As some of you may know, we will be selling our house in the autumn but I will be staying in Aberdeenshire to carry on teaching T'ai Chi during term time, and I will travel to London to study during holidays. All workshops with Mark should continue as normal but at different venues, such as students' houses and the great halls in Inverurie and Aberdeen. The flat at a friend's house which I had hoped to move into has fallen through due to family events, so I wanted to put feelers out now to find another place to live. If you have any thoughts or ideas, do feel free to contact me.
I would like to rent either an inexpensive flat, cottage or rooms in a house. I would prefer to be near Inverurie but not in the town itself. Having been a WWOOF host for several years, I am happy with the idea of work exchange as well as money exchange and have plenty of gardening experience. My requirements are space to sleep and set up my pc at a desk, a kitchen that I can cook in and a room that I can practice T'ai Chi in and teach about 6 folks in on a Sunday, (my own room or a lounge, for instance, would be fine.) Past those specific needs, I am totally flexible.
Incidentally, all students from any class are welcome to the last class of term which will be at McLymont Hall, 43a Holburn St., Aberdeen on Tuesday 27th June at 7.30pm.
21 June 2006
19 June 2006
121 Lessons with Mark in Aberdeenshire
Over the past year I have had a couple of questions from students asking how T'ai Chi 121 lessons with Mark are allocated and I thought now would be a good moment to put it on the blog. As lessons take place at my home during workshop periods which I also organise, Mark asked me to coordinate them for him. I keep a record of who has had sessions and try to share them out fairly between those who want them, though sometimes there are inevitable waits and shortages, as Mark needs to return to London to teach before we want him to! If people have missed workshops due to illness, childcare, travel, etc. I try to make sure they get a session next time. Priority is given to students who study with me regularly, as it benefits everyone at class greatly to have more experienced students amongst them. Also some people can afford the time and money to travel to London to work with Mark; other people cannot, so a class here would be more fitted to them. This is as clear and fair as we can arrange it. Please do feel free to discuss this with me when you see me.
Something I would like to mention is the spirit in which we learn T'ai Chi. When I began working more intensely with Mark again I felt as though I would never 'catch up' with all the students in the class I had left behind in London, that I had so much to learn, to get under my belt, to achieve... As you can easily see even just from the language, this is hardly the best of attitudes. Yes, there was a keenness and desire to learn so that I could better teach, which was good; but also an acquisitiveness, a desire to improve my T'ai Chi. If T'ai Chi is something we feel we own or that we can possess then we are totally mistaken. If we learn in this way we are just adding more layers to our shiny armour, keeping everything at arms length. Yes, even T'ai Chi can be used in this way. We could study hard at this and become experts, but we could still be closed and basically unchanged. Last year several times for various reasons it was not always possible to have my own 121 sessions when I had planned them, even when I had travelled a 1200 mile round trip to do them. Yielding to that made me look carefully at my attachment to 'my' T'ai Chi, and question some long-held attitudes. I try to do formal study with my teacher when I can. I will go to the BTCCA whenever the opportunity arises. Classes with my fellow students are the most precious thing to me now, just being in a room with other people putting their hearts into the same thing. My solo practice grows. There are the classes I teach, with good students who love this too. T'ai Chi is certainly a matter of the heart - opening not grasping. It is good see clearly how we approach our T'ai Chi, as it always echoes how we approach our lives.
Lastly, in regard to this, on Steven Moore's Taichi Heartwork blog today was this:
"In Heartwork not only are the relationships with your colleagues developing, but so are your relationships with the work and the teaching. All self-concerns evaporate, especially in the heat (heart) of the moment. Even notions of self-defence, and even yielding, go out of the window, all concerns are with just how well connected you can become and how fully and intensely you can express that connexion, how deeply can the connexion go and how fully can it affect and transform all involved. Be careful how you think of yielding. If for you it is means maintaining balance under difficult circumstances then it is still self oriented and self-centred. Yielding is, or should be, whatever you need to do to get closer. To the truth."
