The Dragon's Head Blog

Monday November 2nd, the Ottawa Branch of FLK/TTC hosted an evening Intensive at the Carling Centre. This was the last Intensive on the Branch’s 2015 calendar.  With more than 50 people attending, and a bake sale going on as well, our fundraising was in excess of $1,400.  The focus for the evening was on “spirit […]

TTCS of Slovakia hosted 2 day workshop in Bratislava on October 17 – 18. The workshop was led by Marsha Eberhardt. We welcomed 210 participants from many countries – Switzerland, Germany, Spain, England, Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic. Workshop started Saturday morning in school gym nearby clubhouse. We divided into groups where people worked together […]

Participants gave their thanks to the volunteers in the kitchen for the external source of energy that powered the program week in Edinburgh.  

And of course we practised lots of Taoist Tai Chi ™ arts too at our international program week in Edinburgh. We focused on making space for the stillness in the movement, and for the dropping on the inside.

Most mornings of our international program week there was an opportunity to practise chanting.

To illustrate the ‘international’ component of our International Workshop, Marsha asked representatives from around the world to tell the Edinburgh participants some news of what’s going for the Society in their various home countries. We heard from Ireland, Spain, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, USA, Netherlands, Hungary, GB, Portugal – representatives are pictured, right to left. […]

As the Weekend program got under way, our 150 participants explored their insides with the help of an Essential Anatomy app presentation, during which we had a real-life demonstration of the the importance of good posture on the position of our organs. Please don’t think we spent all week sitting around watching TV!

We’re Skyping again, and this time Marsha calls Pegoty and Jean in Dunedin, Florida, where the Fenway renovation is swarming with carpenters and demolition crews. We hear of how the old elevator (pictured) was hoisted out of the building – or was it an illustration of the dan-yu? Members from Edinburgh will be on the […]

Continuing our search for an understanding of the universe, and for simplicity, Marsha spoke about the effects of  Taoist Tai Chi™ arts effects on our anatomy using a skeleton as a model of the body; Steve spoke of the same using a tea tray and a practise sword as a model of the skeleton.  

Tuesday in Edinburgh, and the catering crew encounters the equivalent of a ‘wobble at the top of the kick’, when the oven overheats and the smoke forces a brief evacuation of the kitchen. As well-trained tai-chi-er’s, Elizabeth and the team recover their balance and serve the planned (and delicious) sausage pasta bake only 10 minutes […]

As a new International Workshop gets under way in Edinburgh, GB, event leader Marsha Eberhardt connects the participants inside with the wider Society outside, with a video call to Andrew Hung and Judy Millen at D’arcy Street, Toronto.

Kincardine culminated several months of celebrating their fifteen years of practising the Taoist Arts on October 3rd 2015. Forty seven participants enjoyed an intensive in the afternoon. At a banquet in the evening, seventy five people, including our local member of the Provincial Parliament, Kincardine’s Mayor and a representative from Central Region Management Committee, listened […]

76 participants arrived at the Southwest Centre in Stratford, Ontario for chanting, pot luck lunch and a 3 hour meeting for all instructors in the SW area, including some from Europe and NZ, other locations in Ontario, and those who are not currently instructors. We were led by Marsha Eberhardt and the SW Instructors Committee. […]

Five day International workshop in Krakow held from the 4th to 8th of July, gathered 245 participants from 11 countries: Canada, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Switzerland and Poland. What did we experience from Tony Kwong’s teachings? A little bit of everything: there were sets, tor yus, don yus, set’s elements practised […]

The tunes were the same but the words very different when we sang three songs during karaoke dan-yus at an International Workshop in Tauranga, New Zealand, this month. She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain and Old MacDonald’s Farm were all changed to become tai chi songs and Michael Row The Boat Ashore became the Master […]

The Taoist Tai Chi Society of the USA, Portland Branch, hosted an International Workshop in Portland, Oregon on September 26-27.  The Workshop had one hundred participants from nine states and Canada.  The Workshop was led by Verity Rolfe, an international instructor from Vancouver, Canada, Pacific region. The Workshop included large and small group sessions, working […]

On the weekend of September 25th, 26th and 27th our Calgary Branch welcomed in the Autumn Moon with a celebration banquet and a National Program lead by Susan Lundy, from Toronto. The Autumn Moon event began with a reception and entertainment from cellist Liz Tremblay of Bella Cello. The reception was a great opportunity for […]

The Pacific region of Fung Loy Kok brought International Awareness Day home in 2015, inviting participants from throughout British Columbia and beyond, as well as members of the public, to enjoy Taoist Tai Chi arts together, share a traditional jai lunch and learn a bit more about what we do and how we do it. […]

A good ‘high five’ uses all five fingers and not three or four. This is what we discovered during the International Instructors Workshop in Helmond (9-13 September). It has a great effect on our tai chi. This and many others things were taught by Joé Thibault and Louis Blaquière who were leading the workshop. The […]