Lighthouse Tai Chi®

  Names and understanding The use of poetic and functional names in Tai Chi and Qigong can be difficult to decipher or simplistically obvious. When we first hear some of the names of the postures, it can be amusing and confusing: ‘ part wild horse’s mane’, ‘ twin dragons emerge from the sea ’ and ‘ stand like a tree .’ What we need to appreciate is that these names are translations from the original Chinese. So, with as with any translation, things can be lost in the process. Much of the knowledge of tai chi and qigong was traditionally encoded in poetic form or as a song. Many of the students would not have been literate, so the names aided in the memorising of the sequence and its applications. Additionally cultural and philosophical differences, along with the inherent secrecy of martial arts culture, could lead you to misunderstandings and getting the wrong end of the stick. However, when we hear these names, we instantly get a picture or concept in our mind. Combining this

This month we have another guest blog:  The 5 Elements Theory  is by our esteemed colleague and friend Heather Reade (MFHT) .  Heather has been teaching Tai Chi and Qigong since 1999 in England and the US and provides courses for the NHS, in addition to Active West Lancs, MacMillan Cancer Care; the U3A; Twinkle House Sensory and Wellness Centre and primary schools in Liverpool and Lancashire.  In 2009, she created Water Lotus Qigong, a hydrotherapy, which has been used in the US and UK for the alleviation of pain, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. She is also, a qualified Sports Therapist, and Ear Acupuncturist.  To find out more about Heather and to request any further information, please visit website  Heather Reade School of Tai Chi and QiGong The 5 Elements, or Wu Xing (woo sshing), is a system used to categorise and explain patterns of transformation in the universe.  Wu Xing 五行  Wu = five  Xing = movement, transformation, phase Dating back almost 4,700 years ago, the 5 Elements wer

Lighthouse is very pleased to welcome our first guest blog by Wild Goose Qigong and Tai Chi Instructor Sue Johnson. Sue is an accomplished teacher and student of Chinese Martial Arts and someone we hold in high esteem.  We hope you will enjoy discovering Wild Goose Qigong with Sue and want to find out more. Wild Goose Qigong -  A Daoist Qigong System Almost 2000 years old, this Daoist system of Qigong is quite vast, originally consisting of 72 forms!   Wild Goose Qigong looks more like Tai Chi as the movements are forms and not separate movements.  Similar in length to the Chen Style Tai Chi, or the Long Yang style form, it takes around 10 minutes to perform the first routine, known as the 1 st 64 (number of movements).   Beginners should then repeat this routine twice daily. Yang Meijun Kept secret until 1978 the previous Grandmaster, Yang Meijun decided to make some of the system public, initially opening up 12 forms. Most are a little shorter than the 1 st   64! Each form has a s