Eli Montaigue, Head Instructor of the World Taiji Boxing Association, returned to Utah. He brought us more advanced Taijiquan. In September 2008, Saturday 27th - Sunday 28th, each day’s training went 10 am - 5 pm! 18 folks worked hard to become elastic and powerful.
It was at Steven Smith’s condo-complex, on the big lawn.
130 South 1300 East #210
Salt Lake City, UT 84102
For Eli’s second journey to Utah, we took it a step further.
Eli demonstrated and taught us:
- Advanced Small San Sau
- San Sau’s Deadly Mother Applications!
- Old Yang Form
- Single & Double Pushing Hands
- Striking Methods
- and Qigong
Plus, everyone worked directly with Eli, receiving corrections and tips on Pushing Hands at the workshop. A number of folks signed up for private instruction before or after the workshop. And Steven Smith hosted dinner on Saturday night—that’s becoming a tradition.
Mother Applications in Taiji Small San-Sau
Mother Applications do not appear much in writing or on DVD. This is exclusive. From Eli: “The mother applications from the small San-Sau are some of the best multiple strike kill methods out there, teaching you all about body movement, Fa-jing, and Dim-Mak. These method were banned in the US for a time due to being too violent! There is one Mother Application for every move in the Small San-Sau, the postures in the form are your first reaction, your defence, even though some of them alone can kill, the mother applications are your follow ups, never giving a sucker an even break as we like to call it!”
Recommendation:
Learn Basic Small San Sau. The following videos demonstrate varying levels of Small San Sau: MTG 3, MTG 24, MTG 53, MTG 134. Books by Erle Montaigue entitled Internal Gung-Fu Vol.2 or the classic Dim-Mak: Death-Point Striking both detail the Small San Sau.
Learn it, know it, advance it.
You can also get up to speed on Basic Small San Sau at RealTaiji.com’s Small San Sau Review Workshop in November 2008.
Rumor, the next workshop might be in February.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:09 am
If the mother applications were never printed nor in video how could they have been banned in the US? Was this a true legal federal ban?
September 27th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Good point. I was wrong. Erle Montaigue covers Mother Applications in Dim-Mak A to Z volume 6. They’re documented! Good thing too. (I am not sure about the details of the legal concepts surrounding Mother Applications, Josh.)
September 28th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
awesome, words can’t even describe how much I learned and enjoyed this experience with Eli…Eli is amazing and I cannot wait to continue my practice in Taiji! The San Sau Mother Applications are fantastic and extremely fun :) really fun and breathtaking to watch Eli do the form and demonstrate push hands and mother applications on Steven….makes me want to practice all the time. There is so much to work on, what a fun journey Taiji is!…the old yang form is so beautiful and deadly that it is the only way I want to do the form now. Thank you so much for this fantastic opportunity and I am already looking forward to the next one.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Awesome training again this year! Plenty of new faces as well as familiar ones. The weekend was full of wonderfully saturated training with many juicy tidbits to work on and develop. Wow, the mother applications are fierce and exciting! Seeing Eli in action (in person!) and to see these movements performed at his level is inspiring. His instruction is thorough and I had quite a few moments of, “A-ha, so that’s how that works!” I’ll be training hard and eagerly awaiting his return. I hear rumors of a February 2009 visit…
October 1st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
This weekend was amazing. Seeing Eli do his stuff is really something. The techniques we learned this weekend really show how deadly taiji is. That’s one of the things that really amazed me about eli. Watching him attack with deadly force speed and precision, deliver a blow that could easily kill anyone who’s unlucky enough to be on the receiving end with his palm an inch away from the pad, and then watching him move with such subtle, flowing grace while he does the Lu Chan form. Absolutely amazing. Those of us who live in utah are very lucky to have a skilled instructor within a reasonable distance, and opportunities to train with people like eli. Great weekend.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Where to start!
I guess I can start off with a subtle, yet smooth and refreshing smile.
This was one of the greatest weekends, EVER! I was in anxious awe waiting for Saturday to begin as I’ve already seen a glimpse of the mother applications from the awesome and amazing Steven Smith. I was waiting in anticipation to see what Eli would show us in this realm as well as, the little tid-bits I might pick up to help me in my own practice.
I was not dissapointed when Eli started strutting his stuff and amazing us all with his soft, yet destructive nature and fluidity. I gained a lot of little insights into my own form and the way to approach different aspects of Taiji. The slight movement of the whole body, the chain affect of moving like water as it flows freely from one part of the body to the other; emptying out as you strike, turning a slight shake into a hurricane of destruction.
Other than body fluidity, I learned about the, “Hand up horses ass” and always staying connected with the hinge and just, “walking down the street” while doing two-handed push hands.
I also like the way Eli taught in working the maximum repetitions into small movements so we could practice it to better results, instead of trying to learn the whole form at once and by the time you get to the end you forget the beginning.
