28 March - 3rd April

I will be in Scotland for the next week, returning to London on 3rd. In the meantime I will not be able to get email, so call my mobile if you need to get hold of me. I am so looking forward to the workshops with Mark next weekend.

I have just spent the afternoon doing partnerwork with Steven at the Round Chapel in Hackney, and then he taught the class, which was wonderful. After he left, the small senior students group were working on their spiralling push hands too before time caught up with us and I had to head home. Lots of T'ai Chi today, so my legs will ache on the cramped plane jouney tomorrow. It was great to spend time and work with Steven today.

May Teaching Visit

I have spent the last day doing all those admin things that get put off for ages and have even booked my trains and flights for the scheduled May teaching visit (as planned on the blog over a month ago). I will be flying up as I teach on Wednesday mornings, so do not have the 7 hours needed for the train, I will arrive on 9th May at Dyce around 16.25. I will be leaving on the following Tuesday morning to get back to teach in Hackney, but can go by train as there is time. I will come and teach any evening classes that are running during that period, as well as take a Sunday at my place, and a Saturday evening if folks would like it. All the rest of the time I am at your disposal for 121s and the rest of the time I will continue packing up.

Sabre / Cats

I recently went over to Duncan's to do a bit of sabre with him which is my spurious excuse for posting this picture of one of his unbelievably beautiful cats.

Class Thursday 29th March

There will be a class at my home in Forgue next week on Thursday night from 7-9pm as term will have finished at the various venues. All regular students of whatever level are welcome.

The picture is from the orchid festival at Kew Gardens last month.

Silk-reeling

Here is a Japanese silk-reeling machine (central, with handle) from the authentic old wooden Binka house in Kew gardens. It is in a display about the use of silk and bamboo in traditional Japanese life. This model is almost identical to the Chinese devices to spin silk and would have been used mounted on a table or stand, with the handle at a comfortable height to turn in the hand with the (usually female) operator standing. Last year I watched the 60's film 'A Touch of Zen' in which one of the characters is shown using one of these. I was immediately struck by how similar the movement was to our simplified T'ai Chi 'silk-reeling' movements, at least in the arm and hand. Chansu-jin, silk-reeling, spiralling, figure-8-ing... is a vast area with simple as well radically deep ramifications and meanings in our T'ai Chi, which I won't be going in to here. It might have been named, however, for the physical appearance of it's movement, in the way that we might describe the leg movement of one of our warm-ups as 'bicycling' the leg, as that is a familiar action to us all, and bypasses the need to say 'lift the leg, move the knee in a circular path', etc, etc. Whatever the case, I urge you to have a look at the display in Kew if you can, it is very moving to inhabit the simple space of the communal Binka house and to see the open rafters, all skilfully built without a single nail being used. This month brown long-eared bats have taken residence too, but they only wake up at dusk, and hide in nooks and crannies during the day. For die-hard silk-reeling enthusiasts amongst you, the scene is toward the end of 'A Touch of Zen', which is otherwise unfortunately a poor 1960's martial arts film with some very dodgy hair-do's and lacklustre stunts. Anyway, it's fun trying to imagine a T'ai Chi teacher of old trying to explain to a rather dull student how to start spiralling: "No, not like that! More like your sister when she's reeling the silk by turning the handle... yes... now you've got it."

This is a charcoal drawing sent by Richard to Mark a few weeks ago and have finally got round to posting it for everyone, (I did ask permission!) It really is wonderful: simple, clear and revealing something of the inside of our partnerwork. What I love about the drawing is its absolute lack of pretension and the depth of meaning embedded in it, two things that the current contemporary visual art consensus rarely values. I love the figure 8 between the two 'people' and the way it is at heart height. The connection underground is there, the wonderful 'Cheng' posture, even the overall image is heart-shaped... Thanks for letting me blog this, Richard.

121s

Call or email me if you would like to get a 121 with Mark or myself when we are up, as the spaces are filling fast. We will double up if need be, so that everyone can get a session with lots of hands-on time.

