We are looking for more content for our Alternative Health Exercises site and would be happy to include links to suitable videos.

The site was created in response to student requests for something to remind them of the exercises they do in class but had difficulty remembering at home.
So, in an effort to help, we have put together some 15-25 minute demonstrations that students can follow along to in their own home.
If you are a teacher, or know of a teacher with a video perhaps already hosted on YouTube, then please submit your video for consideration.
At present we only cover Tai Chi inspired exercises but are looking for exercises inspired by any other recognised discipline, e.g. Yoga, Pilates etc., but the emphasis is on exercises not on routines or forms.
Appearance on the site is free and it is free to visitors. Submission is only open to copyright owners.

Please submit a link to your video(s) to Ian Deavin whose decision is final. www.alternativehealthexercises.org takes no responsibility for videos, their content or issues arising from practice of the exercises depicted in video demonstrations

I will be holding a push hands seminar in Shefford at the Community Hall on Saturday Nov 21st at 9.30am to 12.30pm – this follows our successful seminar at the beginning of October where students asked for a repeat asap – so this is it! Cost is £30 please let me know if you will be coming.

Covering exercises, spiralling movement, Qigong, meditation, Tai Chi principles and Alexander principles.

The seminar will be run by Ian Deavin and Judy Hammond and participants will be engaged in a fascinating mix of meditation and movement, creating inner body awareness and developing a practical and spiritual mind/body link of considerable strength.

Qigong is a basic training method of Tai Chi coupled with body spiralling, also found everywhere in the movement of dance and the natural world. Principles of Alexander Technique posture and relaxation aid in achieving good balance and relaxed easy movement – developed by Tai Chi practitioners into a way of creating powerful body centred action.

Venue: The Letchworth Centre for Healthy Living
Rosehill Hospital, Hitchin Road, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, SG6 3NA
Cost: £45 per seminar for bookings up to 1 week before the seminar. £55 after
To book contact The Letchworth Centre for Healthy Living on 01462 678804

For further information on the content of this seminar please contact Ian Deavin or Judy Hammond.
Please wear suitable loose clothing and flat soled trainers or similar

Many looking at the plethora of Tai Chi styles, forms etc. forget or may not be aware that all Tai Chi started in one place – the Chen family village at Chenjiagou in Henan Province – central China.

It was here in the early 1600s that Chen Wangting created exercises and forms which became known as Tai Chi and it was here too in the house of Chen Dehu that Yang Luchan lived while he learned Chen Style Tai Chi from Chen Chanqxing, later transposed into Yang Style and taught widely – so leading to the development of the other Tai Chi styles, including Wu, Hao and Sun styles.

I therefore seized at the chance to visit this historic place – with some romance and a sense of coming full circle from my early days of martial arts in the 1970s. The trip was organised by Patrick Wan (London) who first introduced Master Chen Xiaowang to the UK and was kind enough to extend an open invitation to accompany him to a by now annual one week international training seminar with Master Chen Xiaowang in the Chen Village Taijiquan school at Chenjiagou run by Chen Ziqiang.

See here to read more of this trip.

This is a piece I wrote some years ago now while still practicing Karate alongside Tai Chi – which I did for at least 10 years – and it was actually the way that Tai Chi added to my Karate and was a major contributing factor in my 4th Dan grading that ultimately convinced me to focus exclusively on Chen style Tai Chi.  Looking back I find my thinking on this is still much the same – but with the complication that few people understand just how very effective Tai Chi can be as a martial art whereas many people have some understanding of it as an alternative health activity – it is thus much more acceptable socially to practice Tai Chi. In that sense Tai Chi even more than Karate encapsulates the paradox I describe – I would pose one question in addition ” Why would a long term committed martial artist switch styles apparently so fundamentally?”

So to the piece –

As a 4th Dan Shotokan and a Tai Chi practitioner, I am intrigued by the unusual position of martial arts in society and the ambivalent view that people often take of activities such as Karate.

This is exemplified by the response “Oh if you do Karate, I’d better be careful what I say.” Generally voiced with a degree of respect and humour, but clearly a lack of understanding.

Like it or not the serious martial artist (and certainly in my experience most senior grades are serious people) is looked at rather sideways by society at large. Indeed often also by our own students until they have progressed and gained a measure of understanding.
Since I believe that martial arts and associated activities have a great deal to offer people at many levels, I should like to address this issue in a general way.

For me these unusual aspects of martial arts were highlighted when I went with my daughter to an archery club, where we had six weekly introductory coaching sessions.

For the first time in many years I was able to compare my own experience as a student in a martial arts class and was surprised how used I had become to a high level of care and detailed instruction.

Read the full article here.

A group of students from the Shefford, Letchworth and Luton classes got together last weekend at the Belsey Bridge Conference Centre near Bungay in Suffolk where we managed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Unfortunately one of the group who was supposed to join us was hospitalised at short notice so she was much in our thoughts while we all worked hard at Laojia and Broadsword forms, as well as various solo and partner exercises.

