Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Amazing Octopus Tales






Scroll down to yesterday's post  for T'a Chi Lessons .

I couldn't resist sharing this great Octopus story and video How COOL are these animals such amazing intelligence and so different to anything else I have ever read about !

This is a fun short video of an encounter where an octopus 'steals ' a diver's camera and swims off with it still recording , beautiful to watch. 
 Octopus Steals My Video Camera

ON AN UNSEASONABLY WARM day in the middle of March, I traveled from New Hampshire to the moist, dim sanctuary of the New England Aquarium, hoping to touch an alternate reality. I came to meet Athena, the aquarium’s forty-pound, five-foot-long, two-and-a-half-year-old giant Pacific octopus.
For me, it was a momentous occasion. I have always loved octopuses. No sci-fi alien is so startlingly strange. Here is someone who, even if she grows to one hundred pounds and stretches more than eight feet long, could still squeeze her boneless body through an opening the size of an orange; an animal whose eight arms are covered with thousands of suckers that taste as well as feel; a mollusk with a beak like a parrot and venom like a snake and a tongue covered with teeth; a creature who can shape-shift, change color, and squirt ink. But most intriguing of all, recent research indicates that octopuses are remarkably intelligence.
 Read the fascinating article here. Orion Octopus





Monday, 12 January 2015

YES YES YESS






YES  We are off to a great start this year, I was in Castletownbere yesterday, it is so good to get to share this practice and meet amazing people.
ARC House T'ai Chi had the first lesson of the Mini Form this morning, it was lovely to see some familiar faces back and also great to meet some new T'ai Chi students. Here below are some videos, one from yesterdays class in the fabulous Sarah Walker Gallery and the second one is the beginning postures of the Mini form for the new beginners.
I am looking forward to spending time with you all and to hearing all your great feedback about the benefits you have gained through this wonderful practice.


trim.1E4945B2-5427-4679-9DD8-8261D19919CF from ann on Vimeo.




trim.12A4739C-E213-483C-97E6-D9A5F6DD5F86 from ann on Vimeo.

This video has the first two lessons so it goes a little bit beyond what we  workrd on today.




Saturday, 10 January 2015

Learning to Love Yourself





In order to learn to love yourself fully you need to learn to relax with and in yourself. This takes practice ( at least that is my experience ). In T'ai Chi training we learn to listen to our body, to really feel what is happening in and through and even around our body. This deep listening is great because it accustoms us to different subtle feelings. It also helps us to realise that we can handle feelings even when they are uncomfortable. Anyone who learns T'ai Chi has to deal with being outside their comfort zone.  In the beginning especially when coping with body parts moving simultaneously in different directions. Learning to relax as this is happening takes an effort, it requires you to be present in your body.  Being present in your body has many benefits to both your body and your mind. Your body thrives with this attention especially if it is given in a loving way. If you encourage yourself and acknowledge your body for the effort it is making it will cooperate and blossom with this loving attention. You will notice how your mind calms, this loving attention is like a balm for your mind, it too feels the love attention that you are bestowing on your body and this helps it to relax and feel in 'safe loving hands'. It can begin to drop it's protective guard and begin to relax. It may even surprise you by becoming really quiet.
This is True Love that nourishes both body and mind and opens up worlds previously unimagined.




Friday, 9 January 2015

New T'ai Chi Term







T'ai Chi Classes are starting again !

We are back in Castletownbere this Sunday January 11'th at  11 30 am in the Sarah Walker Gallery
 This class will be held every two weeks.

Arc House Class begins next Monday January 12 at 12pm

Blackrock Community Centre Tuesday Evening at 7 15pm

A NEW MINI FORM CLASS
Blackrock Community Centre on next Friday January 16'th at 11 30 am

Mallow Classes

Woodview Drive Short Form Class starts back on January 19'th at 7pm

Davis College Mallow enrolling this Monday January 12 th class begins on January 28'th

 I love new beginnings, it is a great opportunity to refocus and set good intentions for the year ahead.
 I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends again and to meeting and sharing this fabulous Art with new people who comeand join us.  




Thursday, 8 January 2015

Body Wisdom





Our bodies are amazing instruments. They speak to us constantly letting us know what we are feeling and inviting us to be intimate with our experience. We however have often estranged ourselves from this wonderful flow of information by focusing our attention on our thoughts and ignoring the sensations in our bodies. Taking a break from thinking centred attention and moving our attention to the sensations happening moment to moment on our bodies is a great way to become more intimate with our feelings.
This may seem strange in the beginning, we have been conditioned to put too much attention on thinking and it takes an effort to tune in to our body. However the benefits are enormous. The body loves to be heard and repays our attention in many ways.
It relaxes more as it begins to feel our interest , it teaches us about it's wisdom letting us know what food suits it, what sleeping patterns suit it , what company suits it.
We begin to awaken to its intelligence, when we tune into our body our intuition opens up and our life begins to flow in ways we could never have imagined . Our mind calms down and paradoxically it too functions better once it is not on over drive.
So why not begin right now and take a moment to ' Look Inside ' and notice the sensations that are happening right now . Feel how your tummy feels , hungry , satisfied , calm , excited , there are no right or wrong sensations, all sensations are simply communication just letting you know what your body is feeling right now. Take a moment to feel the sensation and thank your body for letting you know what it is feeling. Develop a warm relationship with your body and it will support you in everything you do. acknowledge how much it has always been working for you even when you completely ignored it.
 Now is a great time to change this relationship to one of Unconditional Love and to reap the benefits.




Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Awakening To Beauty






Yesterday as we visited some of Sedona's beautifuf galleries ans shope one man told me of a Navajo saying.

             In Beauty I walk




                      With beauty before me I walk





                          With beauty behind me I walk






                   With beauty above me I walk







            With beauty around me I walk
          
              It has become beauty again 
              It has become beauty again 
              It has become beauty again
              It has become beauty again 



Monday, 5 January 2015

A TripTo Jordan





My friend Karen invited me on a trip to Jordan ( an old minning town in the mountains ) .
We stopped at a vineyard because I was interested to try some wine made in Arizona. 





What a coincidence this was the vineyard where I 'met ' my pony 







to go horse riding last visit. 





It was a sunset ride and I was disappointed to find that the vineyard was closed. I never imagined that I'd get to visit it . 







On through Cottonwood ,









Withi it's interesting Diner.





And a long climb up to Jordan.





Which was also snow clad .





I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this for sale in the Coffee Shop !





We walked around this interesting little town.






A lovely lady in one of the shops took our photo with a kaleidoscope.

What a Day!

Lots more to say but I must pack my bag, I'm heading home today.