Hello Everyone, Once again we are at the end of the year and each term seems to fly by. Thank you for choosing our school to learn Tai Chi and we hope you have enjoyed our classes and are feeling some of the many benefits Tai Chi has to offer. I realise that the lead up to Christmas can be busy and sometimes stressful, therefore I urge you to continue with your Tai Chi practise, even a 20 minute session in the morning will set you up for the day, increasing your energy and allowing for a relaxed and happy Christmas season. For me, this year has been one of inspiration, excitement and challenge. Thanks to the support of the wonderful husband Eddie and our family I was able to spend a week in Wollongong at Dr. Lam’s Annual workshop and also travel to China with Grandmaster Khor. For a bit of background history, I was invited by Dr Paul Lam to attend the very first Better Health Tai Chi Chuan workshop with my friend Pauline Southren in 1999 We intended to drive over but on Boxing Day Qantas put out a special for $99 to Sydney (unheard of now) which added to the excitement. The workshop was inspiring. I learned the 73 forms Sun style and Pauline tackled Push Hands with Master Peter Wu. At this workshop I made some wonderful friends, many of whom I stay in contact with. Coming up to date, this year I attended the 20th anniversary of the January Workshop and helped celebrate Dr. Lam’s 70th birthday. It was an inspiring week and I was lucky to train with Master Ian Etcell, again brushing up on 42 Combined Forms Tai Chi. My thanks to everyone for making this a wonderful experience, especially my friend Rani (who I shared a room with) and of course Dr. Lam. During the last break Mardiyah, Helen (from our Trott Park class) and myself travelled to China with Grandmaster Gary Khor, his wife Wendy and Master Rod Ferguson. It was an eventful, exciting trip and I will include more detail and some photos further in this newsletter. As always I would like to thank our teachers, Mardiyah, Danny, Robin, Diana and Lorraine (who runs the Oaklands park session each week). Also a special thank you to Class Assistants Natalie and Caroline who is such a help to myself and Mardiyah at our Mitcham class and to Ann and Ivan who help set up our Reynella class. I hope you enjoy your newsletter and have a wonderful Christmas. Best wishes Rosemary

TERM 4, 2018 MOVING MEDITATION SCHOOL OF TAI CHI & QIGONG Tel: 83817969

Email: movingmeditation@mytaichi.com.au www.mytaichi.com.au

Tai Chi News

TERM DATES 2019 Free Lesson Week: 4th—9th February

Term 1: 11th February—8th April Term 2: 29th April—24th June

Term 3: 29th July—21st September Term 4: 14th October—7th December

DVD Temple Qigong $25.00

DVD Blossoming Lotus $15.00

DVD Tai Chi Qigong 2nd Sequence $15.00

Summer Polo Shirts $38.00

Winter Jackets $50.00

TAI CHI NEWS Page 2

Our park practise sessions at Oaklands Park, Mitcham and Trott Park will recommence after New Year from Saturday, 5th January. Please note that these are not teaching sessions but offer a chance to consolidate what you have already learned. We are also offering a Park Lesson just before the commencement of first term at Kingston House, Marino from 9.30—10.30 am. If you have friends who are interested in learning Tai Chi please bring them along, they will be most welcome and we will have a special session for beginners. There is no charge for the practise sessions or the Park Lesson. so I hope you will come and join us.

Park Practise Sessions Saturdays from 5th January

Oaklands Estate Reserve, Oaklands Road, (behind the wetlands) Saturday from 9.00 —10.00 am

Trott Park Neighbourhood Centre grounds Hessing Crescent Saturday 9.30—10.30 am

Mitcham Reserve, Tuesday, 10.00—11.00 am

Park Lesson

Kingston House,

Cameron Avenue, Kingston Park (follow the caravan signs)

9.30—10.30 am Saturday, 9th February

SAFETY NOTE: Sessions will be cancelled if the temperature is over 32 degrees

Bubbling Well—Yongquan point (middle of foot) Breathe through your feet, let the qi flow through you. Organs Be kind to them. We look after others if they are sick but what about our organs—do we smile and take care of these or do we leave them to struggle along without care. Dance with the Rainbow—Tai Chi Qigong Form What causes the rainbow? Water and Sun— Yin and Yang Overworked? Balance and relax with Qigong Tai Chi Tai Chi is like water—a river of energy uniting Yin and Yang into dance and flow. It opens the gates and energy channels to relax muscles and ligaments and regulate blood flow.

