Saturday's Workshop

We had a really intense day of T'ai Chi and energy work in Blackrock
 yesterday.
 It was great to have time to sink deeply into the form and to spend
 time learning to 'listen' to each other in pushing hands and through
sticking.
There is no substitute for time spent together in this way.
 If you want to improve your T'ai Chi and listening skills you need
 to have your body and energy trained through partner work.




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Waving Hands In The Clouds

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Here are my music students working on Waving Hands In The Clouds.
 We have just one more lesson left in our term together.
 It is a real joy to work with this group of enthuastic young people. Is is  interesting to see them 'get ' T'ai Chi and enjoy the practice and the applications. I was delighted to hear that the body awareness they are developing through this practice is really benefical during performence.  Learning how to remain relaxed while performing is a great bonus and I am pleased that this art is once again prooving it's worth.

VS Ramachandran And The Brain

V.S. Ramachandran is Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and Distinguished Professor with the Psychology Department and Neurosciences Program at the University of California, San Diego.
He is an inspirational speeker and I'm posting this link  ( again ) for my friends from ARC house who were really interested in his ideas.
I love his clear thinking and beautiful simlpe examples of how our brains have developed.

Enjoy  The Neurons That Shaped Civilization

Saying YES To Your Life

We sometimes  think that our life experience will change if we say NO  and feel NO. I have come to realise that this saying NO just doesn't work.
Just give this a try, say NO to your life , say it strongly to yourself and feel what happens in your body .
Do it a few times, close your eyes and say NO and really feel what a strong NO does internally.
Now say YES to your life  ( you are alive so why not affirm yourself ) .
Close your eyes and say YES, YES , YES , YES , Feel what this does internally .
Imagine that you are a cell in your own Heart or Liver , or Lung. Allow yourself to feel which experience you as a cell would rather ' live ' in .
Would you rather bathe in a YES environment or a NO environment ?

I think you will agree with me that YES feels much better, much closer to our true nature.
Basically by ' choosing ' to be born we said YES, and I feel this is one reason why YES feels so much better to us.
Also each time we say YES we release our Resistance and move into the flow of our lives.

Saturday's Workshop In Blackrock

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Looking Forward to Saturday's T'ai Chi and Open Focus Workshop in Blackrock. Tine to work on a deeper level and investigate postures in a relaxed nourishing way. It is great to take the time to recharge your energy. It is a tonic for the body and the mind especially at this time of the year when the days are short and we tend to spend more time indoors. T'ai Chi restores the body's energy and revitalises us so we are ready once again for our life. Open Focus tunes us into ourselves on subtle levels and allows us to connect deeply with our inner world. This enhances our awareness and in this way it is a great support in our T'ai Chi training and in our daily life.
Can't wait to spend more time exploring these great methods together.

Homeward Journey Sunday Evening

Sun was beginning to sink as I set off on my homeward journey.

West Cork seemed magical

And enchanting 

With the pink clouds highlighting the hill tops

Nature's beauty was everywhere 

The reflections were perfect 

On this still evening 

And I returned home nourished by the practice and the journey.

Simple Ways To Release Resistance

 

You don't need to wait until you get home from work, to let go of resistance. You can let go right now no matter where you are.
Simply bring your mind into your body, feel how your feet are feeling right now. Really pay attention to the sole of your right foot. Notice any sensations you can find there.
If you did that even for a second you gave yourself a break from resistance.
Go on do it again this time pay attention to your left foot feel all the sensations in that foot , in the sole , on the , top , in all the toes.
Great you have just had another little break.
If you do this regularly during the day you will find a large increase in your energy, things will flow more easily for you because you will be more present , more in your body.
It doesn't matted where you focus your attention in your body, after some practise you will just start 'listening' to your body through out your day, you will become intimate with it's subtle messages that let you know when you are resisting and you will welcome these messages that remind you to Let Go.
You will be more and more relaxed , even allowing yourself to relax into the tense parts of your body.
This body of yours is an amazing instrument which can be your greatest ally in Letting Go of your resistance .
Give your self a few seconds again each hour to listen to it's sensations and welcome them all .
Doing this will allow you to finish today as fresh as you started.

A wonderful Trip To Castletownbere

 Another T'ai Chi session in W. Cork

Friends to help

The day started with  frost which  set the scene for the magic ahead.

These scenes always bring a sense of wonder .

Sunrising behind the Paps

And blue skies as far as my eyes could see.

