Films of Mark's Left side classes

I have just edited all three lessons so far. I will send the link to the first one with lesson 4. 2 and 3 should be with you already, if you are a member of the class.

Taiji People: William C C Chen

This just in from our great friend, T'ai Chi Master Sam Masich. He has been editing film he has shot over many years and has produced 3 episodes of  'Taiji People'. Have a look below and find the others on Youtube too.

'In this, the third episode of Taiji People, I visit world renowned taijiquan grandmaster William C. C. Chen in his Manhattan studio. A disciple of Zheng Manqing (Cheng Man Ch'ing), William Chen has devoted his life to making the practice and teaching of the art enjoyable and practical.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm0fLRfG384

New lessons up on Dropbox and Tooting news

Today's Zoom lesson has everything done with the rear view, as though you were at class with me at the front, by request. Hope this is helpful. I have labelled rear view and today's date for ease of finding. 

Outdoor session yesterday was postponed by heavy rain, and I am away for the next two weeks. Two student shave offered their large back gardens which have side access, for us to have sessions on a Tuesday afternoon, when I am in Tooting anyway. So I will arrange this soon and plan provisionally to begin on 3rd November. More on that soon. 

If you are using the weekly Zoom class recordings, they are £5 each, whether live or recorded, as these are weekly ongoing classes with much prep by me re changing topics, progressing skills, new postures taught and questions answered. All our other resources are free to use / by discretionary contribution. Janet has asked for Mark and I to record a much slower film of the dance partnerwork, and solo parts. We will do that soon. Get in touch with other requests.

News 1st July

The latest Zoom Short Form class is up on the Dropbox, along with all the other resources. If you have mislaid your link, get in touch. 

The Two books mentioned in class today for beginners were:

'The Essence of T'ai Chi Ch'uan' by Lo / Inn Amacker / Foe. ISBN 0913028630

'T'ai Chi Ch'uan Becoming One With The Tao' by Petra and Toyo Kobayashi. ISBN 0804837643

Amy from the Tooting Lido class is a photographer and has produced lovely Lido cushions which might help with lockdown-induced withdrawal symptoms. Details and link coming soon. Obviously for authentic results at home one should appreciate the cushions while sitting in a cold bath :) Some of the profits will go to the Lido charity. 

Mark is home and recovering well. Thanks to all who have sent best wishes. He will be able to teach 121s again in a fortnight or so.

The Great River T'ai Chi Instagram is now almost complete in terms of the planned resources. All the chi kung, warm ups and meditations are there. I will leave it as-is over the summer and, depending on future lock downs, decide whether to begin demonstrating the Short Form on there in the autumn, as a helpful resource. For now you can go anytime to www.instagram.com/greatrivertaichi

Lastly, my drawings are in the Wilderness Art Collective group show which was due to take place this summer, but which is now online. It is a great show full of artists who also make art like the earth matters. I am so glad to be a part of this organisation. You can enjoy the show 'Wilderness for the Mind' here. My work is in room 4. All the work is for sale, so you can support artists and makers by buying direct. 

If you are involved in any projects, art, theatre, music or otherwise, please let me know so I can post details here. 

Long Form videos now available in smaller file size

Thanks to Colin, the three biggest old video camera files we have, of Mark doing Long Form, are now available in smaller file sizes so your downloads don't take forever. They are labelled Long Form ... smaller file size.

I hope to record a new film of the Long Form during this period. Today hopefully we will record some Front heart clips.

If anyone has specific study needs or requests, please get in touch. Small sections of things, or something in detail, is doable, as are whole form demos. Someone asked for all the applications of the Short Form. That is a very nice idea, but unlikely to happen right now as it would take an entire day and need a separate camera person, as I would be needed as the partner. However, it is a great idea for a workshop, and perhaps we could arrange filming then. 

Sending love and best wishes to all The T'ai Chi Centre and great River students past and present. Get in touch any time. Be well.

One posture video now on Dropbox

For regular students, there's a new video uploaded today of Mark teaching the One Posture at last year's Summer Intensive. Thanks to Maria for sending that. If anyone else has videos they took over the last few years, and you don't see them in the Dropbox, then that means we don't have them. Please send them to me, and I will label and post them for everyone's use. Sift your hard drives and old phones, see what's lurking...

