Grandmaster Shi Meiling (1953) has an impressive Wushu career. At the Beijing Athletic Institute she earned degrees in various styles like Bagua, Shaolin, Taijiquan and Hsing I. She was a trainer of the Chinese Wushu Team; one of her tasks was to find young talents. In the '80s Shi Meiling came upon the family of Wu Jianquan, the founder of the Wu style of Taijiquan, and was adopted as the last internal pupil of this style. She was trained by the daughter of Wu Jianquan, and was charged the task of passing on this style. In 1984, at the Taijiquan championships in Shanghai, she gave such an excellent performance of the Wu style that many taiji practitioners became interested. After leaving China in 1987, Shi Meiling stayed in the Netherlands for a year. During this period she taught a number of the 'older' generations, like Earl Blijd and Silvester Roos, the basics of modern Wushu. In 1988 Shi Meiling moved to New Sealand, where she's teaching Taijiquan, Wu-style QiGong and -for the young- Shaolin.

Bagua, Taiji & Taoism with Shi Meiling

On March 4, 1999 Grandmaster Shi Meiling visited Wushu Society Bao Trieu / Blijd in Groningen, the Netherlands. During the year that Shi Meiling stayed in the Netherlands (1987/1988) she taught a number of the 'older' generations, like Earl Blijd and Silvester Roos, the basics of modern Wushu; until then Bao Trieu's main focus had been on traditional HungGar. Now Shi Meiling was back for a short visit.
On March 4, Shi Meiling gave an introduction workshop in Bagua, demonstrated Wu-style Taiji, and held a short lecture on Taoism and its meaning to her. The participants reaction was unanimous; all were very enthusiastic, and would like to learn more. It's clear that Shi Meiling has a lot to teach! A review of an impressive event.

Introduction workshop Bagua

At the start of the workshop Earl Blijd (trainer of Bao Trieu) introduces Shi Meiling: a small, frail woman dressed in dark red Kung Fu clothing with golden fringes. She starts at once, and it immediately becomes clear that Shi Meiling is a driven martial artist that intends to make most of the available time. She's also clearly an experienced teacher.

First the warming up. A few relaxing excercises for neck and shoulders, then stretching excercises for the legs. They show that Shi Meiling is really as souple as the photo's suggest. And her humor comes through: hearing most of us sigh on a particular exercise, she turns around smiling: just keep practicing, and one day you'll get there� Then the introduction exercises for Bagua. This style belongs to the internal Wushu styles, but it is more hard/fast than taiji. Bagua's main characteristic is moving circularly, in a shuffling gait, with your arms and hands pointed to the centre of the circle. And that's what we're going to learn some basics of.

First breathing exercises: slowly moving the arms up and down in various ways. Until we arrive at a starting position that we can walk from: with the hands in front of our hips (fingers pointing towards each other, palms turned down) while moving straight forward, or turned outside at shoulder height as if carrying something (fingers pointing out, palms turned upwards). While moving: put one foot in front of you, bend the knee of the front leg and move your weight to that leg, pull your back leg underneath you and put it in front. While moving your leg, your foot should lightly touch the ground: don't loose touch, but don't push too hard either. Meanwhile watch the distribution of your weight: it really should be above the leg that you're standing on.

Then on to moving in circles. The arms are put in another position for this: the arm at the inside of the circle is at shoulder level, while the outside arm is put underneath, fingers pointing towards the elbow of the first arm. The upper body is turned: the legs follow the edge of the circle, but the arms are pointed towards the centre and that's where you keep pointing your eyes as well. With every step you turn your feet and upper body a little, so you keep pointing towards the middle. We also practice with each other. In two's, with the inside arms touching and moving in synch. It isn't that easy, since you need to stay tuned: pace, size and direction of the steps should correspond. And keep looking at each other, so your direction stays correct. Then all together in a large circle, with Shi Meiling in the middle. First the steps go slowly, then faster and faster.

Finally Shi Meiling repeats the most basic aspects of Bagua: keep 'sitting' on the leg that you're standing on, your foot sliding lightly along the floor while moving, and keep focused on the centre of the circle.

Demonstration Taiji Wu-style

Before the break, Shi Meiling demonstrates some Taiji: the Wu-style, in which the body is leaning forward rather than being kept upright as in the older Taiji-styles. First she shows the fist form: the first part very slowy, the second part full of accellerations and stops, alternated with flowing movements. After that a sword form, in which Shi Meiling mixes Taiji-techniques and Shaolin movements. The soft, rounded Taiji movements and fast Kung Fu techniques alternate. In both cases, the concentration with which Shi Meiling performs is obvious. She switches from slow to fast, from internal to external, with remarkable ease; a sign of the high level of her practice in both. And then those legs. Very beautiful in the sword form: lifting one leg to a standing split, then pointing the foot and lowering the upper leg slightly with a fast turn of the head and a stab of the sword� really a beautiful sight!

Taoism

After the break, Shi Meiling gives a lecture on taoism. Taoism means behaving natural, doing the right thing. To know what is right, you need to be in touch with the 'tao' inside of you. For Shi Meiling this term is interchangeable with for example 'soul' or 'spirit'; the actual word doesn't really matter. Each of us has it, we're just not all that aware of it�

According to Shi Meiling, humans exist of a physical body and the tao. A corpse still has eyes, ears and a mouth, but it can't talk or react: it's the physical body that is left over, the tao has disappeared from it. None of us knows when he of she will die; it may be tomorrow. Since the tao is the part of us that continues, that's the part that counts. Not your body, or your thinking, or your senses.

The tao is something to experience. It doesn't have a taste, smell, color, or form. You can talk about it, you can try to describe it, but those stay words. Shi Meiling compares it with the taste of water: you can describe this, but someone else will use different words and experience the taste in his or her own way. In the same way we all have our own perception of the tao. When you live from out of your tao, you can't really be hurt. Words don't touch the tao; it's the other parts of you (your thinking, your body) that can be hurt.

These days people often aren't really in touch with their tao. They're too busy in their heads, or keep being seduced by sounds or images, by what comes to them through their senses. As Shi Meiling says: you need to learn to inhabit your home, to be a proper house owner. When you intend to take care of your house, you need to be at home. When you're mainly outside since you're tempted by what is happening behind the window or the door, others can come to rob your house and you won't even notice. Only when you're at home, you can react properly. For Shi Meiling this is true for everything we're doing: when you're in touch with the tao inside you, you know what to do at any moment. It's just there, you don't need to think about it, it is natural. She gives the example of a punch: when your thoughts are elsewhere your punch will be off, it'll only be right on when you're there all the way, with all of your attention.

Another example is working in a group. When the group is doing well and all are concentrated in the right way, there will be an energy that facilitates learning. She mentions our introduction workshop Bagua; you could indeed feel that we were doing well. As a final statement, Shi Meiling gives us good advice: These days it is especially important to be like water inside. Water seems weak, but in fact it is very strong. Water can fill a square tank, but a circular one as well. Water comes high up the mountain, but also deep down in the valley or below. We have a lot coming to us from the outside world. When you react strongly on that ('wood to wood'), you only hurt yourself. But when your inside is like water, the outside force is dispersed and it can't really touch you.