"Low stance strengthens the muscles and bones, high stance shakes the enemy's soul."
~ Unknown
Glorious and luscious October, Rocktober! It's been such a great outdoor class and practice season, I hate to see it go! We are officially indoors starting in October, not because of the temperature, but because of the fading light. I will practice outside until hypothermia drives me inside...
We'll be starting both the Hybrid Thursday Night class, and the monthly Pushing Hands Zoom class, in November.
For our Taiji curriculum, starting in October I'll be covering some basics for the Solo Form, like alignment, relaxation, breathing, mindfulness, and unity. It's lung season so we'll review Taiji Qigong, and learn how to add the two sounds of Hun and Hah to the set.
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| Door Guard, Hah, with abdomen expanded. |
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| Door Guard, Hun, with abdomen contracted. |
Pushing Hands we'll do a review of Willows 1,2,and 3, and then dive into Willow 4. This is where we'll explore the free-style attacking for pushing, and the striking and self defense aspects of Taiji as a martial art. I'll teach this in a safe and friendly manner. Bring your notebook! We'll start the Wudang two person fencing form, continue with Double Saber drills, and press forward in our pursuit of the Sanshou sequence.
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Xingyi will continue with the Five Fists and Spear, and introduce two partner forms. Bagua will continue with Basics and Qinna, complete the right side of the sword, and begin the Swimming Dragon Form.
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| Grandmaster Wai-lun Choi, Wild Goose Leaves the Flock, Swimming Dragon Bagua Zhang. |
Dues and tuition will be changing in November. I'm redoing the "tiers" and will let you know about updates. Most of you will not be affected, but double check to make sure you are at the correct tuition for your attendance.
In class we were talking about the feeling, as opposed to the thought, of being in meditation. How do we know if we are meditating while doing the Solo Form? Do we think we are meditating, or are we feeling it? We also talked about seeing while in meditation, because we usually have our eyes open when we do Taiji. I have some charts to help you with the sight of meditation, how you see when you are in a meditative state. Look at the images. Is the picture moving or not? If it's moving, you are in your rational, conscious mind. If you can make it still, you are in your meditative, intuitive mind i.e. meditating. Try doing your Standing Meditation and Solo Form with this relaxed, gentle, inward gaze, and you'll feel your meditation deepen and your mind become still.
http://brainden.com/eye-illusions.htmBook suggestion- Lone Sword Against the Cold Cold Sky by Adam Hsu
https://www.plumpub.com/Lone/LS_sale.htm
Thank you all for those wonderful classes at the river and the church. The eagles, a coyote, hawks, and Canadian geese were all welcome visitors as we moved gracefully, silently, intentionally, and rootedly through our forms and movements. Same again next year?
-Sifu Ray
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| Standing Meditation at Bohemian Flats, 2025. |
"You are not your thoughts, emotions, your body, or even your story. You are the silent awareness behind them all."
~ Carl Jung
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