Sifu Marijke Eliasberg - Scholar of Grandmaster William C. C. Chen

Tai Chi Chuan - a practice and an experience
Contact: marijketaichi@gmail.com
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Sifu Marijke Eliasberg native of the Netherlands, Founder and Co-Artistic Director of The Next Stage Project (TNSP), has been dancing, teaching and choreographing for the past 25 years in New York City. With TNSP, she travels around the world, teaching, creating, mentoring and making exchange and performance projects possible.
Marijke holds a BFA in physical education with a specialization in dance. She continued her modern dance studies at the Rotterdam Dance Academy (Codarts) in The Netherlands and Dance Space Inc in NYC. Her continuing education, which includes studying extensively with Grandmaster William C. C. Chen in NYC (short form, long form, form refinement, sword form, and push-hands). Grandmaster Chen gave Marijke her Sifu title in 2022 and permission to share his 60 postures short form and long form. She is currently teaching open Tai Chi Chuan classes in New York City and has been teaching Tai Chi for Dancers in Amsterdam and Berlin.

Tai Chi Chuan - a practice and an experience

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Tai Chi Chuan:
Originated in china, tai chi chuan is a mind/body martial art, also referred to as shadow boxing or moving meditation. To an outsider who has never practiced the discipline, tai chi appears to be a slow, choreographed dance. however, there is more to it: one cannot easily see the internal and external benefits derived by regular practice. It is proven to build strength from the inside out. it means sustaining mindful inner stillness while being in full motion. this requires minimal optimized use of your muscle structure, being clear on the action or expression we aim for, while maintaining total awareness of the whole body, physically and mentally.

Tai Chi Chuan is a practice and an experience. 
Can we slow down and still feel powerful?
Can we move and be still at the same time?
Can we be strong while being soft and flexible?
The body is not just a skeletal structure, the body is everything. it's shen (spirit), it's i (awareness), it's chi (energy). these Chinese terms have an allusive value, they are not concepts. they are directions. 
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Tai Chi Chuan benefits / Physically and Mentally:
> improve muscle strength, balance & flexibility
> boost cognitive function
> strengthen cardiovascular health
> increase focus and awareness
> increase energy 
> improve mood and mental health
> empower self defense options 
Come also practice and learn with me in classes taught by Great Grandmaster William C. C. Chen:
www.williamccchen.com

Want to see more and learn more: 
Form videos of GM Chen online:

Want to see more and learn more: classroom and instructional videos by Grandmaster William C.C. Chen through my alliance with Content Galaxy. 
​Subscriptions are available!
Instructional and competition video from DVDs and private libraries Includes streaming of full DVDs and exclusive videos from private collections not available elsewhere.
​A subscription has everything. It includes videos from Tai Chi masters William C. C. Chen, Professor Cheng Man-Ching, and Dr. Ping-Siang Tao, and champions Max and Tiffany Chen, Josh Waitzkins, and Tuishou Chen.
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Sifu Certified by Grandmaster William C. C. Chen December 2022
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​ > I'm sharing my Tai Chi Chuan learnings with permission from Grandmaster William C. C. Chen, with whom I'm currently intensely studying (about 7+ classes/week in his Short Form, Long Form, Form Refinement, Sword Form and Push hands).
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90 year old Grandmaster William C. C. Chen was born in Chekiang, China. He started teaching Tai Chi Chuan at the beginning of the 1950s while training as a live-in student of the famous Great-Grandmaster Cheng Man-Ching who preferred to be called Professor Cheng.  Besides being the youngest of Professor Cheng's senior student, he was also a favorite disciple. In the 1950s he was involved competitively in the various free-style, Chinese Wushu. In 1958,  he won second place in the Taiwan National Olympic  Competition.
Grandmaster William C. C. Chen has devoted his life to the study of body mechanics and the effects of Tai Chi Chuan for art of self-defense as well as on physical health, and to the application of the principles of Tai Chi Chuan. His approach is to make Tai Chi Chuan simple, easier, natural, enjoyable and productive.
He has been a teacher since 1952 in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast. In 1965, he established the William C. C. Chen Tai Chi Chuan school in New York City's Chelsea area. He is invited to give special seminars on his Body Mechanics of Tai Chi Chuan on a regular basis in Asia, southeast Asia, Europe and throughout the United States. Regarded as one of  the finest and most influential traditional internal stylist of his generation, William C. C. Chen is IKF's choice for "Man of the Year" Inside Kung-Fu's first  HALL of FAME of the millennium.
Harvard Health Publishing: Tai chi is often described as "meditation in motion," but it might well be called "medication in motion." There is growing evidence that this mind-body practice, which originated in China as a martial art, has value in treating or preventing many health problems. And you can get started even if you aren't in top shape or the best of health. As you move, you breathe deeply and naturally, focusing your attention — as in some kinds of meditation — on your bodily sensations. Tai chi differs from other types of exercise in several respects. The movements are usually circular and never forced, the muscles are relaxed rather than tensed, the joints are not fully extended or bent, and connective tissues are not stretched. Tai chi can be easily adapted for anyone.
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Photo's Rebecca Marcella Oviatt / @BeccaVision