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2015 Newsletters

	22nd December 2015: New Tai Chi Beginners drop-in classes starting in Hitchin Original Chen Style Tai Chi, weekly beginners drop-in classes from starting from January 8th 2016 at 6pm. Venue: JS Dance Academy, 1st Floor, 3 Bury Mead Road, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1RT.. *Read more …*
	17th December 2015: Mindfulness in Tai Chi Mindfulness is receiving a lot of attention in “alternative” circles at the moment – but it is worth reflecting that it is, and has been, a vital component of spiritual meditation and of martial arts for centuries – helping us to link mind, body and spirit on a daily basis. *Read more …*
	3rd December 2015: Thoughts on Teaching and Learning Martial Arts I like the “teach what they can take” approach but also see a need to give a view of what is possible. *Read more …*
	27th November 2015: Re-Vitalise Weekend Tai Chi Retreat, 4-6th December 2015 Run by our friends Andy and Denise Spragg at Re-Vitalise, this Tai Chi retreat weekend is now on “Black Friday offer” at half it’s normal price – so an excellent chance to treat yourself or someone you love to a pre-Christmas present! *Read more …*
	24th November 2015: Considerations on Tai Chi in the role of Falls Prevention Experience has shown that Tai Chi is an effective practice for addressing the problems of falls in the elderly and others vulnerable to falls, leading to a reduction in risk in the order of 40% to 50%. *Read more …*
	28th October 2015: Video opportunity for Alternative Health Exercise Teachers We are looking for more content for our Alternative Health Exercises site and would be happy to include links to suitable videos. *Read more …*
	16th October 2015: Tai Chi & Alexander Technique Seminar on 15th November 2015 Covering exercises, spiralling movement, qigong, meditation, Tai Chi principles and Alexander principles. *Read more …*
	6th October 2015: My trip to the home of Tai Chi 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. *Read more …*
	24th September 2015: More to Martial Arts than just Technique 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. *Read more …*
	10th September 2015: How Tai Chi links to Western models of medicine, biology, neuro-science, quantum physics, psychology etc. 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? *Read more …*
	20th August 2015: Physical awareness and non-verbal communication 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. *Read more …*
	6th August 2015: Tai Chi for Carers Tai Chi has received much coverage for the benefits reported by its practitioners and from a gradually accumulating body of research supporting these personal reports. *Read more …*
	21st July 2015: A few useful strategies Not really martial arts or Tai Chi – but some hopefully useful strategies and observations drawing on some martial arts approaches. *Read more …*
	7th July 2015: A few thoughts on meditation There seem to be many types and many purposes for doing meditation. As with most things some types are promoted as wonderful but are actually low level – you should decide for yourself which is which and what suits you. *Read more …*
	24th June 2015: Levels of exercise – why not go all out? It is strange to many of us to consider that we might not push ourselves hard in our exercise – after all were we not exhorted to do so for many years at school and elsewhere? But once we come to regard exercise as developing a skill – as well as aiding cardio-vascular fitness – then we start to find that bigger, faster and harder are not the way forward. *Read more …*
	Tai Chi & Alexander Technique Seminar, 12th July 2015 The seminar will cover exercises, spiralling movement, qigong, meditation, Tai Chi principles and Alexander principles. *Read more …*
	10th June 2015: The Dynamics of a Tai Chi Class – what Beginners can expect A question that I am often asked is: “What will your Tai Chi class be like?” – this is a very important question if you are thinking about joining a Tai Chi class for the first time, because the group may be a little different to your expectations. *Read more …*
	27th May 2015: How can Tai Chi improve your Golf game? The Martial Art of Tai Chi seeks to develop optimal body usage and includes the use of weapons – in this case comparable to use of golf clubs where balance, sensitivity, control and the issuing of power are of utmost importance. *Read more …*
	13th May 2015: What are Martial Arts Really About The title question “What are Martial Arts Really about?” can be simply answered at the most basic level – survival – and left there. *Read more …*
	22nd April 2015: Take one for the team – invest in loss Here’s an idea – think of yourself as a committee – and your body and your mind and your spirit as sub-committees. *Read more …*
	8th April 2015: Beginners Guide to the Development of Internal Feeling in Tai Chi The following is 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. *Read more …*
	25th March 2015: Guidelines for practising Tai Chi and Tai Chi Exercises – important points for beginners The idea is that these guidelines will get you started and while they are intended to be useful for anybody starting Tai Chi or coming to these classes from another style they may be particularly useful where health and mobility are significant issues. *Read more …*
	11th March 2015: The History of Tai Chi The story of Tai Chi from its beginnings in the 1600s to the present day. *Read more …*
	3rd March 2015: Tai Chi Residential Weekend A Tai Chi residential seminar weekend from Friday 11th September through to Sunday 13th September 2015 – an opportunity to learn, explore and develop your Tai Chi in a quiet relaxed atmosphere. *Read more …*
	25th February 2015: The Human Body as a Tensegrity Structure – the implications 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. *Read more …*
	19th February 2015: Tai Chi & Alexander Technique Seminar, 22nd March 2015 This seminar will cover spiralling movement, qigong, meditation, Tai Chi principles and Alexander principles. *Read more …*
	11th February 2015: World Tai Chi & Qigong Day, 25th April 2015 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. *Read more …*
	5th February 2015: The way of the warrior leads to the way of humanity – Paradox! The way of the warrior – what other path deals with our humanity in such broad interconnected terms. *Read more …*
	21st January 2015: Martial arts comes full circle Having for centuries borrowed from everywhere else in developing martial arts, those same ideas and practices are being fed back into the mainstream of society, for example by use of Tai Chi as a source of meditation practice … *Read more …*
	7th January 2015: Internal Power – the Holy Grail? At the heart of Tai Chi and many other styles is the concept and development of internal power – the ability to dissolve force and issue force in a natural way. *Read more …*