Andy Bulka Tai Chi

Teacher and student of Cheng Man Ching style Tai Chi, in Melbourne, Australia.

Authentic Cheng Man Ching Style
"Western" Teaching Approach, health focus
Extensive Push Hands experience

About Andy

Andy has been practicing tai chi since 1990, and teaching since 2003. Contact Andy Bulka.

He holds regular classes three days a week, and has looked after classes for other cmc tai chi teachers whilst they are away on holidays etc. Andy has taught tai chi both privately and at Confest to classes of 40 participants at a time.

Andy Bulka's teachers were Andrew Barry, with occasional instruction from Bill Law (student of Master Hsu in Taiwan, who in turn was a student of Professor Cheng Man Ching).

Andy has participated in various Tai Chi conventions, tournaments and in 2000 went on a sort of tai chi pilgrimage in Taiwan at the 100th anniversary of Professor Chen Man Ching's tai chi tournament.

Classes:

Mangala Studios of Yoga & Creative Dance. 73 Grattan St, Carlton, Melbourne, Australia.
Wednesday Nights 6.30 pm

Magian Design Studio, Williams st. Melbourne City, Australia
Tuesday Nights 6.30 pm

Private classes: contact Andy on 0412-759186 contact abulka@gmail.com

Also available for Corporate Classes.
Have full insurance / public indemnity. Member Tai Chi Australia Association.

Links

Read my early personal student notes here. Note - my thinking has grown a lot since these notes were made.

My tai chi musings blog.

My funny Extreme Tai Chi website.

Join us on World Tai Chi day in Melbourne, Australia, every year.

Andy Bulka's software patterns website.

Andy's Cheng Man Ching Website Reviews

History of Tai Chi Chuan: Fascinating attempt at a History of T'ai Chi Ch'uan by H. Kurland. He talks about Yang Cheng Fu, and Yang style factionalism. He talks about how the Cheng Man Ching form fits into the big picture. I'm glad he says this: "Several of these new [Mainland China] forms are designed as competition forms and lack the essence of the more traditional forms."

http://www.statisticool.com/zmq.htm
Focus on Professor Cheng Man Ching - "Zheng Manqing is one of the most influential taijiquan practitioners in history." Lots of photos of him, including a very old photo where his face is identified in the large group photo and zoomed into and overlayed over his well known features - proving that its actually him!

Amazon.com: There Are No Secrets: Professor Cheng Man-Ch'Ing and His Tai Chi Chuan: Books: Wolfe Lowenthal: Amazon.com entry for these famous and well regarded books. A controversial comment by a reviewer fascinated me - he says: "it's common knowledge that Cheng taught select students a set of nei gong exercises that he found invaluable for taiji and even calligraphy. William C.C. Chen mentions receiving this training from Cheng in his book about taiji's body mechanics, and there was a group of Malaysian students (some of whom still teach) who got this training. Cheng didn't teach any of his American students this all-important nei gong (internal work) that is an essential part of taiji."; Is this true? What are these nei gong exercises? As CMC students, shouldn't we endeavour to discover what these exercise are?

The Tree of T'ai chi and here: An attempt to put together a lineage of CMC tai chi. Of course it is missing lots of mid and lower level teachers, but at least its a start. Pity it doesn't mention Martin Inn, one of the most important CMC teachers in my opinion (though I haven't personally met him). This site lets you add comments and corrections - maybe someone should let him know?

Tai Chi & Philosophy References: A collection of links to Cheng Man-ch'ing Tai Chi books, Taoist Philosophy, DVD and Audio CDs. It includes the method of obtaining Ben Lo's DVD.

Alexander Technique and Tai Chi by Stacy Gehman: The Alexander Technique and Tai Chi. I've always been intrigued by the connection between the Alexander Technique and Tai Chi. Here finally is an article about it. An intriguing passage talks about how to open up the hips: "When practicing a particular movement in the form that requires the hips to open, when reaching what is a comfortable degree of turning, test turning a little farther, and direct your attention to what tightens. Then ask yourself, "What has to let go in the muscles of my legs and buttocks to allow my pelvis to turn relative to my leg?" Or, "Where am I holding on that is making it difficult for me to turn?"; Interestingly, the author says (in a good natured way) that: "The Alexander work may even be more Taoist than Tai Chi. It has no form, no exercises to do, not even a set, prescribed process.". This links up with something I read one (I forget where) that said that tai chi was not the ultimate in the Tao, or "the way" because it has structure, whereas the true expression of Tao is beyond that. Good thoughts, however I'd personally say that tai chi is the best path to help us get there!

Tai Chi Chuan Articles: An interesting article entitled: A Guide for the Serious Student by Terry Li. He talks about the ?light touch? that is the hallmark of Tai Chi Chuan, and says that "if a form looks tense, disjointed, weak or collapsed, or maybe with added frills and curly hand motions; this person's attainment should be held suspect. Another principle the Classics tell us is that we should never use force. If you find a teacher who uses blocks, muscular force, tense and stiff angular movements in martial demonstrations; then you can be sure that this person does not understand the precepts of Tai Chi Chuan."
He also expresses an opinion on tournaments - not a favourable one!

Tai Chi Berkeley: Lenzie Williams: Tai Chi Berkeley is the school of instructor Lenzie Williams, a senior student of Laoshi Lo Pang Jeng (Mr. Ben Lo) since 1975. A proper teacher of the Cheng Man Ching style. I pushed hands in the corridor of a hotel with Lenzie in 2000 when I visited Taiwan for the 100th anniversary of the Professor's birthday. He was very good and skilled.

Taijiquan Journal (T'ai Chi Ch'uan Journal): Online Journal for tai chi - some free articles, though you have to pay for the rest.

CMC related Books

Cheng, Man-Ching and Smith, Robert. T'ai-Chi. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle;1967.

Liang, T.T. T'ai-Chi Ch'uan for Health and Self-Defense. Boston: Redwing;1974.

Lowenthal, Wolfe. Gateway to the Miraculous. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books;1988.

Lowenthal, Wolfe. There Are No Secrets: Professor Cheng Man Ch'ing and His T'ai-Chi Ch'uan. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books;1991.

Wile, Douglas. Master Cheng's Thirteen Chapters on T'ai-Chi Ch'uan. Brooklyn: Sweet Chi Press;1982.

Cheng, Man-ch?ing and Robert W. Smith. T?ai-Chi: The "Supreme Ultimate" Exercise for Health, Sport and Self Defense. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1967. Hardbound. ISBN: 0-8048-0560-1

Cheng, Man-ch?ing and Robert W. Smith. T?ai-Chi: The "Supreme Ultimate" Exercise for Health, Sport and Self Defense. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2004. Paperback. ISBN: 0-8048-3593-4

The Essence of T?ai Chi Ch?uan: The Literary Tradition. trans. & ed. Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo, Martin Inn, Robert Amacker and Susan Foe. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1985. Hardbound ISBN: 0-913028-67-3 & Richmond, California: North Atlantic Books, 1979. Paperback ISBN: 0-913028-63-0.

Cheng, Man-ch?ing. Cheng Tzu?s Thirteen Treatises on T?ai Chi Ch?uan. trans. Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo and Martin Inn. Hardbound ISBN: 0-913028-67-3. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1985. & Paperback ISBN: 0-913028-63-0. Richmond, California: North Atlantic Books, 1979.

Chen, Wei-Ming. T?ai Chi Ch?uan Ta Wen: Questions and Answers on T?ai Chi Ch?uan. trans. Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo & Robert W. Smith. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1985. Paperback. ISBN: 0-938190-67-9

More links at Tai Chi Health with Tricia Yu | Tai Chi Links

CMC Tai Chi in Australia

There is an interesting mix of CMC lineage tai chi schools in Australia. Professor Cheng Man Ching is at the head of the lineage tree with masters Lo, Huang and Hsu as some of his first generation students.

The schools in Victoria are of American-Taiwan lineage. The remaining schools are either of the lineage of Master Huang or Master Yap Seiw Ting.

Victoria

Andy Bulka Tai Chi, Melbourne, Victoria. Australian / Taiwan / American influence. <---- you are viewing this website now.

Middle Park Tai Chi, Melbourne, Victoria, Andrew Barry (retired) Martin Inn and Ben Lo influence / American influence.

Cheng Zi Taichi Study Association, Melbourne, Victoria, Bill Law. Master Hsu and Taiwan influence.

The Willow Tree School of Tai Chi & Chi Kung, Morgan Buchanan. Student of Bill Law.

Sydney

Australian Tai Chi Chuan Li Chi Hsiang School of health and Defence,     Yap Seiw Ting influence.
   Roman Czemaiwsky, student of John Hartley
   Darren Cox, student of Roman; dtwcox@yahoo.com
   Ray, email unknown.

Steve Frost , student of Wu Kwok- Chung :- sfrost@one.net.au

Tony Ward and Yolk. Tony's email: taijitao@yahoo.com Huang influenced.
Robin Chambers, student of Patric Kelley:- robtaichi@hotmail.com website is www.sydneytaichi.net Huang influence.
Sometimes practice at Bronte Park.

Qld

Wayne Hansen Yap Seiw Ting influence.
Website: Thai Keik Australia
Email: tennytigers@hotmail.com

Another associated email: richardnorton@smartchat.net.au

South Australia

Deborah Warland, Chief Instructor Thai Keik Australia, South Australian Branch. Yap Seiw Ting influence.
Senior student of Wayne Hansen.
Website: http://hometown.aol.com.au/BBullpitt/GreyLady4/index.htm
Email: dwarland@ozemail.com.au

John Hartley, Honorary Patron, Li Chi Hsiang Tai Chi Chuan School of Health and Self Defense, Yap Seiw Ting influence.
email: hartleyj@senet.com.au

Byron Bay

Roger Cotgreave's www.byrononline.net/taojones Huang influence.

New Zealand

Sing Ong Tai Chi. Founded by Yek Sing Ong, who started Tai Chi Chuan in 1961 and learnt directly from Huang Sheng Shyan for more than 30 years. Yek Sing Ong lives in Auckland, and his students teach Tai Chi Chuan throughout New Zealand. http://www.singongtaichi.co.nz/ Huang influence.

Any updates to the above - please let me know.