There's just something about Tai Chi...

My understanding of 'Qigong' is that its a series of movements, originating in ancient China, which are syncronised with ones breathing and a meditative state. Designed to activate your awareness around, strengthen and balance the internal flow of 'qi' or 'chi'. The force that is seen as the energy of life in much traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts and philosophy but that can also be translated into other cultures experiences, like 'prana' in Yoga.

Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi is a group of eighteen movements based on Yang style Tai Chi, developed in the 1970's by Professor Lin Hou-Sheng. Learning it gives a basis in the Tai Chi 'forms', activating the health benifits they offer, in a more simply learned flow as a stand alone series.

I first came into contact with this form of Qigong through Dhyana Tai Chi Qigong at our local community centre. I dipped my toe in and enjoyed it, but fell out of going to classes before I had the chance to memorise the movements. About 6 months ago I resumed classes with my teacher, Sandie (front) and gradually committed to practice outside class time, essential to giving myself the chance to consolidate some more and extend into learning Yang style Tai Chi.

Ill be honest, Im not a real active type, I walk, and Im definitely not a morning person. My routine day began with a rolling out of bed, staggering towards the coffee machine, imbibing two cups of caffeine in quick sucession and then a bleary eyed beginning of the day. I had done Reiki training, which I believe can amplify feeling some of the sensations associated with practices like Tai Chi that aim to cultivate the chi. Most of all, I just wanted to do something for my health, that was maintainable and that i enjoyed. So i turned to Tai Chi, and was lucky enough to find a teacher with both knowledge, a kind disposition and a sense of humour (required when you find yourself in knots with limbs disobeying instructions).

I began to have just one coffee, do Qigong as a warm up and then flow into Tai Chi practice, repeating what I learned in class each week, a little at a time. It became part of my morning ritual, and has been so most days for about 6 weeks now. That might not sound like much, but I count it as an achievement. That, combined with watching pretty much every martial arts movie in the local dvd store, has wakened something in me.

This is something that is gently, gradually strengthening my physical self, but also kicking ass when it comes to my stress levels (that being a technical term) and general sense of well being. Gradually, Ive heard tales of both practicioners, and teachers, who came to Tai Chi in varying states of health, some after serious injuries or illness, or later in life, began doing what they could, and have built a solid core of regained health for themselves. Its actually pretty inspiring.

Tai Chi is whats known as an 'internal' or 'soft' martial art. Practiced very slowly, with meditative intention, it is a graceful art. Echoing forms and patterns found in nature, along with the more familiar kicks and punches. Movements have names like Reeling Silk, White Crane, White Dove Spreads Wings, Dragons Mouth.

Im still at the mechanical, ok whats that arm doing over there, oops foot needs to be there, help mental blank, stage but there are moments when I find I am completely absorbed in a move, or synced in with other people who are. That feeling is pretty damn satisfying, and doing it in natural surrounds amplifies this. It must be truly inspiring to be part of the large groups who practice in parks in China, and increasingly worldwide.

If you live on the North Coast of NSW my teacher Sandie, takes classes in Mullumbimby at the Pioneer Hall, 32 Gordon St. Tuesdays, 11am till 12 is beginners/intermediate and Thursdays, 7.30am till 8.30 is intermediate/advanced. All classes are $10. Email contact : dhyanaqigong@iprimus.com.au.  

Tai chi dragon....

I drew up this Chinese Dragon with calligraphy, that reads as Tai chi, for my teacher, who practices in the Yang style. Tai chi is an ancient 'internal' or 'soft' martial art, that has many movements sourced in observing nature, aswell as the more familiar kicks and punches. It is a very slow, graceful form, a kind of moving meditation. The different lineages, or styles, are usually named for the families who practiced, and passed them on.

Portrait of Amma...

I drew up this portrait of Amma, the love guru, for a devotee. A lady who is unwell in the moment but of strong spirit. I'm not really one for guru's, but a friend who spent time at her ashram took me, and a carload of other women, to see Amma. Her thing is to just hug people. Not a mwa mwa dahlingk type hug but a bountious embracing and holding. She hugged more than 1000 people the night we saw her. For hours on end, she hugged. Amazing. In India she sometimes embraces people for days on end, literally. She's pretty cool. You can read more about her and the other works shes involved with here.

