A group of students from the Shefford, Letchworth and Luton classes got together last weekend at the Belsey Bridge Conference Centre near Bungay in Suffolk where we managed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Unfortunately one of the group who was supposed to join us was hospitalised at short notice so she was much in our thoughts while we all worked hard at Laojia and Broadsword forms, as well as various solo and partner exercises.

The evenings were a time for relaxing of course and considerable humor before an early night in readiness for a 7.30 start each morning on the lawn, and even on one occasion sheltering under the trees which provided more than sufficient ground kept dry from the rain. Actually we had really lovely warm, dry weather most of the time and were able to take full advantage of the beautiful flat lawn just outside the dining hall where we retired for the excellent meals served by some delightful staff.

The weekend seemed to bring out the best in everybody – with all concerned working hard and playing hard – we have agreed to repeat the experience again next year.

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?

Much of the challenge for a westerner in studying Tai Chi comes from this “translation” process – itself part of the East/West cultural exchange inherent in present day globalisation. In the past it was necessary for a westerner to immerse themself in eastern culture so as to change their way of thinking and absorb and understand the ideas and models utilised – on a very personal and individual basis – what was referred to in the “British Empire” as “going native”. This required a great deal of personal dedication.

What we are experiencing now in the west is the mirror of that process – whereby the results of their dedication and of the Easterners who have travelled here are now being conveyed alongside western scientific models often by people who have had deep exposure to east and west over an extended period of physical training which has enabled them to transmit Tai Chi in a way that is more accessible than ever. Now we have in our own countries the benefit of top eastern teachers such as Chen Xiaowang, and their students such as Karel Koskuba – students who have in their own right attained a high level of expertise and understanding – grounded in the western cultural milieu – and so making true Tai Chi ever more accessible.

East-West knowledge and practices that interweave and co-relate include:
Taoism
Meridian theory
Five elements
Buddhism
Qi Gong
Meditation
Martial arts
Bio-sciences
Neuro-science
Quantum physics
Psychology
Engineering
Sport science

This has led to what I refer to as “The Quantum Mechanics view of Life” – where we can see many parallels between western science and eastern philosophy in understanding human activity on a daily basis.

For example the principles of Tai Chi and my own profession of Marketing share much in common – also I am told with Stand-up comedy and Health and Safety policy!

With all of these and when we try to understand qualities and values such as:
Love – Skill – Achievement – Wisdom – Art – Beauty – Caring
We find that they all involve living in uncertainty with the acceptance of change and come to realise that we can never be certain about any of these things – although we know when it is working right – but if we try to measure it then it fades away.

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.

Without an understanding of this communication we are left only with the pedestrian means of linguistic communication where everything has to be brought to consciousness and formed into a verbal exchange – using only the slowest 1/3rd of our communicative ability. Non-verbal communication seems to bridge the conscious/sub-conscious boundary using pattern recognition and touch so that it is very much faster than speech.  Often by the time two or more people have explained and understood what is going on verbally the whole exchange could well have been over much more quickly if dealt with non-verbally.

Subtle physical nuance, clumsy linguistic labels.
What is it?
The expression of physical signals and the receiving and interpreting of them both at a distance and by contact.
Examples:

• cook in a kitchen – mechanic in a garage – being courteous, observing their work patterns so as to keep out of their way
• person seeking passageway – excuse me – please let me by – responding to a request for co-operation from hand on arm/shoulder

Spacial awareness
Physical awareness
Social interactions – understanding behaviour without words
70% of communication
Typical gestures:

• slap on the back – well done! Wake up!
• handshake
• hug

Practitioners:

• sports players
• dancers
• martial artists
• lovers

Sensing:

• visually
• by touch

Using the information predictively to ease and speed interactions – but confusions arise where others do not share these patterns e.g. non kinaesthetic people who just don’t get the touch side and so do not “feel” the visual interpretation.
Examples:

• co-operating with someone during a task – keeping out of their way, or not being aware of getting in the way.
• Standing at someone’s desk seeking their attention but being ignored

Cultural differences and experiences:

• UK crowds – the predictive which way are they going left/right pavement “dance”, the touch and apology, the re-active push back or tightening up at a requesting touch. The affronted “who are you pushing?”
• Hong Kong streets – rubbing along together, relaxed and smooth
• “body aware” environments e.g. fetish club – body oriented people moving out of one’s way even before there is a touch or at only a light touch

The developmental question – what are the components? Is this cultural or developmental? – have we tended to lose this ability as we rely more on the printed and spoken word?

I am delighted that arrangements with my friends Andy and Denise Spragg have been confirmed for me to host one of their weekend Tai Chi and Meditation retreats on December 4th to 6th at the lovely St Katherines Parmoor – we were there over the weekend and it really is a great place for this event – which you can book through the Re-Vitalise site.

Andy and Denise have hosted retreats over the past 10 years at places like Braziers Park where I attended last year and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The mix of Tai Chi exercises and form plus body awareness and meditation in a convivial group environment is ideal for everyone including complete beginners to just get away and relax – and to perhaps get a little window on what is possible. I am certainly looking forward to meeting lots of people new to Tai Chi and maybe a few wishing to explore it further.

