We Have a Village 💕

On March 18th, Bill had double bypass surgery after a minor heart attack. This was unexpected and frightening for both of us. Bill has always had tremendous energy and stamina, and was working and teaching up to the day he was hospitalized. His symptoms were easily passed off as muscle soreness after a kettlebell class or fatigue after a long week of teaching.

His surgery was successful and his surgeon said his heart showed improved performance immediately while still on the operating table. Bill will have cardiac rehab while recovering, and will likely return to work in a couple of months. However, there is nothing like a whack with a sledgehammer to create an opportunity to reevaluate your work-life balance. There is truly something so valuable in taking time to rest, enjoy life in the moment, and make time for yourself.

Lessons learned - get your check ups regularly, eat a balanced diet, exercise, and pay attention to what your body tells you.

We are blessed and beyond grateful for all of the support we have received during this time. The GoFundMe donations, the teachers stepping in to take over the classes while I was taking care of Bill, the students showing up to classes, the help with food, the visits, the calls, the LOVE…our hearts are full. Our community is the cornerstone of our lives and we could not do it without all of you.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Allison and Bill

The New Normal

We are 204 days into our “new normal”. Who would have ever imagined we would be in this situation?

Lessons learned so far:

• masks help

• distancing helps

• taiji helps

I hope this finds everyone in continued good health and spirit. We at the Taoist Sanctuary are all well. We’ve adapted our classes to reflect the current restrictions and allowances, attendance has been really great and we thank you all for your continued care and support. The current schedule is on the main page of the website (the google calendar is not being updated right now).

We are offering a schedule-busting 19 classes right now - take advantage! Classes are taught by our excellent teaching team as well as myself and Bill. We have small group instruction and large all-level classes. All classes are outdoors, with required masking and distancing. Corrections are done with verbal and visual instruction, and the occasional use of a 6 foot pole to get that hip into just the right position.

The silver lining in all of this - we as teachers appreciate this opportunity to learn and grow with you as we find new ways to teach this complex martial art. Hands on corrections have always been our main teaching method, so we are getting creative as we find new words and visuals to use.

Most importantly, this pandemic has really driven home to us the value of our community. We are so grateful and thrilled every time you show up for class. Being back together as a group is such a blessing, and we are honored to walk this path with all of you.

Stay safe!

It's Time!!

Hello friends, colleagues and students!

The time has come to start classes again! The Mayor and Governor have given the ok for outdoor group classes to resume, as long as distance is maintained and masks are worn. Please see this link for more information on the county guidelines, and click on “gyms and fitness centers” to see specifics on group classes.

Our schedule will be roughly the same as it was before the lockdown. Our first class will be on Saturday June 13.
Saturday 8am - Qi Gong
Saturday 9:30am - Taiji with Bill and Spear with Allison
Saturday 10:30 - Weapons

Tuesday and Thursday 10am - Taiji

Wednesday 6pm - Taiji
Wednesday 7pm - Advanced forms

All classes will take place at Morley Field, which is at the end of Texas Street. This link will show you the location - we will be on the strip of grass that parallels Upas Street. You can park in the parking lot by the tennis club. We advise locking your car, and you can bring a chair and something to drink if you like. There are bathrooms nearby.

*** You will need to wear a mask the entire time, and if you are sick or have a fever, cough or shortness of breath, please do not come to class. Please bring your own hand sanitizer and use it frequently. Bring your own weapons to the weapons class; we will not have any available to share. You will need to maintain physical distance at all times, and there will not be hands on corrections. If at any time within the week following a class, you begin to feel sick, please let us know so that we can inform the others, and we will ask that you self quarantine.

We will not be doing any indoor classes for the summer.
In the meantime, we have continued to make short instructional videos for you, reminders and tips for your practice, and hope that you find these helpful. The link for these videos is https://vimeo.com/user23185306 All of these videos are free to use and share.

See you soon!
Allison and Bill Helm

Coming out of Quarantine

Hello everyone!

Today the Governor and Mayor approved some significant milestones for us here in San Diego. Besides the AMAZING news of hair salons being able to open again, and restaurants being able to resume sit-down dining, they also approved individual sports coaching lessons, as long as both parties wear masks and stay 6 ft apart. This opens the door to private lessons for those who are interested. Please contact us for more information - you can message me (Allison) through Facebook either on my own page or through the Sanctuary Facebook page. I am available to teach, and there may be other teachers who are also available. It may be helpful for you to do a lesson or two to get yourself back in the swing of things, in case you have not been as strict in your home practice :)

I applaud our leaders in how they have handled this shutdown and gradual reopening. I also applaud everyone who adhered to the strict guidelines and limited their activities for the greater good. It’s allowed us to reopen some things ahead of other places in the state where compliance wasn’t as good. I think small group classes are not too far in the future now. We will start outdoors at Morley Field as soon as we are able to gather in small groups. To start, we will do classes Tuesday/Thursday, Wednesday evening, and Saturday mornings. More information with specific times and locations will be posted as we edge closer to Phase 3.

