Great River Director's Book Reviewed

Great River director Barbara Davis' book The Taijiquan Classics: An Annotated Translaton is reviewed by Chinese martial arts historian Stanley Henning in the Fall 2006 issue (published Fall 2007) of China Review International. He writes, "Davis' chapters on the language and literature and ideas in the taijiquan "classics" provide the "icing on the cake"—the insights into Chinese culture, from which to savor her translations....I wholeheartedly recommend this book not only to taijiquan practitioners but also to anyone interested in Chinese martial arts and their place in Chinese culture."

Signed copies of the book are available; write to editor "at" taijiquanjournal.com for ordering information. For those who already own a copy of the book, an errata page can be found at the The Taijiquan Classics website.

New Video and Book on Cheng Man-ch'ing

Two wonderful new items about Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing have recently been released. The first, the long-hoped for "Shr Jung tapes." These were shot in New York City in the late 1960s and have only been shown at special events. Through great effort, these were edited into a coherent, thematically arranged set of four DVDs titled Cheng Man-ch'ing: The Master Tapes. Disks are Form, Push Hands, Sword, and Ch'i (encompassing informal Q & A with students, calligraphy, and flower-arranging. The DVDs, though expensive at $149, are an incredible boon for any serious student, as you are able to "be in the room" with Professor Cheng, watch him teach, and see him interact with students. Ed Young and Tam Gibbs provided translation in the original videos, and you can see many familiar faces among the participants: Maggie Newman, Ken Van Sickle, Lou Kleinsmith, Natasha Gorky Young, and others. New commentary by Ed, Maggie, and Ken make this a very meaningful presentation.


Douglas Wile has come out with another valuable book Zheng Manqing's Uncollected Writings on Taijiquan, Qigong, and Health, with New Biographical Notes (Sweet Ch'i, $11.95), this time combining Professor's own short works with those about him by Chinese students, articles from Taiwan newspapers, and Wile's own extensive essays that focus on historical and cultural context. This is a very intriguing book with much fresh material that will give food for thought.

Great River Tai Chi Featured at Associated Bank

Great River Tai Chi will be featured in a display at the IDS Center branch of Associated Bank December 10–21. Stop by to enter your name in the drawing for a free 10-week beginner's class (value $150)! Associated Bank is located on the skyway level, 7th Street side of building, by the skyway to Barnes & Noble.

For information on upcoming classes, click here.

Great River Tai Chi Featured on KARE-11

Great River T'ai Chi was featured in a KARE-11 story about the use of t'ai chi to help fend off the flu.
"A small study out of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine says that for older adults, five months of moderate T'ai Chi practice helped improve the efficacy and duration of the flu vaccine.
That doesn't surprise Barbara Davis, director of Great River T'ai Chi in Minneapolis. 'Not at all. Because I felt that in myself, when I began T'ai Chi, before I did T'ai Chi, I was usually getting five colds a year. And as soon as I began studying, it went down to maybe one a year. So I felt the benefits in myself and I see it in my students as well.'
T'ai Chi has also been shown in other studies to reduce fall prevention in older adults." Read the story here or view the video. See story on research report below.

November Tai Chi Practice Notes–-Posture

Good posture is essential for good health and balance in walking. With all of the occupational hazards out there--whether from working at a computer, a sewing machine, dentistry, or construction, or simply our own habits, what's the best way to improve one's posture? The first step must involve building postural awareness.
Here's a method for helping develop that awareness.
• Stand or sit in a familiar position, for example, at a computer. Notice the positioning of your head, shoulders, arms; then your chest and stomach. How's your breathing? After a few minutes, try straightening up more by making your head upright, as if suspended from the top of the head. Let your eyes focus straight ahead and your shoulders drop. Sit like this for a few minutes.
• Now, go back to your original, familiar position. Notice any differences?
• Switch back to the upright posture. Continue to switch back and forth until you're familiar with the differences.

How can tai chi help your posture? Since tai chi takes proper body alignment as one of its core principles, it reinforces building this postural self-awareness and better habits. By taking a tai chi class, you can get feedback on aspects of your posture and alignment that you might miss on your own. With the input of a teacher, and with the constant reinforcement of practice and principles, you're on the road to better health!

October Tai Chi Practice Notes

Fighting off the flu and colds is made easy by practicing t'ai chi. Concentrate on loosening the shoulders and upper back to let the ch'i move through more easily. Let the breathing come from the belly (the dantian area specifically). Good alignment will enhance this. A few minutes each morning and evening is all it takes.

How Do Tai Chi and Yoga Differ?

There are many different kinds of exercise and mind-body disciplines, tai chi and yoga are among the most popular. Both help limber up the body, focus the mind and body as one, improve body awareness, and lower stress. So how do they differ? Yoga's focus is on the internal life and health of a person, and in some traditions, on moral and spiritual teachings.
Tai chi does this too, but in contrast, excells at teaching you good alignment, breathing, relaxation, and movement, as well as application of movement. So, no matter if you're practicing tai chi as a meditative discipline or as a martial art, there's always a sense of how tai chi ideas (such as good alignment or balance) can be used in daily life both internally in one's own self, and externally, in interacting with other people and with tools and objects. Tai chi principles can be used equally in opening a window, for example, digging in the garden, or participating in a meeting at work, and so on.

Taiji Takes on Battling the Flu

Here's yet one more way taiji can help your health: it can increase the efficacy of your flu shot. In an article in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, well-known taiji teacher and researcher Yang Yang found that five months of an easy taiji and qigong routine could "improve the magnitude and duration of the HI anti-influenza antibody titer response in a small cohort of older adults.” Yang will discuss his results at a conference in September at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Yang and Great River director Barbara Davis have both been presenters together at A Taste of China and the International Forum on Taijiquan. Click here for the entire news release.

August Practice Notes—Practice

How do you practice best?
It's important to figure out methods that work for you. Are you a morning person? Maybe more emphasis on morning practice would be better. Are you the kind of person to focus on one task to completion? Perhaps setting up practice themes for a span of time would suit you. Or is your mind typically scattered? Try starting your practice with focusing on your breathing. Do you need deadlines to motivate you? Set up goals by the day, month, or by the year. Gauge yourself by an external marking point such as an annual workshop.
You can also keep a practice log, if that helps. Marking off practice on a calendar, keeping a t'ai chi notebook, or, as one person suggests, a spreadsheet. All of these can help you focus in on the work to be done.
But remember, enjoy your practice. It's a fascinating exploration of mind and body and action.

July News and Events

This month, we welcome for his 10th annual workshop, Weiming Yuan, a senior student of Mr. Liu Hsi-heng of Taiwan. Mr. Liu is one of Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing's senior students. The workshop will be held July 19-21 at Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota. Weiming teaches a down-to-earth approach to t'ai chi that is thoroughly grounded in t'ai chi principles and solid body mechanics. This workshop is open to students of Great River and affiliated groups. Contact Great River for information.

The National Qigong Association annual national conference "Dancing In Stillness" will be held in Chaska, Minnesota this August 17-20. This is a chance to explore qigong and t'ai chi-related topics with some of the world's leading experts, including Chunyi Lin, .A sampling of some workshops: Zhongxian Wu - Chinese Shamanic Tiger Qigong, Cari Shurman - Bringing Tai Chi and Qigong to the Schools, David Haines - 20 Minute Body/Mind Routine: Tai Chi and Qigong for Busy People, Jianye Jiang - Qigong for Diabetes and High Blood Pressure, Lawrence Galante - Basic Principles of Push Hands. See their site for registration information.