I recently created a new website www.alternativehealthexercises.org as a response to student complaints over many years that “I can’t remember the exercises when I get home and am scared to practice between classes because I don’t want to get them wrong.”

It presents videos of Tai Chi inspired exercises – videos created as demonstrations and visual reminders which can be followed to encourage regular practice – at your own risk. They are not intended as lessons, nor is it expected that they can be used as such – since it is clear there is no real substitute for a good teacher.

At the moment there are 8 videos ( hosted on Youtube ) including an introductory tutorial – the rest are each about 20 mins long.

I was delighted to hear the other day that 2 of my students are intending to learn Chen style Taiji Double-Fan form with Eva Koskuba in the Autumn – the class runs on  the weekend 7/8 November
& Sunday 14 February 2016 – great fun!

Also another student tells me he intends to enrol on the Three-year Taijiquan Instructors Course with Karel Koskuba and Eva – I did this course and found it really brought my practice on by leaps and bounds so great choice and good luck!

Details of both courses are available on the CIAA website.

Not really martial arts or Tai Chi – but some hopefully useful life strategies and observations drawing on some martial arts and mindfulness approaches. For example:

Panic early enough to do something about it – make a plan and use it to monitor progress.

Do not leave things to the last minute – this saves preparation under pressure when mistakes are easily made and ensures that if you do need help then it is more likely to be available.

Prepare this evening for tomorrow – this saves preparation under pressure when mistakes are easily made and it interferes with other time-pressured tasks.

Trust other people to do the best they can – micro-management, backseat driving or looking over someone’s shoulder waste time and tend to bring out the worst in people who think you don’t trust them – and they are right.
Read the full piece here.

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.

I first came across meditation in the spiritual/psychological areas, but as you have probably gathered it is also a major component in many martial arts, both as a means of achieving better physical performance and as a way of dealing with the emotional stress of violence.

So I think we can consider the technique in terms of what one wants to get out of it – but more usually perhaps when starting, people try many different things to find out what they get out of them – it is useful to try a variety in order to understand the subject.

Personally I have found 2 variants particularly useful and you may like to try them amongst others.

Zen meditation
The type I was taught is where one sits somewhere comfortable, often on a cushion in-front of a wall about 2 feet away. Settle your gaze on the wall in an un-focused way then observe the thoughts that arise. When a thought arises “let it go “so use the wall like a screen onto which the images of your thought are projected then wiped off. When the next image arises wipe it away – ” let it go ” – do not get involved in the thoughts/images, just let them go and wait until the next arises – do not go looking for these thoughts. After a while no further thoughts arise and there will be only a calm mind.

Adapted Zen
For me this is a way for the conscious to contact the sub-conscious as a powerful way of resolving my understanding of a particular situation or question.

Lie down somewhere comfortable and dark. Become aware of and relax your whole body. Use the Zen technique to clear your mind – then ask yourself the question you wish to resolve, e.g. what is going on here in this situation? What do I really feel about this situation?

Allow the question to just sit as an image – generally I find in a few minutes a thought arises which is a true answer and has a resonance with my situation and feels right in my body – there is an all-over feeling of relief and letting go – an ah! moment. (Satori in Japanese)

This is not magic but the creation of new connections and you should be careful to ask questions to which you can reasonably expect that you have the ability to find the answer, since my rational for this process is that it allows you to use the sub-conscious mind – so only information you already have can be used. However I expect you will find that you have a great deal more than you are consciously aware of.

There seems to be a close similarity in meditative processes to the ritualistic physical routines of dance and martial arts, where the conscious mind is calmed or taken out of the loop so that the sub-conscious can do whatever it needs/wants without the interruption of conscious thought.
Other related activities including religious rituals and mental exercises such as path-working or self-hypnosis, all calm the chattering mind by giving the conscious mind a powerful pattern to follow, thus seeking to direct the sub-conscious in a specific way.

All have their place and their value depends on the individual and what you are seeking to do.
A final diversion – my understanding is that the sub-conscious is the real-time person and a very powerful but general bio-computer, whereas the conscious is a modelling tool ( like a video/games card ) that doubles as a post event display of real world activities and as an off-line system for intellectual modelling as a problem solving tool.

This raises the question which is the real me? And the answer may well be that the real me is the sub-conscious – but that is like asking what is a car – the engine or the tyres?

I think a more useful question is really – how can I get my conscious and sub-conscious working harmoniously together without conflict? And meditation seems to help.

If you want to practice meditation with others or learn other techniques then there are many opportunities although it is my experience that most will have some religious or other spiritual agenda – if you want that, fine, if not you could still learn from them.

Meditation is also the approach I take in my Tai Chi – where I find the quiet internal preparation and mindful observation both internally and externally to be important to practice.

We have recently added some useful material for beginners or those considering starting Tai Chi classes – this is all listed on our Tai Chi Classes page but can also be linked from here:

• The Dynamics of a Tai Chi Class – what Beginners can expect
• Guidelines for practising Tai Chi and Tai Chi Exercises
• Levels of Exercise – Why not go all out
• Alternative Health Exercises – Tai Chi inspired videos to watch
• FAQs
• Student Testimonials