The Dragon's Head Blog: Days Four and Five of International Workshop in Helmond, Netherlands

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 back the natural alignment of the human body. This way it helps to reduce shoulder problems or prevent getting them.

The Celebration of the Chinese New Year Banquet

The preparations started in the afternoon. Everyone was excited.  It looked like a beehive.  Over 240 people attended the banquet. Among them were national and local politicians and also a lot of family members, children and friends. Guests were welcomed with a variety of appetizers and drinks. And we all enjoyed the delicious meal the kitchen crew had prepared.

In one of the speeches Marsha presented the booklet How to balance the budget, Reduced use of public health services reported by Taoist Tai Chi™ arts practitioners. These are the preliminary results of the health questionnaire from Canada in 2016.

During the banquet there were speeches, testimonials and live music. Because of the year of the Fire Rooster every country representative started their new year wishes with the word of the sound the rooster makes in their own language. We also enjoyed a choir that was recently founded for this occasion by some of our members. The banquet was enlivened by piano music. We are very happy to have a  piano in the centre now.

At the end we all sang ‘Gong xi gong xi gong xi ni ya’. The atmosphere was great. Happy Chinese New Year!