Something I would like to mention is the spirit in which we learn T'ai Chi. When I began working more intensely with Mark again I felt as though I would never 'catch up' with all the students in the class I had left behind in London, that I had so much to learn, to get under my belt, to achieve... As you can easily see even just from the language, this is hardly the best of attitudes. Yes, there was a keenness and desire to learn so that I could better teach, which was good; but also an acquisitiveness, a desire to improve my T'ai Chi. If T'ai Chi is something we feel we own or that we can possess then we are totally mistaken. If we learn in this way we are just adding more layers to our shiny armour, keeping everything at arms length. Yes, even T'ai Chi can be used in this way. We could study hard at this and become experts, but we could still be closed and basically unchanged. Last year several times for various reasons it was not always possible to have my own 121 sessions when I had planned them, even when I had travelled a 1200 mile round trip to do them. Yielding to that made me look carefully at my attachment to 'my' T'ai Chi, and question some long-held attitudes. I try to do formal study with my teacher when I can. I will go to the BTCCA whenever the opportunity arises. Classes with my fellow students are the most precious thing to me now, just being in a room with other people putting their hearts into the same thing. My solo practice grows. There are the classes I teach, with good students who love this too. T'ai Chi is certainly a matter of the heart - opening not grasping. It is good see clearly how we approach our T'ai Chi, as it always echoes how we approach our lives.
Lastly, in regard to this, on Steven Moore's Taichi Heartwork blog today was this:
"In Heartwork not only are the relationships with your colleagues developing, but so are your relationships with the work and the teaching. All self-concerns evaporate, especially in the heat (heart) of the moment. Even notions of self-defence, and even yielding, go out of the window, all concerns are with just how well connected you can become and how fully and intensely you can express that connexion, how deeply can the connexion go and how fully can it affect and transform all involved. Be careful how you think of yielding. If for you it is means maintaining balance under difficult circumstances then it is still self oriented and self-centred. Yielding is, or should be, whatever you need to do to get closer. To the truth."
12 June 2006
Music
Seeing as I had to go away and do music for a week recently, many students have been asking what the music is like, and I am no good at answering them. So, as promised, here are some links to folks who think they know.
The review from yesterday's Sunday Times can be found at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2101-2213949.html
Or read this article about us in the new Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine online for more background... http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Tells.htm
There's alot of reviews around the web for the latest Tells CD and still plenty for our old band Delicate AWOL, also Rothko / Caroline Ross / Susumu Yokota projects.
Finally there's www.tellsmusic.com (site not totally finished yet), www.myspace.com/tellsband and www.firerecords.com
The review from yesterday's Sunday Times can be found at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2101-2213949.html
Or read this article about us in the new Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine online for more background... http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Features/Tells.htm
There's alot of reviews around the web for the latest Tells CD and still plenty for our old band Delicate AWOL, also Rothko / Caroline Ross / Susumu Yokota projects.
Finally there's www.tellsmusic.com (site not totally finished yet), www.myspace.com/tellsband and www.firerecords.com
BTCCA Weekend Accommodation
Several students are now coming down to the London BTCCA opening weekend and were asking about accommodation. One student has found a very good deal at the St Gregory Hotel in Shoreditch, near Old St tube on the Northern Line. It is very easy to get from the hotel to the T'ai Chi venue in Camden.
09 June 2006
BTCCA Grand Opening 15-16th July, London
Below is the text from the email I received from Steven Moore (see link to his blog T'ai Chi Heartwork at side of page). I have checked with him and all who would like to attend are welcome to. If you are my student, please let me know by email first, as I will be organising a meet-up in London when we arrive. Folks who are not my students should go to Steven's blog and contact him from there. I know this part of London pretty well and am happy to give travel information, etc. John Kells was a beloved student of Dr Chi. My teacher Mark Raudva was a student of John Kells for many years.
British Tai Chi Chuan Association Grand Opening
Two days of Tai Chi and Heartwork with Grand Master John Kells.
Sat 15 July 1-8pm, Sun 16 July 12-6pm, £50 for the lot, £40 per day.
Open to students of John Kells, ex-students of John Kells, students of students of John Kells, friends, family, well-meaning interested people in general, no matter your level. Please let others know.
This is the first time JK has taught publicly for 5 years.
183 Royal College St Camden London NW1 www.btcca.com
British Tai Chi Chuan Association Grand Opening
Two days of Tai Chi and Heartwork with Grand Master John Kells.
Sat 15 July 1-8pm, Sun 16 July 12-6pm, £50 for the lot, £40 per day.
Open to students of John Kells, ex-students of John Kells, students of students of John Kells, friends, family, well-meaning interested people in general, no matter your level. Please let others know.
This is the first time JK has taught publicly for 5 years.
183 Royal College St Camden London NW1 www.btcca.com
07 June 2006
Sunday 11th June
This Sunday the 2-6pm session will be at Heather's place, near Inverurie. Contact me if you would like to go.
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