*** SEMINAR VENUE CHANGE ***
Due to a double booking at Valley Church, Saturday 27th November's Yi Jin Jing Seminar will now take place in St. Aidan's Church Hall (immediately next to Valley Church on Station Road, Bamber Bridge).
Club Online Members Area Goes Live
The Members Area on this website has finally gone live. We'll be adding to it over the next few weeks, however it's already got a few useful bits and pieces in there.
Access is strictly limited to people who physically train at the club (or have done so in the past). To gain access, simply visit the website, select "Members" from the menu and follow the "Join Us" link. Alternatively, click the link below to go straight to the registration form itself.
鬆 Song: The melody of relaxation
One of the skills we learn as we progress on our Tai Chi journey, is how to relax our bodies. The Chinese word for this bodily state of relaxation is song (鬆) and the video linked below helps to explain the concept and walks you through a simple mind exercise to help you better understand what it feels like to be song.
Yi Jin Jing Seminar
For our next seminar, we’re incredibly fortunate to be joined by Feixia Yu, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Central Lancashire and the founder of YuTaichi, for an afternoon’s instruction in the Yi Jin Jing.
The Yi Jin Jing is a manual containing a series of exercises, coordinated with breathing, which are said to enhance physical health dramatically when practiced regularly. In Chinese yi means “change”, jin means “tendons and sinews”, and jing means “methods”.
The Shaolin Monks are internationally renowned for their fighting skills and remarkable feats of strength. It is said that these skills and abilities can be attributed to their practice of the Yi Jin Jing.
Feixia is a member of the International Health Qigong Federation and British Health Qigong Association and has a wealth of experience and training to draw upon. In addition to her extensive knowledge of Qigong, Feixia has also trained in Chen Style Tai Chi with Grand Master Chen Xiaowang and has been a qualified Chenjiagou Taijiquan School Instructor since 2013.
Join us at Valley Church in Bamber Bridge at 1pm on Saturday 27th November for an opportunity to learn this ancient routine.
The seminar will run from 1-4pm and costs £20. Places are limited, so get in touch now to avoid disappointment.
To request a place on the seminar, please click the image below.
Internal Energy
Internal energy.
It's a phrase that gets thrown about in Tai Chi classes like confetti at a wedding. Unfortunately, the concept is often misunderstood and shrouded in mystical terminology. At it's heart, Tai Chi is a fighting art, however practicing it without martial intent also delivers a wealth of health benefits.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) puts Qi at the centre of its paradigm and Tai Chi incorporates TCM principles in its practice, which in turn actively promotes good health. As a result, the TCM principles are often conflated with the concepts of martial Qi expressed through Jin.
Examples of apparently superhuman strength exhibited by King Fu practitioners are common. These feats are possible because the practitioners have spent years training and developing their internal physiology just as an Olympic athlete would train their muscles and cardio for strength, speed and endurance. The video below demonstrates the incredible internal power than can be developed and released through the body. This isn't a demonstration of "strong fingers". In terms of modern science, you can think of the strike as transferring kinetic energy from the body into the rock through the fingers.
Intrigued? At Ling Shui we try to offer members to the opportunity to develop both the martial and the TCM aspects of Tai Chi as they prefer. Whilst we can't promise to have you smashing rocks with your fingers, we can teach you how to start developing these skills while also enjoying a nice hot cup of the finest green tea!
We have weekly classes in Penwortham, Bamber Bridge, Lostock Hall and Tarleton. Beginners are always welcome. For further details regarding times and locations, take a look on the classes page.
The History of the Ba Duan Jin: CHQA Youtube Playlist
We're back in the swing of IRL sessions again now and will be gathering in St. Leonard's Church Hall at 7pm this evening to practice our Chen style Tai Chi and sip green tea (yes, the teapot is most definitely back!). Can't make tonight? We'll be in Valley Church, Bamber Bridge from 10am Saturday morning and in Our Lady's Church Hall in Tarleton next Tuesday afternoon from 2:30pm. Beginners are always welcome 🙂 In addition to the Chen Style Tai Chi which is the main focus of our practice, we also learn a variety of Qigong exercises. One of the most ancient Qigong routines is the Ba Duan Jin ( or 8 Pieces of Brocade). The Chinese Health Qigong Association have a video playlist that details the origins of the sequence and runs through each of the exercises. Whether you know the routine already, or would like to learn it, check out their playlist here:
Heard you missed us... well we're back!
With the end of lockdown comes a return to a full schedule of physical classes. We've been fortunate enough to retain all the venues and time slots we occupied before the pandemic forced us to move online. After a small hiccough last week resulting from a Covid app self-isolation notification, this week will see all sessions restart again.
All surfaces and handles at each location will be wiped down before and after the session, and doors and windows will be open to ventilate the space as far as possible. Students will be expected to observe at least 1m social distancing and be mindful of each others safety. Mask wearing is optional.
The schedule looks as follows:
Thursdays @ St. Leonard's Church Hall, Penwortham
7 - 8pm Chen Style Tai Chi (Beginners Welcome)
8 - 9pm Advanced Chen Style Tai Chi
Saturdays @ Valley Church, Bamber Bridge
10 - 11am Chen Style Tai Chi
11am - 12pm Qigong for Health
(Beginners are welcome at both sessions)
Tuesdays @ Our Lady's Church Hall, Tarleton
2 - 3:30pm Chen Style Tai Chi and Qigong (Beginners Welcome)
We've also been invited to re-start the Tuesday morning Tai Chi / Qigong classes at the Age Concern Friendship Centre in Lostock Hall. Sessions start again on Tuesday 3rd August at 9:30am. New students are always welcome and no appointment is necessary. For more information email: info@taichipreston.co.uk
Harper's Bazaar: 7 tai chi benefits, from the mental to the physical
Those of us who practice Tai Chi regularly know how great it can make you feel both physically and mentally, but to the uninitiated it may seem unlikely that such a slow, graceful and gentle practice could possibly do so much good.
This article from Harper's Bazaar outlines 7 tangible benefits anyone can get from Tai Chi if they put in the effort...
Buckling the Swash!
It's usual for class numbers to fluctuate a little over the summer months as people take advantage of the fine weather. Last Thursday evening's class was a little quiet so we thought we'd have a bit of fun and broke out the Dao's for a bit of sword play!
The Dao is a single edged sword often referred to as the Chinese Sabre or Broadsword. They were predominantly used for slashing and chopping and were the military sword of choice from around the 13th century.
Apart from being great fun, sword play can also help to refine our Tai Chi practice and condition our arms, wrists and hands (the Dao is not the lightest of the Chinese weapons!).
All being well, we'll be running a Dao Seminar a little later in the year which will give students to learn the short form we practice at the club. Once proficient, the form can be performed in under a minute as Grand Master Chen Zhenglei ably demonstrates in this brief video...
The Fascial Layer and Tai Chi
At Ling Shui we talk a great deal about the importance of the body's fascial layer in practising Tai Chi. It provides a useful bridge to understanding the apparent contradictions the two very different Western and Traditional Chinese medical paradigms.
From a Tai Chi perspective, we train ourselves to feel the physical connections within our body and use spiralling, coiling motions to move using those connections.
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, anyone who has used acupuncture to treat muscular pain will more than likely have been astounded at the relief that just a few small needles dotted around the body can have. The idea that the acupuncture channels are part of the fascia provides a possible explanation for the underlying physical processes that are at work.
The following video gives a wonderfully clear explanation of how the fascia plays a role in both movement and pain:
