Here’s a teamwork idea – think of yourself as a committee – and your body and your mind and your spirit as sub-committees.

This structure is like a team or a shoal of fish/flock of birds – but unlike any of these you do not have the option to “drop” one of the team – they are with you for life – so the only option is to grow the team from within. You cannot rely on a few star players you must get the whole team home. So you focus instead on supporting the weak players, guiding them and giving them every opportunity to grow and learn how to co-ordinate with the rest of the team – how to work in sync, in rhythm and in the same direction as the rest – unless they do then you remain unconnected and your energy is scattered like a tug-o-war team who doesn’t practice.

So you invest in loss – because that gives you the best opportunity for the feedback which can show you what is not working and why and allow you to work out how to fix it.

It is the power of teamwork that generates Chi and the skill gained from consistent practice – your Kung Fu – that enables us to develop it.

Read the full article for further explanation.

The following thoughts and linked article are not definitive – just some observations on the journey. Readers may recognise some of them and hopefully will be encouraged in looking for their own internal feeling.

We each bring our differences to our practice and each of us takes different things from it – so will change and develop differently. One thing does seem clear however – this is an important part of Tai Chi – without it we are simply following the moves of others, copying what we are told. With internal feeling we are able to take control of our own development and my suspicion is that ultimately, rather than this complicated list, it all just gets brought together in the everyday experience of living in your own body, with awareness of what is going on.

So to anyone starting out on the journey of Tai Chi – I hope this article helps.

It may be that direct experience of reality is something we are unable to achieve – equipped with a brain we spend our lives using it to filter our experience. Interestingly, it gives us the possibility of creating unreal things like visualisations, lists and labels as ways of manipulating reality.

So, for example, we use a visualisation to create a feeling, we analyse processes into lists so we don’t forget something and we label outcomes as shorthand for processes.

The danger is that we come to live in our heads constantly creating these artefacts and forget that the whole purpose was to become more connected, more real, more authentic, more real-world congruent – or whatever label you chose – the whole point is to lose the labels, lose the lists and lose the fantasies.

It is always easier to connect with the world in our heads and it can be incredibly useful to do so, but it is an illusion.

For me the goal of Tai Chi at heart is to survive and prosper in the real world – whatever that is!

I spent a very pleasant weekend recently with some friends – Andy and Denise Spragg on one of their retreats at Braziers Park Community in Oxfordshire. The retreat program spanned an introduction to Yang style ( Chen Man Ching ) with Buddhist meditation and general relaxation – in the environment of an independent community based at the old country house of Braziers Park – a wonderful experience including brilliant vegetarian food, shared with about a dozen other people of varying interest in Tai Chi, Buddhism and personal development in general.

The implication of considering the human body as a tensegrity structure is that we can now see how a force applied to one point of the structure is dispersed through the structure through specific elements – and with this in mind we can allow this process to happen – much as we regard the establishment and fluctuations of a peng pathway – instantly tracking an external force to channel it most efficiently to ground with minimal disruption to the overall structure.

For links on Tensegrity – check out:

Wikipedia
Anatomy Trains
Scholarpedia

A Tai Chi residential seminar weekend from Friday afternoon through to Sunday afternoon – an opportunity to learn, explore and develop your Tai Chi in a quiet relaxed atmosphere

Classes in Chen Laojia form, Broadsword form, Chi Kung,  Tai Chi exercises – silk reeling, Partner work and Push Hands

Open to existing students plus anyone with previous experience of Tai Chi
Class restricted to 10 people. Cost: £280 (en-suite), £250 (without en-suite)
Payment in advance. £50 deposit required. Late booking fee of £30 after 1st August. Includes tuition with full board
Venue: Belsey Bridge, Ditchingham, Bungay, Suffolk, NR35 2DZ

To book call Ian Deavin on 01462 621970 or e-mail at [email protected]

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

The seminar will be run by myself and the excellent Judy Hammond – so participants can expect to 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
Please wear suitable loose clothing and flat soled trainers or similar

A seminar to celebrate World Tai Chi & Chi Kung Day. To join with practitioners around the World and to share the energy of a day’s practice together

This 3 hour seminar costs £30 and will run from 2-5pm on Saturday 25th April at Shefford Community Hall, 60 High Street, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17 5AX.

To book contact Ian Deavin on 01462 621970
e-mail: [email protected]

After 40 years I can finally venture that the reality of martial arts practice involves close working with others to explore the relationships we have internally and those we have externally. This obviously involves studying the dynamics of conflict and it’s resolution in both internal and external situations.

The reality therefore is of physical, mental and emotional work in co-operation with others.