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

Our guest blog for August is by  Judith Van Drooge.  Judith is a very accomplished tai chi instructor whom we have admired for many years, and is particularly known to us for her tai chi sword expertise and passion for sharing.  We asked her to provide a short, personal article about her feelings and experience of tai chi sword, with some links for you to find out more. The lovely flow of these words is an art in itself, we hope you will enjoy reading and re-reading it as much as we do. She has practised Yang Lineage Tai Chi Chuan with Luis Molera and Grandmaster William C.C. Chen since 1999, with great pleasure and devotion. Judith is an all-round practitioner who successfully competed in national and international tournaments attaining gold, silver and bronze medals in Forms (weapons), Chi Kung and Push Hands.  Judith has her own school Inner Touch Tai Chi in Zwolle, the Netherlands and has been a regular teacher at most of the major European Tai Chi events.  "To embody the

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

Be Consistent To acquire a skill or to remember a process or action takes time and practice.  When we begin to learn a new skill or pastime it is important to invest time if we want to progress and improve our understanding or skill. Tai Chi and Qigong are no different.  Consistency in practice takes many forms: being present and attending, understanding and engage with learning, home practice and research. Turn up regularly. Life tends to get in the way of what you really want to pursue, so turn up to your lesson every week. Repetition is the key to reinforcing a new habit/skill/movement, and you will need to have corrections to keep you on the right track. If you leave long gaps between your practice, you will not remember much, if anything from the previous session, so you will always be relearning the postures at the same level and will not progress. Treating the session as a workout, just following, and copying, and not engaging with actually learning to do it for yourself, wi

Guest blog this month  Instructor Ashley Cheeseman, who teaches in Orpington, Kent.  We have invited him to tell you about the wonderful Tai Chi Caledonia event held in July every year, in Stirling, Scotland.  Read on and discover new possibilities and perhaps 2022 is the year to go along and find out for yourself. " For anyone that’s never been heard about Tai Chi Caledonia, I will let you in on a great weekend /week of Tai Chi and related arts taught by some of Europe’s finest instructors as well as a home team as well. 2015 The official line is, Tai Chi Caledonia offers high-quality teaching of Tai Chi Chuan, Qigong and other Chinese Internal Arts, here in the beautiful, natural environment of Stirling University Campus in the heart of Scotland. This is an understatement, as we found out, its mind blowing, happy, no holds barred teaching. We have been on three occasions now and each time it just gets better, on my last trip in 2018, twelve of us went and its smashing fun

 Day 14 Grouting is finished, the fountain bowl and new soil arrives Today we made a plan for the replanting we'd like as the new soil has been laid. Nearly all the plants have been saved in containers or another part of the garden. Big bin bags and the old blue recycling boxes have been very useful for holding plants when moving them and replanting. The black grouting for the patio was finished and will be set again for tomorrow. The corten steel bowl arrived.  This is going to been turned into a small pool and fountain to be placed in front of our Greenman wood carving. The reservoir was prepared today. Day 15 The Gateway & The Gravel Today Seb made a bespoke gateway to fit in with our theme. The soil was covered in a liner and the limestone chippings arrived. We've gone for a light colour with big chips - hopefully the local cats won't revenge themselves on it. We also realised that the other half of the garden had become a quagmire and so we've just put down gra