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Our China Tour with Grandmaster Khor was eventful, exciting and unpredictable. We kicked off with a delay of over 12 hours due to the typhoon which was heading for Guangzhou Airport, our first destination in China. We were fortunate that the airline put us in a hotel for the afternoon. However never to be daunted Mardiyah, Helen and I decided to take in the sights of Brisbane. Instead of a day flight we ended up flying at night. We were fortunate that we

arrived in Guangzhou ahead of other delayed aircraft. Even so, it took ages to get through customs and then of course we had to wait for hotel availability as bookings had to be changed. By this time we were delayed 24 hours before taking our first internal flight to Hangzhou. From Hangzhou we went by road and visited Qiandao Lake, famous for its fish and its100+ little islands. We cruised the lake and visited the Gangfeng Bamboo Forest. Next was flight to Chengdu and the Panda Reserve. Panda Park is very popular with holidaying Chinese with everyone, of course, wanting pictures of pandas. I managed to lose the group as I was busy taking video. No panic though as we had a designated area for such an eventuality (see photo right) and fortunately there were lots of signposts in English as well as Chinese, although some of translations were amusing. One of the highlights of our tour was a visit to the Dragon Palace, underground caves which we navigated by boat. The caves were impressive and great fun although we had to duck occasionally due to jutting rock. It reminded me a little of a Disneyland ride especially with Master Rod and country singer Caroline giving a rendition of ‘It’s a Small World After All’ (If you’ve been to Disneyland you’ll know what I mean). Owing to the changes of itinerary because of the typhoon we were now calling the trip our ’Magical Mystery Tour’ instead of ’Mountains and Lakes Tour’. We visited three temples, Emei, Qingcheng and Wudang. The weather was kind to us when

we visited Mount Emei. It was overcast but not raining. However Qingcheng and Wudang were very wet and we climbed hundreds of steps in the rain, quite hazardous as they were uneven and slippery. However, trepid explorers as we were, we pressed on. Mardiyah and Helen climbed to the top of Qingcheng and Wudang mountains but I had leg infections so decided not to climb Mount Qingcheng (thank goodness I took antibiotics with me). We had Tai Chi training at all the temples and the masters had no objection to us taking video.

However I think I speak for both Helen, myself and Mardiyah in that we especially enjoyed the training at Wudang (although it helped as the sun finally came out). We made friends with the local police. They had a news crew and wanted to interview some of us. We were asked to say that “Wudang is very safe

and the police are wonderful”. We didn’t have a problem with that as it was true, even if it was most likely used for propaganda. Apart from our temporary hotels, the others were four or five star. The food was plentiful and interesting, but no wine, only beer and soft drink. Some of the hotel grounds were beautiful (see picture left). We loved the China Tour and made many new friends but as is often the case after being away, it was good to get home, enjoy a glass of wine and fish and chips.

(We will be making a DVD with more photos and video of our trip which I’m hoping to

organise during the Christmas break).

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10 Tai Chi Qigong Principals 1. Smile - Comforting Qi: Perform movements slowly in a relaxed but alert

manner-use the inner smile.

2. Grounding Qi: Hold a quiet reverence for each posture.

3. Visualise yourself as a tree – Nourishing Qi: Each posture speaks to you

directly and is unique to you.

4. Dantian – strengthening Qi: If you just wave your hands around you will

not get the benefits of Qigong. If however you visualise moving mountains

with the turn of a wrist, then the exercise’s effect become profound.

5. Out-flowing Qi: You will feel different each time you play Qigong. Go with

the flow and enjoy the moment.

6. Connecting Qi: Qigong has a power if its own. It is unique to you. Re-

lease yourself for a short time and enjoy the solitude of playing Qigong.

7. Uplifting Qi: Be aware of every breath, every movement.

8. Balancing Qi: Play Qigong as part of your life, your breath – let it become

part of you, mind, body and spirit.

9. Protecting Qi: Each posture must flow naturally and spontaneously.

10. Intuitive Qi: Let your Qigong become a part of you and you part of

Qigong. Enjoy, be relaxed, happy and energised.

Qigong is life, it is love, it is what you want it to be, it is you.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direc-

tion.” Albert Einstein “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, can no longer

pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed”. Albert Einstein, 1930