The Dragon's Head Blog

mah-jongg or mah-jong noun 1. A game of Chinese origin usually played by four persons with 144 domino-like pieces or tiles marked in suits, counters, and dice, the object being to build a winning combination of pieces.     After a busy summer we finally settled down to learn and play Mah-jong. Two participants, one of whom learned the game at the Victoria branch, have been sharing it here in Stratford. Much fun and laughter can be heard from the players, mixed with the […]

190 participants attended Lok Hup week at the International Center Florida. Today, we have the President/CEO of Dunedin Chamber of Commerce and the President of Scottish Arts Foundation joined us for lunch. We presented them with a picture from Awareness Day in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Exciting news! The sugar shack construction has begun in the maple forest at the International Centre. All interested craftsmen/women are welcome to come and help out when you can 🙂 Please phone Centre  ahead to confirm: 1-877-585-8822  

Poor sleep is associated with increased inflammation, which may contribute to heart disease and a variety of other ailments. A new study has shown that cognitive behavioral therapy and tai chi, the Chinese exercise technique, may reduce both insomnia and inflammation….At one year after the treatment, compared with the control group, those on cognitive behavioral […]

Mayor of Dunedin along with other city officials joined us for lunch and took a tour of Fenway in renovation. Mayor of Dunedin was presented with gifts from sister city in Scotland.

John Horgan, leader of the opposition in the British Columbia Legislature, was inspired by the spiritual feeling he saw in «the unity of movement» on Nov. 13 as he watched a combined class of health recovery and continuing participants complete a Taoist Tai Chi® arts set at the Pacific Region Centre in Vancouver. The visit […]

  Our car was abuzz with excitement. I’ll bet the roads in all directions across Southwestern Ontario were the same. Rehashing, reviewing, remembering the tons of information gifted to us at the Intensive. It took place on Monday november 15th in Stratford at our Southwest Region Centre and led by Nicole Morency, a long time […]

On the weekend of November 7th and 8th, the Vancouver Branch was pleased to host a National Program led by John Balinski from the Central Region. Over 120 participants learned to relax while focusing, while practicing brush knees and step back to ward off monkey. There were very rich discussions about our culture and history, […]

65 participants enjoyed a fantastic Intensive in Sarnia on Nov. 5th evening led by Marsha Eberhardt, President of FLK. We gathered from Windsor, South Western Michigan, Woodstock, Kincardine, London and the 4 locations of the Sarnia Branch. Marsha had us focus on the TorYu and its use in the first few moves of the set. […]

Both Tai Chi and physical therapy positively impact pain, function and other symptoms of knee osteoarthritis — making Tai Chi a viable treatment alternative for people suffering with the degenerative disease, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Read full article >

Over 250 participants attended Eastern Region’s National Program in Longueuil last week-end. This was the largest ever attendance at the regional center, and it was a wonderful opportunity to experience “Eye See, Hand Do”,  to work together in harmony and good spirits throughout the week-end.  From cooking to cleaning, everyone got involved and helped create […]

There may not be any programs from November to April at the International Centre Orangeville, except Fung Loy Kok week and Lantern Festival in mid-February however, the Centre remains open. There are still many projects to do around the Centre; just to name a few: Fix and repair rooms in the main building Building sugar […]

The Warsaw branch smiled…ehhh, moved into their new space!

Over 240 participants are attending Tai Chi Week at the new International Center Florida. The program lead by Tony Kwong, started yesterday in the rain which kept many attendees inside the first day   Today we have the tents up in the parking lots for participants to enjoy the Florida sunshine. Marsha  Eberhardt presented Pegoty Packman […]

While many of us are working hard to improve our health, Bob, a participant from Colchester in Great Britain, is just focussing on staying alive. Here is his story: 2 years ago I broke my arm and had to do everything with my left hand. The doctor told me the cause of the break was […]

The Fung Loy Kok Taoism Association of Portugal was invited to participate in an interreligious meeting to talk about how religions can fight poverty. An association called “Ser Ajuda” (“Being Help”) organized this meeting. This association began with a group of young people from a parish (Nossa Senhora da Ajuda, in Lisbon). They build up a small […]

Monday November 2nd, the Ottawa Branch of FLK/TTC hosted an evening Intensive at the Carling Centre. This was the last Intensive on the Branch’s 2015 calendar.  With more than 50 people attending, and a bake sale going on as well, our fundraising was in excess of $1,400.  The focus for the evening was on “spirit […]

Progress is being made around building A. We were notified that the two framing crews have turned to three this week. One crew continuing in the SE wing, moving slowly as they move floor joists, one on the roof and one continuing in the Dinning Room. Dinning Room Crew .   SE wing crew, has four rooms […]

What do you think of when you put together Taoist Tai Chi® arts and Halloween? Dressing up as your favorite move of the set, of course! Many inventive interpretations of the moves made for a lively and fun tea break at the Saturday morning continuing class at the Pacific Region Centre, complete with a demonstration […]