WHAT 10 RULES DO YOU LIVE BY?
There has been considerable talk in some circles of the relevance of Yang Chen Fu's 10 Essential Principles. Some people argue that they embody the essence of living fully in the moment, whilst others put forward the theory that they are nothing but pure gobbledegook. No-one, however, has yet contributed to the debate in a way that has moved the discussion into a contemporary setting. That is, until the discovery last week of a treasure, unearthed in the forgotten dusty cellars of the teapot temple. Recorded on an old VHS tape, and now digitalised for the very first time, this new, ground-shaking perspective offers us all, the chance to reevaluate where we are going, the means of getting there, and whether by making the destination so important, we miss out on being where we are Right Now.  

FIRST EVER PUBLIC SHOWING
As the appointed archiver for the mOnks archive during his absence from the world of dust, I have taken it upon myself to release to the general public, for the first time this waist-wiggling message. As the mOnk would often say, 'tis not our role to only interpret the word, but preferably to change it.' 
So, here I present for the first time: Yang's Top 10 Tips (as re-defined by the mOnk). Enjoy and share as widely as possible. 

And so we bid farewell to the mOnk and this Podcast Series of 10 with this final climatic episode. On the eve of his departure, I discover a dusty, tea-stained document left on my desk: 5 Secrets for Living a Purposeful Life. This, I have recorded as an audio file.
Little remains now but to leave his words to settle, like wind blown snow flakes on an empty landscape. As I look around the quiet training halls of the temple, there is little evidence of his presence, other than Yak prints in the snow. 
I even find myself questioning the very existence of the Bean Curd Boxer. Was it all just a figment of our collective imagination, a projection of our collective hunger? A poignant reminder to simply Leave Things Alone? 
Who knows? Who can tell these days in this time of transition and dust, what is real and what is fake, what is substantial and what is imaginary . We must all make of it all, as we will.

SECRETS
As for the notion of secrets - are these really secrets? I'm not so sure. People talk a lot in the internal arts about secrets from within the inner-circles, family styles, private transmissions. They are referring to special techniques passed down in the dusty corners of training halls between masters and select students -  sworn under a swirling cloud of incense or kneeling alongside a miniature gifted zen garden  - secrets that are blood bonds, secrets that  were meant to be kept hidden.
This manuscript belongs to another history. These are the secrets that hide in plain site -  revealing only what is uncarved, the simple, the obvious, the overlooked. 

WHAT TO MAKE OF IT ALL?
Ultimately, what you or I make of this document is not important. Left here in the spirit of transparency it is no more than a passing farewell from a  man and his obsession with tea, as he prepares to leave behind The World of Dust. 

Do not obsess over styles, Forms, names, borders, currencies, accents or allegiances. The arts depend on such artificial perimeters about as much as Donald Trump depends on a dictionary before tweeting.

• Exchange your nouns for adverbs.
• Build conversations not lists, bridges not walls.
• Always speak of and in the present.

So it seems that is that.
I was left with a dusty and coffee stained document laying on my desk this morning, with the telltale warmed teapot left to one side. 
Subtitled: Ways of living for the 21st century - it occurs to me that it may speak of the obvious, but - at the same time, I feel it is a message that still resonates. When the lines between neighbours are clear one day, but intentionally blurred the next, it is a time of concern.  Where yesterday we resided in Oceania, today it is, surprise surprise, Eurasia.  
As I now peer outside the window of the Temple, I can still see the tell-tale Yak tracks in the snow,  but I am not sad  - for he leaves in his wake an abundant and fertile crop upon which you may  harvest. An inner temple of goodies….