The bright sunshine highlighting the landscape and filling me with awe.

Kinmare Pier and blue ,blue seas.

Stunning views

Reflections,

Reflections,

Reflections

And so many more Reflections to come but must dash off .................

The amazing sunsets will have yo wait as T'ai Chi beckons again!

I finally got Monday's video to upload ! So well done to you all in the class for the work you put in during the last 10 weeks. Hoping to see you all soon again.


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Stretching Expanding And Moving Beyong Your Limits

There is almost always a little ( or a lot ) of fear before the jump, no matter what your new 'jump' happens to be.
 Whenever we stretch beyond our previous limits it tends to be scary, (if it wasn't it would be stretching us) .
Our natural reaction is to withdraw to curl back into our shell, however when you becomes conscious of this reaction you  become free to respond in a new way.
You can welcome up that fear.
You can recall previous times you kept going in spite of your fear.
 Recall how good it felt when you finally cycled a full mile with ease.
 Or maybe you swam under water and enjoyed it.
Maybe you faced your fear of public speaking , or telling someone you loved them.
What ever they were for you recall those triumphs now and this recalling will build your courage.
 Congratulate yourself for your courage, acknowledge you achievements also acknowledge the fears you overcame , in doing so you will be growing  your mental muscles.
Growth and expanding beyond your limits will become a much more attractive challenge.
You will be peeping out of your shell eagerly waiting for some scary happenings so you can have an opportunity to let go of some more fear and grow to your full potential.

Take the time to watch this short video . It so confirms all I Know form years of study , observation and practice.


Kabbalah , Science And The Perception Of Reality

Enhancing The Flow In Your Life

Letting go of resistance enhances the flow in your life. As I explained the other day when we resist people, events etc in our lives we waste a lot of energy which would otherwise be available to us.

When we take some time and reflect on where flow is already present in our lives and acknowledge that there is already quite a lot of flow happening day to day , we tend to get even more flow.

This is really simple to do and as one develops awareness and appreciation for flow it responds to the love and grows.
So take a few minutes and notice which aspects of your relationships are flowing well.
 Who do you like to be around?  Think of the people whose company you enjoy. When you relax in some one's company it is a sign of a good flow of energy between you.

Now think of work you like to do, any type of work  ( I love to iron clothes the task relaxes me and gets me into a good flow ). What ordinary or extraordinary task relaxes you.

What aspects of your finances are working well acknowledge the flow that is already happening in that area of your life.

In taking the time to notice and acknowledge these aspects of flow I promise you will create more flow. This will be even more effective if you take the time to actually write down the flow that you have discovered. There is something very powerful in the act of writing your observations on paper.

When we work at releasing sessions , hearing our partner asking us the questions and hearing our answers out loud is very profound . When you work on your own writing answers on paper , the writing somehow acts just like a releasing partner.

Friday's T'ai Chi

What a lovely day of T'ai Chi we had last Friday. The morning group completed the Mini Form here below.


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And Friday afternoon we investigated figure 8's with a partner.

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It is such a privilege to share this work and spread some beauty and grace in the world . I am grateful each day for the opportunities that this practice has afforded me.

Reconnective Healers Meet-up

Here is Pauline Bret who organised today's meet -up and share for us Reconnective Healers. We met in Oscailt a really lovely house in Dublin where lots of different therapies take place. 

The downstairs room was a perfect size to fit four tables. 

Which allowed us to swap sessions.

This is an ideal way to revitalise and give each other feedback. 

Make observations.

And have some time to tell each other our healing experiences. 

I am really looking forward to more meet-up sessions and too the stories people promised to share here on my blog.

I'm on the train home now hapily reflecting on a great day of Reconnection. Feeling fabulous having had a great healing session . All reinspired to share this great work.

Full Mini Form

Full Mini Form from ann on Vimeo.

All the beginners groups are well into the Mini Forn by now so here is the full version for you to practice.

