Posts by elisa
The Tai Chi Classics
I have serious students. This is an incredible gift to any teacher. Students who share the teacher’s passion for the art encouragethe teacher to be better, to teach better, to take their questions, concerns and requirements seriously.It means they’re an active part of the class, not simply passive, empty vessels.How lucky I am to have…
Read MoreQigong Links
Many of the students in our Qigong class have asked for links to videos of the various forms we’ve learned and will learn. This blog post will share videos and links to videos which best display the qigong forms I teach, as closely to the way I teach them as possible. It must be borne…
Read More“Everybody Wants A Pill”
This morning I had my annual appointment at the VA clinic in Crown Point; afterward, I went straight to class. Since I got there a bit early and my route took me past it, I paid a visit to the MT Tai Chi studio and its founder, Marc Troop. For having taught here at Essential…
Read MoreCivil and Martial
“Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.” – Cato the Elder“Where do they think we’re gonna find that much salt out here?” – Scipio Africanus (probably) We’ve spoken about “martial” and “civil” as distinct concepts in tai chi, both in this blog and in class. It’s time to expand on these concepts and lay out what we…
Read MoreFajin
Few people think tai chi looks like this; it seldom does, except when it needs to. Earlier this week in class I got asked about “fajin.” I was glad to receive the question – it’s about time we discussed it. An earlier blog post (“Why So Slow?” 19 April 2021) discusses why we go slow…
Read MoreMore about Yin and Yang
17 August 2023 For reasons sufficient to myself, I created an I Ching hexagram yesterday to settle a question related to a personal matter. The question and the matter is unremarkable – it’s related to family and is irrelevant to the topic of this post. More important is something I read when consulting the I…
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