Tomorrow we will also have compressed smaller files of the Long Form videos, thanks to Colin.

New Back Heart Salutations videos from Mark

Yesterday we recorded 3 new clips for you of the back Heart Salutation. You'll find them in the Dropbox. If you can't see them, then you have the wrong link, just email me for the up to date one. The first clip describes some background, the second has a narration while doing the movement, the third is 4 times through the postures, without narration. We filmed in the T'ai Chi studio here, and we'll be doing a few more over the coming days.

Once Mark has got used to this set up, we'll attempt to get lessons happening too. Enjoy the clips, even if you know the Heartwork really well, have a look, the intro alone will make you smile...

Contact me for newest Dropbox link

Dear Friends, some of you only still have the original Dropbox link, which if you go to it shows files in folders within the main T'ai Chi folder. If this is so, get in touch and get the newest link, now that all the files are separate, to prevent download problems. Rather than send everybody yet another email, I will save your inboxes and say, just email me.

We are filming some bits with Mark tonight, and i am just about to record the sounds mediation for the Instagram.

Best wishes to all. Be well. Caro

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. 

Mark's T'ai Chi teaching aid videos uploading right now

Hi all, we hope you are well and enjoying the fine weather if you are having it. Here, Mark has just checked through every video I have of him, and I am uploading them right now to the Dropbox, having renamed them all consistently. If you find that you have videos are are not in the Dropbox, please let me know, and send them along to me. Perhaps you filmed something once on your phone. Now would be a great time to help me collate everything. Mark is less happy with the Heartwork videos, so from tomorrow these will be the first that we re-film. He says his T'ai Chi has improved since he first did the Salutations. I shall upload the new films as we make them and post news here as soon as they go up.

Karen is hopefully lending me a stand for my phone tomorrow so I can film all the daily Chi Kung bits I have planned, but in the meantime I will go ahead with just putting my phone on a shelf and winging it method that works so well... Mark has also said for you to get in touch with me with specific request for any films, and we will try to make them for you over the coming week. We are doing a bit every day, rather than try to do everything, including teaching online, all at once. Th enew films of Heartwork will be made and uploaded some time this week. The principles of non-doing and not using force apply just as well to our dealings with ourselves as with the wider world. So, we hope this finds you well and rested, and we send our very best wishes to you.

Details of how to make voluntary contributions for past and ongoing work for these resources are available tonight on the Dropbox too, in pdf and Word docs.

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.

videos of forms, online teaching, etc.

Well, so many of you have asked for more video resources and online teaching that I have decided to do it, despite my well-known camera aversion! I think we actually have some great films shot in Sweden over the last year, at least of short form, so I will have a look at my files tonight. I generally avoid looking at anything I have filmed, the exact opposite of 'let's pretend to be an expert and put it on Youtube' kind of attitude. I still feel that way, even after 24 years' T'ai Chi, but I have made some good clips for student study aids over the years. I will force myself to sort through them, bear with me!

Then I will speak to my friends who teach various skills online, and see if they can recommend a platform for this. If you already study something online and would like to recommend a method, then feel free to get in touch. I am keen to facilitate ongoing self=practice for all students, at whatever level as both T'ai Chi and Chi Kung / Nei Gong have been proven to improve health and wellbeing in so many ways, in numerous studies.

More soon.

Tooting class is running this week

The venue has told me they are still open and have upped their already good cleaning regime. There is plenty of room for us to practice solo T'ai Chi and not be too close as regarding the coronavirus. I will listen to the students' thought on whether we continue or not during the crisis period. I have hand gel with me at all times and observe all the sensible precautions.

I have been asked by so many folks to teach sessions online. On Thursday I will have a chance to look at filming and online class methods, so give me a few days to come up with something. Hopefully next week I can have something sorted for the beginners' resources.

Do get in touch any time with queries. my number is [07732 659104]

Aberdeenshire

sticking at Wild Twins

Davina and Janet doing push hands

Aberdeenshire sunshine

Thanks to all who came for a great weekend of T'ai Chi. 

