Academy of Tai Chi and Wu Shu

Instructor

Instructor

Typical Class

Meet Students

Schedule

Wu Shu

Sales

Sifu Howard Shing Yuen Chuck, or Sifu Chuck as he is commonly called, was born in the year of the Dragon in southern China. He began his Chinese martial arts practice at age 5 in Wan Jie. After further study in Macau, Sifu Chuck came to the United States and continued studying in Chinatown, San Francisco. Along the way, in addition to Yang, Chen, and Wu style Tai Chi, Sifu Chuck learned Hsing-I, Pa Kua, Southern Style, and Wu Shu. Sifu Chuck has been the Head Tai Chi Instructor at the Academy of Tai Chi and Wu Shu since 1990.

Push Hands Sifu Howard Chuck Sword Grandmaster Joe How Chuck and Sifu Chuck Brothers. Sifu Chuck Brothers practicing martial arts in front of a Temple. Sifu Chuck Brothers and Tai Chi Group in the 60's. Sifu Howard Chuck Sifu Howard Chuck Sifu Howard Chuck

Sifu Howard Chuck was the National Tai Chi Grand Champion in 1989, 1990, and 1991, entering as an advanced student in 1989, and as an instructor in 1990-91.    He had been the Tai Chi Instructor at Stanford University for two years since 1996. He had taught in the West Valley Chinese Language School, Nueva Middle School, different corporations, and many different sites for private students.    As he teaches Tai Chi, Sifu Chuck conveys the subtleties of each style, what he calls the "flavor": the continuity and softness of the Yang, the rhythmic explosiveness and quietude of the Chen, the centered and focused precision of the Wu. His teaching style emphasizes individual attention and a focus on the details and nuances of the form. Martial applications of the forms are discussed, since they inform the timing, balance, and spacing of the movements.

Photo taken before El Niño Photo taken after El Niño!

Sifu Chuck emphasizes Tai Chi Fundamentals: Feeling the weight shifts, turning the body, not just moving the arms. Feeling the circles in the belly radiate outward to the limbs. Feeling the roundness, the connection between the palms, the arms and the legs, the mind and the body as it moves through the openings and closings of the form. Relaxing the shoulders, maintaining the hand form, sinking down. No wasted motion. Sifu begins by breaking the form down into simple movements, adding nuance and complexity in reviews, once the student is familiar with the basic elements. His eye for the raised shoulder or tense wrist will catch many mistakes before they become ingrained. But the Solo Form is only part of Tai Chi practice; stretching, pushing hands, and standing forms are just as critical for a full understanding of what the art has to offer.

Some Quotes:      "I started teaching after I won the first tournament (National Championship), because I have people asking about it, they like my form, they like the way I interpret the movements. So I begin to have this feeling, I have a certain skill level, I should see if I can teach, and do something different. It was a good choice. I learn a lot more by teaching, than I do just practicing on my own. Because students do ask questions, and the questions they ask are probably the ones that you’ve already asked, or that you never thought of asking, and if they ask you, you kindof trigger your mind, get you thinking about it in new ways, or just reemphasize points that you already know, but, they ask you, so you have to say it out loud. Then you hear it, you measure what you’re saying, work to make it clearer. It becomes a method. And by teaching, you break things down more, too. When I was learning, the master didn’t go through it step by step, he just did the form a few times, you try to observe as much as you can, you learn it that way. But when people pay you money to teach them, you got to show them exactly how to do it. So I want to break it down, learn how to break it down very precisely so that people can learn it correctly the first time. By doing it that way, once they learn it right, they can practice correctly. If they don’t learn it right and practice a lot, they only get good . . . at doing it wrong. That’s not what I want."      "You have to think, when you’re practicing, ‘I want to improve’, so, every time you do it, you just improve a little bit, every time you do it, you’ll get better. But if you just don’t think about it, just do the form, your progress will be very slow. As long as you think, you want to improve, so what can I do to make this form better every time you do it, think that way. It’s not just how much you practice, it’s how you practice too. Putting more emphasis on the body, the mind, it’s important, but you want to be reaching for a higher level each time. In the beginning, there’s no use, thinking you can get better, you just need to learn the form first. But once you know the form, when you practice, you want to get better, or else you’re gonna just do it, and after 30 years, you’ll be the same. Okay, make sure you don’t waste your time doing it, do it the right way. With the right frame of mind, you want to improve, you’ll get better." Home Page Tai Chi Links

Instructor

Typical Class

Meet Students

Schedule

Wu Shu

Sales