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 are beginning the transformation of our garden, to create a modern outdoor space to allow us to film, train and teach.  As part of our lifestyle blog, we are going to share the journey with you and hope it will be interesting and inspiring for you.  Our North-East facing garden is a little boggy, with clay soil, but is full of colourful plants from the previous owner, which we hope to keep and move to a more manageable location. These include hydrangea, various heathers, three colours of azaleas, various Aquilegias, Centaurus,  Amaranthus Caudatus, sedum  and many others we don't recognise.  The wonderful oak stump carving we commissioned from artist Ric Gibson of Stump Art in Bolton, will become more of a focal point for the garden. The Oak tree was cut down by the previous owner and when we viewed the house, we both kept seeing the face of a Green Man looking back at us. We wanted a smiley face for the carving, so the neighbours' children would not be scared and