Looking around the teapot temple I can see he has been a busy mOnk this last year.  He has produced 4 online courses on Udemy - one of which is now free - he released all his books from the stranglehold of Amazon and distributed them to all digital platforms - iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Gumroad, and to libraries everywhere - he wrote another book or two - recorded 3 audiobooks - organised a summer of free classes in Devon England, Celebrated World Tai Chi Day with the excellent people from Central Tai Chi in Birmingham - and completed this series of 10 podcasts -

For context, best visit the home of the mOnk:  ​https://www.teapotmonk.com/

This month three items of interest to anyone wishing to firm up their bean curd: the long-awaited return of the irreverent Bean Curd Boxer in this special audio-book form, who also appears as a special guest on this month's podcast in the 10 Series. Finally, the give-a-way book of the month  - something special for everyone interested in the development of the Tai Chi Form. Read on...

Finally, The Manual of Bean Curd Boxing has been released as a 4 hour audio book. The Bean Curd Boxer was enticed out of retirement to star in this final 4 hour performance. It's working its way out onto Audible and iTunes slowly, but in the meantime you can hear a sample on this months podcast here, or grab the whole delicious 5 item audio pack on Gumroad which includes:

• The 4 hour audio book
• Plus a bonus ePub/Mobi version of the Manual of Bean Curd Boxing (updated 2018)
• The Bean Curd Infogram
• The PDF history of Bean Curd
• PDF copies of the original Bean Curd sketches done for the original paperback version. 

Listen to the sample chapter on this month's podcast or check out the whole audiobook here. 

 The Beginners Guide to the Tai Chi Form  - teapotmOnk's new and deliciously brewed new book will be offered free to download this weekend from Friday the 12th October on your local Amazon store. If you prefer the paperback version that came out last month, you can get that on the same page, and if you'd like to the online course for the Form, you can do that for a special price here.  The following week it will be prised out of the grubby hands of Amazon and onto the iTunes store, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and every other ebook store in the known universe. (You may have noticed that all my other books have appeared on these platform these last few weeks as I attempt to disentangle myself from the Bezos tentacles. 

The penultimate episode in the 10 series, looks at all the above items, offers up chapter 9 from the Bean Curd Manual (with a little one-off percussion)  and discusses plans for life beyond podcasting. Download the podcast from your usual podcast source orget it here.  And let me know if you think a remix of the Book with a musical accompaniment would be a good idea - a sort of Moby-esque version. I'm sort of tempted by not convinced but nor sure it would be worth al the effort....

In this short, but fascinating conversation with writer, Anthony Guilbert, about his new book: Notes From the Drift, the teapotmonk discusses travel, fluidity, movement and how we can both interpret and employ the concepts from Taoism into our own lives.  
Anthony Guilbert may be a name familiar to some of you. As well as being a writer, lecturer, poet, spiritual anarchist and martial-artist he is well known for his successful online journal - Into Mountains Over Streams. ​
This month, Anthony launched a new publication - Notes From the Drift - a beautifully interwoven collection of observations and reflections on travel, time, change and adaptability. Anthony kindly gave me a little of his time early one morning this week (5 a.m) to talk about the book, his thoughts on 21st century Taoism and the importance of what we each can give to the world. 

You can listen to the interview here or download it from your fave podcast app.  You can also catch the unedited video interview on Youtube and of course, you can track down his book on Amazon or from his web site (listed below with discount codes) for the gorgeous paperback version. 
*Links: Web Site for Anthony Guilbert
*Get 15% off the cover price when using this special code: BT3SPJ and ordering from this site: 

Translated into 4 languages, released over 7 years ago and voted by many as the best book that contains the number 50 in its title, "This is Tai Chi - 50 Questions and Answers" still enjoys enthusiastic support and appreciation by many new (and not so new) to the fascinating art. 

Perhaps because of its longevity, I kept wanting to update the book, but felt if I were to tamper with it too much, like Lao Tzu's fried fish, it'd begin to fall apart. With some things it's better to step back and leave things well alone. Yet...I wanted to do something, I felt I needed to reconnect with the book and so, decided that I'd release the audio version to see if that satisfied my creative needs. 
Well, it was fun, I'll say that. Unfortunately, I couldn't release it with the sound effects or backing tracks I wished as the distribution companies were not keen. Yet here it is in all its vocal splendour - you can listen to a sample below. 

