SoulTranscendence.Online

An 8-Week Class 

Watch in your own time and at your own pace for up to a year after you register!

In this 8-week self-paced class we will continue our quest to become connoisseurs of relaxation. We will refine and deepen the "first road" of the Yang Short Form. Consisting of 15 movements it is a complete practice in itself. We will also explore some additional movements such as Cloud Hands. We will also refine our Eight Brocade Qigong practice and learn a completely new and transformative Qigong sequence. And we will refine and deepen our standing and walking meditations. 

Standing meditation, also known as Zhan Zhuang, has been described as the secret of the martial arts by many practitioners and experts in the field and is believed to be the key to developing strong internal energy, or Qi. 

In the Qigong walking meditation, we focus on our breath, and the sensation of our feet on the ground. This practice involves taking slow and deliberate steps, while maintaining a calm and centered mind. In addition to the benefits of qigong standing meditation practice, qigong walking meditation also provides physical exercise and improves circulation, balance, and coordination. 

One of the most important keys in Tai Chi is the Taoist principle that softness overcomes hardness, yet it is one of the most neglected when put into action. We will learn to practice softness in daily life, even when getting dressed, making breakfast, or typing an email. It can be extraordinarily relaxing, rejuvenating and nurturing. 

Tai chi needs no equipment and can be done in a very small space. 

When I think of Professor Cheng, two qualities come to mind:  
 
The first was his unsurpassed radiance, which was what won me over the second I laid eyes on him.  "My goodness," I said to myself, "I want that!"
 
The second thing I remember most about him was his shoulders.  He had the most amazing shoulders. If one can develop softness, then as Lao Tzu says, one can be like a child. Normally you can only see shoulders like the Professors on young children.  His shoulders hang with absolutely no tension; there is not the most minute lifting.  In some pictures, you can still see Professor Cheng pointing or gesturing and the image is striking.  The shoulders hang.  Unlike the rest of us, when his hands gestured, his shoulders were not activated in the slightest.  They seem to have lost the almost universal way that people's shoulders react to what the hands do.  (Try pointing at a clock hanging on your wall and note the quality of your shoulders.)
 
The soft energy of Taichichuan comes from the ground, sprouts in the legs, is directed by the waist; finally coming to a point in the center of the back from where it moves outward into the hands.  The shoulders have no place on that path, the line of this energy does not include them. Professor Cheng's shoulders optimized this flow of energy by not interfering in its pathway.
 
It also occurs to me that his radiance and shoulders are related.  They are both emanations of "Not Doing," a liberating understanding that we should not attempt to exercise willful control of the life force.  If we can relax and let go, it flows through us with vast benefits.
 
 Wolfe Lowenthal, one of Cheng Man-ch'ing's students in New York in the seventies

Come and discover the many joys – and benefits – of Tai Chi.

Facilitated by Paul Kaye