Beyond Temple

Fox employee paints portrait of the martial artist
By Rachel Tomlinson

Photo courtesy Rachel Tomlinson

The Chinatown Chen Taiji class performs the Splitting Pose from Master Ren, Guang Yi’s Compact 21 form. Rachel Tomlinson is front center.

People often tell me that I live a triple life — as an employee, a newlywed and a martial artist.

During the day, I serve as the assistant director for full-time faculty affairs in the Dean’s Office at The Fox School of Business, and most evenings I work out for three to four hours with my husband, Michael Rosario Graycar, at the Phoenix Chen Taijiquan Gongfu Center (www.taijiboxing.com), his martial arts school.

Over the past four years, I also attended courses for my Ed.M. in counseling psychology, which I just completed in May.

Yes, my life really is that busy.

More than five years ago, I started training in Chen-style Taiji (tai chi) as a way to spend time with my then-boyfriend. I developed a love for the art, especially when I recognized the ways that I could incorporate some of the exercises into my counseling sessions. Teaching the people I counseled fundamental Taiji exercises helped them to relax, focus themselves and balance their energy. I have been training and studying Taiji ever since.

About three years ago, Michael opened the Phoenix Center in Norristown and recently started teaching in Chinatown. I serve as a co-instructor, providing traditional Taiji instruction with a modern twist. Understanding that most Americans cannot dedicate the time that traditional practitioners focus on the art, we tailor training to first relax the body and strengthen it through silk reeling exercises — chan si gong — and forms training. Then, we teach martial skills through two-person exercises, particularly push hands, or tui shou.

Most people think that I’m crazy for filling my life with so many activities. But all of these activities are connected in terms of focus, balance and energy development. Taiji enables me to calmly work through the numerous distractions of a large office, or help a student work through a difficulty — or toss around the big guys in class. All of these are accomplished through time and dedication — the meaning of gong fu (kung fu).