The Dragon's Head Blog: Central Region Program at International Centre Orangeville, May 28 and 29, 2016

On May 28 and 29, 2016, 95 participants came together on a beautiful warm weekend at the International Centre near Orangeville for a Central Region Program. John Balinski and Lise Laneville instructed us in the standing jongs, paying particular attention to the tor-yu, standing up from the front foot with a gentle, firm push, finding the timing of the opening the hands and turning of the spine.

On Saturday afternoon, we met together for the Central Region Annual meeting and Branches meeting chaired by Sue Arthur, a New Zealand national board member. During the branches’ meeting, small groups discussed the importance of ongoing education about the culture of FLK.  John and Lise wrapped up the discussion session with a question to all participants, “Why am I afraid to talk about our organization’s culture, and how can I improve?”  All were encouraged to continue to ask themselves those hard questions and to continue the discussions in their classes and locations.

We also worked on the dan-yu and the importance of alignment in feeling stable and relaxed and the importance of connecting the hands to the tailbone through to the feet. We also had an opportunity to do push hands together as well as to focus on bringing the tor-yu into the set.

Through the program, $13,060 was raised. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn and to play tai chi together and we learned a great deal from the program leaders and from each other.