Positive Health Online

Interview in 2012 by Aisling King

Get What you Want and Make your Dream a Reality

With all the doom and gloom we are subjected to everyday in newspapers and television, we really need to see more positive headlines like this in Ireland and everywhere.  We are surrounded by so much negativity and pressure that sometimes it is hard to see a way through. We look everywhere out there for a solution to our problems but what if there was a way that that you can empower yourself, to find the ‘real you’ and the way to true happiness?

This may seem like a big claim to make, but thousands are putting this in to practice through Rainbow Tai Chi Chi Kung as taught by Master Choy, the founder of the Rainbow Tai Chi, Chi Kung  School and Chi Healing Centre in Devon.

Master Choy, born in Malaysia has travelled extensively through China, India, Europe and the US studying with esteemed teachers and Masters such as Grandmaster Huang Sheng Shyan of Malaysia, Jiddu Krishnamurti of India, Master Mantak Chia of Thailand,  Grandmaster Chen of China, Dr T K Shih of Massachusetts USA, Barry and Samahria Kaufman of the Option Institute USA and Grandmaster Dr Pang Li of Zhineng Chi Kung Centre of China. He has made Tai Chi Chi Kung accessible through his books[1,2] and the enlightening, energizing and laughter filled courses he has given throughout Europe over the past 40 years.

Aisling King with husband Eamonn

If you have ever wondered what Tai Chi is and how you can benefit from it, here is a wonderful opportunity to learn about it directly from a true Master.   I am Aisling King. Together with my husband Eamonn King who is Managing Director of his own company, we went to Master Choy’s School of Rainbow Tai Chi Chi Kung in Devon and attended his intensives since 2007. We are both excited and inspired that he consented to visiting Ireland to give this special unique 4 Days Intensive at Luisne Centre in Wicklow, Ireland.  In this interview I posed the following questions to Master Choy and he has kindly and generously responded fully and one can glean even his sense of lightness, humour and insightfulness through his answers. 

Aisling: What is Tai Chi?

Master Choy:  The root meaning of “Tai Chi” goes back 8,000 years old into China’s history where it was discovered that the ancient practice and study of The Taoists were about the Way of Nature. It existed even earlier than the Chinese Martial Arts. It existed even before the Acupuncture and Chinese Medical and Religious Buddhist era.  It was a pure philosophical and direct understanding of the Nature of the Life Force. “Tai Chi” means the “the Dance of Yin (Receptive) and Yang (Assertive) flowing in the Ultimate River of Chi Energy returning to the source of the Tan Tien (Sea of Revitalising Energy)!”

Aisling:  Most people consider Tai Chi as a martial art, similar to Tae Kwon do or Kung Fu. How would you explain the difference?

Master Choy:  The phrase “Kung Fu” means “The Art”. For example, when I was working for my father in his Chinese Restaurant, when someone appreciates the Chinese cooking, he goes into the kitchen and yells out to the cook in Chinese, “Hey, your Kung Fu is great man!” He meant his Art of Cooking is great. The phrase “Kung Fu” implies the Art, someone highly proficient in the Art of cooking, Art of gardening, Art of calligraphy, Art of fighting, Art of painting, Art of music. It has been narrowed down in the Western usage as meaning only to do with fighting. However, in the West you have heard of Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance, Zen of Cooking, Zen of Archery, Zen of Aikido, this Japanese phrase used by Japanese has caught on in the West. The phrase “Kungfu of…” instead of “Zen of …” is used by Chinese. Now, back to Martial Arts, when I was young, I loved Martial Arts! My father had his own martial arts school that also has a herbal clinic.  I use to joke, that first he beats you up, then, he heals you!! I say it is a joke, but actually, behind some jokes there are truths, that is why it is funny!! My brothers and I used to challenge each other, how many roof tiles we can break, the ones in the middle of the pile! Then, we got a good beating when father came home and saw the roof had gaping holes!!

Rainbow Tai Chi students enjoy practicing Tai Chi push hands at Weekend Tai Chi Workshop, Greece

I have also seen my father beat up people on the streets, in the presence of police and detectives, and they do not raise a hand to stop my father. He was like the top of the gangs at his time, no joke.  My mother was proficient in growing orchids and her kung fu in gardening was as high as my father’s martial arts skill.    

