Tai Chi

Can you learn qigong, or any movement art, online? This is a burning question for me right now. My immediate reaction is “NO!”. However, I believe there is a significant role for supplemental online material in the overall learning process, even for movement arts. Here’s why it’s a bad idea to learn movement online: Learning movement is a kinesthetic experience, not a visual one – you have to feel where you are in space and you certainly can’t get that from staring at a screen You need feedback – when you are learning something new, you need refinement and guidance, usually hands-on Some things need to be felt on another person – we get into this all the time with more subtle qigong principles and there is no way around feeling what’s going on in the instructor’s body to learn what you are trying to do in your own Those are my big 3 “No way!” reasons you can’t learn qigong online. Or I should say, the reason why online learning shouldn’t be your sole way of learning this stuff. Let’s look at it from a different point of view. ...

I’ve been working with the team at Energy Arts on various projects, but mainly in the capacity as a community coordinator. Currently, my focus is on helping them get a new community discussion forum off the ground, but I also had the chance to participate in the launch of their new Ba Gua Mastery Program. The Ba Gua Mastery Program is a home-study program with information on circle-walking for meditation and martial arts. They’ve drawn from a live instructor training Bruce taught in 2009, and turned out CDs, DVDs, print manuals…the whole works! It’s been a monumental effort and in the future I’ll be discussing how we’re going to blend live teaching with all these materials at BTC. ...

I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this work in the future, but we’ve just done a series of demos this fall highlighting the expanding role of evidence-based Tai Chi programs as public health interventions. When you look at the cost of a fall for older adults (I’ve heard figures like $20,000) and the good evidence that Tai Chi can reduce falls and fear of falling (now considered a risk factor for falling), it makes so much sense to fund Tai Chi classes all over: senior centers, assisted living facilities, community centers. ...

People have lots of different motivation for seeking out a practice they can own, that helps shape how they feel and how they move. In general, though, I find that there are two big reasons people come to see me and pursue this work. Peace of Mind The process of cultivating a lifelong sense of your own energy â€" to feel it flowing well, in abundance, and be able to do what you love, really comes down to feeling at ease with yourself. I believe this is reflected in how we move. As a result, I try to tailor training to help people reach these goals. ...

Last week I got back from two weeks in the UK doing an instructor training with Bruce Frantzis on Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body, the core chi gung set in his program. We’re right back into the swing of classes now, but I wanted to post a little review before too much time passes. The Energy Gates set is made up of six different exercises – they run the gamut from standing still holding a simple posture, to vigorous shifting, turning, and swinging. The range of skills and movements you can practice with them sets the foundation for all of the other work done in more sophisticated chi gung sets as well as in tai chi and ba gua. ...

NEW ONLINE COURSE: Eyes and Visual Training Longevity Qigong Classes for More Energy I teach regular weekly classes in Wu Style Tai Chi and the Energy Arts Qigong system at Brookline Tai Chi. New classes start every 7-8 weeks! Qigong is all about integrating the natural rhythms inside your body. I love exploring these patterns and rhythms and working with people to help them generate smooth internal flows --- that's what all the group classes I teach are about, whether it's a tai chi or qigong class. For more on the Energy Arts Qigong System, go here. ...

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