Happy new Year to you all.
This year (2018) we thought, improve the quality should be the focus for all. see the post from Golden Rooster School for some ideas to start with. Golden Rooster School Blog
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I studied with the CCA, and IWSA under Master Chee Soo for over 18 years, to some he was 'Lao Bah', to others Sifu, or Dai Sifu, to me he was always professor, or occasionally Master. To begin with his system was thoroughly integrated, boxing, throwing, wrestling, chin na and healing all in the same place. I came to learn Kung Fu, and was taught Tai Chi, because it contained everything. Toward the late 1970's he split the arts in to different systems. some did Tai Chi, some Kung Fu, Some the throwing art of Chi Shu, others, breathing and massage, I continued with as much as I could , training locally for 9 hours a week, and travelling to the central coaching school monthly. I earned my masters degree through knowledge and ability and hard work. Together with my clubmates, we opened clubs in Thetford, Watton, Brandon, Bury St Edmunds, Outwell, Swaffham, Mattishal and Kings Lynn, under our local senior coach Ted Bird, and regional coach Alan Smith. I shall always be grateful for the things I learned from the Professor, and from those teachers I have followed since. In the video below, we finally See Professor Chee Soo, represented as he should be, humble, knowledgable, funny, and kind, its a nice tribute. Thanks to the guys at https://lishi.org/ It's the new year, Gloria and I endured 8 Hours of Dorothy (our Dachshund) voicing her opinion of fireworks, as part of our celebrations, and, as a feature of 21st Century Tech life, many, many felicitations via social media. We finished our bottle of port and went to bed when the celebrations, and therefore the barking ceased. The new year is stacking up to be a busy one, Gloria has an exhibition to prepare work for, more outlets must be found for the Meadowlands range, new products need packaging designing and producing, and even more websites need maintenance. All of that on top of the new range of courses for our Tai Chi school. Its a lot different to last year which saw me hospitalised for a couple of weeks, of which I have little, if any memory; a much better beginning. So... to the point of this post; I have reserved some space in my diary for private Tai Chi and Qigong students, It provides a nice antidote to wrangling business plans and SEO optimisation, quarterly reports of ROI etc, so I like to keep it part of my week. One of the greatest reasons I find to keep me teaching after all these years, is that every new student brings me a fresh point of view, and a new experience of the Nei Jia arts. Its like having new researchers all the time...Fantastic. So if you feel like you could use some Tai Chi or Qigong in your schedule, and are in the Norwich area, check out the video below, and contact me. Happy New Year ![]() 3.30am wake up, try not to wake Gloria, creep to studio for Nei gung practice, amongst the piles of fabric waiting to be printed . Good standing meditation to finish, and back to bed by 4.15am. 6.55am Gloria gets up to make tea and check emails. Over tea (water for me) we discuss yesterdays video results, a client who needs invoicing, the need to incorporate EAN/UPC/SKU(s) on our various products, the best time to upgrade the macbook's 'OS' to 'El Capitan' ( I did the Imac last week with no major hiccups) and as the weather is looking fine and sunny, the possibility of using a nearby location for a 5 minute video lesson for the new GR School tips series. 8.0am Breakfast (Toast and Coffee) Discuss todays schedule regarding client calls and follow up email's, printing cards for the face to face outlets coming up later this month, weather has changed so the 5 minute video filming is put on the back burner. workout timing for banking, shopping, and picking up a friend on the way to dialysis this afternoon. I list things to shift to cloud for work while on dialysis and make a note to get an android movie editing app for the tablet. Email correspondence with a Chinese company for me, stocktaking for Glory and she squeezes in answering some questions on a folksy panel. Minor glitch on laptop with a word work D_1.tmp file that wont go away or be trashed, 2 minutes research, its a backend thing most likely caused by Lion and will go away on restart. 9.0am its raining, filming outside is now off the schedule and I start to write this blog after checking 5 email accounts and stats on 11 websites, predictable growth on gloriadean.com, unexpected spike on Keithroost.com, refer to yesterdays log and discover , its due to facebook and twitter activity from a couple of days back. Plan new layout for graphics on goldenrooster.co.uk and prepare for website consultation with Clothing designer Duncan from Iconic Coast. 