Warmest greetings to all Past Great River students, wherever you may be.

It's almost 10pm and I have just spent 3 hours going back over almost 18 years of this blog, saving some photos, writing, quotes and links that I have been meaning to gather together for quite some while. I was not expecting to be so moved by seeing all our faces getting younger by the minute, as I scrolled back to when I started this blog in 2005, three years after I officially started teaching T'ai Chi.

If you are reading this, and know me from classes, whether very well, or just for a brief time, then I send you my warmest good wishes and hope that this finds you well and well-loved. How incredible it has been to immerse myself in memories of the wider T'ai Chi family by looking through this blog in its entirety for the every first time. There was the news that I was inviting my teacher to come and teach my students at Drumblair Lodge, Aberdeenshire, in the Winter of 2005-6. Wonderful to know that many of you still practise and teach what you have been learning all these years. This makes me so happy.

I recently heard back from Megan, who used to study with Mark a decade ago, and who remembered me as 'always being there'. Indeed! It was good to be able to share lots of what is in the school's Dropbox, so that she can practice at home, now she is far away. Every year someone drops in at Mark's who used to study with John Kells, as happened last week. Mark told me how relieved and at home the student felt being in his class. 

There are so many people I miss, some moved away, some left, some passed on. Everybody left an impression. Some of my old students now study with Mark or Kevin, others elsewhere, others no longer practise. For those that do, I hope that T'ai Chi brings you a still point in your lives. Since the pandemic stopped me teaching in person in March 2020, I have only taught online, and currently I do not teach at all. After 20 years, it was a good time to take a break. Now, nature, writing, teaching craft and making art take up much of my time, but Central Earth is still fundamental. I am waiting for a dear relative to have a place I can stay in London in the near future, and then I will be able to come and study with Mark at Tuesday and Wednesday classes sometimes, with a quiet, safe place to stay, (which is essential for me, since last year's uprooting events). I plan to be at the November workshop if I can find someone who can put me up. 

I had forgotten how much we had all shared here on this blog, news, poems, classes, photos, comings and goings, births and deaths. I intend to leave this blog here, as long as Google leaves Blogger here for free, I guess. If you'd like to be in touch, my email address hasn't ever changed, so you can find me if you want to. In the meantime I can feel it will soon be time to wend my way back to T'ai Chi classes, though probably not teaching in person. I am going to help Mark record an online course, and see how that goes. I may also do a short one for all the chi kung I teach, as it has been so helpful to my friends with long Covid, which was a bit if good news recently. 

I have spent at least 20 years in rooms with people, wonderful people, whether for T'ai Chi, art, or before that, a decade of music indoors in studios. It feels like a combination of time outdoors, family time, and private time is still what calls me at the moment, for a bit longer. So if I don't see you in person very soon, but you are one of the excellent people I have had the pleasure of just seeing scrolling back through this blog, then may I wish you a very fruitful autumn and peaceful winter. Warmest greetings to you from stormy Bournemouth, 

Caro. 

The drawing board this week, putting the final 

touches to my natural paints book which will 

come out next June with Search Press.

Summer news

Here's a couple more photos from Mark's workshop in July. Thanks to all who came and made this a great event. The consensus was that Mark should run a 7 day workshop in 2023, (national circumstances allowing). The venue has set aside the week for us and could not have been kinder and more accommodating this year. Thank you Leander Sea Scouts!

Salutations

Kevin assisting Mark

I am away until October, fishing, teaching, travelling and also still recovering form Covid. I have made plans to record online chi kung courses in the autumn with filmmaker Jonny Randall and we will also assist Mark with making online T'ai Chi courses. I have updated the Great River website with all the info from the instructors. If you see anything that needs changing, let me know by email. 

Lastly, Mark turns 60 at the end of the month! One of his old students and I will be celebrating with him most likely by going fishing. If you need his address for any cards, just drop me an email and I'll send it to you. Thanks to those who have already asked about it.

Have a great August, see you in the autumn. Very best wishes Caro.

Autumn workshop thanks

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Autumn workshop with Mark for all your work and enthusiasm, and best wishes to those who weren't able to attend. Thanks also to Mark for his teaching at the workshop, the Left Side class, and all the 121s. The redecorated hall was lovely to be in and we'll be organising future visits by Mark in due course. As it was our first workshop in 2 years I didn't take many photos, but just to confirm that we did have:

flowers,

partnerwork,

and, of course, cake!

