The Dragon's Head Blog: Going Deeper at International Workshop in Brisbane, Australia

We gathered from near and far at the Gabba Stadium, Brisbane, Australia with many hugs for our tai chi family members last seen at a previous workshop. We happily greeted the workshop leader Tony Kwong, visiting from Toronto.

Tony led us through the foundations, deepening our knowledge of the connections within our bodies, especially with the tailbone. Small changes were made to the structure which produced great changes in the feeling of the moves. Our tai chi became softer and smoother allowing more balance and stretch.

The president of the Fung Loy Kok Institute, Marsha Eberhardt, was an honoured guest, who shared with us many insights and updates about the wonderful organization that brings all of us together in a global Taoist Tai Chi® community.

Tony demonstrated the moves of the set in exquisite slow motion so we could absorb every nuance, and could ask for clarification of minute detail. Our questions were less about structure and more about connections, and Tony was generous with sharing his profound understanding.

We had the luxury of working on each section for hours in our groups, and were still eagerly practising when the session finished, asking our bodies to break old habits and incorporate new ones. Repeated practice allowed us to remember each instruction we had been given and explore connections. As we discovered, it is very difficult to focus on more than one thing at a time, so we needed to practise one new aspect repeatedly until it became more automatic before we could focus on the next aspect. It was valuable to have group members who reminded us of the different things they remembered from the demonstrations.

We felt that we had been given a gift. The effect on our tai chi was profound, and people glowed with the knowledge that they had gained.

Will I go to the next workshop? Wouldn’t miss it for the world! See you there.

Joy Cicchini