Resistance And How We Can Deal With It

Resisting things in our life is often difficult to recognise. However as soon as you ask yourself to list the things in your life that you want to change you become aware of what you are resisting.
 Wanting to change or  control things and people in our lives is another way of thinking of resistance.
How much time in our day do we 'waste' trying to change or 'fix ' people . Here in Ireland we spend a lot of time resisting the rain , does it work , has the rain stopped ? No ! And all our resisting does is build up frustration inside of us.
In releasing we remind ourselves to let go of resisting, and allow what is to be.
If this is too difficult we welcome the resistance and really allow ourselves to feel it fully. This is a form of releasing because at least we have stopped resisting our resistance.
If you make a list of the things( and people) in your life that you are wanting to change and let go of wanting to change and or fix them you will notice a change happening.
Firstly you will free up a lot of energy that was being used in resisting.
You will be more present in your life and relationships which will allow you to enjoy your life more fully.
We all feel it ether consciously or subconsciously when someone is trying to control us  and we don't like it, it makes us want get away from those people. People feel it from us when we are trying to change or fix them and they don't like it either . When we stop doing this our relationships really blossom .
We will explore Resistance and ways to recognise and deal with it at our next Releasing Session on the 21'th .
I'm looking forward to seeing you all again and sharing our insights and gains.

How Using Wilder Penfield's Brain Maps Can Help Us To Relax More Easily

Wilder Penfield, is the legendary Canadian neurosurgeon who pionered neuropsychological studies on the awake patient during brain surgery.
Penfield is most famous for his experiments where he electrically stimulated the brain of patients who had part of their skull removed during surgery to record what thoughts, behaviours and sensations arose from the excitation of specific parts of the cortex
Here is a very short You tube movie Here ( 1 minute ) to that shows how he worked.
Wilder Penfield was a cartographer he mapped the brain. This technique allowed him to create maps of the sensory and motor cortices of the brain ( more detail on this link Cortical_homunculus ) showing their connections to the various limbs and organs of the body. These maps are still used today.

                                                Notice Huge Hands and Head

The reason I'm so grateful to Wilder ( really love the man ) is that his insights have helped me so much in my training to relax and in my work teaching people how to relax.
Let me explain, Penfield 's maps show that a very large amount of brain space is occupied by our hands and our head as shown in the photo of the ' Penfield ' model below.
When this information was first revealed there were many objections , people felt that the genital organs were miss represented. People just couldn't believe that the hands and the face occupied much more ' nerve space ' than the penis and the vagina. But Penfield's findings are correct and we can use them , knowing that such a large amount of brain space is occupied by our face and our hands we can focus our relaxation exercises to pay special attention to relaxing these parts of our bodies and greatly amplify our sense of relaxation.
By learning to paying attention to your face and regularly relaxing the muscles around the eyes and the jaw , by softening the forehead and relaxing the lips and mouth you can greatly enhance your relaxation .
When you can remain more relaxed you will be more productive during the day and less tired in the evening. You will not need a drink to wind down in the evening because you will be relaxed already.
You will notice that you have a lot more energy to do things you enjoy, and being relaxed you will enjoy what you do all the more.
Practice it today you will immediately feel the difference in your energy and the more you practice the better it gets.

  I wrote this article last January but feel it is well worth posting again as the information is so pertinent to our practice . 

Mini Form in Castletownbere

Here we are practising the Mini Form and the video below has the postures we investigated together.
It is a wonderful venue and a great group of people with whom to share T'ai Chi mornings.  Keep up the practise and I'll see you all in two weeks.




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A trip around Slea Head and back by The Connor Pass

I spotted this Shrine driving past and couldn't resist a photo !

And the views just got better ,

And more fun,

Light changing with the passing squalls,

Resting sea gulls

Friendly young boys out for some fun

Views of the sea

That never fail to inspire me

The mysterious Blasket Islands

And then to the Connor Pass

With wind swept clouds

And views back to Dingle Bay

Cirque lakes mountains and sea all to delight and inspire.

Home tonight tired and happy. 

An important scientific discovery in the last century was that the universe is fully interconnected. Nothing can be considered separate or alone. Scientific evidence provides support for a global field environment that connects all living systems and consciousness. Many scientists believe that a feedback loop exists between all humans and the earth’s energetic systems.

Learn more about the work of Heartmath and how developing heart coherence can enhance your health , your family's health , your community's health and ultimately global health . Here on this link to a Heartmath video . Heart

"Suddenly I understood that we must take care of things just because they exist." Maura O'Halloran

Christian Zen Monk

Gratefulness, rightly understood, is the driving force at the core of spiritual life; it is an undercurrent that connects all spiritual traditions. This is the reason why Gratefulness.org builds bridges between religions. It is the reason also why we have chosen Maura O'Halloran, a Christian Zen monk, as our Gift Person for this month of January.   - Br David 

Read the full article  here Gratefulness .org