It's available on Audible, Scribd, Kobo and most online audiobook suppliers. However, if you want it direct from the mOnk you can get it on Gumroad, here  - bundled with the ebook together for less than $10. (Bargain of the century).

Anyway, back to the main reason why I expect you are reading this. The main distributor for the audiobook - Findaway Voices - has given me a bunch of codes to give away. I've already sent out some to subscribers on my list (What! You didn't know? Well, join the list here and don't miss out next time!) Findaway has these codes to give away. I have a few left if you would like one - perhaps in exchange for a review on Amazon or another platform?  One thing: You'll need to be based in the USA I'm afraid, as the codes only work there at the moment. If you'd like one, shoot me an email here and I'll send you your personal downloadable code. 
​Enjoy. 

I suppose it all came about when I began to learn Tai Chi back in the 1980’s. In my first year I learnt 3 different styles - since then I have forgotten all but one (before you ask me to demonstrate all 3). I loved the diversity of the Forms, the range of techniques and the manifestation unique to each.
Yet within each style, there was, and still is, an unwritten law: You don’t tamper with the Form. Of course, history has shown this to be utter nonsense. With every new generation there is at least one student who alters either the number of postures, the order of the postures, the name of the style, the font on the calling card,  the cut of the satin suit or the angle of the moustache worn by sifu.
But, this is generally hushed up.
Lineage, tradition and reverence is reinforced by a wall of silence.
​But being a bit of an irreverent mOnk I like to play around when I hear the deafening sound of silence, I want to explore the borders, dancing over demarcations and fixed steps to see what lies on the other side.

Last month I released the short Course on Udemy, teaching what I call the Flexible Form. A Form that start with just 10 steps and grows, according to time, energy and space you have to practice. I was surprised at the number of people keen to take a look, to try it out.
It made me think: Perhaps creativity in the martial arts is not yet over. Perhaps, there remains an interest in something other than the hotly debated martial interpretations, the denial or dependency on the presence of Qi (yawn, excuse me!). It matters little if the application of an internal energy strike using Heel Breathing can cure your kidney stones or disarm a knife attack. The debate misses the bigger question: Is the art still alive or is it only a flickering display on the wall of Plato's cave?

I'm not knocking any of those practices by the way. You can practice Tai Chi for martial or health reasons.  It's all the same to me, but I do think we should address the question of how we maintain life in the art beyond the tired formulae of teaching Form, beyond the subjectivity of the single lethal strike. What are we doing about affordability, availability, time-tables, space-issues, memory muscles, choreography and balance? Quoting succulent passages from the Tao Te Ching or being able to locate the Chen village in Google Maps isn't going to hack it.

So I've released a book on the subject called the Beginners Guide to the Tai Chi Form - hardly original I know, but blame the Algorithm Gods for that. Make no mistake, however, you won’t know my Form  - as it's not one from the major schools  - but, thats the point. Do you see yet?

I hoping,  just maybe, you'll be inspired to create a Form of your own. To take my little example and with it create something of real beauty. There, I've said it. An admission to the Internal Arts Crime Investigation Board. If you never hear from me again, you’ll know Ive been executed by a Chen Village ninja for daring to speak the unspeakable, to utter the words banned for centuries in the Tai Chi World: Go and make something up yourself!
In the meantime, get inspired to create your own patterns. Use your experience, use your intuition, use your spirograph if necessary  -  but create and in the act of creation push back the boundaries of what we know. Let me know what come up with.

Find out more about learning Tai Chi with the teapotmonk in the 21st century here.
You can find versions of these posts as podcasts here. 