Summer workshop

Thanks to all 20 folks who attended the summer workshop, and especially thanks to Mark for his great teaching and Chris and Mary for hosting us. Personally, it was exactly what I needed and my entire organism was glad of the pushing hands, Heartwork, horizons and conviviality. Here's a few pics and a special wave to those who could not come along this time. 

making an impression

wabu

love from us to those who couldn't come along

horizons

When Mark is teaching any Zoom workshops this summer, you'll receive an email for the class as usual. In the meantime I am on holiday and on sabbatical. See you in September. Warm greetings, Caro.

Our new website is live

This month I have been mostly staring at the laptop screen!

Great River T'ai Chi has a new online home - www.greatrivertaichi.com please have a look and let me know any thoughts, email me with suggestions, mistakes you may have noticed, or anything else. I have chosen a very simple style of layout, as people spend so much time online these days, it is good just to provide clear text, the information they may need, and some nice pictures. Crucially, this Wordpress site, like my art site at www.carolineross.co.uk, is optimized so that it is easily viewed on any device, phone, tablet or laptop / pc / Mac.

The old website now redirects there too. All the content has been refreshed or rewritten. I just have a few photos to find over the next few days and will keep adding at least one article to the blog each week. This events blog will stay here, as it is where we put all the 'housekeeping' messages and announcements for those already part of the schools. 

Today's new Sort Form lesson is up on the Dropbox. Best wishes to all, Caro x

Good things

Thanks to all who came to the first Left Side class last night. That was fun.

Emails will go out this afternoon with invitations to: 1 - the regular Long Form class with Mark on Thursday evenings, 2 - the regular Short Form Wednesday morning class with me, and 3 - the first of the Short Form in depth with Mark fortnightly sessions. These will begin next Monday 18th Jan, and then alternate with the Left Side classes. They were requested by Christina in Sweden as she teaches students in Gothenburg. All those who have done some T'ai Chi before or who would like to revise their Short Form, or deepen it for the benefit of their students, are welcome, Email me to opt in to the fortnightly Zoom invitation emails.

A complete beginners video course with me for new students anywhere in the world is in the pipeline. I should start filming this weekend. Also, a full redesign of the neglected GRTC website is well overdue, so I shall be chained to this laptop for January. However, necessary lockdown in the UK, and probably everywhere else, is causing havoc for people's mental and physical wellbeing. Though I am sure the intricacies of T'ai Chi cannot be taught without touch, indeed, it is at root a martial art, there are many benefits to be shared that can be conveyed with words and video, when it is done with care and heart. That's what I intend to do. More soon, and I will post a link when it is available, so you can share it with any 'non-taichi' friends!

Have a great week. And here is a lovely picture from sunnier days, which I had forgotten to post here of the Aberdeenshire crew.

Happy Hogmanay / New Year's Eve!

The very warmest greetings to all who may read this from myself and Mark, for a peaceful winter and healthy New Year. 

I have been taking time offline and will return in couple of days, before classes resume next week. I will be arranging filming of the Left Side Form with Mark, as requested by several of you. As son as I have more news I will post it. Love to you from the river.

Geoff and Molly Hinkleponkle are taking it easy.

Calendars

For the first year since 2006 there will be no calendars printed for The T'ai Chi Centre and Great River T'ai Chi, for obvious reasons. Over the next weeks I will post here the few lovely and now rather poignant pics I have from this year, and if you have any you would like me to have from your meet ups or practice, then do send them along. For those of you who would like to make your own calendars, these ones below were made on Vistaprint. For the wall size ones I have used both Vistaprint and Photobox over the years. I have always been happy with the outcomes, and the prices have been reasonable too.  

New Short Form class up on Dropbox

Today's class is uploaded onto our Dropbox, just get in touch if you ant me to email you the link to the Zoom recording, if you can't access Dropbox for some reason.

It was a lovely class, lots of warmups, five elements, chi kung, Short Form, and a new posture: waving hands in clouds.

See you soon. Be well.

Meet Humphrey, my neighbour.

Five Elements Chi Kung

Just had an email from a London student who is missing their daily swim and cycle. 5 Elements has really helped, they said. There is a clip of it in the Dropbox. If you are a Lido student and have a more recent clip of me doing this, please email or send it to me, as it would be nice to post it on here and on www.instagram.com/greatrivertaichi

A good place to do the Chi Kung, windows or doors open, a bit of air and light.
Be well, all, more soon. 

Big box of goodies - updated

Dear friends, that's everything uploaded and up to date of every single half-decent video Mark or I have shot these last 15 years. One or two files are ancient and a bit big, check the file sizes of the longer films, Sorry about this, I don't have the time or tech know-how to make them smaller right now. However, there is much to enjoy and use. Colin is making some big files smaller for us and I will put them up soon.

