I would like to keep our informal friendly groups going if we can while negotiating the bad weather – if the weather is obviously horrible then please assume the session is cancelled – if it is marginal then I will go and see who turns up – dressing for the weather is clearly important so I expect to see some thick winter wear!

Hopefully these will work out – please watch this blog for updates and apologies if there is a problem – please do take the opportunity to do your own practice if for some unforeseen reason I am not able to be there at the last minute.

December

Sunday 13

Tuesday 15

Thursday 17

Sunday 20

Tuesday 22

Thursday 24

Sunday 27

January

Tuesday 5

Thursday 7

Then regular weekly drop in classes in the Hall are due to re-start (Covid permitting) on Sunday 10, Monday 11 and the new session on Thurs 14 @ 2.30 Please see here for details.

Merry Christmas to all

Tai Chi was created from a synthesis of physical martial arts, medical understanding and philosophy. This synthesis is a complex and sophisticated conscious/subconscious process that each of us recreates within ourselves in some way as we practice. Teachers, books and videos can point the way but we must do the rest ourselves.
In this way each Tai Chi practitioner follows the same process as the originator Chen Wangting and all other practitioners since.
I also believe from personal experience that the martial connection is probably not that important if one is not too concerned with developing skill, but for more than a surface understanding it is essential.

A recurring theme in teaching Tai Chi ( at least in my classes! ) is the use of language and it’s limitations in the transmission of concepts and experiences, as an aid to learning Tai Chi across the physical, intellectual and emotional range of human expression – so I have taken the notes below from masterclass.com as a very clear explanation – from which  think we can agree that since as a teacher I am always seeking to make a point, then every simile or metaphor is being used as an analogy…………….?

• A simile is saying something is like something else.
• A metaphor is often poetically saying something is something else.
• An analogy is saying something is like something else to make some sort of an explanatory point.
• You can use metaphors and similes when creating an analogy.

So – analogy it is then, I’m glad we got that cleared up.

Sorry – I have diary issues next Thursday 10 Dec and will have to cancel

Now that we are back to rule of six for outdoor groups those who wish to do so may join me for informal sessions in the usual place in the park outside the STMA – weather and other commitments permitting, subject to rule of six – last in first out.

I expect to be there on Sunday at 10.30am, Tuesday at 10.30am and Thursday at 10.30am and will discuss with the group when we will stop over Christmas.

I have provisionally arranged to restart classes in the Community Hall from January Sunday 10th @ 6.30pm, Monday 11th @ 1.00pm and Thursday 14 @ 2.30pm

Merry Christmas!

Actually this post is more a speculation on way that things accumulate organically over long periods – the way we humans pass things down the generations as cultural knowledge. Which may help in both understanding and learning Tai Chi – especially if you find it confusing and start asking questions like “why?”.

It seems reasonable to assume from history that people and the ancestors of people have been fighting for a very long time indeed and that therefore some of them probably started to practice so as to increase their chances of survival if nothing else. One can imagine this practice as a sort of parallel activity to social or ritualistic dance – it seems pretty certain that once societies started creating armies then the idea of practice to increase effectiveness was common so perhaps was born the idea of exercises, techniques and strategy.

Fighting of course creates a lot of physical damage, but so does practice which one can easily imagine led to an interest in medicine – fighting itself doesn’t actually take long, leaving extended periods in between for study of other beneficial knowledge – such as medicine, philosophy, magic, psychology, science etc.

So in the early 1600’s in the middle of China a number of these practices and ideas came together at the Chen village in the person of Chen Wangting who created a unique synthesis of physical techniques together with many of these other areas of study including the philosophical world models of Taoism and Buddhism. This coming together of ideas and practices transitioned martial arts training from a base of individual specialist fighting techniques to a system of general training for the person to be able to deal with anything. It has stood the test of time in martial arts and  has since proven an excellent lens for wider personal development of all kinds. It is a cultural movement that continues to absorb new information from anywhere so long as it is useful.

So it is beneficial to think of Tai Chi as a practice for dealing with life, offering off shoots and byways of physical, intellectual and spiritual experience derived from the extensive traditional knowledge which has accumulated over the generations.

Welcome then to beginners – who can consider Tai Chi like any other form of specialist activity and can choose their level of involvement and direction of study dependent on their interest and needs. To compare with medicine for example one may well become a first aider, a para medic, a nurse, a doctor, a consultant? It really depends on how much you enjoy it, how rewarding you find it and so on. The training starts the same, a student only has to choose how far they wish to go.

For more on the history of Tai Chi – please see here 

Sadly in light of the lockdown on Thursday I have had to cancel all classes with immediate effect at least until the end of lockdown on Dec 2nd – if I find that there is an exception for our sort of class or venue then of course I will restart.

I am sorry for any inconvenience – please stay in touch and watch this space for information.

We have had a surprising response to restarting Tai Chi classes recently, which means that now we need to have another class to keep the numbers down and maintain our 2 metre social distancing – so I have arranged to run a weekly class on Thursdays commencing on Nov 5th.

This will be a one hour beginners drop in class to compliment the existing Monday 1-2 pm class and the Sunday 6.30 class

We have managed to keep our Tai Chi practice going over the summer in the park at Digswell but now the weather has started to turn autumnal  it was lovely to get back to our usual venue of the Community Hall. The hall committee have spent much time on Covid security and we are grateful for their efforts which enabled us to get back to working on our flexibility, balance, posture and relaxation.

There was, of course much welcoming and greeting of old friends from a distance. Those of us who have managed to spend time on Tai Chi at home through the “lockdown” period were pleased to once again have company and the opportunity to share conversation – even my bad jokes went down well!