Many good years

Today this trusty old blog becomes archive-only as it is time to wind it down. I will leave it online as it is a lovely record of much good T'ai Chi from 2006-2023, that's quite something! Thank you to everyone who has read or contributed to this blog over the years. The internet was such a different place then, how things have changed...

In a bid to follow the Classics and simplify life, lessen entanglements and reduce stressors, I am pulling in some of my tendrils in the online world, to concentrate on the roots: real lived life. T'ai Chi informs every aspect of my life and continues to transform every aspect of it in sometimes obvious but more often subtle ways. I spend part of each week with my flatmate and oldest T'ai Chi buddy Duncan Price, which is a great joy. (He, along with David Hurn and Kevin Grey, were the first students of Mark I met on that blessed day I found the T'ai Chi Centre back in 2000. I walked into the garden at Art of Health and Yoga in Balham, London, and knew I had found 'home'. It is a delight to still be friends with these excellent people.) In the autumn I'll be studying some interesting Nei Gong with Duncan. I am also very happy to say he is now organising monthly push hands events in the South West and will soon start teaching his own classes near Exeter. I will add the link here as soon as I have it.

I still study with Mark Raudva at the T'ai Chi Centre, whenever I can get to London or when he comes to visit in the south west. 

I continue to teach T'ai Chi, Chi Kung and Heartwork, privately at my home and also online, this can be found at greatrivertaichi.com. Free Chi Kung that I posted for people's wellbeing during lockdowns can be found here. I currently teach aspects of T'ai Chi and Chi Kung in new and diverse contexts, such as multi-disciplinary workshops, weeklong courses at Dartington Trust or with the Dark Mountain Collective. This is heartening and rewarding work. 

The Taoist Classics provide the greatest resource and I am rereading the Thomas Cleary editions for the umpteenth time. I hope to write a few long pieces about the links between Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary and the states of being described in the Classics, over the winter at my Substack Uncivil Savant, where I write about Tao, the embodied life and art where Earth matters. During 2023, paid subscribers get access to monthly Chi Kung lessons and a meet up at the end of the year. Here's a link to the video of a conversation we had at Iain's home in January 2023. 

I now travel to teach art for a large part of the year, when I am not at home writing the follow up to my debut book Found and Ground. Writing and art have overtaken T'ai Chi as my main livelihood, which is wonderful and always interesting. All my art and teaching can be found at FoundandGround.com and at my Instagram. 

As I personally no longer teach T'ai Chi in Scotland or Sweden since Covid lockdowns and life changes brought that era suddenly to a close, it seems more appropriate for a locally-based newsletter or email round-robin to emerge than to continue this format.

In London I recommend Mark Raudva's classes and events which can be seen at www.thetaichicentre.co.uk. If he sets up a blog or similar, I will add the link here. He has an Instagram but currently does not use it much. 

In Gothenburg, Sweden you can study with Christina Fors. 

Kevin Devine's daytime classes continue in South London, he can be contacted at kevin [at] kevindevine [dot] co [dot] uk

In Aboyne, Aberdeenshire you can study with Anneke Stolte who can be contacted at annekestolte [at] hotmail [dot] co [dot uk

In Kintore, Aberdeenshire you can study with Scott Allan who can be contacted at activeresources [at] sky [dot] com

In Monymusk, Aberdeenshire you can study with Paolo Marioni who can be contacted at paolo [at] greatrivertaichi [dot] com

Kevin Grey provides superb TCM tui na, acupuncture and herbs at his practice in Tooting London. 

I will update this last placeholder post as and when any links or details change, as best I can. 

May I take this opportunity to thank every student who has studied with me, for however long, for their attention and energy. Thanks also to all those who have instructed for Great River T'ai Chi over the years and to those who now run their own classes or schools. May you have as a rewarding and heartening time as I have done. 

You can contact me via my website home page any time. 

Warmest good wishes to all who read this, yours, Caroline Ross.

Great River T'ai Chi School, founded 2002.

Picture, sunset from the end of my road, January 2023.