This week I shall attempt to film Mark doing Heartwork in the beautiful sunshine, as he wanted newer versions for you all. By next week I should have Zoom lessons sorted for Mark, and also maybe me doing the Short Form 1 hr session I normally teach in Tooting. These will be recorded so folks can do them at a convenient time. I do not yet know where these will be placed, probably the Dropbox.

I will also be uploading the next Chi Kung to www.instagram.com/greatrivertaichi and feel free to pass it on to friends, elderly relatives, and those convalescing. I am posting everyday, as a community service and as a practice for myself. After I have uploaded all the Chi Kung I practice, I will start with the warm up set, one move each day. It will also feature some meditations, as Tooting students have asked for some of what we have been doing there. These will always be accessible via Instagram, and you do not need an account to see them, just the web address above. I will leave this up indefinitely.

Please email me requests for any particular resources, such as a certain posture, or something shot mirror image, or whatever. Also, if you do not have the latest Dropbox link yet, get in touch, as I won't be posting it online, as it is for our schools members' use only. The new link gives access to all the files, in one big Taichi folder, with no sub folders, as these were causing download problems. But I have labelled things as clearly as I can, so you can peruse the over coffee, or jasmine tea.

Right, gotta go water the seeds in the food garden. More soon. Stay well my dears and do get in touch any time. Mark sends his best and is so happy to hear all the stories of practice, Zoom connecting-hands and old students getting in touch.

This is the oldest picture I have of me doing T'ai Chi, it's 1987 or 1988 at Newbold House in Forres, Moray. Third from left in red top and black trousers, permed hair! Half-decent posture, at least. That's Kajedo in the glowing white trews, with whom I learned Chi Kung and had my first ever go at meditation. Feeling immense gratitude for all my teachers today. 

Study aids and changing hair styles

Lots more clips are being uploaded right now onto the Dropbox today (Sunday) for students' use. Get in touch if you study with any Great River instructor, or with Mark at The T'ai Chi Centre so I can send you the link.

Well, something I never do is watch my own videos, as they are made in the moment as study aids for those present in the room, the exact opposite feeling and intent of a 'presentation' for persons unknown. I am still relabelling and watching all the T'ai Chi clips I ever shot (the ones that I have, that is, there's probably a dozen more on folks' phones...) It is actually sweet and funny, standing here at my desk, seeing all the different rooms, all those little glitches and habits as they change over the years, all the moments of real flow, and not least the never ending hair changes. I do hope you have a chuckle too. I will rerecord Mark doing the Salutations as soon as I can, as the ending movement is now slightly different from what is in my old clips. But it's not urgently important.

What is important is anything that helps you physically practice. Personally I don't think you can 'learn T'ai Chi' from a video, or a book, it is an in-person art, taught by direct transmission. However, that's not what these videos are about, as study aids they are just fine. An aide-memoire, a prompt, will get your body moving again when your mind says 'what comes next?'. Everyone, Short Form Tooting Lido students included, has enough T'ai Chi to be getting along with for now: the whole warm up set, Five Elements Chi Kung, Front Heart Salutation, Short Form up to diagonal flying, I think. Even that would be a wonderful regular practice. Do not worry about getting things wrong. Just have a go, relax, let your body remember the feeling.

For all the students who have been with me for years, (some of you 16 years!) you know how and what to practice, to pay close attention to relaxing, letting go of self, outreaching to the horizon if you can, (or however you frame that feeling we were working on last Aberdeenshire classes). Left Side form video does not yet exist, and I will ask Mark today if he would let me film him. Partnerwork can be done with our 'imaginary ninjas' who always give us just the right push and never annoy us in class. I think we are all getting enough difficult pushes right now, however, so don't feel bad about the lack of formal partner work and pushing hands. Crikey, everything is pushing hands just now.

Uprightness, centre-line, the one root, rotation of waist, limbs especially, bees knees, open expanded awareness, no grasping anything, not even an idea, not even fixing the eyes in place...  Anyone needing more to work on, feel free to email me! More later, maybe check the Dropbox daily for now. Here's a pic from the first year I started taking photos at class.

Sandy does a good kick to my knee, 

Dance, 2009

Taichi video resources coming today, online teaching from next week...

Dear students of Great River, The T'ai Chi Centre, and friends of ours who also practice Dr Chi or John Kells lineage T'ai Chi, I hope you are all OK in these difficult times. Mark and I had a quiet 'Thursday Class' here at the Hampton Court woodland hut HQ last night. We did some free pushing and a very open, expanded Long Form. We are both working on what we will share with you in person when the times allow it. This blog will be where all the latest news is, and I will attempt to update it far more often, as appropriate. Long post, but hopefully packed full of vitamins for you.