I learned Tai Chi from my first grandmaster Huang Sheng Shyan in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. His school was located in a large Chinese cemetery that spreads miles, and my parents place where I live was at the outskirts of this cemetery. I had to “fight” with ghosts and my fears after the Tai Chi Classes walking home, not a joke for single walker late in the night with no street lights. In truth, when I was learning Tai Chi at that time, I was fortunate to have the experience of being tested on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. As a teenager, I was in broad daylight, being attacked from behind by someone who grabbed me by my shoulders and demanded my money and another robber in front of me also attacked me.

Both were repulsed at a split second. It was what Grandmaster Chen Man-Ching, the Master of Master Huang Sheng Shyan, called the boomerang force of Tai Chi. The two adults who attacked me were thrown 10 feet away from my body without effort. In fact I recalled that my mind had great difficulty understanding what happened. If you have seen a real street fight or attacked by Snatch Thieves, it is not at all slow motion, like in the movies. Everything happened in a flash, and you could be on the floor with a bloody nose the next second without any idea of a punch coming or you could be left standing and the attackers repulsed in an explosion of force. So, I do believe in Tai Chi as an Art of Self Defence, and after being tested by these real life experiences three times in my life, I do believe it works in an instantaneous way, like if you bend a thick branch of a tree that is alive, you may find that branch giving you a great ‘Whack’ when you release it, the force comes boomeranging back at you, multiplied many times more, ouch, painful!

Aisling:  For many, Tai Chi seems so exotic and they wonder it is and if it is difficult to do?

Master Choy: Tai Chi does seem challenging for some people because it requires firstly, the learner to slow down the mind. Now, we have a serious addiction in society that is the culprit of many chaotic and disastrous problems, it is the Thinker!! Addiction to Thinking is for many people, spending sleepless nights worrying nonstop. And then, it infects into the diet, the

daily work and relationships. In our School, we rein back in the Thinker to give it boundaries and you may have heard of a saying, "The mind is a fantastic tool but a terrible Master!!" Secondly, when the mind can let go and be empty, the heart beats in your body can then begin to make its presence known. This is why the Acupuncture Ancient Teachers for 8,000 years

said that the Heart Meridian is the Governor of all acupuncture meridians. We need to unlearn the tyranny of the mind and learn to flow with the pauses in between our heart beats. That is where you can find true peace. And then, when you couple this with a third focus, the sinking into your Hara or Tan Tien Centre, then, you have found what we call, The Chi Building Society, and you can open an account there to start conserving vital force for longevity, good health and success in your life. Interested? Then, you can get compound interest!!

Aisling: We have many challenges in Ireland at the moment as we are going through huge upheavals in our economy and in our very way of life. Do you think that practising Tai Chi at this time can help us?

Master Choy: I discovered that I can practise Tai Chi Chi Kung in the same way as the Taoists intended this philosophy to be, which is to balance every Yang/ hard, assertive and strong force with a Yin/yielding, soft and boomeranging quality, like you throw a stone in water. The water will embrace the stone and you hear a splash, the stone did not hurt the river, did it? The stone sinks to the bottom of the river and is overcome by the water without effort. 

Tai Chi can be used as An Art of Neutralizing  an illness, a pain, a stressful situation and transform this Negative into a Healthy, Positive and Creative Solution.  Then, we use Chi Healing and Chi Kung Exercises to channel the energy to focus on the specific part of the body needing healing. To me, a country or a city or a town or a community is like a person; he is ill, he is unhealthy, so what are we going to do? I feel the first step to find a solution is to learn to be receptive; in Tai Chi we start with the Yin, we are like water, we absorb the punches. That is why I love the idea of the workshop being held at Luisne Centre close to Nature. I want share how the Irish people can find greater balance, so you can allow the positive and creative solutions to come back to you, rather than trying so hard, struggling and fighting. When you put more effort in from your stressful minds to solve a stressful situation, what happens? You build up more and more stress until you have a breakdown. I see that the spirit of Ireland surrounded by seas and recently, I was at Carlingford giving a weekend workshop; we had such an amazing time connecting to the Loch, the Mountains and the blue sky, incredible energy for optimizing our Health, Happiness and Relaxation. 

Aisling:  What is the difference between the Tai Chi which is normally taught and the Rainbow Tai Chi that you teach?

