29 May 2006
Workshop Weekend and News
The sessions with Mark a fortnight ago were excellent and really well attended. The next beginner's day with Mark will not be until November, as over the summer we will concentrate on tuition for my current students and for those who visit especially for the workshops.
I can confirm the week-long T'ai Chi workshop, open to all, which will be at my home from Saturday 12th August to Friday 18th 2-6pm and 7-10pm. If you cannot do the whole week, that is not a problem. Starting on the Saturday you may do as many consecutive days as you like, although it is not possible to start after the first day, or to drop into the sessions once you have missed one. Contact me if you have any queries. The cost will be £25 per day tuition fees, food and refreshments will be £5 per day. Limited accommodationon will also be available at £5 per night. Please let me know if you intend to come as the content of the week will depend on the levels of experience of those who book. We ask for a deposit of £25 which would be refunded in the case that the workshop was cancelled.
Other dates for your diary: All my T'ai Chi classes continue until 27th June. The final Sunday dropsessionsion at my home will be on 25th June. Come if you can and maybe we'll have a meal together afterwards before I leave for London for the Summer. Sunday practice sessions will very likely continue all summer at students' houses, contact me for details.
Friday 11th August 7-10pm will be our usual Ta Lu session with Mark at the house to revise and work on Ta Lu, Wapu and 'knocking'. Sunday 20th August 2-6pm is an open session with Mark for all those of you who can't make the workshop week. All my students are welcome to both these events. There are no spaces for 121s with Mark this visit. I am hoping he will come up in the autumn to teach a short sabre form workshop and also do 121s, let me know if you are interested. If you have time to go to London in the Summer and have tuition with Mark, I recommend it. He can be reached via his website www.thetaichicentre.co.uk
David Knight has returned to London at the end of his planned 6 months here in Scotland helping with Great River T'ai Chi and living at my place. I have just returned home from gigs and T'ai Chi study in London and miss David already. He will be back for all the workshops that we do, and in the mean time is making use of the short bokken we got him to say thanks... Incidentally, any other London based T'ai Chi folks who need to drop out for a while and come here should get in touch!
I can confirm the week-long T'ai Chi workshop, open to all, which will be at my home from Saturday 12th August to Friday 18th 2-6pm and 7-10pm. If you cannot do the whole week, that is not a problem. Starting on the Saturday you may do as many consecutive days as you like, although it is not possible to start after the first day, or to drop into the sessions once you have missed one. Contact me if you have any queries. The cost will be £25 per day tuition fees, food and refreshments will be £5 per day. Limited accommodationon will also be available at £5 per night. Please let me know if you intend to come as the content of the week will depend on the levels of experience of those who book. We ask for a deposit of £25 which would be refunded in the case that the workshop was cancelled.
Other dates for your diary: All my T'ai Chi classes continue until 27th June. The final Sunday dropsessionsion at my home will be on 25th June. Come if you can and maybe we'll have a meal together afterwards before I leave for London for the Summer. Sunday practice sessions will very likely continue all summer at students' houses, contact me for details.
Friday 11th August 7-10pm will be our usual Ta Lu session with Mark at the house to revise and work on Ta Lu, Wapu and 'knocking'. Sunday 20th August 2-6pm is an open session with Mark for all those of you who can't make the workshop week. All my students are welcome to both these events. There are no spaces for 121s with Mark this visit. I am hoping he will come up in the autumn to teach a short sabre form workshop and also do 121s, let me know if you are interested. If you have time to go to London in the Summer and have tuition with Mark, I recommend it. He can be reached via his website www.thetaichicentre.co.uk
David Knight has returned to London at the end of his planned 6 months here in Scotland helping with Great River T'ai Chi and living at my place. I have just returned home from gigs and T'ai Chi study in London and miss David already. He will be back for all the workshops that we do, and in the mean time is making use of the short bokken we got him to say thanks... Incidentally, any other London based T'ai Chi folks who need to drop out for a while and come here should get in touch!
