”Remember, when moving, there is no place that doesn’t move. When still, there is no place that isn’t still.” – Classics
The core of Taijiquan study is about interplay between sparring partners. Effective training is based on mutual agreement of specific desired skills and ability to work together. As one of my Taijiquan friends once said, ”Be nice, but be precise!” This sentence expresses exactly, what is needed for proper training. Here is our story.
Vlasta Pechova / CZ – author of Interplay Taiji
The idea of making a project of Interplay Taiji was born after I gave several Taijiquan lessons to Gary Lee from Sacramento in 2022. I am happy he recorded the lessons. We both did not expect such good videos with so much information. In a way those private lessons compensated my original idea connected with my trip to Mill Valley and Santa Rosa in California. That was to share with my American friends my experience of years of teaching Taijiquan and building my school in Prague (Czech Republic). But there was not really time to share everything.
If there is anything I can offer to my Taijiquan fellows in America, it is my own experience with teaching Taijiquan. For those who do not know me I should mention that everything I teach is based on knowledge which I learned from my teacher Robert Amacker. I had been studying under his guidance from 2000 to 2021 in Prague, Moscow and California.
I am nicely surprised that my wish was fulfilled. It is a bit different from my original wish. But it is perhaps even better because it is captured on videos.
I was lucky to give lessons to Gary. He was very cooperative. He is very skillful and he is able to do everything what I ask him to do. Every teacher would love such student! As you will see on the videos, at some moments he is an equivalent sparring partner. I appreciate that he gave me time to express my knowledge and I am grateful for that opportunity. It seems to me that we both just got together at the right time. The videos came out very naturally and yet they contain condensed information as if we were planning such lessons weeks or months ahead.
Gary Lee / US – coauthor of this project
The concept of people coming together to share knowledge, experience, and tips has been around for a very long time. Taijiquan clubs, forums, associations abound globally. Vlasta and I have a friendship born of a common interest that started over 20 years ago. That interest is following the Taijiquan teachings, instructions, and guidance from Master Robert Amacker .
The idea of friendly Interplay Taiji is nothing new. But Vlasta’s creativity on how to manifest that sharing I believe is unique and has possibilities for opening doors we do not yet know of, and we will see how this project will evolve. I too was very much surprised from the edited videos by how good the content was. The posted videos are good because they are not demonstrations for entertainment or amusement. They are small bites of focused skill development that I believe is actionable content easy to put into immediate use by almost anyone starting their Hand Pushing skills practice.
Our initial project goal is to share what we know and what we practice totally based on the methods as taught by Robert Amacker. Because Taijiquan exists in so many different styles and variations, our sharing is not to convert, not to prove superiority, and not to invent a ”new style.” We share in the hope that this information, these training methods, and tips will advance anyone’s practice of learning Taijiquan skills.
If you like what you see and you are curious, then do more than give a thumbs up. Apply what we share. Test drive our training knowledge within your practice with your fellow students. Engage us on how these methods work. We welcome and invite your interest because Interplay Taiji is a two-way street for the benefit of all.