Stand Down. United Tai Chi Digest 10/9/13

• Retreat.  One of the connotations of the phrase ‘martial arts’, for the uninitiated, suggests the concept of fighting.  Yet there is a difference in the aggression of an offense, versus the acquiescence of a controlled defense.  Receive. Understand. Redirect.   We’ve talked here about topics like transforming conflict (Qi Gong Radio’s Dan Kleiman), humility (The Wandering Taoist), situational awareness and training yourself to discern antisocial aggression versus asocial violence (Survive the Unthinkable). Indeed our own instructor calls for us to communicate from the back of our spine not the front of our chest, and to ‘retreat until you can’t retreat anymore’.   And recently Ziva’s warrior girl persona from NCIS finally coming to terms with her past and deciding to start over—telling Tony there is someone crying for everyone she killed. Our anthropological instinct –part time predators, part time hunter/gatherers, is challenged with the internal arts. Yet here we are ready to embrace the noble art of retreating, the peacefulness of Receive, Understand, Redirect.  This week will you be more like Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid (“best way avoid punch, no be there”),  or like Bruce Springsteen in his 1984 cut from Born To Run, “No retreat baby, no surrender”?    

 

• Shares/Finds:  Great story from Sifu Anthony K of Flowing Zen about all the types of blockages that may hamper your healing path http://flowingzen.com/9559/12-things-blocking-you-from-healing/  including pie charts and all; maybe I need a pie chart in my output.  Or just a pie.  

 

• Wrap-up of the past week’s classes:  Drills on in-line Grasp the Sparrows Tail repeaters and palm changes; and holding Single Whip hand postures. Brush knee mechanics.  Eight pieces of brocade.  Drills of individual postures done to both sides. Dave K’s question about leg traps.  Dolores is the new Barbara.  Ambidextrous: work on that. Neck stretches and Cow Gazing at the Moon. Line drills of Grasp the Sparrows Tail. Path to your center with Thirteen Postures. Yang 108. Martial applications and palm positions of Look/Gaze. Finally, practicing Part I of Yang 108 at several different speeds to gauge the different sensations or things you notice when it is sped up or sssslllloooowwwed down.

 

• Student News and Upcoming Events:  United Tai Chi will be at the West Chester Farmers Market this Saturday October 12 from 9am to 12pm. If you attend, could you snap a couple pictures for our FB page (I’ll be elsewhere working). Welcome back Irene. Safe travels to Christine H.  Welcome two new students on Tuesday afternoon.  Chris S thanks for the LinkedIn endorsement. Grand birthday wishes to Claudia.  Best of luck next week to Liz G with her surgery. Welcome aboard all our new Facebook followers and WordPress visitors this week. And a shout out to West Chester Chiropractic (we’ll blame it on Adam’s rib).   Tai Chi DVD night will be Friday October 11, 8pm at the Lionville Natural Pharmacy Holistic Health Center. Please let me know how many of you will be there and if you can bring a small snack or beverage to share (e.g., tea, water, fruit, nuts, etc). Christian will have a few videos from some of his past Wakulla Springs sessions to share, all are welcome.   

 

• Etcetera:  If you missed out on the FREE Friday Amazon purchase of Paul Read’s “One Last Thing: The History of the Martial Arts Philosophy” it is now just a $3.99 Kindle download, and it is crazy funny. And Deborah it even includes Rocky!

 

• Weekly Schedule:

MORNINGS	Lionville YMCA  … 100 Devon Drive  Exton PA	Mon, Weds, Fri	7:30 AM
AFTERNOONS	Eagleview YMCA …699 Rice Blvd  Exton PA	Tues, Thurs	4:45 PM
EVENINGS	Lionville Natural Pharmacy    309 Gordon Dr Exton [90 minute, small   class attention, *separate fees apply]	Thursday	7:00 PM
Private paid lessons available   upon request –check with instructor for scheduling
Monday nights in the fall: 7 week   beginner class ordered through Chester County Night School

 

• Follow these links to our social media presence on the web:

FACEBOOK   http://www.facebook.com/UnitedTaiChi.chesco

TWITTER       http://www.twitter.com/unitedtaichi     

PINTEREST   http://www.pinterest.com/unitedtaichi

 

Have a great week, and may all your armpits have tuna sandwiches.