Web Censorship
Having been a member of Amnesty International for many years I want to direct folks to their excellent campaign on freedom of expression on the internet. Below is a link to their website, but which includes censored material that is updated daily, so it should be different each time you take a look. We take it for granted that we can just log-on and blog or email what we like, and right now thousands of people are in prison for doing just that.
http://irrepressible.info/
http://irrepressible.info/
08 May 2006
Classes 21st-27th May
From 19th - 27th May I will unavoidably be in London with musical commitments. The Sunday class on 21st will run at my place with David teaching. All other classes (except Aberdeen, which will be off on 23rd) will run as normal with Davina or Paolo leading the class. There will be no new postures taught on those evenings, but it will be an excellent time for collaboration, racking memories, working together and finding out what you need to ask me when I get back... Please assist Davina and Paolo in any way you can. The classes will be in the regular format of partnerwork / sticking, warm-ups, then Form.
When I still lived in London my husband and I would go along to the Sunday drop-in sessions that my teacher ran as often as possible. One week we had not heard that it was not running, and four of us turned up for the class. The centre let us stay in the room for free anyway, and we proceeded to practise together. We were all reasonably new to Mark's classes and so we conferred and cooperated to try to piece together the warm-up set and then as far through the Short Form as we had learnt. It was such a memorable session as it was full of good humour and together-action rather than disillusion at the lack of a teacher and then saying 'sod it, let's go home'.
I get back on the Sunday morning 28th May, and will be at home for the class at 2pm.
When I still lived in London my husband and I would go along to the Sunday drop-in sessions that my teacher ran as often as possible. One week we had not heard that it was not running, and four of us turned up for the class. The centre let us stay in the room for free anyway, and we proceeded to practise together. We were all reasonably new to Mark's classes and so we conferred and cooperated to try to piece together the warm-up set and then as far through the Short Form as we had learnt. It was such a memorable session as it was full of good humour and together-action rather than disillusion at the lack of a teacher and then saying 'sod it, let's go home'.
I get back on the Sunday morning 28th May, and will be at home for the class at 2pm.
Stones
David has been here 6 months and I had not taken him to any stone circles despite there being 99 such sites in Aberdeenshire. Above is Easter Auquorthies, the name of which derives from the Gaelic 'a place of prayer'. It is a wonderful recumbent stone circle not far from Inverurie. The upright stones are of many very varied types of rock and are graded by size around the circle. The detailed picture shows the surface of the only pink granite rock. Close up it is incredibly vivid and textured, pocked with holes.
Australia
One of my students is in Australia for a month. I have left it a bit late, but if anyone has any recommendations for good T'ai Chi in Melbourne, Sydney or Tasmania, let me know and I will pass it on.
07 May 2006
Bokkens
If you think you might like to learn sabre form at some point, you will need a bokken (wooden sword) to practise with. They are available very cheaply at martial arts stores and all over the internet, but are often poorly weighted and of inferior quality. David, myself and several friends bought ours at www.bokkenshop.com , a wonderful Japanese site with a good choice of different woods. Contact me for any advice or recommendations. The bokken I use is the medium size of the Isu wood deluxe range. However, I will order the longer one now as it is a little short for my height (5' 8"). The exchange rate means that including postage you can get a very good bokken for under £30.
Mclymont Hall
Click below for a map of Mclymont Hall, the venue for Saturday's Beginner's T'ai Chi workshop with Mark Raudva.
Mclymont Hall Location Map
02 May 2006
May Saturday and Sunday Workshops with Mark
If you would like to book onto the beginner's day in Aberdeen 1-6pm on Saturday 13th May please get in touch. I will be notifying the press tomorrow and have put up flyers and posters. The Saturday workshop at Mclymont Hall, 43a Holburn Street, is definitely going ahead as we have enough bookings from beginners already. Any of my Thursday group students, who would like to come along to revise are very welcome.
If it is sunny and warm, as it has been the last two Sunday sessions, we shall be doing the Sunday classes, including Mark's workshop day, in the garden here. Flat trainers or plastic soled T'ai Chi slippers are ideal to prevent damp feet.
If it is sunny and warm, as it has been the last two Sunday sessions, we shall be doing the Sunday classes, including Mark's workshop day, in the garden here. Flat trainers or plastic soled T'ai Chi slippers are ideal to prevent damp feet.
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