Start of Training Year meal 2016

1950's China

Faced with a major health crisis, the People's Republic of China turned to tai chi for a solution.
Just think about what that means...Tai chi's reputation for health was so well founded that the government of China thought to employ the Art officially as a means of improving wellbeing.
The Art was introduced to schools nationwide and taught to people of all ages.

I think it's the ease and speed at which Sifu Waller does it. It's like a magician with a sleight of hand but obviously with potentially deadly consequences. It's amazing to watch and utterly awe inspiring.
(Karen) 

Set-backs are OK

In meditation, set-backs are continual, on-going and expected. 
You just start again. And again and again. 
The trick is to keep going.
Do the same with dieting...

Learn from meditation...

A good approach to dieting is to treat it as you would a meditation exercise.
In meditation, the mind wanders continually and you bring it back to the 'anchor' of the breath.
In dieting, we fail to make progress and then get twisted out of shape. 
People make such a big deal out of set-backs.

Is it necessary to stand for long periods of time?

Some qigong teachers expect students to hold static qigong postures for lengthy periods of time; even up to an hour.

This may be a challenge but the side-effect might easily be varicose veins, massive amounts of muscular tension and a decrease in higher level mobility.

Advanced syllabus

Once the student has learned the last weapons form they should cease standing qigong altogether.
Moving qigong exercises are not an impediment but standing will hinder higher levels of mobility with form.
There is simply no need to stand for an extended duration since much greater benefits can be gained through whole-body movement.
Neigong replaces qigong as the primary source of power.

Help yourself?

Helping people can be tricky... the problem is that people are often unwilling to help themselves.
We had a student a while back who had all sorts of health problems and was entirely unsuited to martial practice.
She was a health student and had much to work on.
Yet, the lady kept on signing up for boot camp and martial workshops.
We kept saying no.

Working with Sifu Waller is excellent, we really enjoy it and it is so interesting to see how the form and foundation work develops into the martial work. It's interesting that the more you learn the more everything makes sense! I felt great after the class and couldn't actually sleep as I was going over the things we had learnt in my head! It was very empowering to be able to complete the same exercises as the larger males and not feel at a disadvantage. My height came in quite useful in some of them! I was surprised how little force was required. It's a great group of people to work with.
 
 (Amelia)

It was around the beginning of the industrial revolution that the idea that human beings were like machines came into being. The body was seen as being like a clockwork toy, capable of being taken apart, parts replaced and then put back together again. Although this perspective has produced powerful life saving procedures, this view also limits our awareness of the wonders of the human body and life itself. 

(Liz Koch)