This week someone asked me to teach him some sword, sabre, staff, applications and sparring. He was a competitive fencer as a young man, so it will be interesting. It will be good to see if my body can do what it needs. Also, to see how I have softened (or not) over the twoContinue reading “Words and swords”
Tag Archives: taichi
A place to practice
It’s been a while since I posted. There was a huge fire where I lived and I lost my studio, half of all my possessions, my community, place in nature and the river, which had been my home for 8 years. But I am well, no one was hurt and life has changed in soContinue reading “A place to practice”
T’ai Chi and health
Collated reports from medical studies on the health benefits of T’ai Chi Ch’uan.
Two sides of the mountain
Yin and yang are always in transformation.
T’ai Chi and working with nature
The correct touch in T’ai Chi and working with the natural world are essentially the same.
In praise of difficulty
An alternative to frictionless surfaces and the idea of making everything easy.
It’s long, sir.
Doing difficult or time-consuming things for their own ends, is the practice of people who wish to retain and nurture human skills.
Some lock-down thoughts
Winter brings a little clarity
Why we’re not on Youtube
‘But if you’re a good T’ai Chi school why don’t you have tons of videos for us (for free) on Youtube?’ Here’s a few answers. 1: I would prefer to produce an online course that is of real benefit to people, rather than procure a scattergun selection of the best -looking clips. Both myself andContinue reading “Why we’re not on Youtube”
Taichi, what’s in a name?
The name of our martial art, ‘T’ai Chi Ch’uan’ (or taiji quan in Pinyin) literally translates as ‘supreme ultimate fist’ or ‘great polarity boxing’, but in reality cannot simply be transformed into anything meaningful in English without a bit of backstory. Luckily etymology is one of my favourite diversions… Ch’uan or quan translates as ‘fist’,Continue reading “Taichi, what’s in a name?”