Things are very busy here, but I have taken the night off going over to assist at Isleworth as my glands are up a bit, so I should probably rest. Several new folks have booked on to the beginner's day in Kemnay next week, so that should be good fun. Also, call or email to let me know if you can make it to the weekend or the whole 5 days of the T'ai Chi intensive 14-18th April, as I am getting numbers together right now.

April dates confirmed for Mark - revised

Just got back from Hackney and have been online booking flights up to Aberdeenshire for Mark and myself. They are much dearer than usual as it is Easter time. In future I will get back to booking them a long way in advance.

I will be arriving on Wednesday 28th March in the afternoon but the classes in Inverurie will have finished, so I will do 121s for anyone who wants them at 5pm and 7pm on Wednesday and I would like to offer an open class for all Great River students at my place on the Thursday night from 7-9pm for the usual £5 / £3.50. I will stay until Tuesday lunchtime when I must leave to get back for the Hackney class. I am also available for a 121 on Thursday 29th at 12 noon, (Scott has booked 3pm then I will have a chill out until class...). I can also do 2-hour 121s on Monday 2nd April at 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm. Davina has booked one of these already, I am not sure which yet. My 121s cost £15 per hour or £10 p/h concs. The last Turriff class of the term is 26th March.

Mark arrives for the weekend sessions on the Friday before Ta Lu which will now be at mine in Forgue 7-10pm. Saturday will now be the beginner's workshop 2-5pm and the sabre workshop 7-10pm in the evening in Kemnay Village Hall. The Sunday will be held at mine in Forgue and will be short and long form for those who have at least 3 terms' experience with us from 2-5pm, and partnerwork from 7-10pm, open to all. The form workshop is a chance to ask any questions on short form, as well as to go through the first postures of the long form with Mark. There are no 121s this visit as Mark has to leave to teach at Clapham on Monday.

The Easter week-long workshop is actually 5 days long this time! Several folks can only do the weekend, but you can come for as many consecutive days as you like after that, whatever you can manage. The Friday evening will be Ta Lu, as usual, and all are welcome for that. The workshop proper starts Saturday at 2pm and goes through until Wednesday at 10pm, with our usual sessions of 2-5 or 5.30pm and 7-10pm. As it will almost certainly be held at my place in Forgue, we should be able to put up any one who would like to stay and we can do soup, cake and our traditional shared meals in the evening. The cost is £30 per day (concessions available, ask me for details), bring food to share in the evenings, teas and coffee are provided. If you'd like to stay it's £7 per night b&b.

On Thursday 19th - Saturday 21st Mark will be teaching 121s. Sara Nicol has first choice as her son Richard bought her a lesson for Christmas! Apart from that, they are all open, however, rather than the usual free for all, I have a different suggestion. Please get in touch with me by 25th March if and when you would like a lesson with Mark when he is up. If it works out that far more people want lessons than there are slots, we could do a series of 2 to 1s, and I will come in and assist to make up the foursome, so for partnerwork this will be ideal. It's a great way to get the personal attention of a private lesson, but it's very relaxed, too. The 7 slots are provisionally: Thursday and Friday 2-4pm, 5-7pm, 8-10pm and Saturday 2-4pm. Feel free to pair up already and get back to me 'in two's'. Whether it's in 1's or 2's, Mark's sessions will be £50 per 2 hour session.

Any time that I am not assisting Mark, I will be free for 121s in the kitchen. I can do 11am-1pm as well as Mark's times above.

Phew, it's 1.25am and I have the dentist in 10 1/2 hours. My love to all students old and new. It was lovely to meet the brand new folks and last term's new students again at Inverurie too.

Scotland

Just a very quick post to say how great it was to see all the students this week on my return to Aberdeenshire. Get well soon all of you who have that nasty cold. I will be doing paper work and organising tomorrow, so will have 121 dates for Mark and myself, as well as confirmed plans for the April workshop very soon. Been relaxing for a day, but have to go and teach now in Hackney. Photos, and lots of other stuff to follow!