The last few days and probably today, we will be busy with lock-down preparations, buying food, (mainly for the swans, to be honest), etc, as measures are likely to come in force here very soon, as is correct.

In response to the new circumstances, Mark has in principle agreed to start teaching via Zoom, as I said I was going to do so for my Tooting Short Form class as soon as possible. Give us the weekend to try things out and trial a few things, senior students with iPads or laptops, we may be in touch to ask you to trial using a session for us. I need to get a tripod for my phone today, somehow...

Meanwhile, I am forcing myself to watch the many, many clips I have made over the years for students, to label and sort them. I have already posted many onto my Dropbox. There is a very easy way for you to obtain any videos you want, without us having to post them online on platforms we don't like, even with passwords, as that's not really what we want to do. We also don't want folks to have to trawl random videos of strangers doing slightly or very different forms, on web pages full of adverts for ridiculous things, as it can be confusing, especially for the beginner.

All students, friends and old members of either school please send me an email to info at greatrivertaichi dot co dot uk , or my personal email, for those of you that have it, they both come to the same account. In the email put 'Taichi' in the subject line. Please put your name in the message, as your email address may not be recognised by my account, and may not reflect your name. You can leave the rest of the message blank if you have nothing to tell me :) otherwise, requests for certain videos of forms, applications, heartwork, or whatever would be happily received. I have a Dropbox account and am currently uploading lots of the films we have. Some are new, some are very old. You will receive an email that gives you access to the videos any time, you can download and keep them for personal study only, and do not post them on the internet or share them to non-GR and TCC students. We appreciate your care with this. All you need to get the files is to download the free version of the Dropbox application from the web or your phone app store.

I will write more here tomorrow when the files are fully uploaded, the connection here is average, so it takes a while. Lastly, as you will know, Mark and I rely on teaching face to face, and our entire livelihoods have evaporated in a matter of days, with no guarantee the summer workshop will be secure. We do hope it will run, and would reschedule something for later in the year if it were cancelled. Mark and I will work over the coming days and weeks to make sure you have 1: resources for private study, 2: Zoom (and Instagram for my beginners) based online sessions which you can join in if you have an internet connection and laptop / pc / iPad, etc., 3: Access to us for study related questions and resource requests by email, any time. Long term students are also welcome to call, of course, that hasn't changed. My 'sabbatical' is on hold, I am available to my students throughout this time. I may not be travelling to teach until September, but nor is anyone else! So I am now 'back on duty' as regards and T'ai Chi or related queries.

In the Dropbox folder tomorrow will be a file giving the Paypal details for both of us. For students in the same boat who now have no income, we totally understand and it's fine not to pay subs. If you have secure income of whatever type, and feel able to transfer a small amount for the videos and other resources, we would hugely appreciate it. We will keep it informal, and leave it up to everyone to decide how, when, to whom and how often they transfer any remuneration. It could be one-off, it could be monthly, weekly, whatever. I will post separately about specific online class costs and 121 Zoom sessions, another day. I will be talking to Mark about him teaching 121 Zoom sessions from next week, so that you can book 121 slots, even from the comfort of a Scottish sitting room*... I will test a session here, from his boat to mine, but rest assured we hope not to only communicate with each other in this manner in future.

I am upgrading to a paid version of Dropbox again right now so we have plenty of room for the videos, as they are large files. I have spent / am about to spend many hours (gladly) doing all the admin for this, and hopefully it will be a great resource in future, especially for students now living far away. So just to say, bear with us while we set this up, check in here daily for the latest info, and wish me luck not getting brain death having to watch videos of myself all weekend. These resources are all for the existing students: to us, the films would make no sense to someone who is not already studying with us. Who knew that it would take a global pandemic for Mark and me to finally find a way to have video available and yet also 'not enter the competition'?

Best wishes to you from the river. Go outside to practice whenever you can. Last night we had an owl hooting through the Long Form - priceless.
Caro

*Ivor Cutler joke for those in the know.

Porthole full moon, last month.

Coronavirus updates re T'ai Chi classes

Great river and The T'ai Chi Centre students and friends, I do hope you are well and safe, wherever you are.

I am home to London 3 days early as I cancelled this weekend's Gothenburg sessions in consultation with the students, as the situation regarding public health advice in Sweden was changing very rapidly. I am very glad I made this choice as I do not wish anyone to get ill due to my lack of diligence. I miss the students and send you warmest greetings. BA price-gouged the flights and charged me a cool £550 to come home. Exploitation has many faces, sadly. Last month I arranged a few months sabbatical from teaching in Aberdeenshire, and now it seems I would have ghad to cancel the travel and workshops anyway due to outside forces. What strange times we live in.