Kathleen Rice         unitedtaichi@gmail.com    

Cinematique: United Tai Chi 7/10/13 digest

Notes from today’s class

• The cinema has a long standing love of movement –from dancing, to fighting, running to skating, climbing to horseback riding, baseball to cycling. From the early physical comedy stylings of Buster Keaton to “West Side Story” to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, to the parcour-ific James Bond in “Quantum of Solace” — the camera caresses, indulges and enlivens motion.   And martial arts films are no exception. Unless you were in China for opening weekend July 5 of Keanu Reeve’s directorial debut “Man of Tai Chi” co-starring Tiger Hu Chen and Karen Mok, American audiences have yet to receive a release date, but there is a trailer available (see URL link below). Again this leans more toward the martial aspect than the peaceful-in-the-park connotation. The film buff in me would still put together a meet up group for United Tai Chi when it is distributed stateside.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2016940/?ref_=sr_1
• Shares/Finds:  (notes courtesy of worldtaichiday.org)  The recidivism rate in US prisons is at least 60%, costing billions. A California Tai Chi teacher Judith Treathway invited WTCD founder Bill Douglas to Folsom to show that recidivism was dramatically lower for those inmates who were part of a Tai Chi and Qi Gong program.  Also an inmate at the Texas Penitentiary Allred Unit, Willie Milton, is conducting a program sharing the Tai Chi Long Form and Sitting Qi Gong Meditation. Milton is reaching out to prison systems around the US to share the success of the program.
• Wrap-up of the past week’s classes:  Eight pieces of brocade. Thirteen postures. Part II of Yang 108, “Be like a slack jawed baby drooling saliva” (relax the throat and mandible). Watch out for frost warnings. Spent some time on Dragon Tongue Kick. Keep your spine healthy and elongated with Tai Chi (are you still as tall as your driver’s license says?).Drills on individual postures. Sweeping the lotus leaves. Blow up toys. Scandinavian hot springs.
• Student News and Upcoming Events: A powerful reminder of the fragility of life and to treasure what you have –we love you Doris and happy belated birthday. Welcome a new students Judy and Kay.  Red Cross Blood Drive now taking appointment registrations for August 23 at Lionville Community YMCA — http://bit.ly/1aJCcaF  (save a life, and get a coupon for free Dunkin’s iced coffee & donut).  Christian’s weekend Qi Gong workshop has a tentative date of Saturday August 3^rd, more news TBD.  A small but enthusiastic Tai Chi class at Boot Road Park this week–any newbies welcome, see schedule below.  If you didn’t get a starter packet yet let us know. I think there are a few T-shirts still available if you have not yet availed yourself, $15 (see Christian).  I seem to be without any travel E-photos from our students’ summer trips yet, slackers. I will record “Holiday Road” from National Lampoon’s Vacation and ear-worm it to you in your sleep.
• Weekly Schedule

MORNINGS	Lionville YMCA  … 100 Devon Drive	Mon, Weds, Fri	7:30 AM
AFTERNOONS	Eagleview YMCA …699 Rice Blvd	Tues, Thurs	4:45 PM
EVENING	Lionville Natural Pharmacy    309 Gordon Dr   [90 minute, small class attention, *separate fees   apply]	Thursday	7:00 PM
Spring/Summer Evening	Beginners  at Boot Road Park (weather permitting) 110 W. Boot Rd       $10 drop in rate.	Monday	6:00 PM

• Follow these links to our social media presence on the web:

 FACEBOOK   https://www.facebook.com/pages/United-Tai-Chi/392555767502788

 TWITTER       http://www.twitter.com/unitedtaichi      PINTEREST   http://www.pinterest.com/unitedtaichi

   

Have a great week, and may all your armpits have tuna sandwiches.

Kathleen     unitedtaichi@gmail.com    

(P³)   a PLUM POINT PUBLICITY production

Of Taoism and Football: United Tai Chi 6/26/13 digest

• The Philadelphia Eagles don’t report to training camp until August, but you can already get a glimpse into the essence of their new coach.  In “The Tao of Chip Kelly”, author Mark Saltveit (@msalt) likens Kelly’s efforts and style to eastern philosophy and martial arts principles like “be present in the moment, minimize ego, ignore rewards, criticism, and comparison with others.”  Kelly also told USA Today in August 2012 while still at Oregon “We are not an end-result operation. Our whole deal, why we’re good, is because we’ve very, very focused on the process.”  Also Saltveit, in citing Kelly’s work at Oregon and The University of New Hampshire says “Kelly has always had to make do against bigger opponents, he has developed lots of ways to work around his team’s lack of size.”  He comments on Kelly’s disinclination toward rigidity, “redefining positions more flexibly, seeking versatile players who can fit more than one role and shift from one position to another.” Kelly’s practice routine: “there are the broader rhythms, following the body’s cycles like sleep…so that the familiarity of the routine settles players and gets them back into muscle memory, not in their heads.”  And that Chip uses the notion of the Faceless Opponent –“work the same against powerful teams and weaker teams…recognize and adapt to whatever the team does.” 
•  Shares/Finds:  A Huffington Post link with Getty Image photos of Keanu Reeves at a press conference for his film “Man of Tai Chi” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/20/keanu-reeves-tai-chi_n_3473849.html   And to balance out the modern with the historical, a video of Yang Chen Fu’s disciple Tung Ying Chieh performing Yang style Tai Chi  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ-k6my-d3g&feature=youtu.be&a
•  Wrap-up of the past week’s classes:  Slow drills on individual postures to check your alignments (knees and tailbone relaxed, head suspended, soft collarbones). Part I of Yang 108 done to both sides. Shoulder strike—yang (open) fingers at left, then yin (closed) fingers as you cross over to shoulder. Looking at the yin versus yang side of Thirteen Postures. Ligament/foot/knee health –rolling from heel to toe in a straight ahead motion.  Ten breaths.  White crane. Brush knee. Rehearsing your 45 and your 90.
•  Student News and Upcoming Events: Our instructor Christian is pondering one weekend workshop (90 minutes or 2 hours) of Qi Gong for a fee—let us know if a Saturday or Sunday is better for you and what time of day, or what weekends are you most available.  A couple of Boot Road Park students tried out the Eagleview class (Hi). Lots of travelers this time of year– Ray, Rim, and Janet.  Those of you who RSVP’d to my birthday event, thanks bunches, see you soon. Curse you Party City for not having confetti with My name on it—I shall speak ill of you on social media.

– Kathleen Rice, administrator and PR support for United Tai Chi