Why we don't post on Youtube

Mark and I teach T'ai Chi to the people who attend our classes in rooms and outdoors, over periods of hours, weeks, and years, sometimes decades. I know this is old-school. We were both taught at a time when the only resources available as aides memoires were books, the occasional hand-out sheet and perhaps a photo or two. I have friends who are excellent, even famous, T'ai Chi masters or teachers, and they create video resources, DVDs, web channels, many hand out sheets, (but rarely books). The most popular way to show anything these days is of course YouTube. It is possible for anyone to upload any quality of T'ai Chi and for you to 'learn' from it. I have used videos online to remind me when to cork the charcoal burning tin to make artist's charcoal, or how to tie the knots for sword tassels. I have a friend who has refurbished her boat with techniques she learned online with videos, and it has saved her a fortune, this is a great use of an excellent resource.

Mark and I have actually filmed many videos, and there are resources available for any student who needs them. Some students who have emigrated have been able to carry on with their practice with this help. You can bring a USB to class, or I can send a link. The reason you won't find our videos online, and why we don't make a channel with all these resources are numerous. We ask all students not to put our videos or photos online, even though this means perhaps fewer students would hear of us, or we would 'lose out' on advertising revenues... We do not wish to 'enter the competition', a great phrase from the T'ai Chi Classics. Apart from the nice die-cast brooch and a embroidered patch for the annual workshops we have never had any merchandise to sell, though perhaps one day we may make a T-shirt, said Mark, yesterday. The amount of spurious comments about any T'ai Chi content online, indeed anything online, is vast. We would rather folks just did some practice rather than cultivated opinions. Videos of one's T'ai Chi Forms are great to remember what you have already learned, for many people. For me they don't really help at all, I do better with lists and notes, and going to class frequently. So we will not become 'influencers', and gain followers, sell products and be asked for endorsements. Hey ho. We have superb students, who turn up in real time and do actual T'ai Chi, who are a pleasure to teach, and who transform inwardly and outwardly.

The best advice for T'ai Chi, as it is for any truly deep physical instruction where touch is required, is this - find a local class that you like and go along. Compare a few if you can. Go to the one that seems best for you. If there are no local classes, organise one, or get books and videos to start with. T'ai Chi is a martial art, and if studying boxing, you need to get in the ring. Because T'ai Chi forms have become so popular as solo activities, and have benefits as such, there is the illusion that T'ai Chi can be learned from a screen. This may indeed have health benefits, so I will not disparage it. It is possible to learn to move differently without ever being touched by one's teacher. Gerda Geddes, the first Yang Style T'ai Chi teacher to teach in the UK was never once touched by her T'ai Chi master, due to the cultural taboos of her time and place. She had great T'ai Chi, and sent people to John Kells for partner work. However, the full art, which means partner work as well as solo practice, can only be learned with a good teacher over time though touch, pushes, yielding, posture corrections... and as I found out yesterday, a punch in the face (gentle, but I got the point). Some will disagree. Luckily, I am not on Twitter!

Soon, I may make a few Chi Kung clips for a doctor who wishes to make resources available for menopausal women on a new online portal. I am keen to help, as this issue is close to my heart, but I am still thinking it over. One's moving image, online for ever more... I was in bands, but mostly before the era of ubiquitous video of performances. Thank goodness in the one or two that exist I am actually in tune. For most folk I am sure it is no big deal, but tact and the desire for privacy are factors in my ambivalence. I will be interested to know what students think. So let me know your experiences.

Here's the trailer for the film about Master Cheng that some of us helped fund on Kickstarter.

Fibonacci a go go

At home with a streaming cold as of last night after class, and I am sadly missing tonight's Thursday session. So here I am catching up with emails before bedtime and I found this wonderful video my brother shared with me. Enjoy.

John Kells videos

Here are two links to some great film of John.
Clip 1
Clip 2

The Thames at 4mph

A few weeks ago I assisted a friend in delivering a narrowboat from Abingdon to Penton Hook. It was scorching hot and very bright both days, with no shade from the sun. For a while I sat in the bow cabin out of the sun, and took this film from the bow deck, somewhere up-river before Henley. Enjoy.