Workshops for 2020
Sun 26 January     10am - 1230pm,  Studio 6, Dartington 

​Sat 4 April             10am - 1230pm,  Studio 6, Dartington 

                               2 - 4.30pm,   Outdoors or Studio 6
Venues 
Dartington (Studio 6) is a large, bright, spacious, dance studio with plenty of natural light. Well placed for outdoor practice 
in the Hall Gardens or down by the river Dart. A 2 minute walk from the Green Table Cafe - perfect for lunch, tea etc. Easy access with Totnes rail station nearby and a good bus network. Staying at Dartington is easy too.
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​Manaton Parish Hall, Manaton TQ13 9UJ is just 10 minutes from Bovey Tracey and close to some beautiful moorland.
Attending The Workshops
Tai Chi Essence workshops are great because you can come to just one, where you will learn enough to keep you going for months.
Or you can attend many, which then becomes more like a developmental training program.
If you are new to Tai Chi, then the Essence workshops give you a strong grounding.
If you are already experienced in Tai Chi, then these workshops deepen your experience and understanding.
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What is Tai Chi Essence?
Tai Chi Essence is a way that you can learn, explore and fully experience Tai Chi by working with some key processes and just a few moves. In this way you learn everything you need to know for a rich and rewarding exploration into tai chi.

If you already practice a tai chi form then Tai Chi Essence will bring you depth, meaning, strength in your movement.
If you are new to the art, then it's the best place to start as it gives you the basic vocabulary of movements and principles.

My approach to learning Tai Chi is built around developing 
5 Key Processes: 
​Freeing; Aligning; Focusing; Sensing; Being
It’s by working with these processes that you gain an understanding and develop a fluency that means your tai chi has the chance to take shape, to emerge.

It's all about movement .....
You start by exploring the body's mechanics, connections and alignments;
you look for the integration of your posture from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet;
you relax muscle around bone and investigate their relationship; you learn how and where to direct your attention and why;
you learn how to release unwanted tensions - often by cultivating an interest in simple things like
'where's the weight in my feet?'
'is there some tension that I can release in my feet, my foot, my toes, my toe ...?'
You explore the feeling of movement.
We're born to move. Or rather, we are born moving.
Tai Chi brings a natural type of movement that is based on momentum, on flow.

Momentum, flow, connection, alignment .....

You'll notice how this exploration impacts on how you feel and perhaps you'll come across a sense of how
mind and body are interwoven.

​As well as connecting in yourself and connecting with Nature, Tai Chi Essence introduces you to ways of connecting with people.
You can read more about this on the Pushing Hands page.

The Natural connection
Tai Chi helps you to connect with something very simple and natural.....you.
Or perhaps it's better to say that Tai Chi connects you with 'you' in a way that is simple and natural.

And as you connect with your own nature, you may notice how Tai Chi is connecting you with a
feeling of being part of the bigger Nature. 
In my own practice I notice how some days the tai chi becomes my way of joining with and appreciating nature.
With a river, a tree, a piece of land, a feeling of air, a bird ...... 
So then there is a whole incentive for practicing outside in the elements.

In the Tai Chi Essence there are no long sequences, just the key moves and processes.
This means that it's an ideal pathway for furthering your development and understanding.
(The one 'form' that you'll learn is the Mountain Top Qigong - a short and sweet little piece.)

Energy, rhythm, flow - everyone can experience it ....
Each move is learned and then played so that
the energy builds as you move, in a similar way to how a dynamo builds energy.

It is this rhythmic, ongoing energy-building movement that is so refreshing and restorative.
The massage of the vital organs cleanses the body and releases your vital energy for living.

You can play just one move for 2, 3, 5, 15 or even 20 minutes.

As you get to know these individual moves and postures, 
you'll find that they join seamlessly together as a flow.