Details
Wednesdays, 7.30 - 9 pm
The Detached Room
Castle Street Centre
Castle Street, Kendal LA9 7AD
£6 per session (come to 5 and the 6th is free!)
Spring 2012 classes
Classes for the new year begin again on Wednesday 11 January 2012.
We will look once again at the basics of relaxation, posture, breathing and concentration. We will continue with the Daoist slapping qigong set, which invigorates, gently stretches and then calms the body. We will learn an 18-part qigong set (shi ba shi, 十八式) which relaxes and tones, develops balance and introduces some taiji movements. We won't be learning a taiji form explicitly; I am happy to teach the Cheng Man-Ch'ing (Zheng Manjing, 鄭曼青) (also called 'Short Yang style') taiji form separately, please contact me.
Orientation
This is a vast subject encompassing bodily toning, stretching and relaxation; good posture and efficient movement, leading to improved balance; deep, relaxed breathing; integration of mind and body, mental relaxation and an accepting, focussed state of mind; meditation; the Chinese conception of energy, well-being and the cosmos; elegant sequences of movements; and partner work leading to full-on martial art. Loosely, qigong can be seen as a set of practices that are done for their own sake and to prepare the body and mind for the movements of taiji.
These classes are accessible to beginners but worthwhile for those who know something already. To begin with, each class in the series will cover the same material, so it will be possible to drop in now and again, but those who come regularly will learn more, get some of the background and begin to get some detail and accuracy in their practice.
My approach is to practise lots and not to talk very much if I can help it. When you do qigong and taiji, you reprogramme the body's posture and perform slightly odd movements to exercise particular joints; this begins to change your mind's model of your body and show where it is inaccurate, which is confusing (although it's fun when you get the hang of it!), so I don't introduce the details of bodily alignment until people look happy with the basics. Qigong and taiji can also be quite emotional when deep muscles, which sometimes hold tension from old memories and habitual thoughts, relax, or when you start to get a feeling of energy flowing through your body; I like to give people a bit of space to let that happen.
There is a lot of detail in qigong and taiji, it's there for a reason, and I do teach it, but gradually.
Credentials
I am an instructor member of the Tai Chi Union for Great Britain, one of the larger umbrella organisations in the country.
I have been studying and practising qigong and taiji for 9 years with Ian McPherson, a very experienced teacher who lives in Sedbergh, and teaching within his classes since 2006. I have been studying Wild Goose qigong with June Parker of the UK Taiji Qigong Foundation for 4 years, and have taken several shorter courses at various times with a number of the country's top teachers. I have been teaching independently since 2010.
I also have long experience in music and sound practice, with an emphasis on improvisation, conscious listening and natural sound, and this has a big influence on the way I do qigong and taiji. For more information, go to my music and sound website.
Contact
If you are interested, please contact me at andi (at) freakout (dot) biz or on 015396 22045 ... or turn up to a class.
Why all the different spellings?
Spoken Chinese isn't easily written in Latin script, and there have been a number of attempts at systems of romanisation over the years. I use the most recent, pinyin, as it is the standard in mainland China, Taiwan, the UN and with the ISO. Older romanisations, e.g. 'chi kung' for 'qigong', are still common in the West so I have given those too so people know what I mean and to help with search engines. Until you learn pinyin's conventions, the older systems give a better idea of what the Chinese words sound like, too.
'Taijiquan' and 'taiji' are the same thing; 'taijiquan' is its full name, but most people call it 'taiji' day to day.
I have put one or two Chinese phrases and names in Chinese characters too - I hope I've got them right - because YouTube will let you search on Chinese characters - if your browser shows them, just highlight them on this page, copy them, and paste them into the YouTube search box. It probably works on other video sites as well.