Master Choy: The Rainbow Tai Chi Form that I am going to teach you, flows from seven different streams, like the seven colours of the rainbow coming from Nature.  We cover an integrated approach to focus the practice of the 37 Steps Yang Style Tai Chi Form and make enlightening applications to your daily life. In normal Tai Chi practice, the student is only taught about the physical movements and how they relate to animal forms and the use of basic Tai Chi principles for martial arts and relaxation. In Rainbow Tai Chi,  as I have shared in my book 37 steps to Happiness, we include in Violet - Self Healing, Indigo -  Leadership Training, Blue - Peaceful Meditation, Green - Learn to be a Magnet for Harmony and Prosperity, Yellow -  Enlighten your work environment Rainbow Tai Chi, Orange - Learn the Art of Self Humour and Secrets of Rejuvenation,  Rose Red - Discover the Governor of all Acupuncture Meridians and improve your love life!!

In summary, you learn to be more fluidic and learn to flow with problems to find ‘soluble’ solutions and not add more crystallized thinking to the problems. Learn to relax, to let go, to be in the flow with your true nature and then, the answers come effortlessly from within!! I have held many workshops for business companies as well as communities and individuals and seen wonderful amazing positive and creative results. This is a Stress Management Course and a Relaxing Learning Holiday at the same time.

Master Choy and students practising Rainbow Aqua Tai Chi Form
in the Dartmoor River during Summer School, Devon.

Aisling: What do you say to those who say "I am too busy, I don't have time to slow down"? I have a demanding job, so much to do. It's alright for people with lots of time, maybe I will do it when I retire?

Master Choy: Sure, when you retire, what do you find? Your organs are unhealthy, you need operation after operation, and your daily visits to the hospital and doctors and tubes sticking through your nose and arse, why not!! Great way to retire? No. The other day, one of my teacher trainees said she met a lady in Plymouth who is very rich materially. She has a Rolls Royce and driver, butler, posh house, etc. etc., but she has uncountable number of illnesses, pills to take, constant visits of medical people sticking needles into her....how tragic, is this what you want at the end of a busy life, no time to slow down to take stock of your health right now??

The busier you are, e.g. we have a local taxi driver who is boss of his own business and he knows he has to slow down to do regular check-up of his car himself and he is into gardening, exercises and loves cooking and knows he has to take care of his health as much as his taxis!! He is full of humour and we even share our beef steak tomatoes with him; every Summer he comes into our garden to pick the tomatoes himself. He loves giving discounts to all our students and always have a humorous story to share. In this School, we educate teachers and students to slow down to take care of their internal organs health and replenish their chi energy levels as regular as filling their cars with petrol or gas. Then, they can speed up and achieve all they want. This balance of slow and fast is like the river; there are always parts of your life that slows you down due to ill health anyway, but why wait till you are sick in order to get healthy? Why not invest in your health through daily practice before it is too late, like for the Plymouth lady I was talking about earlier?

Aisling: You have written a books about the ways to a happier you" . What inspired you to do this?

Master Choy: Often people do not realise that one book is the result of the author's whole life!! It is a book of his life. I feel this for me. I used to write on toilet sheets because I had no money to buy paper when I was in school; we were poor!! Then, I started working, and this mentality to save was still with me, and I used cardboards and thin boards from those fruit containers to write. You see inspiration hit me at odd times; it is not like in school where you sit down and look at a book. Life is full of happy surprises for me as far as writing is concerned at a young age. It was my refuge from a loud, noisy, crazy and corrupt world of contradictory adult values which did not make sense, they do not do what they say, and they say what they do not mean. The 15 Ways to a Happier You book was a book of many booklets that I wrote for more than 20 years!! Of course, there are lots that the publisher took out, otherwise, the book will be heavier than many readers to carry out of the book store. Fortunately, I have kept these booklets, some of them have strange titles, like True Stories of Bloody Solutions to End all Inner Wars within You" By Son of a Martial Arts Master Choyous Choy. So, what is it that inspires me to write? My answer would be, "Keep me Sane and Make Sense of a Nonsensical World"? The exercises and principles, hilarious stories, poems and homework in the 15 Ways to a Happier You book are real exercises and principles based on what truly happened in my life. If you could see the realness of it all, you would see sweat, blood, aches, pains, smiles of everlasting peace and a sense of limitless space for the birth of joy, gratitude and lightness in every moment. I would not change one iota; my journey and I probably have re-lived that same pattern of lifestyle many lifetimes!!

Aisling:  Is happiness really so easy to find?

