Translations (译文)
Connections is available in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Chinese. We are very grateful for our translators who volunteered to translate: Rubén Coirini, Daniela Famulari, Gennaro Ripa, Françoise Desagnat, Jean-Claude Miremont, Thilo Krienke, Milena Locci de Oliveira de Lazzari, and Li Mingyang. Thank you very much! Here are the links to the other languages:
Welcome to Our New Members
I would like to welcome all new members who have recently joined Yang Family Tai Chi. Thank you for joining us and welcome to our tai chi family! I am happy you have chosen to join us and hope that you feel welcome and receive great value from your membership.
I hope that all members will have a long and fulfilling relationship with our association. For those members who have been with us through the years, I appreciate that you have chosen to stay with us as we continue to spread tai chi chuan worldwide to help humankind.
Sincerely,
Yang Jun
President
2nd Yang Family (Style) Tai Chi Elite Competition
The 2nd Yang Family (Style) Tai Chi Elite Competition was held in Linfen, China in October. Approximately 2000 people participated in the event; 1800 people joined the competition. Master Yang Jun and other famous tai chi chuan masters were at the event. This competition was sponsored by Yang Family Tai Chi. We received much positive feedback from those who attended. Thank you to everyone for helping make this event a success!
Videos from the event including the opening ceremony, the sword form (Master Yang Jun), the 2-person form (Master Yang Jun and Fang Hong Laoshi), and a showcase of masters can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
The Handan International Tai Chi Sports Conference and Renowned Tai Chi Masters and Teachers Showcase
Master Yang Jun performed in the Renowned Tai Chi Masters and Teachers Showcase at the Handan International Tai Chi Sports Conference in Handan, China.
Training Standards Department
Congratulations to our new instructors!
Instructor Certification Renewal:
An expiration date for instructor certification is coming up on December 31, 2024. Please check your instructor certificate. You can find the renewal form in the documents section of the association website.
If you would like our help with your certification, please contact us at ts-dept@yangfamilytaichi.com. Happy Holidays!
Please Update Your Email Address
Directors and Instructors, please help our membership department by announcing this information to your students:
Members should know that they are missing out on messages, newsletters and renewal notices from the association when we do not have their current email addresses. Please update the association with your current email address. We want to keep in touch with you. Please send any updates to members@yangfamilytaichi.com or go to the Member Area of our website and select Membership Management where you can update your information.
Forgot your password? You can reset it in Membership Management too.
Master Yang Jun's Seminar Schedule
Sun City West, Arizona, USA
February 7-9: Senior Form
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
February 15-19: Directors & Instructors Seminar
Mexico City, Mexico
March 7-9: Sword Form
Paris, France
April 18: Push Hands
April 19-21: Traditional Hand Form (103)
April 22: Saber Form
Berlin, Germany
April 24-26: Essential Form
April 27: Sword Form
April 28-29: Push Hands
Danbury, CT USA
TTM (Teacher Training Methods)
September 12-13: Hand Form Methods & Techniques
September 14: Push Hands
September 15: Push Hands (half-day)
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
October 3-4: Traditional Hand Form (103)
Rome, Italy
October 15-17: Instructor Seminar
Mendoza, Argentina
November 15-17: Traditional Hand Form (103)
Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
November 20: Push Hands
November 21: Saber Form
November 22-23 Traditional Hand Form (103)
Please visit our association's website for more information as it becomes available.
Seminar in Baia Mare, Romania
In September, Master Yang Jun taught a Traditional Hand Form seminar in Baia Mare, Romania. It was a weekend full of learning, energy, and connection. Thank you to everyone who participated and made it so special!
Seminar in Lugo, Spain
In September, Master Yang Jun taught a saber seminar in the town of San Ciprián, Cervo (Galicia). The course was organized by the National Kungfu Department and its national director, Miguel Angel Rojo. The course was attended by teachers from all Spanish provinces and left everyone wanting to repeat the experience in September 2025. A commemorative plaque was presented to the teacher from the national department, as a thank you for these years of teaching in Spain.