I was also impressed by Eli’s humility and willingness to help us learn as we all knew that he came from the genes of the Master. He could have been stuck up and walked around like an ass, taunting us with his superior skills, but he didn’t. I felt that Eli treated us like family (whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know. :-p). He offered hugs even though it was the first time we’ve met him and answered any questions with a quick and helpful response.
I just have to finish saying that this weekend was well worth it and I cannot wait for more training and insiders information into this wonderful art from Eli. While we are on the subject of thanks, thank you Steven Smith for making this art possible in Utah and for helping us achieve a better life, more self-confidence, a buffer body, killer instincts and an all around smoother smile for ourselves.
:-)
October 1st, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Kimmi, I like your passion for Taiji. We will work with the Old Yang form often from this day forward; I like it a lot too.
Jason, it sure was a step up from last year. Thanks again for all your support and work in helping make it happen. Rumors of February 09….more later.
Ben, this Taiji is absolutely amazing, and so is Eli. I’m glad your part of it all.
Steven, dude, you gift many words. You’ve a knack for the funny stuff…as well as kindness. Thanks for your appreciation. Let’s do it all again soon.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Thanks for hosting him. It was such a pleasure to come. I especially liked the work with the single whip. It built on the conversation we had been having about the eagle vision and my affinity towards crane kung-fu. Can anyone think of any type of intuitive or logical relationships between the three?
One love!
Greg
October 6th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Eli is Awesome! Plain and simple.
No words can express my gratitude to Eli and his father Erle for all of their vision, efforts, knowledge, and technical excellence.
As a practicing martial artist and school owner for several decades I know quality when I see it. Even though the WTBA is still in its infancy here in America its future is HUGE!
When the martial arts community wakens to the depth, potency and excellence of authentic Taiji, (and all the other WTBA programs), there will be no stopping the explosion of growth. So, get in now and start practicing diligently!
p.s. Kudos to Steven for his great efforts and hospitality. He struck me as a humble and quietly intense person who has balanced intelligence, insight, vision, kindness and whole life virtues which are so needed in this day and time.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I just have to say thank you all for saying such lovely things about me! And I’m so glad you are enjoying our art.
To know you all learnt so much and had such a great time is the greatest thing about teaching! I am so greatful to all of you especially Steven for the workshop, I had such a great time in Utah, both the workshop and the Hiking etc.
Can’t wait to get back there next year! Maybe for some Large San-Sau? You’d love that!
Keep up the training and have fun!
Eli.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Greetings,
Over the last 19 years, I’ve been exposed to hundreds of martial artists from many disciplines; some phenomenal, others mediocre. I can say, with full confidence and truth, that Eli Montaigue is one of the greatest, most consummate artists I’ve ever witnessed. He is the Art, and the Art is him. It is absolutely amazing that someone so young could have already attained such an unusually high level of skill. It really was awe inspiring. The WTBA teaches internal arts as they were originally fashioned; as martial arts - not geriatrtic, syrupy dances that most of the “internal arts” world milks the populace with, which is most unfortunate.
I was only able to attend the second half of each successive day, but what I gathered from those two sessions (particularly structure, alignment, and full integration of internal and external mechanics) is honestly enough for me to work on for years. If you are a Nei Jia Quan (i.e. Internal Martial Arts) enthusiast and you’ve not yet taken some quality time to check out the Montaigue’s WTBA system, I highly, strongly encourage you to do so. I, myself, turned more towards the internal arts after extensive external training about 8 years ago, but I never found anyone in Utah over those 8 years that had the flavor of the Art that I was looking for, and I did, indeed, hit every TaiChi (and anything else Karate, Kung Fu, and such) school from Ogden to Salt Lake City on a continual basis over those 8 years until FINALLY discovering Mr. Steven Smith. I am one you could consider an “outsider” coming in, and, therefore, I can say, without bias, that the WTBA is the best there is in the state about 500 times over, times another 5,000, ergo, give it a look; you will be most pleased, I assure you.
Aaron W. Johnson
October 9th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Brian, I’m with you. The impeccable work of Erle and Eli always impresses me on DVD, in person: even better. Their hardy, reality approach makes Taiji a real martial art.
Eli, great work as always, and you bet we’ll be ready for some Large San Sau next September…let’s think about a theme for late February or early March.
Aaron, your depth of experience in martial arts helps remind me how potent our work is in the World Taiji Boxing martial arts and healing arts. Thanks.
October 25th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I enjoyed this workshop very much. I have been practicing the internal chinese martial arts for over 16 years and can say that based on my own studies and exposures to the arts of Hsing-I, Taichi, and Bagua, that Eli is truly one of the best in this field. He did an exceptional job in this workshop. I loved the nice balance of martial and energetics practice. I look forward to learning more and can’t wait for the next workshop.
I’d like to thank Steve Smith as well for his work in hosting these workshops and his efforts to grow the Internal Martial Arts in Utah.
-Chris