The Dragon's Head Blog

I am sure I will remember forever the openness and willingness to support and connect with each other which I am now learning to recognise and experience as important elements of the Taoist Tai Chi™ way.  I reflected on what was different for me in how it felt going into this new environment as a […]

In March, eighty participants traveled from all over New Zealand to take part in a one-day Retreat hosted by the Wellington branch, which was also a celebration marking 30 years of Taoist TaiChi™ arts for their Branch. A cake-cutting ceremony was held, with bubbles for a toast. Thefestivities continued in the evening with a formal […]

New Zealand held its first one-day National Retreat since the pandemic at the Bay of Plenty Branch’s new premises at the Tauranga Racecourse in the middle of October. There was a buzz of excitement as participants from across New Zealand arrived and friends greeted one another face to face for the first time in two […]

Everyone probably has lockdown stories to tell: here is mine. Even after years of Tai Chi, I still sometimes wondered if I could get through a set without clues from my fellow practitioners, but was determined to try and do a set each day during lockdown. I had fallen in love with Tai Chi from […]

”I just wanted to tell you about something that’s happened since Lockdown. I’ve been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both hips, and was getting quite a bit of hip pain until I finally got a diagnosis. Then I remembered something that we had been told at CIT week in Orangeville, back in 2009, about how dan-yus […]

For me, on an uneven lawn I laboured to keep balance and to utilise the area available but persisted because I felt I HAD to do it each day. Then for health reasons it was decided for me to let go and rest up a while.  Then recently one afternoon I found the porch area […]

New Zealand has been in a strict lockdown for a month – some participants have shared photos and reflections on their Taoist Tai Chi practice during this time. ”At 2.00 am on Sunday morning (New Zealand time) I was fortunate and honoured to tune into the chanting organised by Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism […]

The focusing theme for the annual New Zealand Instructor Training Weekend was transformation. The weekend, attended by  more than 90 per cent of instructors, was important for instructors to come together and reflect and transform the way we do our Taoist Tai Chi® practice and most importantly, ask ourselves, how does  it feel.  One participant […]

”You enter the Taoist training through the body.” Participants worked hard on finding the feeling and the stillness as the leader of a five-day International Retreat in Perth helped us to go deeper in our Taoist Tai Chi ® practice. We began each day with chanting at the Shrine – and an intention to work […]

I would like to share my experience of this fantastic Tai Chi group I attend on a Thursday morning.  I am 42 years old, had a brain aneurysm (stroke) seven years ago, and although I have recovered to approximately 90 per cent of my previous ability, I have ongoing symptoms I have to manage.  I […]

Everyone suddenly burst out singing; And I was filled with such delight As prisoned birds must find in freedom … … and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.” –  Everyone Sang, by Siegfried Sassoon Joy was a word used and felt by many of the more than 100 participants at the […]

At 37 years young, I am what some would consider “broken” (for my age). A physiotherapist (one of many), whom I had a long-standing relationship with after a ruptured disc in my early twenties, described me as a patient whose body tenses easily with an inability for my muscles to release or relax – often […]

One hundred people participated in a Central Region Program held at the Southwest Centre in Stratford in honour of the 40th anniversary of the London branch. There was a lot of laughter sprinkled among the learning. Participants focused on increasing the elasticity of the spine and letting it drive the moves. The London Branch Council […]

It was a “grand” experience having fun together when Grande Prairie Branch hosted a Regional Programme on October 13.   We learned more about Taoist Tai Chi® arts, including chanting, and a delicious luncheon was enjoyed by all.  The main theme was practicing the “up and down” in the tor-yus, and don-yus and in the set. Finding the balance […]

Alignment and openness was practiced on October 16 by 64  participants at an intensive in Durham Region, Ontario. A wonderful day full of learning, laughing and lunching. We welcomed participants from Peterborough, Scarborough and Toronto. Thank you to everyone.

It was a lovely breezy Fall morning as we gathered for Saturday morning class at Etobicoke, Toronto, in mid October.  We arrive bearing dishes, pots and bags full of goodies for after class.  We eagerly assemble on the practice floor and our location co-leader takes us through foundations and set and has us explore the […]

On September 23, 2018, the Horseshoe branches (Burlington, Brantford, Hamilton, Oakville and Niagara), participants from other Central Region branches and our neighbours from Buffalo gathered for an afternoon intensive led by Bonnie Steinman at our area centre in St. Catharines, Ontario. A theme of the intensive was “don’t worry”. Each of the 89 participants was […]

Wong Dai Sin Temple in Markham, Ontario, welcomed 272 visitors when it opened its doors for a second year to participate in the Doors Open Markham festival. The temple took part in the event from 10am until 4pm on Saturday, September 22, 2018. Chanting took place for the entire day and 18 volunteers from five […]

The strength to be gained by practising Tai Chi has been recognised in an article published by the widely-read New York Times this week. The author, Personal Health columnist Jane E. Brody, says she was surprised by Tai Chi’s effects on strength, ”but good research — and there’s been a fair amount of it by […]

Approximately 30 New Zealand  participants gathered at the Lower Hutt clubrooms on the weekend of the 25th and 26th August for a two-day program led by National President Sue Lightfoot, ably assisted by Wellington continuing instructors Mary Brownlow and Peter Love.  Participants ranged from those who have done Tai Chi for many years (including a […]