Seminar in Cambridge, UK
This September Master Yang Jun returned to Cambridge to teach the Traditional Hand Form (103) & push hands. Master Yang demonstrated his knowledge and skills by explaining the intricacies and subtleties of this art, in the context of the Tai Chi Treatise and Tai Chi Classics in a very practical and informative manner. The feedback from participants was excellent. Many of them said the experience enriched their tai chi journey and helped their skill development.
Seminar in Taiyuan, China
In October, Master Yang Jun taught an Intense Push Hands seminar in Taiyuan, China.
Seminar in Lyon, France
Our seminar with Master Yang Jun came to an end November 3rd after four days of intense practice and learning of both the Traditional Hand Form and push hands. We're very grateful for these great moments shared with over 60 Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan practitioners from all over France including Paris, Marseille, Cognac, Brittany, Lorraine, Franche Comte, as well as from abroad including Canada, Switzerland, and Ireland.
Our team at YFTC School Lyon and its teacher Edyta Piatkowska were very proud to host the seminar in our beautiful city of Lyon. We were even able to practice the form in the ancient Roman theater of Fourvière.
We'll always have fond memories of this seminar. Thanks to Master Yang Jun for his excellent teaching. Thanks to Duc Nguyen for the great translation. Thanks to all the participants.
Edyta Piatkowska
Director, YFTC School Lyon
Instructor Seminar in Rome, Italy
From November 8-10, an instructor seminar was held in Rome, Italy. Once again, I want to thank Master Yang Jun for the great important work that he is carrying out at each instructor seminar he teaches. In this seminar, we gained a really interesting, important and beautiful, deep understanding of the Tai Chi Classics. Master Yang helped us understand the meaning of these teachings and also how to get the essence of these teachings through both individual and partner practice.
I’m truly happy that there was an excellent response from the instructors and members of the Teacher Academy with numerous participants not only from Italy but also from Canada, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Malta and Portugal. The seminar was a great opportunity for all of us to meet again, study, practice and celebrate these magnificent days together!
Claudio Mingarini
Director of the IYFTCCA Teachers Academy in Italy
A Participant's Story:
Landing in Rome, I made my way to the beautiful Monastery of San Vincenzo for an intense 3-day seminar with Master Yang Jun and an in-depth exchange with fellow instructors. In the mornings, we would meet in a big conference room to learn about the Tai Chi Classics, something I and my friends had been wanting for many years. Master Yang offered his own interpretations of the classics to help us finally better understand the texts. To me, it felt like a new door to broader and deeper understanding was opening to us. Afterwards we would get up, practice the methods of unifying energy through coordination and then continued into push hands practice applying the principles discussed in theory. Master Yang showed his amazing skill of joining theory with practice, teaching us and showing us how to teach at the same time.
Personally, there are many things I took from this seminar that I will benefit from for a long time. Going through a year without joining a larger seminar always leaves me feeling like something is missing and this time again I fully realized how important the inspiration and motivation of such events is to my continued research and growth in tai chi. On behalf of our German participants, I would like to extend a big thank you to Claudio, Maria, Daniela and all the other people who made this event possible through their effort and care.
Kindly,
Joshua Neuhaus (Yazhang)
Seminar in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
In November, Master Yang Jun taught a seminar in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The seminar gathered practitioners from Bulgaria, including Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Kazanlak, Sopot, and Pernik, as well as guests from Canada, Romania, and the United States. The event was organized by Stanislav Bagalev, Director of YFTC Centers in Plovdiv and Sofia, and co-organized by Tihomir Todorov, Director of YFTC Center Stara Zagora.
Participants studied the hand form and push hands during this 3-day seminar. In Bulgaria, tai chi practitioners are always eager to explore the martial side of the art. Master Yang demonstrated the strength, flexibility, and applicability of tai chi on Stanislav Bagalev, who served as both his translator and sparring partner throughout the seminar.
Tai Chi Events in Michigan, USA
In August, September, and October, the Yang Family Tai Chi Center Michigan joined a few cultural events, including the Great Lakes Taiji Performance Festival. We performed the Essential Form and Saber Form.
On November 9th, we held a ranking event in Royal Oak. Everyone prepared well, and we had great teamwork.
