BTC NEWSLETTER / JUNE,
2019
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SUMMER SESSION BEGINS JUNE 17!
Our Summer Session begins June 17, with 20 different course offerings and 37 classes per week. From A Taste Of Tai Chi to the Wu Style Long Form, from Tai Chi 101 to Martial Tai Chi, our school affords the opportunity to study all aspects of this remarkable art. Whether your interest is health, stress reduction, internal martial arts, meditation, empowerment, or simply feeling more vital and alive, Brookline Tai Chi has a class for you. Or maybe two!
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NEW COURSE THIS SUMMER: BAGUA ZHANG
Bagua Zhang (literally, "Eight Trigrams Palm") is an ancient Taoist internal martial art, that emphasizes the use of circles, spirals, and continuous movement with turning and coiling. Closely related to Tai Chi, the two arts were often practiced together by Chinese masters for maximizing health and mobility into old age. In this course, we will learn 3 different Bagua stepping methods; traditional Circle Walking as meditation and moving qigong; the basic "mother palms" (arm/hand configurations); and two-person exercises to develop Bagua's
mobility and energy projections. Open to all levels with at least 6 months of Tai Chi or other internal practice.
Register here.
RECENTLY ADDED
Tai Chi is equally an art of self-cultivation and interaction. In this class, we will explore the essential 2-person practices of Tai Chi, including Root Development, Posture Activation, Sensitivity Training, and Energy Projections. We will also learn several styles of Tui Shou (Pushing Hands), the fundamental interactive practice of Tai Chi. Two person Tai Chi work/play is healthy, empowering, and fun! Open to all levels past 101.
This class incorporates all the fundamental practices of Tai Chi 101/102 in a short routine that can be done anywhere--at home, in nature, or in a hotel room or parking lot. (Nature is best!) The Workout includes Standing Meditation, Pulsing Qigong, Rooted Shifting, Tai Chi Walking Exercises, 3 Power Standing Postures, Breathwork, and 7 Yang Form Moves. We will learn the whole routine in 7 weeks, along with variations that can be explored for years of enlivening mind-body exercise. Open to all levels past 102.
Tai Chi is an extremely powerful and effective system of self-defense and combat capability--if and only if it is practiced for those purposes! In this class we will learn the Tai Chi methods of striking (with hands, legs, elbows, etc); Tai Chi defensive skills (mobility, neutralization, rooting, sensitivity); mental/energetic skills and strategies; and weapons work. The class will be totally safe and enjoyable but will include some healthy contact. Open to all levels past 101/102.
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NEW BTC INSTRUCTOR: MATTHEW MELE
We are excited to announce a new addition to the BTC teaching staff:
Matthew Mele
is the former Head Instructor of the Silent Dragon School of Kung Fu and Tai Chi in East Haven Ct. He is a certified Instructor in both Old Yang Style Tai Chi and Black Dragon Kungfu, a Guru in Kuntao-Silat de Thouars and Silat Serak Cheribon, with two decades of experience in internal and external martial arts, including Bagua and Xingyi. His extensive teaching experience includes students ranging from the elderly and disabled to hard-core martial artists and athletes. Welcome to BTC, Matt!
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FROM THE DIRECTOR
In 1991, I travelled with two other Americans to Taiwan to study at the Ru Yu Tai Chi School of Master Chern Chyu Quan, in Chia Yi City. I had met and admired Master Chern and his students at an International Tai Chi Tournament in Taiwan the previous year, and was eager to learn their method, which produced so many phenomenal push hands players. (For those of you who may not know,
tuishou,
or "push hands", is the Tai Chi practice in which two players utilize pushes and pulls, rooting and neutralizing to imbalance or "uproot" one another. It can be practiced gently and cooperatively, or with varying levels of intensity--up to tournament competition level, where bodies routinely fly through the air or crash to the floor.)
When we arrived at the door of the airplane-hangar like school, we were greeted by a sweaty, glowing group of senior RuYu students and instructors, in the midst of their afternoon practice. All smiles, they pulled us inside. They were honored that we had travelled so far to study, they said, but their method really boiled down to one thing: "The
yi
to the
yong chuan
." Simple translation: "the mind to the feet." A somewhat more precise translation would be "place the intentional awareness at the "bubbling well" point(s) in the front/center of the sole, just behind the ball of the foot, and maintain that same mind-body connection in both action and stillness." Or just,
mind in the feet
.
In the almost thirty years since then, while I have learned and taught hundreds of other wonderful practices, forms, moves, principles, and methods, this remains in my experience the single most direct way to access the essential Tai Chi state. Because it is an instruction of both the mind and the body, it enables us to become both rooted and relaxed, and to antidote the stresses and unnatural neurological patterns of the digital age. Especially if we are practicing outside in natural surroundings, it enables us to connect to the earth and nature in a very direct and palpable way. Still or moving, tai chi forms or standing qigong, or just walking--
mind in the feet!
--Don Miller
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A TASTE OF TAI CHI
Introduce your friends and family to the wonders of Tai Chi. We are once again offering a free first class in our
A Taste Of Tai Chi
program. Free single-class cards are available at the school. Be sure to pick some up, and give them to anyone you know who might benefit from ... a Taste. After the free intro, a 3-class introductory trial is also available for just $29.
Share the gift of Tai Chi with those you care about!
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FOUR TO PONDER
Down replaces up. Back replaces front. Deep replaces surface. Spiral replaces straight.
--Wang Hao Da
The inferior person changes only on the surface. The superior person transforms.
--I Ching, "Revolution"
Step like a cat walking. Mobilize energy as though drawing silk.
--Wu Yuxiang
The action of Tao is returning.
--Lao Tzu
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We are Water Way Arts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
dedicated to movement, balance and wellness.
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