​If, like me, you have ever raised a quizzical eyebrow when Sifu Simon preached of the one true interpretation, the one true, authentic, verifiable, unalterable, untouchable Tai Chi Form...then listen on.
Because if, like me, as you listened to Sifu, you pondered on the 120  Form variations that now exist - and asked yourself: How can there be a single one true Form?
You may have concluded that the Form is not as sacrosanct as we are made to believe.
This month -  the teapotmonk explores the contradictions and vagaries of the Tai Chi Form and asks if we should not boldly go where no one has gone before. (This article is also available as a podast)

When anyone thinks of learning Tai Chi, they generally think of the flowing, harmonious sequence of postures called The Form.  These are not exclusive to Tai Chi  - though the emphasis, pace and attention to body synchronisation is perhaps more focused, but similar Forms do exist in all martial arts. In the Japanese arts of Karate, kendo, Judo and Aikido for instance, the sequences of moves are called kata. In the Chinese arts they are called Forms, and irrespective of the martial art you practice, if you practice a sequence, you will see many parallels in those we practice in Tai Chi.

However, martial artists do like to define and categorise things, they like to put things into styles and sub styles, and variations and derivations. They generally like to pigeonhole things. They like to know  - that others know - where they are on the great hierarchical table of life. So they enthusiastically don belts of certain colours, satin suits with sashes or headbands with the logo of the school. Consequently, they have decided to place all the arts into two camps - external and internal. What is meant by these is often a little vague, but whats novel about that in the martial arts?
The truth about categories is that all arts draw on as many sources of energy and strength as possible - muscular and tensile, straight and circular, fast and slow, soft and hard. It is in the nature of things, at least the 10.000 things that comprise the universe  - according to Taoist theory. (But that's returning us to the land of vagueness once more).
However, Tai Chi is still seen as “different” by other martial artists, partially because it is taught as a system of health care, as an ideology, and as a system of selfdefense. Additionally, it also emphasises a single Form . This may be either a long or short Form, old or new, large or small frame. Whichever it is, most styles concentrate on a single empty-handed Form for several years - whereas in karate for instance, you may learn a dozen Forms in the the same time a Tai Chi practitioner learns the one.

There is no universal Form. Amongst the main half-dozen styles of Tai Chi Chuan practised throughout the world, there exists over 120 different Tai Chi Forms each with their own number of moves ranging from 4 to over 200.

It’s a complicated scenario for the new student to make sense of and one that results in a lot of beginners never finishing their course. This is why I, and other teachers teach a variety of Forms that help new students. For example, teaching beginners a simple 10 step Form as separate postures -  and then linking them together in a flowing and harmonious way.

If we look at one of the most closely traced lineage systems - that of the Chen Tai Chi style  - we can see that even this traditional Form has changed with the times. Introducing different lengths, variations, frames…whilst other styles, such as the globally popular Yang Style, appears to have undertaken a path of consistent adaptation and evolution since its onset.

How does this happen?
Usually, upon the death of a head teacher, the students are under an unwritten obligation to start squabbling immediately as to how best to continue the lineage. They fall into two camps: those that wish to remain faithful to the teacher, maintaining all the historical errors and refusing to change a single thing, and in the other camp, those that see the head teacher as a human being with personal bias, failings and at the end, somewhat blind to the changes needed to bring the art into the present century.
After many attempts to reconcile the two camps, they fail to agree so go their own ways, and the style proceeds to split into smaller and smaller camps, each with styles that  - to an outsider - vary only in pronunciation or colour of satin suit. 
This is a process that has gone on (and on) and continues up until the present day. And although on the surface this appears to be the result of ego and petty in-fighting, it is, upon further consideration, perhaps an inevitable consequence when any control-freak dies as head of a powerful family.  Children will argue and eventually go their own ways. 
To beginners - and this is something those immersed in these arguments forget - it all sounds like children arguing  -  which in a sense it is exactly that.  It appears at best nonsensical or irrelevant, at worst incestuous and self-destructive.
Yet, we are left with a dilemma: the number of postures in a Tai Chi Form, the order of postures or even the intention behind the postures varies so much between schools, between practitioners of the same school, between students of the same teacher - that any claims of exclusive application or interpretation are  - as Chuang Tzu would say - increasingly laughable.