In the meantime, keep practicing, stay safe and healthy, wear a mask when needed, and we can’t wait to see you all again soon!

Salute to 25 years of Embrace the Moon and Kim Ivy!

This month marks a special time in the martial arts world. Embrace the Moon School for Taijiquan and Qi Gong school is celebrating its 25th year! Congratulations to Kim Ivy, founder, for a quarter century of bringing these arts to the community of Seattle and beyond.

I met Kim in 2002, at a Chen Xiaowang seminar. We had hosted Grandmaster Chen a few times in San Diego, and at this 2002 seminar in San Francisco, Kim extended an invitation for CXW to come to Seattle. Kim asked me a few questions about how to care for this particular grandmaster when hosting, and a lasting friendship was born!

I’ve watched Kim nurture and grow her school over these many years. Her commitment to bringing the best and brightest to Seattle has been a boon for her students. Kim has hosted members of the Chen family as well as emerging 20th generation lineage teachers trained by that family, providing a robust curriculum for all who are interested. Kim’s own training has also paid off and her teaching has evolved over the years into something that is so valued in the martial arts world - Kim constantly pushes herself to dig deeper and go further into all aspects of these arts, willingly eating bitter to get to that next level. She teaches the benefits of taiji and qi gong for health and for martial skill, incorporating eastern and western medical thought, and provides top of the line training for students who aspire to be the teachers of the next generation.

If you’ve studied with Kim at Embrace the Moon, you already know all this. If you haven’t, and you live in Seattle, get yourself over there!

Kim, congratulations to you from all of us at the Taoist Sanctuary! Here’s to 25 more years! Salute!

Being Still in Times of Quarantine

Here in San Diego, California, we’re 3 weeks and 1 day into our state’s stay-at-home order. It’s the longest 3 weeks I’ve ever experienced. Is it that way for you too? I laugh at all the memes describing the 5 years of April 2020 because it feels so real. We’ve even jumped on the zoom wagon and had a zoom meeting with our school teaching team. It was great to see all the faces that we are missing so much these days. When this is over, the reunion with our students will be joyous.

When Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang used to come regularly to the United States, and stayed at our house, he had us do standing practice every morning. I’m not and have never been a fan of standing practice. I recognize the importance but don’t like being still for that long. And it was long - he had us stand usually for an hour, sometimes more. He would do corrections at the beginning but then it was just standing, him standing with us, standing for the rest of the hour. Sometimes I tried to get out of it by saying I had to go to work and he would say “call them and tell them you will be there later”. And I did.

This time of quarantine reminds me of those standing practice days. For me, I went through stages during the hour. At first it felt good to settle down. Then the aches and pains and tensions started to reveal themselves, then I hated it. Sometimes I experienced disbelief that he was asking me to stand for this amount of time - what good could it possibly do to stand for an hour?? Sometimes I wanted to just stop and walk away. Sometimes I wanted to scream. But I just stayed with it, because he was my teacher and to do anything else would disrespect him and forfeit the lesson. Eventually, I would come to a kind of acceptance of my situation, I would calm my mind and work on my posture, and the hour would (finally) pass.

For me, this is like those times when I was asked to be still. I am feeling those same stages of agitation, of wanting to race to the beach and defy the order and run into the water and remember the joy of moving freely through the world. But now is not that time. To save ourselves from this, we have to be still for a while longer.

This is a time to go within. A time to deepen our own practice. A time to do self correction and reflection. We have trained for this for years, and we have the skills to do it. Our teachers have taught us well, and they taught us that taiji is not simply a martial art, but is a way of life. This is the time to apply those lessons.

We can do this. If I can stand until my teacher says stop, we can do this, for however long we need to do it.

Stay healthy, stay safe, stay inside!

Allison

Wu De - Martial Virtue

Jan Silberstorff is with us this weekend. Jan is a brilliant scholar of Chinese martial history and the art of taijiquan, and brings a rare quality and thoughtfulness to his teachings. Our seminar is focused on the principles of Chen style taijiquan, using the “road map” of the Taiji diagram to explain the movement patterns

Part of our discussion revolved around the evolution of both the art of taijiquan and the methods of teaching, The taijiquan of today is becoming different than that of the previous generations, and contemporary teachers are advancing their own style and purpose for their practice, which greatly impacts what they pass on to the next generations. This evolution is normal, but it is critical that the essence of the art not be left out of this evolution. if the original principles are not fully understood, followed and taught, there is risk that the future taijiquan will no longer be the original art of the creators and ancestors.

