants is very warm, and the atmosphere in the hall is friendly and reassuring to visitors such as myself, and although I am (currently) the only participant from outside France, people have come from every comer of the country to take part. One man, so keen to work with Professor Zhang, has flown from Lyon and will return home and fly back again during the course of the fortnight, making a total of over 4000 kilometres - that's dedication for you!

It was wonderful to see the Professor again. Many of you will know that in recent years, his health has not been good, due mainly to an inherited blood condition and involvement in a serious traffic accident. However, when we met again in April, I was delighted to see that he had every appearance of having returned to his old self, and it's certain that I ended the fortnight a lot more tired than he did! Apart from some limitations to his movements caused by the old traffic injury, he was as vigorous as when I first met him more than 12 years ago in China.

In the course of the two weeks, we covered the following modules:

"Ning Shen Lian Yi Tiso Xin Gong" (exercise to Calm and Concentrate the Spirit and Regulate the Heart)

"Shu Jin Zhuang Gu Gong" (DY to benefit the Locomotive System - Original Standard Form)

"Shu Xin Ping Xue Gong" (DY to benefit the Cardiovascular System - Original Standard Form)

"Yang Xue Bu Qi Yi Shou Gong" (Nourish the Blood, Tonify the Qi to maintain long life),

"Yi Qi Yang Fei Gong" (DY to benefit the Respiratory System - Original Standard Form

"Yin Ti Lin Rou 13 Shi" (13 Stretching Exercises)

"Ba Duan Jin" (8 Rolls of Brocade)

"Yuzben Bu Yuan Gong 2" (DY to benefit the Urogenital System 2nd Form)

"Yin Yang Wuxing Qi XueJin Ye" (The theory of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements and the Organic Liquids).

Obviously a demanding programme, but - because of the teaching approach and the organisation - not an exhausting one.

By his own description, Professor Zhang regards the Institute as his "European University", and his teaching reflects that. As those of you who have worked with him before will know, normally the main concentration of the Professor's seminars is on correct practice of the movements. This is as one would expect, when time is limited and most participants are new to dao yin. When time allows, Professor Zhang enriches his work with cultural references and general theory explanations.

For the Institute the level and approach are quite different. Naturally, the main emphasis remains on the movements, without which the benefits of the qigong cannot be realised, but now the theory and the cultural richness are built into the whole process and occupy about a third of the time. This allows for a full explanation of the general theory relating to any particular set, as well as detailed descriptions of how each exercise actually works. At my recent seminar in Hertfordshire, I attempted an extremely pale imitation of how the Professor works in Biarritz. The positive feedback prompts me to say, "If you liked that, get yourself a taste of the real thing!"

The impressive thing is that, in spite of this rather academic sounding approach, all levels of student, from absolute beginner to advanced instructor are well catered for. For example, one of my own students, a relative beginner, was so enraptured with his first seminar that even though it entailed over 400 miles of travelling, he came back for a second unit. At the same time I was having my own knowledge base and teaching approach transformed.

In addition to the Professor's extra emphasis on theory and action, we have the added contribution of Zhu Miansheng. Her translations are clear and precise, and frequently she elaborates on Professor Zhang's explanations with further detail from Traditional Chinese Medicine theory.

Doctor Zhu also makes a valuable contribution of her own to the course with lectures on the fundamental philosophical principles which underpin TCM. For the first session she covered Yin and Yang, the Five Elements and the Organic liquids - astonishingly, she gave her two, three-hour lectures with no notes!

At this point, you may be thinking, "That's all very well, except I don't speak French". Well neither do I, not really. In fact, I now have enough French to get by and to understand most of Zhu Miansheng's translation, but when I did get lost, there were several people available to help me out. As I was the only foreigner, there were no special arrangements made for me other than to make sure that I knew who to turn to if I needed help, but the Institute has geared itself to being able to be what the Professor wants it to be, namely, an international organisation. Thus, there are facilities for translation into English and Spanish as well as French. If, as I hope, at some point I am not the only English speaking participant, then we will be assigned our own translator.

In addition to the teaching, each seminar is supported by a book, containing all the descriptions of the movements and the theory explanations. These books are in French, but as an added incentive, if any member of the English DY Association attends a seminar and buys the book, I will provide them with a translation free of charge.

So it's there for the asking - superb teaching, excellent demonstrations, enlightening explanations, first class facilities, friendly company and a great setting. To take part in the next, or any future session, either contact me by email chunufu [[AT]] infonie.fr or go directly to the Institute Online

Mark Atkinson

Longfei Newsletter Volume 7 Issue 1 Table of Contents