High Mountain Tai Chi
Boon Loh & Master Moy
I started my first class of Tai Chi in May 1986 in Calgary, Alberta.
After completing the four-month beginner class, I continued to learn from different instructors and progressed to the intermediate tai chi class. One month later, I travelled to the Tai Chi Centre in Ontario to attend my first International Tai Chi Workshop week. It was amazing to meet so many tai chiers from all over the world. It was there that I met Master Moy. He shared his knowledge with everyone, teaching workshops with more than 100 people in the class. He spoke in only Cantonese and there was a interperater when he was correcting a student or anyone who wish to ask questions. There was so much to learn and so little time.
After the week was over, I stayed at the Tai Chi Centre to learn the first half of Lok Hup. The moves were very different from tai chi. It was overwhelming, but I felt energized and my body started to change. When I returned to Calgary, I practiced for two to four hours every day, sometimes late into the night. The training was intense, and after a year of tai chi, I started as a set leader for new beginner classes. A few months later, I became an instructor.
There are also sword and sabre which I learned and practiced diligently with other instructors. Several years later working at the workshop in Australia with Master Moy he corrected my sword form. Near to the end of our travels together Master Moy instructed me to modify the sword form. In the next 15 years I thought of various way to improve the sword form eventually settling on the form I now teach.
I started to meet regularly with Master Moy. He traveled to teach workshops in Calgary and Edmonton twice a year, and I attended instructor’s workshops at the Tai Chi Center in Ontario twice a year. Apart from tai chi workshops, I also travelled to the Center to learn Lok Hup. After learning the first half of Lok Hup for five years, I finally approached Master Moy to teach me the second half of Lok Hup. He said five years learning the first half wasn’t long enough.
With determination and hopefulness, I went back the following year hoping Master Moy would teach me the rest of Lok Hup. Seeing my perseverance and determination, he agreed to teach me. It was a spiritually elevating experience. After that session, Master Moy came to Calgary many times and personally trained me on the whole set of Lok Hup. In 1992, he appointed me the Tai Chi and Lok Hup international instructor. From 1992 to 1998, Master Moy took me under his wing and I studied closely with him, travelling all over the world conducting workshops.
I was accredited by Master Moy to teach Tai Chi, Lok Hup, and Sword and Saber in Canada, US, Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Czech Republic, Spain, Poland, and Malaysia. We also traveled together to Hong Kong to learn PaQua from Master Shin. I feel deeply privileged and honored to have had the opportunity to learn directly from Master Moy.
In June, 1998 at his dying bedside, he asked me to pass on his legacy and all the knowledge he had pass on to me. I’m honored to pass on this knowledge to anyone who wants to learn. Hopefully, you’ll eventually pass it on to others.
You are missed Master Moy, but never forgotten.
- Boon Loh