Echidna tatu design...

The gentler bay...

The music lovin' Rhubarb, and I wandered down to Tallows beach for a swim the other day, but the water was stirred up and rough so we decided to head for the bay. Not sure if we smelled, or simply that it was close to the middle of the day and folks were being sun smart, either way, the beach cleared, pretty much just leaving us and several surf schools amidst the waves. The bay was gentler, and kindly turned on its picturesque nature for all and any to see. In the distance, mountains, one of which formed the centre of the volcano so pivotal in forming the landscape and soils of this area.

Spring beach walk observations....

This is the time of migrating whales, journeying with their calves, along the coast where we live. If youre lucky, it also helps to be up high, you can watch them play. Huge flippers and tails slap on the waters surface erupting in white wash, spouts spray into the air above. It really seems like pure ecstatic fun, i cant see what practical purpose it serves except perhaps to knock loose the odd barnacle. Humpback whales are bigger than any dinosaur that lived, when you see them next to boats or surfers, this reality comes home.

The migrating terns have also reappeared once more, with their black caps and pointy beaks. They are consumate fishermen able to dive from a height into the waves and surface bearing fish. They fold their wings and become arrows of accuracy.

Along the beach jellyfish wash up. This week I saw a blue 'man of war' type one that was easily half a metre across, wouldnt want to swim into him. One day along the tide mark was what at first seemed like a line of jewels, glistening in the sunlight, they were infact tiny clear juvenile jellyfish.

An array of sea worn pebbles are carried and delicately deposited onto the sand by the waves. Seemingly infinte in the variety of colours and markings as I walk my gaze is draw to them, often I gather one up into my palm and walk with it a while, some come home with me. A cornicopia of stonelike variety.

We live where an ancient volcanoes edge of lava once would have met the sea and I imagine the cooling process as I look at rocks beside the ocean. Fire and water frozen in time, forces of motion fossilised into one moment.

The sound of waves and incense smoke.....

The path winds and turns through greenery, the beauty of where I am on this journey, engaged in the present. The more distant way hidden from view, until I move ahead and reach the point where one may see it revealed. The path carrying me, through changes and consolidations, as knowledge and learning evolve and shift.

The place I am, one where the direct perception of, and engagement with, nature are a compass. Living by the ocean, I take daily walks with my dog friend Meg, beachcombing our way along, the coastal spray feeds my innards and core. That part at my centre which is confident, strong and centred, tiny as a grain of sand perhaps, but returning after a period of years absent. The sounds of the waves wash through me, clear away the stagnancy that catchs in the corners of my being. In the same way that incense smoke does for the home and hearth, reaching into unexpected places and opening them gently to healing or a shift in conciousness.

Spirit journeys that one might expect to draw away from daily reality infact imbue it with signs of its luminescent underlay. The bird of prey hovering on the air currents is beautiful in its intense physicality but also carries the language of spirit messages to come. A feather found on a well manicured lawn hints that someone who has passed is near. Banksia flowers, like torches, light the way to renewed energy. Each being has its teachings to offer, as, in my experience, do those in spirit realms. I learn to ask ‘what is it you are teaching?’ giving thanks for it, and find such an approach can guide me in many realities. Sometimes the teaching is repeated, difficult or challenging.

I find mental health and perceiving spirit are not mutually exclusive terms. The two dance around each other like a dna strand for me. Balancing brain chemistry and soul can be tricky at times, but is a worthwhile pursuit. Nothing beats the satisfaction of realising that I’ve now halved one medication, the other is completely gone. That I’ve travelled through two soul retrievals and come out the other side with somewhat clearer vision. Similar strategies, in some ways, heal their after effects, even if that’s just to ask for help. I journal, trying to remember. I am amazed at the humour of spirit guides who take the piss.

 As, with guidance, I gather the fragments of soul lost and reweave them back into my life, I learn healing is not an endpoint but a process. An approach to, rather than an ascending of, lives difficulties and challenges, that requires looking into old fears and joys, whilst slowly creating a box of tools on which to draw. Like the oceans sounds, the incenses smoke, touching forgotten places and calling them forth.