Gary Huff of Kansas City leads a Tai Chi seminar at the Chilkat Center over Labor Day weekend. Huff, a Tai Chi “master” and the teacher of Haines instructor Marilyn Harrold, spent two weeks in Haines running seminars and training sessions. He certified three Haines residents as instructors.
Following a master’s visit last week, Haines now has four certified Tai Chi instructors – a robust number for an Alaskan town, according to local practitioners.
“I would love to…perhaps make this a Tai Chi hub,” said Cherri Price, one of the new instructors.
Price, 63, has been studying the Chinese martial art, which blends balance, meditation and self-defense moves, for six years at Seven Stars School of Tai Chi, run by Haines resident Marilyn Harrold.
Harrold, 70, has taught the art for seven years as Haines’ sole instructor. At Harrold’s invitation, her mentor, Gary Huff, 59, of Kansas City, Missouri, a Tai Chi “master,” visited Haines for about two weeks in early September. Leading seminars and advanced training sessions at the Chilkat Center, he certified three of Harrold’s students as instructors: Price, Rebecca Brewer and Michael George.
“We learned how to focus our minds and correct structure that would let us go deeper into the art,” Price said. “We were just in awe the whole time-open-jawed.”
Huff said he’s the disciple of Chinese grandmaster Chen Zhenglei, a descendant of the creator of one of the oldest forms of Tai Chi: Chen style, dating back to the 16th century. (There are five major styles of the art.) Harrold and Huff said Chen is a major celebrity in China.
What exactly is a master? It requires being a disciple of a Tai Chi family, like the Chens, Huff said. “That means you’ve learned the deeper principles and how to apply them in your art.” Masters know the details of thousands of maneuvers, including ones as subtle as the angle of your hand in each.
“A master can correct and help develop further even an excellent practitioner,” Price said. “You enter a different realm of learning.”
To become an instructor is easier, but still a feat. It involves mastering the Lao Jia form, a set of 74 exercises that Huff said usually take about two years to learn. Haines’ new instructors are now knowledgeable enough to teach beginners. They still have far to go before they’ve mastered the art.
Price took up Tai Chi after hearing a friend talk about Harrold’s classes. “I could see she had a glow,” Price said. “She said she felt really good… After I heard that the fifth time I thought, hmm, I better check this out.”
Harrold began studying the art at Huff’s studio in 2007 after she suffered a stroke. “I was looking for something to help me coordinate my body back together.” Two years later, she had a heart attack that required triple bypass surgery. She recovered in six weeks, thanks to Tai Chi, she said. “It probably literally saved my life.”
Huff said “very few” of his students have done what Harrold has. Not many start their own schools, and none has developed one in a place as remote as Haines.
Huff visited with his son, wife and a few students from Kansas City. In addition to teaching, they rafted on the Chilkat River and checked out the Chilkoot Valley. “We have been so happy here,” Huff said. “We’re frequenters at Howser’s now.”
Huff said he’d like to see Harrold’s school expand even more. Price hopes so, too. She envisions a Tai Chi park and retreats or workshops for visitors.
“I would like our community members to see what Tai Chi is,” she said.