Blogs

If you attended the Gods Playing in the Clouds training with Bruce Frantzis last week, you will probably go through a funny, and at times frustrating, process in your practice in the coming weeks and months.

Save the date for the following fall workshops:

• NOVEMBER 14–15: Gods Playing in the Clouds Review
  Review of Bruce’s October workshop, taught by Energy Arts Senior Instructor Eric Peters. REGISTER NOW
• DECEMBER 5–6: Wu Style Tai Chi Sword
  NEW Wu Style tai chi double-edged sword, taught by Energy Arts instructor Edward Ware. REGISTER NOW

Gods Playing in the Clouds Chi Gung
October 3-7, 2009
with Bruce Frantzis, lineage master and teacher of BTC teachers

This is Bruce Frantzis’ first visit to BTC in two years. To take full advantage of the time, knowledge of the basic six Gods movements is strongly recommended as a prerequisite. Here’s an approach to help make the most of working with a teacher of Bruce’s caliber.

Now for something completely different. What we’re calling “community practice day”—one Saturday a month, 2-4pm—is actually a free class in disguise. It is a laid back, sociable gathering of all students,new and old, whatever your skill level, and a chance to “exercise” core energy arts principles outside of the structure of regular classes.

Aging Bodies Classes to be Extended to Assisted Living Groups

A $16,000 “healthy aging” grant from the recently created Tufts Health Plan Foundation will allow more people to benefit next year from BTC’s well established Tai Chi for Aging Bodies program. Now in its second year, the Foundation is giving $2.5 million to about 60 Massachusetts nonprofits. With the grant funding, BTC will provide daytime Aging Bodies classes and transportation to BTC for about 20 seniors from area assisted living centers, allowing them to experience the increasingly well documented health impacts of tai chi.

First Chance since 2004 to Learn Circle Walking

One of the great benefits of ba gua’s continuous circle walking with “palm changes” (or sudden
reversals of direction), says teacher Ken Burrell, is that “it allows you to manage rapid change.” In daily life applications that can mean, for instance, “not reacting if someone screams at you but knowing how to slow things down and work around them. You stay conscious.”

The Early Fall Session starts Tuesday, September 8. You can view the entire schedule, course by course, here.

During the first two weeks of the session (until Monday, September 21) please feel free to try any introductory class to see which course is right for you. You can go here to read more about the subjects we teach.

Course highlights for the Summer Session (which starts June 15):

• Gods Playing in the Clouds: We're offering the Intro level course again this summer in preparation for Bruce Frantzis' October Gods workshop. If you take this course, you'll also be able to start the Level 2 Gods rotation in September.

Brookline Tai Chi has a new look on the web! Please take a look through the new site. There are several new features for you to check out and more on the way. You'll notice that we are now BrooklineTaiChi.org to more accurately reflect our status as a 501c3 charitable non-profit organization. Class schedules for everyone are now easier to find. Our new blog format also incorporates event listings. You can look forward to hearing from our instructors on a variety of topics and we'll continue to publish the type of articles we feature in the bi-monthly newsletter.

'Whatever works’ is a practical mantra that Dr. Michael Grodin of the BU School of Public Health applies whether prescribing antidepressants or practicing chi gung and Taoist breathing with refugee populations he treats. A BTC student, he will speak here June 14 about crossconnections between his mental health work and his longstanding practices of many forms of mindfulness and internal energy arts.