The Dragon's Head Blog

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) branch of the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Australia had good reason to smile on Saturday 29th April when 82 members from Canberra, Perth, Sydney and Adelaide joined together to celebrate ACT’s 25th anniversary at a national workshop.  A high tea, delightfully prepared by local members with an abundance of treats […]

  This year the Bathurst location in Toronto, Canada celebrates its fortieth anniversary of practicing Taoist Tai Chi® arts in this location.  We are fortunate that Master Moy settled in Toronto, Canada when he came to the west to share these arts.  The first locations where he taught these arts were rented sites and the Bathurst […]

Eighty-three participants from Windsor, Sarnia and the midwest USA gathered at the Windsor branch for a national program led by Tony Kwong May 6 & 7, 2017.  Participant’s from 14 to 80 years of age, improved their understanding of Taoist Tai Chi® arts by working together on the foundations and the first 17 movements of […]

“Keep it simple”, says Frazer Smith as he leads 31 participants at the May Health Recovery program at the International Centre in Orangeville.  “Up, up, …” go the participants as the instructor guides us through the first few moves of the set. And slowly, gently, softly day one ends with a shifting to balance.   […]

Fully 76 participants gathered at the Horseshoe Centre in St. Catharines for a Central Region program on Saturday, May 6, 2017.  All branches in the Horseshoe area were represented and visitors from Stratford, Toronto, Buffalo, and Syracuse were welcomed. Chris Lewis, our instructor for the day, observed that our first tai chi set was disconnected […]

At our Colchester Centre on May 4th, members came together from four different branches for our first gardening day of the year. It was a very productive day as we tidied and pruned, weeded and cut back, planted up pots with young bedding plants, planted lettuce and sunflower seeds, and prepared a tomato bed. A […]

The Vancouver branch hosted a national program and a “To Your Health” banquet over the weekend of April 29 & 30, 2017. We were honoured to have Marsha Eberhardt, President of Fung Loy Kok Taoist Tai Chi® share her knowledge and experience with 160 attendees from the Pacific, Western and Central Regions, as well as […]

There were 45 happy people who met in Frankfurt the first weekend in May for an international program led by Carmen Capilla. We worked a lot on donyus and toryus with a special focus:  changing our understanding of the moves and watching that change of the mind then transform the physical move. Dropping instead of […]

The Portland Branch was thrilled and deeply grateful to have Marsha Eberhardt stop over in Portland to conduct an intensive following her weekend workshop in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Even though the intensive took place on a Monday evening and a Tuesday morning, there was a very high turnout with many rearranging their work and family schedules […]

On 29th April, South East Essex branch members met at a local garden centre tea room to enjoy an afternoon tea together. The dress code was ‘wear your brightest tai chi T-shirt’ — and we did! The tea room kindly let us use their outside space to practice a tai chi set in the garden […]

There were 82 participants from around Australia who gathered in Adelaide the first weekend in May for a national instructors’ workshop to explore substance and sensitivity.  Some participants had only begun practising Taoist Tai Chi® arts a short six weeks earlier.  Here are comments from only the first day of the event: Supportive and friendly, […]

On a sunny and crisp Saturday, April 29, the 10-leg dragon was prodded from its lair at the International Centre in Orangeville by a posse of 18 participants from Toronto, Quebec and Halifax. The sleepy dragon patiently allowed its head to be reattached after a long winter sleep before going outside for a good stretch and run. Energized by a morning of […]

The regional centre, in Longueuil, Quebec, was already a hive of activity when Chris Lewis, the leader of the national program, shared with us that “organizing a workshop was the workshop”. Organizing a program would give us the opportunity to learn “who are we and how we do things”. Chris suggested change as the theme […]

In a cold Copenhagen 77 members from 11 countries (Sweden, Norway, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, USA, Canada and Denmark) came together to practice Taoist Tai Chi® arts at an international workshop. And very soon the workshop leader, Carmen Capilla from Spain, made everybody forget the cold when she inspired us to explore, […]

The southwest wing of the International Center Florida is ready for steel supports to be delivered. After many weeks of engineering discussions on how to preserve the original brick and still provide structural support, we are ready. Vertical footers and knee walls are now in place and steel is scheduled to be delivered and installed […]

Friday, April 7, just before 7 pm. The air is full of excitement at the regional centre in Longueuil, Québec.  It is a very special evening as the region open its doors to the public and our Members of Parliament. Within this new format, it is once again an excellent opportunity for us to present […]

On April 8 and 9 Winnipeg was thrilled to host a national program. The practice hall was full of positive people and positive energy. Old friendships were cemented and new ones were created as we learned together, dined together and shared our homes as billetees and billeters. There were people who travelled from Saskatchewan, Ontario […]

Participants from the TTCS Ithaca, New York branch chose Earth Day to perform a clean-up of Hayes Rd as part of Tompkins County’s Adopt-A-Highway program.  Cleaning litter from the side of the roadway serves as a real hands-on way to address one of the objectives of the Taoist Tai Chi Society, namely, to help others .  The […]

On the weekend of April 15th and16 the Portland branch had the privilege to host a national workshop led by Karen Laughlin.  There were 106 participants including travelers from Canada, New York, Texas, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Alaska, Arizona and California.  Smiling participants listened intently as we were guided through the foundation exercises emphasizing turning, stretching, […]

It has been a real privilege to attend the tai chi sword workshop here at the International Centre near Orangeville, Canada. Our instructor (and chef!) Blaise Baillargeon led us through the sword set, teaching each move with very calm and clear instruction. The workshop began with none other than the humble danyu! Blaise was demonstrating […]