The evenings were a time for relaxing of course and considerable humor before an early night in readiness for a 7.30 start each morning on the lawn, and even on one occasion sheltering under the trees which provided more than sufficient ground kept dry from the rain. Actually we had really lovely warm, dry weather most of the time and were able to take full advantage of the beautiful flat lawn just outside the dining hall where we retired for the excellent meals served by some delightful staff.

The weekend seemed to bring out the best in everybody – with all concerned working hard and playing hard – we have agreed to repeat the experience again next year.

It is intriguing to find as one asks the questions – what is Tai Chi? – how/why does it work? – that there are often two answers – the culturally Chinese one and an “equal but different” western science one and that they are connected through the reality of the human body which enables a translation between the two – a sort of Rosetta Stone of what is personal reality?

Much of the challenge for a westerner in studying Tai Chi comes from this “translation” process – itself part of the East/West cultural exchange inherent in present day globalisation. In the past it was necessary for a westerner to immerse themself in eastern culture so as to change their way of thinking and absorb and understand the ideas and models utilised – on a very personal and individual basis – what was referred to in the “British Empire” as “going native”. This required a great deal of personal dedication.

What we are experiencing now in the west is the mirror of that process – whereby the results of their dedication and of the Easterners who have travelled here are now being conveyed alongside western scientific models often by people who have had deep exposure to east and west over an extended period of physical training which has enabled them to transmit Tai Chi in a way that is more accessible than ever. Now we have in our own countries the benefit of top eastern teachers such as Chen Xiaowang, and their students such as Karel Koskuba – students who have in their own right attained a high level of expertise and understanding – grounded in the western cultural milieu – and so making true Tai Chi ever more accessible.

East-West knowledge and practices that interweave and co-relate include:
Taoism
Meridian theory
Five elements
Buddhism
Qi Gong
Meditation
Martial arts
Bio-sciences
Neuro-science
Quantum physics
Psychology
Engineering
Sport science

This has led to what I refer to as “The Quantum Mechanics view of Life” – where we can see many parallels between western science and eastern philosophy in understanding human activity on a daily basis.

For example the principles of Tai Chi and my own profession of Marketing share much in common – also I am told with Stand-up comedy and Health and Safety policy!

With all of these and when we try to understand qualities and values such as:
Love – Skill – Achievement – Wisdom – Art – Beauty – Caring
We find that they all involve living in uncertainty with the acceptance of change and come to realise that we can never be certain about any of these things – although we know when it is working right – but if we try to measure it then it fades away.

There is much discussed in literature about body language but I have come across little about the simple day to day stuff of understanding what is going on or what someone is doing or seeking to communicate just by observing their movements or their touch.

Without an understanding of this communication we are left only with the pedestrian means of linguistic communication where everything has to be brought to consciousness and formed into a verbal exchange – using only the slowest 1/3rd of our communicative ability. Non-verbal communication seems to bridge the conscious/sub-conscious boundary using pattern recognition and touch so that it is very much faster than speech.  Often by the time two or more people have explained and understood what is going on verbally the whole exchange could well have been over much more quickly if dealt with non-verbally.

Subtle physical nuance, clumsy linguistic labels.
What is it?
The expression of physical signals and the receiving and interpreting of them both at a distance and by contact.
Examples:

• cook in a kitchen – mechanic in a garage – being courteous, observing their work patterns so as to keep out of their way
• person seeking passageway – excuse me – please let me by – responding to a request for co-operation from hand on arm/shoulder

Spacial awareness
Physical awareness
Social interactions – understanding behaviour without words
70% of communication
Typical gestures:

• slap on the back – well done! Wake up!
• handshake
• hug

Practitioners:

• sports players
• dancers
• martial artists
• lovers

Sensing:

• visually
• by touch

Using the information predictively to ease and speed interactions – but confusions arise where others do not share these patterns e.g. non kinaesthetic people who just don’t get the touch side and so do not “feel” the visual interpretation.
Examples:

• co-operating with someone during a task – keeping out of their way, or not being aware of getting in the way.
• Standing at someone’s desk seeking their attention but being ignored

Cultural differences and experiences:

• UK crowds – the predictive which way are they going left/right pavement “dance”, the touch and apology, the re-active push back or tightening up at a requesting touch. The affronted “who are you pushing?”
• Hong Kong streets – rubbing along together, relaxed and smooth
• “body aware” environments e.g. fetish club – body oriented people moving out of one’s way even before there is a touch or at only a light touch

The developmental question – what are the components? Is this cultural or developmental? – have we tended to lose this ability as we rely more on the printed and spoken word?

I am delighted that arrangements with my friends Andy and Denise Spragg have been confirmed for me to host one of their weekend Tai Chi and Meditation retreats on December 4th to 6th at the lovely St Katherines Parmoor – we were there over the weekend and it really is a great place for this event – which you can book through the Re-Vitalise site.

Andy and Denise have hosted retreats over the past 10 years at places like Braziers Park where I attended last year and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The mix of Tai Chi exercises and form plus body awareness and meditation in a convivial group environment is ideal for everyone including complete beginners to just get away and relax – and to perhaps get a little window on what is possible. I am certainly looking forward to meeting lots of people new to Tai Chi and maybe a few wishing to explore it further.