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

I studied with the 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 we opened clubs in  Thetford, Watton, Brandon, Bury St Edmunds, Outwell, Swaffham, Mattishal and Kings Lynn, under our local senior coach Ted Bird.
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/

I ts 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 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.  

This exhibition of original acrylic landscape paintings by Norfolk Artist Paul Cozens, reflects the wonderful environment of his home county. Peaceful countryside, and coastal scenes contrast against dramatically lit depictions of the vibrant heart of Norwich bustling with people or, in more reflective mood, the grace and symmetry of the Cloisters within the Cathedral and a Mute Swan backlit against a dappled river Yare at Thorpe River Green.

Just so that we do not become complacent about Norfolk's distinct landscape, with its flat fields, vast horizons and fine open coast, Paul leads us to the peaks of Derbyshire and at some 950 metres elevation the view up to Mount Helvellyn in the Lake District.

 Throughout our journey this self taught artist keeps himself and his technique unobtrusive, allowing the light and mood to do the work.
A regular participant in Norfolk Open Studio's throughout May and June of each year, Paul loves to meet people in his studio at Stoke Holy Cross.

Exhibition open at
'The Tea Lounge Norwich'
1st January - 29th March 2015
 

I am sure you have all been there, so busy you meet yourself coming back… its at times like this when you can find the scales of balance tipping in a direction you don't  really want… its at times like this you use the skills of Tai Chi to make space, take a breath, compose yourself, and reassert your desired outcome… Now take the necessary action.

So with the  release of one  of Gloria's children's books, at the same time as the release of her first  Gloria Dean homeware collection… not to mention Tai Chi etc.. something has to give… Accordingly I am looking for someone to inherit my role as curator of Art at the Norwich Tea Lounge. If you have an interest in Art and you are close to Norwich, It could be you, no formal qualifications required, just oodles of enthusiasm. Contact me directly via the contact form or phone.  There we are, I can see those scales moving already. 

The warm weather finds me reminiscing and looking ahead at the same time, more than somewhat unusual for this humble master, I am usually very focussed.
However it's that time of year when our schedule eases up a little and and we have time to reflect on the past year. We receive a lot of internet enquiries relating to Chee Soo's system, so  I was considering re introducing Feng Sau Kung Fu to the syllabus. I thought we could test the idea over the summer and see if the local response mirrors the internet enquiries we receive.
So if you can reach Norwich during July and August, and would like to learn something of the art for self defence or for health and fitness, contact me with 'Kung Fu' in the subject line.

I am also making a birthday offer of 50% off private lessons in this period contact me with 'Birthday offer' in the subject line. use the contact form, find my email address on the website, or PM me on twitter or FB. 
Now where's that sunshine.

I am somewhat excited about where this will lead, find out more by visiting the link below, or click the picture
http://www.keithroost.com/ryan-lewis--philosopher--artist--publisher-and.html

Some of my former students in Portugal have been puzzled by one of Master Chen's trailers posted on the Facebook group run by Neil Morley for Tai Chi Chuan practitioners  
 They could not quite follow what he meant in his Ground Connection trailer  ( find it on the group page above).  So I have taken the unusual step (for me anyway) of responding with a video explanation. 

In my defence, I did try a brief written explanation on the group page first.
Like most teachers, Master Chen expresses fundamental TCC concepts in his own unique vernacular.  Where he talks about 'Connecting through the ground',  I talk about 'Grounding through a stable framework'.  Where one teacher uses phrases such as Tung Jin, another says listening,  both refer to proprioceptive skills, the term I prefer.   This  issue is simply one of terminology.

The demonstrations below were filmed without set up or rehearsal,  just before one of our regular classes, hence the noise as students enter. I was assisted by Graham Bould and Gloria on camera duty. 
The observant among you will see that my stance  wobbles a bit every time Graham pushes, this is because my legs have not yet recovered from the extensive surgery a few months ago, following breaking both legs and requiring a hip replacement.  Because of the noise levels there was an explanation for the last demonstration, I have not posted, If I can sort out the sound I may post it later. For now  I have written the explanation at the end of this blog. the videos are as shot and unedited

All of the above work in a similar manner, 

1. I absorb the push and send the force down my rear leg to Ground the energy.  
2. 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.
   
3. 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,
4. 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.
5. 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.