Yang Family Tai Chi Team in Kunming, China
In October 2024, the city of Kunming hosted the 2nd Traditional Sports International Festival Wushu Competition sponsored by the Chinese Wushu Association. A representative group from the International Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Association participated. Representing Romania, Bulgaria, and Mexico.
Representing Romania: Carmen and Ciprian Ghise, Co-Directors, YFTC School Baia Mare; Bulgaria: Hafaliana Rarivo, Instructor, YFTC School Plovdiv; and Mexico: Daniel Corona Aguilar, Director, YFTC Center Mexico City and athletes Javier Chibras, Rodrigo García, Guadalupe Ordaz, Monica Pasindo, Cynthia Morano, and Noemi Martinez. During the celebration, the representatives of the YFTC team visited Kunming Bay and the Ethnic Nations Village, creating an atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie with their Chinese hosts.
The traditional Tai Chi style championship took place over two days with competitors from Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and about a dozen other countries. The Yang Family Tai Chi athletes achieved outstanding results, being one of the foreign teams that won the most medals.
Rodrigo Garcia: 2 gold medals
Daniel Corona Aguilar: 2 silver medals
Hafaliana Raviro: 2 silver medals
Guadalupe Ordaz: 1 silver and 1 bronze medal
Carmen Ghise: 1 silver and 1 bronze medal
Ciprian Ghise: 2 bronze medals
Javier Chibras Jauregui: 2 bronze medals
Cynthia Morano Okuno: 1 bronze medal
Monica Pasindo: 1 bronze medal
Congratulations!
Ranking Event in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
On October 13th, 2024, a ranking event was held at YFTC Center Ribeirão Preto. All students passed their tests. Congratulations to them for their dedication and commitment to Yang Family Tai Chi. Thank you to the judges for doing a great job and helping to make the event a success.
Tai Chi Yukon
At our annual general meeting event, Tai Chi Yukon celebrated 35 years of teaching tai chi chuan in Canada’s Yukon Territory. We practiced together and three instructors shared a few memorable learning moments from recent seminars with Master Yang Jun. Also, a display featured many highlights over the past 35 years, and we shared cake and tea. We look forward to many more years of classes and special events, as well as continuing long-term friendships.
Journal Gem
"Chinese Terms of Tai Chi Theory" - by Joshua Neuhaus. Issue #46 (2020), pages 16-17.
This article can be found in our Members-Only Area on our website.
Contribute to Our Journal
Volunteer Opportunities
Yang Family Tai Chi depends on volunteers who donate their time and talent to make our association a success. We currently need more volunteers to help our association as we move forward into the future. We have an immediate need for people with skills such as website updating and management, writing, translating, video editing, social media, and assisting our department heads and executive with various tasks. We also welcome volunteers in other areas.
Do you have any skills or knowledge you would like to share? If you would like to volunteer but aren't sure how you can help, please just send an email telling us you would like to help in some way and we will suggest some ways you could volunteer.
We are very grateful to all our volunteers who have helped make our association and its events successful. Building a strong group of new volunteers will help us improve our service to our members and also reach more people around the world! Please contact Pam Boyde (pamboyde@yangfamilytaichi.com) if you would like to volunteer.
Join Our Association
Become a member of Yang Family Tai Chi! For more information about membership benefits and how to apply, please visit our membership page on our website.
Posting to Yang Family Tai Chi's Social Media Pages
Want to post news on Yang Family Tai Chi's social media pages? Yang Family Tai Chi would like to keep its social media pages updated with current information from the association, centers, and schools. Ana Horta is managing Yang Family Tai Chi's social media pages on Facebook and Instagram. If you would like to share news on Yang Family Tai Chi's social media pages, please send an email to Ana at anamaghorta@gmail.com.
VISIT YANG FAMILY TAI CHI'S SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES
Previous Issue
Did you miss the last issue of Connections? You can read it here.
Next Issue of Connections
Connections is published in March, June, September, and December. We publish association news and school news (upcoming events, recent past events, awards, other news) but not general school advertisements.
The next issue of Connections will be published in March 2025. Please send any announcements to me at carolyn@yangfamilytaichi.com by February 18, 2025.
Carolyn Fung,
Editor
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