Master Choy: For me, truthfully, the best way I can put it succinctly is that happiness found me.  Many people who are un-happy looking for happiness through job satisfaction, relationship search for the perfect partner, hunger for more and more money, fame and status are looking at mirages in the desert. The moment you get close to it, everything is empty and dry!! I feel the image maker in us can also create traps on a spiritual journey too, looking for a father figure or a mother figure in the form of sainthood or guru status; those are also images in a different desert, but still a desert!! It reminds me of a trip my wife Christine and I went to, in Lanzarotes, beautiful idyllic volcanic island, absolutely dry, sunny, beautiful beaches, however, it felt like a desert!! What is missing? Real grass!! I saw beautiful villas by the sea with plastic grass in their garden and a few cactus.  I found some real grass growing by the harbour and I started shouting to the locals and tourists, "Look, look, grass!!" They thought I was mad or high on dope. I had never been to a desert in my life, you see the metaphor. But I never have taken drugs both medical and illegal!!

Happiness came to me in 1972,  I was sitting in my little room with my dog Blackie and this amazing fountain of limitless smiles, just layers and layers of smiles in front of me. As I went closer to it, it went further away. I was puzzled!! However, I could have started a community of Smiley Blackie Dogs because only my dog believed me and was the only witness there!! But, two weeks later, my uncle Roland (and my wife and I have now got an actual video of him, he came to Devon and said that this is exactly what happened) rang me and asked me to be the Manager of his new business called Smiley Self Help Market. There was a gigantic Smiley Signboard in front of the shop; I had three workers, two motorbikes, one delivery van and after some years, he sold it off. Only then, did I realize why the Fountain of Smiling Light went further when I tried to get closer to it. I was like those people who were running after Happiness "out there".

I had to learn to turn within and find it "in here", to help myself to learn to relax, sink in and discover it within me; that is how I got hooked onto Tai Chi Chi Kung at a very young age!! It was not difficult because my father was a keen lover of martial arts and philosophy, I learned to read from reading his books!!

For the following 14 years, I went around the world, learned Tai Chi Chi Kung with the happy grandmasters, had a lot of fun laughing my way through  it all and enjoyed the journey. Then, I found happiness by enjoying teaching these ancient arts and discovered the Art of Self Humour as a way to learn and to teach about Happiness.    

Aisling: For all those who say that" I am fine" but are in denial of what is really  happening to them inside, how can Rainbow Tai Chi help?

Master Choy: Deep within each person, I believe, is a genuine authentic seeker of true love and the lover of truth!! You know in your guts when your life is not well, there are pains and aches all over your body or in certain parts of your body softly complaining and then, getting louder as the years pass by. Those are signals that we need to pay attention to in the early stages and not pass the buck to the doctors and surgeons later on. We can learn to find a healthier lifestyle. As one of my students who is herself a doctor shared, "Coming from a background of 12 years as a GP, I felt there was some-thing lacking in what I was able to offer. I first met Master Choy seven years ago and attended his work-shops. What he had to say seemed immediately to make sense. Since then I have explored many different avenues and teachers, but no-where has everything made such sense without turning our backs on our ordinary Western lives." Dr Lynette Bowden MBBS, DRCOG, MFHom

Rainbow Tai Chi Summer School Students Bard and Mari learning to connect to
heart meridian and tan tien in the chi swimming pool, Devon UK   

Aisling: Although you can be serious when you are delivering an important lesson, what is special  about Rainbow Tai Chi is the lightness and the strong sense of fun you bring to your teaching, balancing yin and yang. So many are out of balance or not centred and they don't even realize it. How can rainbow tai chi help?

Master Choy: Yes, ultimately, everyone says they are looking for happiness. I find that Happiness is truly an Art in itself and like my grandfather Yong Mun Sen on my mother's side, he believes in loving what he does and became the Father of Malaysian Painting during the 1940s and 1950s. His paintings were chosen along with such masters as Degas, Matisse and Picasso. Sotheby Auctions estimated his paintings to be worth millions!!

I really love what I do and balanced with finding who I truly am, the energy that comes from me is truly creative in an unknown, fresh and new way. That is why although a lot of the exercises are the same, my workshops are never the same and unique and brings immense fun, laughter and joy to people. It surprises even me what comes out of me!! The Rainbow Tai Chi envelopes the seven rainbow aspects of what we love learning and sharing about: Violet - Self Healing, Indigo - Leadership Training, Blue - Peaceful Meditation, Green -  Learn to be a Magnet for Harmony and Prosperity, Yellow - Enlighten your work environment Rainbow Tai Chi, Orange - Learn the Art of Self Humour and Secrets of Rejuvenation,  Rose Red -  Discover the Governor of all Acupuncture Meridians and improve your love life!!

