Happy Chinese New Year!

Gōng xǐ fā cái!

The Year of the Goat starts today. I will be joining in the celebrations with my school, the Deyin Taijiquan Institute, on Saturday. You are all welcome to join me. Details are here.

And on Sunday there are celebrations in the Chinatowns of Manchester and Liverpool with dragon and lion dances and fireworks.

Vote for us!

As you know, World Tai Chi Day is in April and we will be joining with other tai chi students and instructors to do tai chi in the Festival Gardens in Liverpool.

We've applied for funding from the Galaxy Hot Chocolate Fund to promote the event. Every week they give £300 to the entry with the most votes that week, so please click here to go to the Galaxy Hot Chocolate page to vote for us.

Videos

I said I would see if I could find a YouTube video of the 16 step sword form, so here it is. And here it is from the back view.

And here is my friend and colleague Angela Howarth doing the 8 step hand form in the Festival Gardens in Liverpool.

New daytime beginner's class in Leigh

There will be a new six-week beginner's class on tai chi and qigong at the Tesco Leigh Extra Community Space in Leigh. It starts Wednesday 11 February and is a morning class, from 10am to midday with a tea break in the middle.

It is at the reduced price of £21 for the six weeks. Numbers are strictly limited so booking is essential.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2015 brings you peace and love and lots of tai chi.

Don't forget to bring your swords for tonight's class as we will be starting to look at the 16 step sword form.

Upcoming workshops in the Northwest

I have been meaning to keep you posted about tai chi and qigong events in the area, so here goes.

On Saturday 6 December, Master Faye Li Yip will be giving a one-day health qigong seminar in Stockport with Daoyin Yangsheng Gong in the morning and Ba Duan Jin in the afternoon (this is the one we have done in class). You can attend either the morning, the afternoon or both. For details and to book, contact Terri Goron.

On Saturday 10 January in Aigburth, Liverpool, Angela's Tai Chi School is putting on a 3 hour workshop on martial applications of tai chi and push hands. I went to the last one and can thoroughly recommend it. For details and to book, contact Angela Howarth.

That's all for now, but I will keep you posted about future events.

Swords and stuff

After our chat last night, I will be including a straight sword form in our Monday class, starting after Christmas. We will begin with some sword techniques and go on to the 16-step sword form.

As I said last night, I would like to keep the first hour of the class for the 24-step hand form and qigong. The weapons section will be an optional half-hour afterwards.

If you would like to buy a practice sword (or anything else) from Tai Chi Link please let me know by next week, as I will be in Wolverhampton on the weekend of 15th/16th November and can pick it up in person and save on the postage.

This goes for my Wednesday class too - if you haven't bought the 16-step dvd and are still planning to, then let me know by next week and I can pick it up for you.