Clearly not, though looking back at some of the divisions and manifestations that have appeared over the last century some people think so.
We do have, for reference, what is known as the Tai Chi classics - that compilation of writings by teachers and students over the years that describes the principles we should aspire to. However the classics are, as is the nature of Tai Chi, extremely vague and suffer from large doses of ambiguity, leaving us all free to interpret what we want and how we want.
For me there is another reference that I would suggest and that is the Tao Te Ching . Now some of you may say - hold up Mr teapot -  thats not Tai Chi, and even were it so, it's equally as vague as the Classics. And I’d agree -  to some extent.  But, it has a longer history of interpretation, especially into English and consequently it has had more time to adapt and apply it self to a western audience. Just take a look at the versions by Ursula le Guin or Ron Hogan.
Personally, I would go there for my source material. Some of you, no doubt, would disagree. And that's as it should be.
I'll leave you with one last thought: go forth and create, but bear in mind a couple of additional  factors (of my own:)

For more on The History of the Tai Chi Form  - look out for the new book due out next month by Paul Read on Amazon or nip over and explore the new Online Short Course : The Tai Chi Form - at teapotmonk.com . Grab a code and of course, take a look at the video below.

This month things have been a little hectic in the teapot temple. I've been rethinking how to connect with people both locally and from a distance and come up with some new ideas about Ways of Learning. I've written before about the shortcomings of the traditional teaching methods, and we all know about the limits of Online Learning - but it's an evolving scenario and one that shifts and flows every time I glance over at it. 

So whats been happening? Well, a new course has gone up on Udemy - focussing on the Tai Chi Form. Rather than try and reproduce a standard version from one of the major schools - I've opted to extract 12 universal postures, break them down into footwork and arm patterns, then reconstruct them in a short and simple sequence for anyone to practice, irrespective of time, space or memory limitations. To this, I've added 4 -  PDF downloads as reference material and 2 audio guides for practising away from the screen.  This will be backed up by a Live FaceBook session next month and other stuff (to be announced). It's by and far the most complete offer beyond a class-like situation.   

So what else? Well,  I'm also offering FREE Saturday Morning Tai Chi classes on the beach in Devon if you are down this way. All you need to do is find me on the Meetup app or website and RSVP a place.  These sessions will reproduce the Short Form and the Breathing exercise Courses that you can find on Udemy  - but add a real-time class situation to your training. 
So if your'e interested in taking a look here are the links  - (including a discount code for the course). 
DEVON CLASSES VIA MEETUP
NEW UDEMY COURSE ON TAI CHI  FORM  
PODCAST

For more training ideas, come over and browse at Learntaichi.online

Since my last post -  I've been working on a whole series of things, distracted as usual, by events in Spain. As some of you know, I’ve lived and worked a good chunk of my life in Spain - the land, it is said, of sunshine, siestas, bullfights and corrupt politicians. Although at the moment I am  in the UK, my heart and spirit still resides overseas. Particularly this week as a particular crop of dodgy fruit got booted out of the Olive Press.
But I digress,
What I want to say is that adopting two countries, languages and cultures is an interesting balancing act. And one that keeps me always thinking about ways in which I can still do the things that are important  - from a distance.

Since I stopped teaching a regular Tai Chi class 18 months ago, I’ve been putting that energy and time into finding alternative ways of sharing knowledge and skills  through social media, Meetup groups and exploring online channels such as Teachable and Udemy.
All this has meant redefining what is meant by teaching , not because the technology has advanced to the point I can teach holographically or in a way more authentically than in a class room, clearly this is still not the case.  It has, however, meant I can devote more time to other content, another curriculum, and another audience.  3 things not to be sniffed at in the repetitive world of classes, workshops, classes and more workshops.
This last month for example,  I’ve been compiling a new Udemy course on learning the Tai Chi Form - exploring not only the postures, but why its taught the way it is, the length it is, the format and the process.  Eventually, asking myself questions about its adaptability and relevance in these times. This is something I would never have done, if I’d carried on teaching the same way these last 25 years: following the same format, going to a class, working posture by posture alongside the same level group etc. With space and distance, you can explore other aspects of teaching and introduce new forms of content
So online teaching has been one area of work, but other formats challenging the classic weekly session appear more and more. Let me tell you briefly about 1