1030am more coffee and biscuits with emails to tai chi students, Gloria updates boards on pinterest. 11.0am decide this blog will be too long to read and stop writing to get more graphics done for new flyers and lead pages.. ![]() Here in Dunston Vale our back garden is benefiting from the bright sunshine, warm between the rather unruly gusts of wind and its our third outside lunch of the year. Over sandwiches, strawberries and tea we discuss the mornings work; Gloria's reinterpretation of one of her Chinoiserie designs for a scarf, my reorganisation of our Tai Chi School website to be more interactive. With the warmth of the sun and the sound of gentle buzzing I close my eyes for a moment, lengthen my spine and drop my breath down, a few moments to release some muscles tight from sitting too long at a the Apple and concentrating. I turn my neck slowly, this way and that, feeling the knots and letting go, much better. When I open my eyes there is a brown furry guy sitting on my shoulder looking straight at me. Gloria points out that he has a rather long pointy bit at the front, perhaps he is some kind of Horse fly? gently I ease him from my shoulder, he is rather reluctant to move, sitting him on the large urn ext to me I get a better look. ![]() One pair of wings, spindly little legs, and a long proboscis for feeding on flowers, He is a Bee-fly, a little guy who like to look like a bee so he is less likely to be eaten, whilst foraging amongst the flowers. Like a bee they help pollinate our flowers, and certainly dont offer any threat to us. We leave him in the sun to warm up as we go back to the studio, Gloria loves Timpani, and I have found a great piece "The Tragedy of a Young Soldier" by a young guy named Christopher D. Walker, Look out for him. 'Light and Level' |
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All of the above work in a similar manner,
This question and response highlight a real issue for many modern Tai Chi practitioners, seeking to improve by virtue of You tube. A teachers terminology can be a barrier or an aide to learning, and we all use terminology of one sort or another.
If the seeker is unfamiliar with the phrases that regular students are introduced to they may be misled or at least puzzled. Chen Zhonghua gives a clear and useful demonstration. If you must seek knowledge at a distance, you can visit his site, and buy access to his training resources properly, and you will get further. Alternatively you could join the Golden Rooster School, and I will send you details of our live online courses.
- I absorb the push and send the force down my rear leg to Ground the energy.
- I redirect the force by turning into the push and expressing until I feel his weight shift back somewhat. Note that the first time I do this it is in two steps so that Graham can feel the change.
- Apart from Chen's Ground connection, there is connection through the push (see 1 and 2) at the point where my arm contacts his chest or belly, and at the knee. This is the next action push your knee sideways by opening your hip slightly, this is what Chen calls opening the Kua, it weakens Grahams root further,
- Finally a small turn of the waist transfers energy through my arm across Grahams balance point and directs him into the void. The connection can also be made through the free arm, as when I lightly touch Grahams shoulder in video 1.
- The last demo has a slight variation in that the teachers leg is behind the pusher's. Step 1 and 2 are as above. For step 3 I Close the hip (Kua ) slightly to cause Graham to lean inward or brace, then by turning the waist, or by removing the leg behind, again you can see he is destabilised.
This question and response highlight a real issue for many modern Tai Chi practitioners, seeking to improve by virtue of You tube. A teachers terminology can be a barrier or an aide to learning, and we all use terminology of one sort or another.
If the seeker is unfamiliar with the phrases that regular students are introduced to they may be misled or at least puzzled. Chen Zhonghua gives a clear and useful demonstration. If you must seek knowledge at a distance, you can visit his site, and buy access to his training resources properly, and you will get further. Alternatively you could join the Golden Rooster School, and I will send you details of our live online courses.
Author
Keith has studied the Chinese Internal arts for over 40 years. He lives in England and Portugal with artist, designer and writer Gloria Dean and teaches in Portugal and the UK.
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