Last night I taught my last two weekly classes at Brookline Tai Chi. Next month, I’ll be diving into a new intensive learning experience, building software applications and learning about the web from a depth I’ve only poked at up until now. (I have some really cool stuff planned for Immersion Week too, so I’m not quite done yet!) It’s going to be a big change for me. I don’t quite know what to make of shedding a professional identity that I’ve held for almost 10 years.
I’m getting excited about Immersion Week at BTC next month, where we’ll take another look at the Spine Stretch and the Three Swings. Another look? Like we’ve done it before? Yes! Why is it exciting to go back to the same qigong sets over and over again? So-called creative people understand better than most that there is nothing new under the sun. Working with boulders of granite, with empty stages, with blank paper, they are credited with making something out of nothing, but that isn’t exactly what they do.
When my first Tai Chi teacher, Bruce Frantzis, came back to the US forty years ago to spread the Tai Chi he learned in China, he found out that many basic Tai Chi concepts were not being taught, either because of communications issues or lack of knowledge. Only a fraction of the vast potential of the art was being shared. Bruce set out to teach the Inner Form of Tai Chi and that’s what I have studied for the last 15 years.
We often talk about the way Tai Chi can improve your physical health and mental and emotional well-being from the point of view of the practitioner. But not everyone out there is as familiar with practical ways to use Tai Chi to support their health and wellness goals as you may be. Later this year, I’m thrilled to have the chance to share Tai Chi with physicians in a course at Harvard Medical School.
Here is my mid-week update from Tai Chi Immersion Week 2013 at Brookline Tai Chi. It’s pretty cool to see folks come from all over to train for a week, but you really have to have the right mind set to make the most of the format. See what I mean here: http://youtu.be/tBOBhSljYNo When you practice, be sure to include a clear: Warm-up: where you settle in and transition from the rest of your day.
In this episode of Qigong Radio, Energy Arts Senior Instructor Eric Peters describes what it’s like to work with the energy of the spine, using Bend the Bow Spinal Qigong. Bend the Bow is an advanced qigong set that requires precise alignment and refined sensitivity, but it gives you access to a much deeper level of internal connection and coordination than standard ways of moving your body through space. Eric performing Bend the Bow Spinal Qigong:
We are in the process of finalizing the details of a Tai Chi Cloud Hands workshop with Robert Tangora this fall in Boston, from October 26-28. As preparation for the workshop, I will be teaching a fall course at Brookline Tai Chi, covering the basic mechanics of Cloud Hands, as well as the prep exercises from Robert’s newly published book. I’m really looking forward to taking everyone at Brookline Tai Chi through these exercises and at the same time, working with members of the Inner Form coaching program to improve their Cloud Hands practice.
One of the most fascinating connections between your mind and your body is the way that the actual physical movements that you make affect your awareness. When your movements are linear and jerky, your mind stops and starts too, essentially gapping out. If you can move in a smooth circular way, your mind tends to stay calmer too. Or at least, you can calm your mind through circular movement. The next level of “