How can we, as current teachers and students, prevent this loss?

Wu de, or martial virtue, describes the relationship between a teacher and student. Sometimes it’s mistakenly interpreted as how the student should serve the teacher. This would be seen with the student who helps prepare the school for classes and makes sure the teacher’s teacup is always full.
Actually, wu de is better understood as a way to preserve the principles of taijiquan. In order to pass on the teachings of the art, there must be a strong and long lasting relationship between teacher and student. The student needs to be taught the art as a whole entity, and time is needed to integrate the principles and develop the skill so that the student can later pass on the art to their own students. The relationship should not be about how the student treats the teacher, but instead should be about respecting the principles and tenets of the Chen family art of taijiquan, and committing to a relationship that will foster the understanding and seeding of the art.

Wu de is not about serving the teacher, but rather is about the preservation of the art itself. Teachers who wish to nourish an atmosphere of Wu de in their school should take note of the bigger picture. The art of Chen style taijiquan is precious, and we must all take care that it is not lost.

Efficient and Effective

First, a few announcements!

The Sanctuary will be closed between December 24 and December 31 for the holidays. On New Year’s Day we will gather at 9am for our traditional NYD flow on Coronado Island at 100 Ocean Drive. Please join us! All are welcome.

We just finished another wonderful seminar with David Gaffney and Davidine Sim. These two skilled teachers and practitioners of Chen style taijiquan delivered a valuable 5 days of classes on the practical theory of taijiquan, push hands, and the practice of several forms including erlu, yilu and spear.

David and Davidine have a way of distilling this complicated art down to the most efficient and effective methods of moving. There is no wasted effort, and each move is martially motivated. Like the lessons of our teacher Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing, the primary tenets of relaxation and alignment are emphasized by David and Davidine. Preparing correctly for each move, then moving from the dantian ensures the best chance for expressing the true nature of the Chen family art.

David and Davidine’s lecture covered information in their latest book, Masters and Methods. Because of their relationships with many of the primary members of the Chen family, they have been able to document stories and thoughts of the Chen style masters who are the last living masters of their generation. Chen style is changing. The younger generations are bringing a different flavor to the forms, perhaps because the genesis of their form comes from a different world as that of their forefathers. It’s so important to be able to carry forward the circumstances of the birth of this art, and David and Davidine have done their part to bring this information to all of us. Now it’s up to us to continue passing it on to the next generations of our own students.

I hope that everyone has a happy holiday season! We hope to see you on January 1st, 2020 at 100 Ocean Drive on Coronado Island, 9am, and then at the Taoist Sanctuary for our winter term.

Jan Silberstorff will be teaching January 23-26 on the Taoist philosophy, laojia yilu, push hands and seated meditation.

Ken Cohen has several classes scheduled in January and March on the Tao Te Ching and Yi Quan Qi Gong.

Bill is doing a February series on Chuang Tzu and Taoist Philosophy.

Stefan Berwick will return in June 2020 to teach long pole and sword techniques.

And I will be walking the Camino de Santiago from mid-April until the end of May, taking 40 days to complete the 500 mile pilgrimage from Saint Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Best to all of you along the way, and buen camino!

Studying Taijiquan: Workshop Style

We just completed a wonderful 5 day workshop with Coach Chen Ziqiang, chief instructor at the Chenjiagou village school. We’ve studied weapons with Coach Chen for several years now, and each workshop brings more refinement and new levels of understanding.

His main focus is always to learn and master the basics, because the forms are nothing more than different applications of these basics. We worked on double broadsword, eyebrow staff, and spear. A common theme - keep the weapon close to the body. The further away you push your weapon, the less strength available to use. Another common theme - the more complex the movement, the more difficult it becomes to retain that basic tenet.

Our workshop was composed of students of all levels, with several teachers in the group. Coach Chen adjusted his teaching style for each student, and was able to offer each of us our own challenges. I came away with lots of nuggets of information and deeper ways to understand the forms I practice. I also leave these workshops with the realization that taijiquan is so deep, so layered, and so complex that it will give me many more years of work to do, even with the 25+ years that I have already practiced.

More great teachers are coming this winter! David Gaffney and Davidine Sim will be here in early December, and Jan Silberstorff will come in late January. Don’t miss these opportunities to study with some of the greatest taijiquan practitioners of our generation! Find more details here.

And save the date for our next China trip - April 2021!

Our Fabulous Teaching Team

Over the years Bill and I have offered teacher training courses for people interested in teaching and deepening their practice of taijiquan and qi gong. As a result, we have a fantastic group of teachers and assistant teachers at the Taoist Sanctuary. Check out their bios on our updated website!