I have been asked by a Swedish student to consider Skype sessions for those abroad and for those who have specific questions they would like to work on, or things they would like to see demonstrated. I will consider this all week and post something next weekend. I think given the current worldwide situation, this could be a good idea. I have not used Skype in this way before but I have enjoyed using Zoom, so watch this space, literally, and I will come up with something. I will also record any video clips students need and send them by Dropbox, just get in touch if there is something you need. My phone is perfectly good enough for this job. Flexibility is the movement of Tao, after all...

Mark's classes in London, and plan for the Summer and Autumn workshops are so far not changing, you are welcome to contact him if you have any questions.

My Tooting Lido classes will continue this week and I will ask the students if they would like to carry on weekly, or pause and resume after Easter break, as circumstances allow. The hall is hygienic, roomy and we all have plenty of space there. I provide hand gel and there are excellent hand wash facilities, so I am minded to turn up this week on 18th and see what folks think. We will however pause our study of partnerwork and continue with solo practice. There is plenty to be getting on with!

Lastly, spare of thought for the gig workers, including T'ai Chi teachers, artists, craftspeople, musicians, actors, workshop instructors and choir leaders, etc all around the world who teach and lead groups of people in person, and whose livelihoods are now very precarious. I am lucky, I have boat and lowish overheads, almost all my work is now cancelled, but I have plans in place, as I have always thought a situation like this would arise one day and prepared accordingly. The spring season is often the busiest time for makers and organisers of events, and suddenly this is all cancelled. If you are someone with a regular salary and and good healthcare, now is the time to be reaching out to friends whose work has dried up, and buying that vase from them you always wanted, or joining their Patreon, or booking a Skype lesson, and so on. I will be organising something in solidarity with my other self-employed friends over on my art life Instagram @foundandground and you are very welcome to have a look.

To all who read this, stay safe, check in with the vulnerable ,and be well. Get in touch any time.

Dance study, Part the Wild Horses Mane

Northern posse

Outdoor T'ai Chi

It's been a rainy old Winter, but if you get a chance, wrap up and go outdoors for a short session. My last one was a long form here at Cowdray Park, on the one warmer sunnier day last week. I was there studying colour indoors, so this was a welcome break. I am off to Sweden next week to teach the Gothenburg crew, and to do a few ink workshops too. More soon.

Tooting Wednesday morning classes, term dates

Tooting class, 9-10am each Wednesday continues until Easter break. There will be no class on 8th and 15th April. We return on 22nd April and continue until the end of July.
We will take the whole of the month of August off, with no classes. We return on 2nd September and continue through until the Christmas break.

sticking

Some recent pictures

It's been a while since I have made time to sort photos for here, apologies. A new phone which doesn't like speaking to my laptop has made it a bit more difficult, but crossed fingers, that's solved. So here are a few nice shots from January. 

4 waist turn single pushing hands at Mark's Tuesday class, 

Charles and Richard practising 'bees knees'.

Wednesday morning beginners class at 

Tooting Bec Lido Pavilion, sticking practice. 

New crew joined old hands for the Dance. Congratulations on the long Form group 

on starting this wonderful aspect of T'ai Chi study, first posture already looking good. 

I got out during the last non-gale force winds moment of sunshine for a bit of staff practice. 

Oversized woolly hat is essential, obviously. 

News and Aberdeenshire workshops next weekend

I am really looking forward to seeing you all next weekend and have been working with Mark on some great work to share. I have booked all my tickets north up until March and am just about to order the calendars for the year. Let me know if you have not yet told me you want one, small or large. I will get a few spares just in case. This year there will be more pictures of Pax and of nature, as requested...

Our local lime trees full of mistletoe,

for your enjoyment.

October Workshop

Thanks to all who came to the workshop, and to Mark for teaching us. We were blessed with the weather too. More photos once sorted...

Wild practice

I am off to the woods for my yearly pilgrimage to sit with trees, practice in the open air, and challenge myself in both mental and practical ways. When I am not busy making my shelter, getting water, foraging or cooking, there is, strangely, enough time to do T'ai Chi, standing or sitting practice. I hope you will think of me and send good luck, as rain and cold are forecast!

See you at class when I return. Tooting class will be covered by Kevin this week.

This week I will mainly be doing T'ai Chi while wearing a woollen 

homemade Viking hood. Thanks to Alison for the fabric, it's cosy!

Also, no sword, but plenty of atlatl practice.