The interview with Faye Yip was led by Nils Klug in the context of a Workshop on Ba duan jin given by Faye in the Tai Chi Studio, Hannover, in Summer 2016.
Research alliances and the vision to build a bridge
Did you do all the writing on your Health Association website?
No, I didn’t do all of the writing. Some I did, but not all of it.
It is quite a lot of stuff there. It’s good – it’s very good.
Oh, thanks. Yes, they do good and useful stuff – some of the materials. This is the beauty when you work with funded establishments, because a lot of university professors, they can write. They can write and not only write, but write so that you can see a clear presented argument and explanations and we can try to translate it knowingly, the art, with these many years of experience. We can try to translate it into good material. You have to write first, you know, the research… – it takes no [additional] time basically. So that is why we work so closely, we stay in the forefront of any research: technically, concerning explanations, how to do this, how to do that and common errors and questions, so a lot of these come originally… we work with professors in China – Shanghai university, Beijing sports university and other universities. We have a very strong relationship each time. So you must go to China with me some time, one of the days…
Now I have to… (laughs)
Yeah, you have to. These [establishments], they organize, we do travel a lot and for me: because I am continuing my research into this as well, I want to take everybody forward and this is really important for a teacher. If you are always willing to go and have the vision, have the vision what you want then you can lead the organization, you can lead. If you don’t have the vision: you don’t – everybody won’t… It will be the blind leading the blind. We must have this – you call it philosophy, I call it a vision. This is important, this bridge we want to make. Real integration – beyond race, culture, color. Beyond this we are what we are. – We understand the deeper meaning the deeper level of life. This way, for me, is the passion. As I travel – I do not see people as Mexican or Argentinian or German – I don’t see that. I see, we are all on this planet as equals. We are all trying to understand, to improve the original, the wisdom that they thousands of years ago wanted to pass down to us. I was chatting with the Qigong group about some of the ideas. I think they get it. I didn’t go too deep, just dropped a few hints… – They all have something switched on – I feel [so], anyway…
Because this is the “grand work”, the ancient wisdom is teaching a lot of it. It’s so true! It’s so true about the essence of life. And we – as civilization evolves and advances – we have lost the vision. We have lost that vision of this ancient wisdom of teaching. And this is what motivates me all of the time: because I am progressing, my experience grows and my practice grows – but it is
not about talking, it is about doing. So practice is the way to get to understand not just… I talk – yes! – just wanting to get the people to see, but more important is to get people to feel.
Images: Taiji Forum, Franco Mescola
The interview with Faye Yip part 11 – “Fang song” and “relaxation” in Tai Chi and Qigong
The interview with Faye Yip part 7 – Voluntary work and rich life
The interview with Faye Yip part 2 – competition landscape in Tai Chi