Most of you will have heard of Airbnb  - the online accommodation alternative to rip off hotels, smelly old B&B’s and monopolistic tourist complexes.
Well, at last in the Uk Airbnb, the newest monopolistic digital platform - have introduced the Airbnb experiences. You can now book time with people, learn their skills, soak up a little of their energy and enthusiasm. And this has given me an idea as to another way of teaching.
I’ll explore this concept more in future podcast that will focus on technology and teaching , Meetups, Experiences and Online platforms - but for now, anyone interested can do a search on Airbnb Experiences, or the MeetUp website and track me down in, Devon and see what sort of stuff I’m playing with. All very beta, but curious.

All of this has brought me round to thinking about not only what we convey when we teach, but how we convey it. You see, traditionally one conveyed skill, experience, knowledge by displaying in prominent areas of your dojo, certificates, belt colours, uniforms, hairstyles, adopted names, initials, and family tree charts. Sadly, many still rely too much on this method.
Although this did give newcomers some point of reference, the Chinese arts just don’t do this too well. Without certificates, the Chinese arts have had to rely more on lineage and tradition. Yet even here, these values have been questioned. Often, an over reliance on lineage and inter-school traditions leads to an incestuous complacency, a stagnation of ideas and techniques that freezes an art in time and space until - an outsider emerges to nudge things on - to encourage a  little evolution. Any brief look over the history of Tai Chi will show dozens of such cases.
Take a look at images of Tai Chi grandmasters, satin suits, pony-tails, collections of adoring students at their side - and then, look to see how Tai Chi is marketed today.  See any parallels?

This is why I've little time for lineage, for family names, for titles in the world of Tai Chi and martial arts. Though I understand why teachers cling to the cliches of Sifu, Sensei, Master, Guru, I'm not one to participate.
Usage of these terms denote for some students, a certain smugness. I know I'll be shot down for saying it but you just don't get this elsewhere. And that's the problem with titles: Adopting titles separates and divides people. It creates distance between people, it seeks not to bridge differences, but to highlight them. Now this is perfectly fine if you are an aristocrat,  Senator, Ambassador, Councillor, Your Majesty, Professor, Doctor, Captain, General, Your Holiness…these titles, ranks, hierarchies all bind together to form a class of people who benefit from their use. They exist because of the benefits thier use provides. Labels and titles and badges do this. But take them away...and what . have you left?

It's this fixation on names, titles, certificates, family lineage that -in theory -  is meant to denote competency, but, these days means little at all. Such terms once did when there was no alternative, but now we have other tools, and anyway, they have long since been hijacked by social media and every corporate organisation, every new-age group, blogger, alternative cafe or whole food library in town. They have become sad cliches of the 21st century,
If you really must use another name, use one that no-one will be taken seriously. Such as teapotmonk. No one is going to think that such a lineage really exists, and for anyone unsure, let me set the record straight (as if it needs pointing out): I'm neither a teapot, a monk, a Taoist or a Tai Chi master (Sifu, Sage, Sensei, Guru etc).
Drop the titles. Drop the cliches. Become who You Are. (Oops, see how clichés can so easily slip in. Apologies.)

Feel free to disagree and tell me why I'm an upstart. Leave a comment on any social media platform, and I'll attempt to defend my position. Without being defensive ... if you know what I mean.
In the meantime, do take a look at the Airbnb Devon experience, or the Meetups - it's an interesting slot that has opened up, and although you may not wish to come and train with me for a morning, it might give you some ideas about how you can vary your Tai Chi offerings to people in your Area.
And watch out for the new Udemy course on the Tai Chi Form. If you've done my Complete Immortal course, then you'll qualify for a free code. Otherwise it’ll  sell at some ridiculously cheap price that only other monopolistic companies like Udemy and Amazon can get away with.
But what can you do in these days of digital globalisation

This article is also available in Audio form here. Find out about the Airbnb Experiences in Devon here.