Happy Holidays!

We at the Taoist Sanctuary would like to wish everyone happy holidays and a safe New Year! We will be closed from December 24th - January 1st, and will return to classes on January 2nd.

We will do our traditional New Year’s Day flow on Coronado Island at 9am. Please join us at Sunset Park, at the end of Ocean Blvd.

End of an Era

Back in 1996, Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang visited San Francisco to teach a workshop. Bill and I went - he was well known, and Bill met him in the late 80s during a Taste of China event, so we were pretty excited to train with him. Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, Bill had to return to San Diego without doing the seminar, so it was just me and my first experience with this level of a taiji teacher. It was an amazing workshop, but the thing I remember most is the way he opened the bathroom door with a fajing! I tried to mimic it and the door didn't even move. I learned a lot about taiji at that workshop (besides how to open a bathroom door). That workshop created some amazing opportunities for us. The following year we went to Denver to attend his seminar, then at our invitation, Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang came the San Diego the following year, and he, his brother Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing, and their family have been traveling to San Diego and the US to teach us every year since then. When Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang stopped coming to the US, Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing became our primary teacher, and he has been incredibly generous with us, advancing our form and our practice to a degree that it has carried over into how we conduct ourselves as we go through life. 

This year is the final year of Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing's travels outside of China. He has been coming to teach us for over a decade, and his style of teaching has remained clear, concise, and true to the art that his family created. We've supplemented his visits here with our visits to China, taking groups of students with us almost every year over the last 13 years. Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing's final seminar in San Diego earlier this month was no different than all of the others - he offers amazing corrections and insights into the internal aspects of the form, and is so generous with his teachings to students of all levels. Our last flow together of the laojia yilu was very poignant, as the realization that he wouldn't be back set in. The Chen family has contributed much to my own evolution as a human being over these many years, and I am so grateful for all they have shared with us. The lessons in the alley, the standing corrections for over an hour at a time, the discussions on the history of their art, teaching us how to make noodles and squash soup, and most importantly, the teachings of how to behave - all of it has been so dear. Bill and I will continue to go to China to study with them as often as we can, and we will continue to take our students so that they can see and feel the roots of our art in the place it was created. 

The 20th generation is their gift to all of us. We will continue to benefit from this group of amazing teachers for many years to come, and hopefully we will all do our part to teach the 21st generation the valuable lessons that taijiquan brings, not just about martial arts, but about life and how to live it. 

Zaijian for now, Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing! See you in China in July 2019! 

2018 - Are You Ready?

Where did the time go? It seems like I was just welcoming in 2017, and here we are, another year gone. 

2017 was a wild year. Our country is undergoing major upheavals and turmoil, and it's so important for us to stay grounded by maintaining our practices of taiji and qi gong. This spring offers lots of opportunities for learning new ways to strengthen and stay healthy. Ken Cohen continues his winter workshop series with classes on Bear Frolic, Psychology of Qi Gong, and instruction in the Yi Jin Jing. Jan Silberstorff returns in January to teach seated meditation and form, and Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing embarks on his FINAL USA TOUR in March! 

2018 will see us move from the Year of the Fire Rooster to the Year of the Earth Dog. Here is what one website says about this upcoming year: 

Many voices around the world rise to highlight the importance of the universal values of dialogue and solidarity, which are characteristic values of the Chinese zodiac sign of the Dog. Selfishness, greed and ignorance being a major source of inequalities on Earth, only a social and cultural impulse, at the individual and collective level, can give a new hope to the millions of people in the world who are still suffering from neglect, indifference and the rejection from their community.

Interesting... 

Happy New Year to everyone and good practice to all! 

Allison 

Competing Priorities and Lessons Learned

There's good news and there's bad news. Over the last year, my taiji practice has decreased significantly. By that I mean I spend less time doing forms. That's the bad news. The good news? Taiji has given me such wonderful tools for living my life that I am able to continuously apply these lessons to all sorts of situations, even when I'm not actually practicing forms. 

My job takes a lot of my time and energy. On some days, the work is so demanding that I just want to go home and decompress in a quiet people-free environment. At the beginning of these days, I typically think "oh, I'll go to class tonight!". As the day goes on, that thought recedes into the back of my mind, replaced with "boy I can't wait to go home and put my feet up". I could go to class anyway, but honestly, I know myself well enough to know what I need, when I need it, and my way of recharging is to rest quietly. I am happy when I take the time during lunch to go through the forms - those times are precious to me. I am sad some days about these circumstances, but it is what it is, for now. It won't always be this way and I look forward to returning to regular evening classes. 

What I have found is that I think about taiji a lot anyway. I think about centering, deflecting, yielding, looking for openings, flowing through rocks like water. Everything I do uses taiji principles. These principles have served me well over the years. I will never forget one of the most important things Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang said to me - "Taijiquan teaches me how to behave". 

I'm not suggesting you don't go to class. You should go to class when you can, and practice when you can. If you don't have as much time to practice as you would like, think about the principles and how to use them in your daily life. And if you practice forms a lot, and don't understand what I'm talking about in this blog, spend some time thinking about the principles that your teacher is teaching you, and open the door to a new way to behave. 

Allison