Mother Earth News on Tai Chi

 
A great article on the benefits of tai chi:

"My senior year of college, a friend and I signed up for a tai chi class offered on campus. We thought it would be an entertaining hour or two every week, and it gave us a few extra course credits. But a week or two in, I realized that the classes were actually something I really loved and valued as a part of my week. I looked forward to the few hours each week where I got to calm my mind and move my body at the same time." Read the whole article by Chelsea Clark at Mother Earth News.

Tai Chi Wisdom

 

Here's cartoonist James Sturm's take on longtime teacher Maggie Newman's tai chi wisdom. See Medium for full cartoon story.

Books and Media Received Fall 2015

The Mind Inside Tai Chi: Sustaining a Joyful Heart by Henry Zhuang (YMAA 2015)
Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master in America by Marc Meyer (Booklocker 2014). A novel about a Chinese-American family and their immigrant uncle, and the martial arts.
The Nature of Daoist Meditation by Robert James Coons (Tambuli 2015)
I Ching: The Book of Change by David Hinton (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2015). A unique rendering of the divination classic by an experienced translator. See our full review at Contemplating I Ching.
I Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Oracle and Book of Wisdom (Penguin Classics 2015)
The Qing Dynasty and Traditional Chinese Culture by Richard J. Smith (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 2015)

Kung Fu Bear Form

 Pure inspiration!

Tai Chi for Fall Prevention, Even in Harsh Climates"

"Minnesota has the nation’s fourth-highest rate of fall-related deaths," the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported in a recent article about how Tai Chi can prevent falls. Many studies have shown that Tai Chi helps improves many aspects of health, mobility, and balance. State commissioners of health and human services are seen here, following along in a training workshop.

Tai Chi participants can note a dramatic and quick improvement in balance and mobility by practicing even just the basics. Tai Chi is very multi-faceted, and can serve as a mindfulness exercise, as well as a martial art.

Cloudgate Dance Theater on Tour

The innovative Taiwan-based Cloudgate Dance Theater troupe will be performing a premiere of "RICE" in New York City at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in September 2015. Their roots are in traditional Western dance and Chinese movement disciplines such as taijiquan.

Ray Bradbury's Birthday and Tai Chi

American writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) wrote many intriguing stories (Dandelion Wine, novels (Fahrenheit 451), and screenplays (Moby Dick). He would have been 95 this year on August 22. This story "The Vacation" captures a sense of taiji and the never-ending movement of the universe:

"It was a day as fresh as grass growing up and clouds going over and butterflies coming down can make it. It was a day compounded from silences of bee and flower and ocean and land, which were not silences at all, but motions, stirs, flutters, risings, fallings, each in its own time and matchless rhythm. The land did not move, but moved. The sea was not still, yet was still. Paradox flowed into paradox, stillness mixed with stillness, sound with sound...."

 

New Media: Taiji Straight Sword Book

Chinese Swords: An Ancient Tradition and Modern Training is a collection of articles originally published in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, and is available as an ebook through their website. The four articles cover history, training, aesthetics, and traditions: "Ancient Chinese Bronze Swords in the MacLean Collection" by Richard A. Pegg, PhD; "Chinese Sword and Brush Masters of the Tang Dynasty (618–906)" by Richard A. Pegg, PhD; "Basic Chinese Sword Training and Practice" by Tony Yang, Andy Lianto, and Robert A. Figler, PhD; "Qingping Straight Sword: The Last Remaining Chinese Sword System?" by Stephan Berwick, M.A.; Trans. C. Hsu and X.Y. Dong.

New Taiji Anthologies on Chen Style, Zheng Manqing, Taiji for Health

The Journal of Asian Martial Arts has created several taiji-related anthologies bundling its articles on a number of topics of interest, all available as ebooks at Via Media. These articles represent the accumulation of two decades of publication by leading researchers and practitioners in the field.
ChengMan-ch'ing and Tai Chi: Echoes in the Hall of Happiness, by Barbara Davis, Donald Davis, Michael DeMarco, T. G. LaFredo, Lawrence L. Mann, Russ Mason, Robert W. Smith, and Nigel Sutton.	T'ai Chi & Qigong for Your Health: Historical and Scientific Foundations by Michael DeMarco, M.A., Arieh Lev Breslow, M.A., S. Kachur, B.M.R. (P.T), R.N. Carleton, M.A. & G. , Kenneth S. Cohen, M.A., M.S.Th., C.J. Rhoads, D.Ed., M.Ed., Duane Crider, Ph.D.

Chen T’ai Chi: Traditional Instructions from the Chen Village, Vol. 2 by Adam Wallace, Michael A. DeMarco, M.A. & A. Edwin Matthews, Yaron Seidman, L.Ac., Michael Rosario Graycar and Rachel Tomlinson, M.Ed, Bosco Seung-Chul Baek, B.S.

Chen T’ai Chi: Traditional Instructions from the Chen Village, Vol. 1, by Dietmar Stubenbaum, Wong Jiaxiang; Michael DeMarco, M.A., Trans., Miriam O’Conner, M.A., Stephan Berwick, M.A., Asr Cordes, David Gaffney, B.A.

Media Reviews: New Book on Cheng Man-ch'ing's Taijiquan

Wisdom of the Masters: Insights into Cheng Man Ching's Art
Nigel Sutton
Tambuli Media, 2014
176 pages
ISBN-10: 0692250913

Cheng Man-ch'ing and his teachings are the subject of this new book from Nigel Sutton. The book is based on Sutton's encounters with the Malaysian branch of Cheng Man-ch'ing's tradition: Lau Kim Hong, Lee Bei Lei, Zhou Mu Tu, Ho Ah San, Tan Ching Ning, Dr. Fong Fung Tong, Wu Chiang Hsing and Koh Ah Tee. The focus is on practice of taijiquan as a martial art and neigong. The interviewees are of a calibre and age that allows for some deep reflections, insights on practice and teaching, melding taiji with spiritual practices, taiji as a "Dao," role of lineage, and many other topics, including the relationship of gongfu to years of practice, and the relationship to aging. 
 Reminiscent of Robert Smith's Masters and Methods, the book is conversational in tone, and explores the meaning of, and extreme dedication to taijiquan for these men's lives, with many insights into practice, regardless of the reader's lineage.

Tai Chi and Chi-Kung Upcoming National Events

National Qigong Association Annual Conference
Keynote: Roger Jahnke
Basking Ridge Dolce Conference Center
300 North Maple Ave Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
 July 17 – 19, 2015

Tai Chi Gala: June 5-7, 2015
Gathering of the Baguazhang Circle with Dr. John Painter: June 8-12, 2015
“The Tai Chi Gala: An Internal Arts Convention in Memory of Jou Tsung Hwa and Zhang San Feng” The Best Western Albany Airport Inn; Albany, NY .

World Tai Chi and Qigong Day 2015

 
World Tai Chi and Qigong Day is fast approaching! On Saturday, April 25, 2015, participate and learn about the great benefits of tai chi practice, see demonstrations, and network. See the WTCD website for listings of events in your local community.

Tai Chi---Walk Like a Cat, For Real!

Tai Chi principles are for real!
A BBC program Secret Lives of Cats follows research on dozens of village cats. Using GPS and micro-cameras, you can see that the tai chi dictum to "walk like a cat" is incredibly accurate. The cats jump and walk and demonstrate the absolute control and steadiness that we want to emulate.