Aisling: What is the TAO and how can this help us in our daily lives?

Master Choy: Tao means the Creative Principle of Nature. It exists in the Wu Chi, and Wu Chi means, “The Mysterious Nothingness where ‘Fullness’ comes from”. To find the solutions to your problems, you need to find an empty mind that is connected to a full heart and dynamic energized physical body. This is the way of your true nature.

Aisling: You are introducing the Tao of Love and Sex in your Workshop - can you say more about this?

Master Choy: When a couple is attracted to each other often without slowing down to realize what it is that makes them feel the attraction. In the Tao of Love and Sex, we study about the Law of Yin and Yang which can be about opposites of emotional and physical negative and positive traits or it could be about finding Complementary Yin/Feminine and Yang/Masculine Qualities in each other on all levels. The Tao of Fusion is based on natural laws of oneness which creates love, respect, honour and healing. The idea of Fission is unnatural and are human created beliefs and experiences of the past, that are based on hurt, anger, frustration and sexual arrogance that has created a lot of misery and damage. Usually, this topic takes many years to cover. Due to the Galactric Alignment, the pace of learning and growth has accelerated and now we have a 4 Day workshop to introduce to you The Tao of Love and Sex and show the differences of Fusion and Fission principles in relationships. You will also learn some fun basic Chinese massage techniques to loosen up your partner. You can discover how to attract to you a complementary partner or discover mysterious beautiful qualities latent in your present partner. An advanced course on this subject is available at the 18 Days Summer School here in Devon. 

Aisling: Why is the term “Galactric” recently introduced into your teachings?

Master Choy:  The ancient Mayans, Egyptians and Chinese Wise Sages have shared that every 26,000 years there is an alignment of our Solar System with the Milky Galaxy and this happens to be this year, yes, 2012. These Galactric spiralling solar systems connect to the Spiralling movement of Tai Chi. It is not surprising that Tai Chi is leading in the front of this as Tai Chi is born from Natural Intelligence. When you have this alignment, what happens?  In Galactric Tai Chi, you are tapping into  tremendous cosmic power to bring more chi healing, prosperity, loving energies into your life, to bring more synchronicity into your whole life. Your love life will be heightened!!

Ultimately, your relatives, friends and fellow citizens will benefit from your experience. This fantastic cosmic energy is real and will enhance your normal as well as your psychic abilities and expand your consciousness. At the same time, you will learn exercises to keep grounded, balanced and able to function in your daily life. No drugs, not even coffee, no alcohol, just pure chi energizing exercises and fun to be alive!!   You are learning to surf on these gigantic waves of energies coming into the consciousness of humanity.

To understand this alignment and to benefit the most from this year’s new energies, you have to understand and practise the Rainbow Tai Chi Chi Kung and Tai Chi Form Exercises and Principles. You learn how to relax and flow from your centre to connect to the Centres of the Earth, the Sun and the Milky Galaxy. You can only align and participate in this Galactric Tai Chi dance when you bring your Tan Tien into your daily focus.

Aisling: What is the Tan Tien?

Master Choy: This is your Sea of Blissful Energy right where you were born near your belly centre.  Our School in Devon is ideally located in between one of the highest waterfalls (in UK) and the Mothecombe beach in Devon and is where we also have teacher training intensives and have recently also started a Rainbow Tai Chi Teachers Community living at the School. The Rainbow Tai Chi Chi Kung Programs are introduced at weekend workshops, and shared deeper at our Summer School in Devon, UK.

Notes and References

1. Tai-Chi Chi Kung, 15 Ways to a happier you 1989, Kyle Cathie Ltd, London.  1989.

2. 37 Steps to Happiness, T’ai Chi Ted Smart United Kingdom.  2001.

Further Information

For more details about the Summer 2013/2014 Program or Weekend Chi Healing Workshop with Master Choy Carlingford, Ireland 21-22 September 2013  and Athens, in Greece 5/6 October 2013, please write to Peterchin2@btinternet.com  or check out at www.rainbow-taichi.org.uk/site/weekend-courses/ 

About the Interviewer

Aisling King has been serving as Senior Development Adviser for 12 years at Enterprise Ireland. She and her husband Eamonn King have been studying with Master Choy since 2008. They live in Ireland with their lovely dogs Agnes and Leo.