Lining up the body Make sure you line up the body so you can push and pull with the legs and trunk of your body, not just the arms. Any angle or bend in the arms and legs results in a loss of energy and effectiveness. It is especially important that the angle of the...
Helping the Instructor Demonstrate Being chosen as a helping partner to demonstrate an application for a movement in a Tai Chi class is an honor. This means that the instructor trusts you to help him or her explain the dynamics of the move. It is so important that the...
Breathing the Tai Chi Way The average person breathes about 700,000 cubic inches of air each day. In order to this efficiently, many teachers of the internal arts, including me, stress normal abdominal breathing when doing forms. This is breath in and out through the...
Chinese Weapons I moved to Port Townsend in 1981 and rented spaces to teach Tai Chi, in various localities. None were perfect, but that is what most teachers must put up with. In the late 1980’s I met Dr. Bernard Haldane, the founder of “Dependable...
This is a view of Mt. Baker, looking East from our practice spot in Chetzemoka Park.The water is the Straits Of Juan de Fuca. We have been here every Saturday, 9 to 11 am, weather permitting, for the last 38 years. Come join us anytime. P.S. Something Special. Be sure...
Christmas Tai Chi on the Wharf Got to the wharf just as the sun was clearing the Cascade mountains to the southeast. The weather was mild, and the light from the sun played patterns on the water. It was so quiet in town, being Christmas morning. I had the place to...
Essential Nature The study of Tai Chi Chuan is the study of our essential nature. The Real You is at the center of your being, alive, yet covered by layers of illusion that shield reality from view. The fabric of illusion is made of expectations from our parents and...
Tai Chi Body We want to take a look at the Tai Chi body and compare it to the more traditional Western view of beauty and health. The Western ideal for a man is sometimes represented by Hercules. Huge, powerful arms, chest and shoulders. Tools to grab something or...
Feeling of Space Buckminister Fuller, one of the true geniuses of our time, once said that, in proportion, we have more space between each cell in our body than there is between each star in the galaxy. Yet, when we look at our body, we see solid mass, and when we...
Horizon of Possibilities I recently ran across the phrase “Horizon of Possibilities” in a book I was reading. It made me put on my Tai Chi thinking cap. Who designed Tai Chi into a form – when and why? How did each individual move get incorporated, and then a...
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For more information, call the Gilman Studio at (360) 385-5027
