Taichi Chuan
A path to moving with freedom and awareness
"The secret is to let go, have trust and give up the notion that we must work hard for things to happen."
Wolfe Lowenthal
Upright, grounded, graceful, without unnecessary force, with a well-ordered mind, connected to the breath, moving from the centre. In this manner, Taichi, an internal martial art developed over centuries, promotes:
• Inner peace
• Increased awareness
• Allowing the life energy Qi to flow and be nurtured
• Economical, conscious, and natural movement / posture
• Experience of structural connections in the body
• Harmonious interplay of body, mind and energy
• General health and wellbeing
Different forces (gravity etc.) affect the space and the bodies within. In class, we consciously perceive and use these forces. The mind acts as a controller, comparable to a puppeteer. The puppet must function well and be handled with awareness, clarity, and inspiration.
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Jonas Althaus
The way I think, feel, and perceive, informs how I move, stand, sit and lie down.
For me, Taichi is a wonderful field which, amongst other things, offers access to intense contemplation of one’s self and the following questions:
• Why do I move the way I move?
• Why am I the way I am?
• What forces are at work within me, consciously or subconsciously?
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Career:
Movement person, performer, juggler and guest lecturer at the Academy for Circus and Performance Art, Tilburg (NL). During the movement theatre training (Scuola Dimitri 2001-2004) I learned the short form of Taichi Chuan in Yang style from Jean-Martin Roy. Then I consolidated what I had learned in self-study.
In 2011-2015 I learned the long form of the Yang style at the ITCCA (International Taichi Chuan Association) from various teachers: Master Chu King-Hung, Guido Ernst and Louis Mortelecque, et al. In 2014 I received the teaching license from Master Chu.
In 2015 I left the ITCCA and have been taking private lessons with Beat Hänsli, who opens new aspects of natural movement and Taichi Chuan to me. In various Taichi seminars, festivals and private lessons with various teachers (Epi Van de Pol, Marko Nedeljkovic) I learned and consolidated the following areas: stick form, push hands (Tuishou), 5 elements form and quick fist.
2020 Recognition of the Swiss Society for Qi Gong and Taiji as Taichi teacher.
More information about my other activities as a performer, juggler and circus teacher: www.jonasalthaus.net
“Learning Taichi is comparable to learning a foreign language. Everything is so strange at first. Through experience and practice, we learn pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary, grammar and intention until the language becomes so internalised that we no longer require effort to translate our thought, and we can express ourselves freely."
Jonas Althaus