Master Richard Hamlin's School of Tai Chi Chuan was established in 1995, with both authority and encouragement from his teacher and master, Master Chu King Hung.
The School, under the tutelage of Master Richard Hamlin, enjoys a very long tradition of Tai Chi Chuan through the lineage of the Yang family and the style of Tai Chi Chuan that has been passed down from Yang Luchan; Yang Chien Hou; Yang Cheng Fu; Yang Shou Chung to the present time, to Richard's master, Master Chu King Hung.
Importance is placed on preserving, through practice, demonstration and verbal transmission, all of the central elements that constitute the traditional and historic Yang style Tai Chi Chuan School.
Teaching occurs at all levels, not just instruction in the physical skills and routines that constitute the Original Yang style of Tai Chi Chuan, but also the physical, emotional and spiritual development of the student. Students are also helped in the development of their mental faculties - the ability to focus and concentrate with greater resolve and strength and to achieve greater levels of self-control, self-awareness, personal empowerment with increased levels of self-confidence.
The students are also taught to take on the responsibilities that go with learning a martial art.
Integral to the learning of the traditional training method of Yang style Tai Chi Chuan, is learning to translate the results derived from the correct practice of these disciplines so that they can be applied to every aspect of their lives. Importance therefore is placed on this aspect of teaching so that Tai Chi Chuan becomes relevant at all levels of the student's day-today life.
Instruction at all of these levels provides optimum conditions for the student to develop evenly and achieve balance in what ever they do.
In addition to the student's development and control of themselves, and their own spatial awareness and boundaries, students are also assisted in the development of their sensitivity and awareness of others and of their environment.
Most important of all, the student will be helped in their efforts towards their eventual utilization of the Internal system instead of the External system, which is the common default to all other martial arts, sports and exercise systems. In this way the student makes the transition to the practice of Tai Chi Chuan Internally and not simply as an External exercise.
Class sizes are deliberately kept small so that each student receives personal tuition and correction to their postures and practice, directly from Master Hamlin. Students are taught by demonstration, with verbal instruction and with physical correction, according to their own requirements and specific needs.
Senior students will have the opportunity to work with Master Hamlin individually, through physical contact, as well as receive personal correction through all of traditional testing methods of each posture, pushing hands routines and applications. This is done so that the higher aspects of Tai Chi Chuan, which can only be transmitted through touch, can be imparted to the student and is core to the traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan School.
The higher aspects of Tai Chi Chuan will be taught by demonstration and through physical contact.
This is exactly as Master Hamlin was taught by Master Chu King Hung and follows the same traditional pattern the Yang family are known to have used. Each student, therefore, has the best possible opportunity to learn this system and gain the full benefits that Tai Chi Chuan can offer.
Strict observance of discipline in the school is cultivated and maintained in order to ensure a progressive and positive atmosphere exists, conducive for all to learn the many disciplines of this art.
The school student population comprises a diverse collection of people from all types of professional backgrounds, different faiths, both men and women, young and old, all of good nature and temperament all bound by the same willingness to follow these codes of discipline.
In the traditional way, the student is only taught the next lesson, when the previous lesson has been learned and can be shown to have been learned. Lessons are therefore paced in line with the student's abilities, so that no student is discouraged or overwhelmed with things to learn or pressured beyond their capability to achieve progress. In this way, the progress that is made is substantial with greater meaning.
Guidance through the Taoist principles and their relationship to Tai Chi Chuan goes hand in hand with the instruction and training in Tai Chi Chuan skills and disciplines. References from the classic Taoist texts will be integrated as part of the lesson content, to aid the student's understanding of Taoism and metaphysics.
Students will also have the opportunity to learn how Taoist principles can be extended and applied to their individual personal development and life journey.
Master Hamlin is one of the very few people who can claim to have dedicated himself solely, for over 23 years, to the study of Master Chu King Hung's line of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan, without diluting this knowledge with influences from other teachers. He is also one on the few westerners who can demonstrate the higher aspects of Tai Chi Chuan.
Through the School's high standards and strict adherence to the traditional way of learning, Master Hamlin offers the student a Tai Chi Chuan Form and training methods, as close to the essence of the Yang Style of Tai Chi Chuan as is possible. A Tai Chi Chuan line regarded with great respect by all who know Tai Chi Chuan and a Form which is recognizable worldwide for its unequalled quality, power and effectiveness in application. Master Hamlin's students now number into many thousands worldwide.
The successful applicant to the school will become part of an elite and highly respected school and part of a continuing tradition, something of which the many students, in the history of the School, have been proud to be a part - A school to which each student can contribute, through a spirit of hard work and dedication in their practice, with respect and value of their Tai Chi Chuan experience and by adherence to the school rules.
is there to remind the student all of these qualities to which they aspire and which should be the basis of all that they do.
Students are encouraged to remember what it took for the transmission of knowledge to be accessible to them. To acknowledge and respect the personal sacrifice, dedication, patience and generosity of those that have gone before, who have preserved this knowledge and made it possible for them to learn this system. Learning to respect one's ancestry is part of the student's personal development in Tai Chi Chuan.
In the wider context, being a student of Tai Chi Chuan is to be part of the shared history and international cultural activity of Tai Chi Chuan as embraced by all styles. It offers an inspiring experience, providing a true sense of connectedness with the rich diversity of the world's peoples and to be part of something significant, positive and uplifting for the human spirit.
Copyright © Richard Hamlin 2007
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About The School - Master Richard Hamlin School of Original Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan (London, UK)