Change

As almost all of my students already know, I am moving to London late this December to study T'ai Chi with Mark and Heartquest with John as much as I can. Jim and I are selling our place and going our separate ways totally amicably and are still carrying on with our band, Tells, as well as other musical projects together. I am very sad to be leaving this house where we have done so much wonderful T'ai Chi and music as well as having been surrounded by nature. However, the city and study call, and I am excited that I will be nearer my family and old friends, as well as T'ai Chi partners in crime like Dave and Marli! I would like to use this place for T'ai Chi as much as possible over the coming months before I leave (the proposed date to move out would be 30th January).

I have discussed all the options with Mark, senior students and the Ad Ed providers who run our classes. We have found a great way to continue that will serve the students and enable you to continue studying T'ai Chi and enjoying your classes. As long as you want to study, Mark and I are happy to teach.

I intend to spend one out of every four weeks during term time staying here in Aberdeenshire. During that week I will take all the classes (at the moment Turriff on Monday and Inverurie on Weds and Thurs, as well as drop-in on Sunday). All the time I am not at class I will be available for 121s or other group sessions. On the Tuesday nights I propose to teach a Sabre Form class at the Wyness Hall, and all will be welcome to attend. I am teaching an 'advance guard' of senior students the Long Form as well as further partner work and some of them will become instructors for the classes on the weeks when I am away. All the instructors and teaching assistants have been asked to do this by myself and Mark, please support them in any way you can. I am delighted that people want to study enough to keep Great River T'ai Chi running so we can all keep our T'ai Chi cooking together.

From January, Monday and Wednesday classes will remain very much as they are but with instructors running the sessions 3 of every 4 weeks. New students and total beginners are welcome to join. Thursday sessions will have an 'intensive' each time I am up where I will teach a good sized section of Long Form postures for the main part of the class. New students with more than a year's experience of T'ai Chi may join this class after discussing suitability with Caroline. Over the following 3 weeks you will get to revise and practise the postures at a more leisurely pace and weave the Long Form together in a similar manner to how we have worked on the the Short Form. Partnerwork and other regular parts of class will continue just as they do now. Don't worry about forgetting the Short Form, it will become a weekly warm-up for the Long Form, and we will take a question on any posture each week. Sunday drop-ins will continue at students' houses as they often do when I'm away, and all will be welcome. The blog will always have up to date news of where they will be held.

In the end it comes down to something very simple: if we love and enjoy our T'ai Chi, and we find that it serves our lives and deepens our connection to each other, then we continue. To give up for 'external' reasons such as a teacher's geographical distance or a dislike of change would be very sad, and a poor excuse. For the last 4 years I have been travelling 1200 mile round trips to study with Mark, and latterly with John too. If something's important enough, we find a way to do it. I would be delighted to help any students in any way I can with their T'ai Chi so that they can continue to study: time, distance, or lack of funds are no bar.

All the proposed dates for my teaching weeks as well Mark's weekends and workshops are below. I would love feedback as many of the dates are easily moved, I have stated if they are already confirmed due to travel tickets already purchased. I would like as many folks as possible to be able to attend. We may have a beginner's day again in the Spring, as we have had several enquiries. Also, Paolo and Davina may start a class in Alford after Easter, if there is enough interest. I will continue to go to John's Intensives and hope that students will join me every few months when they occur. Myself, and David too when he is free, will assist at Mark's workshops and weeks in Aberdeenshire, we have several venues to choose from but I would love to hear about others you may know, such as community halls in the Inverurie / Alford area. I intend to start a daytime class in South London, as this will not clash with my study or assisting at Mark's classes. Other than that, I hope I can get by renting out a couple of rooms and being a T'ai Chi bum, I don't want to do anything that will get in the way of being able to study or come up here to teach.

Lastly I would like to thank all my students for their enthusiasm, love and support over what has been a hugely challenging year. When I get a place to live in London students will be very welcome to come and stay whilst they study with myself, Mark or at the BTCCA. The B&B price will be set at a session of pushing hands - and possibly some chocolate or tablet (that's a kind of fudge to you southerners).

Dates 2007:
January 2nd-6th:121s with Mark or Caroline in Forgue - spaces available. confirmed
January 17th & 18th: Inverurie Weds and Thurs classes begin - enrol at GEC before 8th Dec.
January 22nd: Turriff class begins - enrol at Gateway Centre asap.
January 23rd-29th: Sabre class on Tuesday 23rd 7pm at Wyness Hall, all other regular classes with Caroline teaching, 121s available in Forgue. confirmed
February 20th-26th: Sabre on Tues and all other classes with Caroline as above, 121s near Monymusk.
March 20th-26th or 27th-2nd April: Sabre and all classes with Caroline as above and Spring Weekend Workshop with Mark over one of the Fri-Sat-Suns to include TaLu, Sabre, Partnerwork, Beginner's and Long Form workshops. Please let me know which week is preferable.
April 14th-20th: Spring Weeklong T'ai Chi Workshop with Mark, venue TBC.
May 8th-14th: Sabre on Tues and all other classes & 121s with Caroline as above.
June 5th-11th: Sabre, classes and 121s with Caroline as above.
June 29th-1st July: Summer Weekend Workshop with Mark, similar to Spring schedule. Possible extra dates with Caroline after workshop.
July 27th-Friday 3rd August: Summer Weeklong Workshop with Mark, as above.

That's all the dates I have so far and takes us to the end of the 'school year' which we run by. The usual 4 seasonal weekends with Mark and two weeklong workshops per year, plus New Year 121s will continue as long as there is demand. We have moved the weeklongs to Spring and Summer due to the harsh weather we experienced in March this year, with some students unable to come due to the snow. During the August break students tend to meet on Sundays at someone's house for informal sessions. If all's well, we'll continue in this vein from September.