steven yi :: music

The past three days have been excellent: hard physical work, a great deal of learning from Lenzie’s conversations and corrections, and a wonderful sense of comradery between everyone in the push hands class. That sense of working together was something that was really noticeable to me on this final day of training, and it’s a tribute to Lenzie’s teaching that he can create the kind of environment where people are really working cooperatively to push each other and to take each other to limits to help development.

Besides all the wonderful push hands work, the practice time for posturing, standing meditation, and form as a flow were really solid. We had a some great questions and Lenzie gave us a lot of information this training and I found myself writing down a large amount of notes. It’s amazing how many times I’ve heard a lot of these things Lenzie says but haven’t ever really sunk in completely. I’ve been finding myself writing down notes more and more for all the things I am studying or presentations I am attending to help retain the information and I hope the notes I have taken the past couple of days will help with that.

It was also wonderful to meet those guests who were not regular members of the school as well as to get to know some people from within the school whom I did not really meet yet. Of course it was also a wonderful treat to see people I did know but whom aren’t local now.

I hope now to take all of this great work and learning and to continue to study it and to develop it further!

This year’s Tai Chi Camp (June 17-22) was our fifth Tai Chi Camp with our teacher Lenzie Williams. As always, the experience was fruitful on every level, from deep work with the body, a great deal of learning, and of course getting to spend time with an absolutely wonderful community of Tai Chi players in the beautiful setting of Walker Creek Ranch.

This year’s camp seemed to have gone by faster than other years.  It may have felt that way as in the past camp normally came around as a real break from the regular schedule of daily life, while this time life had already been floating along so that we didn’t have the shift in perception of time that we had in the past.  It may also have been that it was our fifth camp and having some familiarity and sense of how camp goes, though I think each camp has its own unique sense of time and this one felt as if time was just flying by.

Although it felt fast, the camp was a very welcome time and experience.  I felt that the work on the body building a more stable posture really seemed to have transferred over to daily life as I feel much better grounded since camp.  One of the biggest take aways from camp this year for me personally was the discussions on practice.  Being in Lenzie’s school and having been to other camps, I felt like I had heard a number of these ideas before, but like many things in Tai Chi, they did not ever really make the impression that they did until this time around.  (I have the feeling Lenzie has not done anything different but just simply the my mind is now opening up to ideas he’s been explaining for years… )

I know from past camps that I would always have learned a great deal but somehow would miss carrying a large portion of what was learned into the every day practice after camp.  Since the end of camp though I think that I’ve really begun to establish a strong daily practice now, largely in part due things really clicking from what was discussed at camp about practice, but also starting to keep a journal logging what I’ve been doing at each of my practices (warmups, form, sections of form postured, standing, etc.). Practices since camp have been as mindful as they ever have been and I’ve been enjoying waking up each morning and again engaging with study and practice of Tai Chi.

While the camp came and gone, I have a strong feeling that I will remember this camp as one where many things came to fruition.  It was another great camp with our teacher and friends from the school as well as new friends and old from other parts of the country.  I feel very fortunate and grateful to be able to experience these camps and am looking forward to the next camp already!  ^_^

Last Friday (the 15th) marked five years since I began my studies of Tai Chi.  After five years, I find Tai Chi as enjoyable and as valuable as when I started. Even though the form initially seemed very short, after five years I feel that there is such a great deal to explore within the postures and that there is so much to learn from the practice that it is only now the begining.  I am looking forward to continuing my studies of this wonderful art and am sincerely grateful for having this as a part of my life.

Last week was our fourth camp with Lenzie and our Tai-Chi family and it was as special and wonderful an experience as ever…

This year’s camp came as welcome relief from the stress of the process of leaving and moving to another country. I think for most of us it was a time to step away from the world and to work on something we all love, as well as a time to live simply and to be able to reflect on the lives we live and the life lived since the last camp. For many, the past year was filled with many trials and losses, and with news the night before that Nelly from Holland had passed away, the camp began on a quiet and introspective tone.

Through the next couple of days, Lenzie guided us to very advanced concepts and ideas and worked with us a great deal to both understand mentally and physically these lessons, and especially to experience them to really get to know them. Well, it will really take years to get to really know these ideas, but through the experiences and teachings gained through those days, the doors were opened, and now it is only for us to take the steps through and to embody the ideas ourselves.

It was great to see the many friends from class and previous camps, to catch up with each other, as well as to meet new friends and to get to know them. The camps have really been extremely special in so many ways, and it’s always an honor to be amongst such a wonderful group of human beings.

By the end of camp, I felt that the days had gone by all too quickly and wished they could have lasted so much longer, but yet the days felt full and rich, each day filled with experiences. It was sad for us to not only say goodbye from camp but also to say goodbye to our friends and teacher for the following year. I will miss seeing them all every week, but hope to continue diligently with training and continuing to develop what was learned this camp.

And of course, I will be looking very forward to seeing them all again, and am already looking forward to next year’s camp! ^_^

This year’s Spring training session was–as always–an incredible learning experience. It was great to spend such focused time with Lenzie and the rest of our classmates to get to delve a little deeper into concepts and ideas than we would normally have the time to spend in our weekly classes. The work itself of course was great, and I felt this session was good for making some connections between ideas I’ve had in my mind but haven’t quite understood within the big picture of Tai-Chi. It was also just a pleasure to have the guests from out of town that we did as they brought a lot of experiences and challenges to the push-hands training, and I find that Tai Chi practioners are always enjoyable to meet. With so many great take aways from both the form work and push hands training, I’m looking forward to continuing on with practice, our weekly classes, and of course Lenzie’s next camp and training session!

^_^