Wushu Wu Lian Zhi Baji Quan 1

Love this two person form.

4 reasons why I resist practicing

Over on Angelika Fritz's Qialance blog she has written a post about 4 reasons why she resists practicing Tai Chi and Qigong on a daily basis.

Most tai chi practitioners I have met are ordinary people combining jobs and children and the stresses of life, so this might resonate with you.

The blog post can be read here

Internal Energy v Fascia

Interesting blog post by Scott Meredith on the never ending internal energy/fascia debate.

Read it here

The myth of no strength

In Tai Chi we use strength. The ignorant perpetuate some limp idea of softness and think something magical will happen. This is a surefire way to get dumped on your backside.

The question to explore and discover through correct teaching and dedicated practise is how we use strength.

Through relaxation (not limpness) and sensitivity and hard work we discover the integrated strength of the whole body with all joints involved, absorbing, storing, transforming and releasing.

The resulting release of strength in a technique can then appear as if no strength is used because it is so refined.

The Tai Chi form allows us to work slowly to feel and build up the integrated strength. This should also be practised at a faster pace to see if the connection of the joints and integrated strength can be maintained. By paying attention you can find out where the gaps in connection are and go back to working slowly, then speed up again.

In motion be like a dragon, not a brick.

Working with different partners

This is a good post from Devon Boormaster's blog:

getting-the-most-from-mixed-experience-levels

One of best parts of training under John Kells' were the Sunday sessions where you could be pushing hands with people of all levels and experience.

You could learn such a lot - equally from beginners who didn't know the rules as well as long term students who simply yielded leaving you fumbling.

Cook Ding's Kitchen: Motivation and Discipline

This is an interesting article. Enjoyment is a big factor for my continuing practise, still going strong after 38 years and hopefully for many more.


Cook Ding's Kitchen: Motivation and Discipline: Happy 4th of July! Below is an excerpt from a post at The Art of Manliness. The topic is the difference between motivation and discipli...

Fear of Contact - コンタクトに対する恐怖

Allotment Qigong

Love it......