The Dragon's Head Blog

On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, the Dunedin Branch held its tenth annual high tea. Scones, finger sandwiches, and chocolate-covered strawberries were among items donated by branch participants.  Over ninety Tampa Bay area participants joined in the fun. Many of the ladies wore their favorite hats keeping in the spirit. The focus was on teas from around […]

                              Working together – stories about Master Moy teaching the practical side of Taoist Tai Chi® arts in the kitchen and how we set the table. More stillness in the jongs extending that stillness into the tor yu. Day two is […]

Cultivating stillness …  Taoist saan fa chanting, practiced around a table; Confucian chanting including the Ten Thousand Buddhas sutra, practiced in front of the high shrine; and quiet sitting.  These are just some of the methods of cultivating stillness, under the gentle guidance and encouragement of workshop leaders Sean Dennison and Jim Nicholson.

The Chinese New Year celebration at the Portland branch was enjoyed by over 200 participants and guests.  The evening began with a social hour for mingling, eating hors-d’oeuvres, enjoying live music, trying our luck at choosing from the wall of wine, and bidding on theme baskets and activities such as sail boat rides and hosted […]

Participants of Taoist Tai Chi® from near and far gathered at the International Center in Dunedin, Florida starting on Wednesday February 22, 2017 for a five-day workshop. We started working together right away on cultivating a sense of stillness in movement not only with the jongs but during “tai chi set! Same thing!”

The leaflet on the table read “The Year of the Rooster Personality – Active, amusing and popular within a crowd… Roosters are talkative, outspoken, frank, open, honest and loyal.” The room reflected this positive rooster energy as we celebrated. It was alive with laughter, conversation, love and community, and it enveloped us. Almost 100 people […]

Volunteers were chopping, slicing and cooking all week in preparation for the Chinese New Year banquet at the Pleasant Hill Center of the San Francisco Bay area branch of the Taoist Tai Chi Society of the USA. Over 70 members and guests attended from all over the San Francisco Bay area. With the amount of […]

Calling all maple fans. The season is off to an early  start  and we would greatly appreciate your  help. Trees need tapping and new lines need to be set up. The fire needs tending, the bottles must be labelled and filled. All tasks are lighter with more hands and there is no finer way to […]

A busy weekend at the Atlantic Regional Centre began with a day-long program and culminated with a splendid Chinese New Year banquet. A cocktail hour with wine and hors d’oeuvres was lively, filling the room with laughter and talk as members mingled with guests and invited dignitaries. A couple of talented members entertained us, Maritime style, with songs […]

Annually the very first international workshop in Europe is held in Prague. Although a tough winter welcomed more than 200 members from nine countries, the atmosphere was very warm and everybody was enjoying the deeper practise of foundations led by Carmen Capilla. Encouraging advice like shiiiift the weight, relaaaaaax, smiiiiile and enjooooooy guided us during the whole weekend. […]

It is amazing how light we can feel by focusing on being heavy in our feet. That is only one of the insights gained from the recent Calgary National Program on February 3 and 4. Braving the snow and cold of a winter storm, 88 eager participants came together from Alberta and Saskatchewan to receive […]

        Seventy members joyfully welcomed the Year of the Rooster with the Chinese New Year lunch at the National Centre in Bayswater, Australia.

Practitioners of Taoist Tai Chi® arts in San Diego, California held their first Taoist Tai Chi® intensive.  On Feb 4th over 20 participants from north and south California, Scottsdale, Florida, Mexico and Canada attended on a bright and beautiful southern California day.  Allen Pearce, USA Director, lead the intensive.  After the morning session of working […]

Participants in Vancouver, Canada took part in some very practical tor-yu training to help make the Pacific Region Centre more accessible during a recent snowfall. The 10-20 cm accumulation of the seasonal white stuff was wet and heavy but not too daunting for the early birds arriving for Saturday morning class.

What a wonderful weekend in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, to try Lok Hup Ba Fa, another of the Taoist Tai Chi® arts. Under Joé Thibault’s guidance we relaxed and enjoyed the experience of learning this art, some of us for the first time. With the room at full capacity the energy was amazing with everyone working […]

Members from across the newly extended Aberdeen Angus Branch met for some tai chi practice, and prepared a traditional meal of haggis, neeps and tatties, to celebrate Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Night.

Australia’s national day is January 26th and it is a public holiday.  Inspired by Ireland, and then Costa Rica, we marked the day with our first Taichiathon, 48 sets, 5184 moves, and just 2 bows – one at the beginning of the first set, at 8 am, and one at the end of the last […]

Saturday was the day of celebrating the Chinese New Year! Before the festivities we were focussed on our practise. After working on wave hands like clouds, Marsha explained what the effect of this movement is on the deepest layers of the muscles. These muscles are reached by practising Taoist Tai Chi®. Taoist Tai Chi® brings […]

The Victoria centre filled with over 160 people, bringing a lively sense of bonhomie as these gatherings do. They were here for a National Workshop and Chinese New Year banquet, and came from all over British Columbia, Canada, with a few from further afield, for exampe, Ontario and even Australia. The workshop was led by […]

In the first days of the year, the Hungarian Taoist Tai Chi Society was offered an opportunity to feature in a show on one of Budapest’s local television stations.  To take this opportunity we needed a place suitable for a demo indoors, and it was crucial to find a location close to the high school […]