Unfortunately the school of Jing Qi Shen has closed as of 1st February 2009.

For any questions, comments or general chat please use this email address :

wtinkoe@gmail.com

Professor didn’t speak english. Tam Gibbs was his translator, secretary, confidante. More than any of us, Tam was the classic disciple. His life was his relationship with Professor.

Image and text from the book There are no secrets by Wolfe Lowenthal

Chinese Community Centre

Liesbeek Avenue

Observatory

Cape Town

7925

Western Cape

South Africa

Pictures taken from the book Cheng-Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on T’ai Chi Ch’uan by Cheng Man Ch’Ing

For Professor, practicing calligraphy was the same as practicing the principles of Tai Chi: the whole body relaxed , moving as one piece, energy coming from the ground.

Picture and text from the book There Are No Secrets by Wolfe Lowenthal

One thing which always struck me ( Wolfe Lowenthal ) about professor was that he never had shoulder or upper-body tension in his gestures.

Picture and text from the book There Are No Secrets by Wolfe Lowenthal

Born 27th July 1974.

Stephen Yap’s first encounter with martial arts was with Tai Chi. He studied under the teacher Rao Rao Zao in 1993 for about a year.

His next journey was with shaolin which he also studied for about a year.

In 1994 he also began Tai Chi and acupuncture with Dr Feng Chao Lin till 1999. During his time with Dr Lin he opened an acupuncture clinic in 1996.

In 2002 Stephen opened the school Jing Qi Shen and began teaching to this day.

In 2007 he immigrated to Oslo, Norway but makes regular trips back to South Africa to keep a watchful eye on his sheep.

Translated in TCM and internal exercise texts as “Mind” or “Vitality”. Mental faculties, consciousness and thinking are all included in the translation. The state of the mind can have a direct or indirect impact on the state of the body in various ways and forms. In TCM the “Shen” or “vitality” can be a reflection of the level of health, mental functioning and well-being of a person. The clarity or lack of clarity in the mind will manifest in the body through it’s actions or inability to perform these actions.

When looking at the more common translation of “Shen”, the words “Mind” and “Spirit” are most frequently found. Using only these two words however cannot convey a translation accurate to the meaning intended by the ancient texts as they only encompass a small part of the meaning.

The concept of the mind in ancient times went far beyond than thoughts or mentality. The mind was said to be connected to the intent, the intent connected to the spirit, the spirit connected to the consciousness and the consiousness in turn connected to both the consious and subconscious mind for example.

So it can be clearly seen that the concept of “Shen” can be approached from various viewpoints, ranging from a simple translation to several words trying to explain one aspect.

Trying to understand the mind, however, is an art in itself. It requires a great degree of self-reflection and training. This kind of training is known as training the Shen or “Lian Shen”.

Translated from TCM references and also standard dictionary translations. Bear in mind, however, that the use of these words varies depending on the circumstance and also the context in which they are used. The Chinese characters for all the noted translations of Jing, Qi and Shen respectively are the same.