Mini Form lessons For T'ai Chi Beginnere and The Da-Lu With Michael and Sara

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

Welcome to T'ai Chi it is my privilege to share this amazing practice with you. With each lesson your understanding will increase, your sensitivity will increase, your sense of relaxation and presence will increase. And these benefits are just the tip of the iceberg.
 Your journey inward is the most important journey you can make.  The more you come to know and love yourself on the inside the more you can fulfil your life's purpose and achieve all your dreams.



trim.9C338674-0A4F-4E33-B7DB-47F4673B6EB6 from ann on Vimeo.



I have begun to teach the Da-Lu to my advanced class on Monday night so we did some work on it during our prastice session on Tuesday. It was really interesting to notice how the body stores memories of 'forms ' you have worked on even if it has been a year or two since you 'visited ' that practice. So much fun reawakening the body's memory. A Big Thanks to Michael and Sara for digging in with me.



trim.FEF89999-05DB-4898-BF37-4C4A7562F61E from ann on Vimeo.

What's Here Now ?

What's here now ?

This question draws us into our current experience.

Just take a moment to motice the sensations in your body right now.

Listen to it's messages, they are speaking to you  moment to moment serving your best interests.

When we take time to STOP and listen to our body's wisdom we become aligned with our higher self. The body never lies it cannot lie , our minds may fabricate all sorts of scenarios but our body never lies.
Each time you take a few moments to Listen to your body you are developing your intuition the more you practice the more you come to experience it's wisdom.

So Stop right now and take a moment Listen to it's sensations.

How are your feet feeling ? really listen and then say thank you to your feet for letting you know how they feel. Now say "I Love You " to your feet.

Listen again, what part of YOUR body is speaking to you right now ?
Now thank that part of your body and again say "I Love You " to that part of your body.

When you make a habit of this practice I promise your life will flow more smoothly , your health will improve and your body and mind will thrive,

Your whole energy body will begin to Hummmmm with Well Being and Love

So  give yourself the attention and Love that you deserve,  you will be adding more Love to our planet and we will all benefit from your LOVE.

Short Form To Single Whip

( Scroll down for the Mini Form Lessons )


Here is the beginning of the Short form for advanced beginners ( those who have finished the Mini Form ).
 
Well done to you all for having the patience and commitment to your T'ai Chi practice. It takes a good focus and a determined attitude to master the Mini form so give yourselves a well deserved clap on the back and a big dose of approval for the work you have done.

 Of course the rewards for this practice will be evident to you by now. You will be in better shape physically, emotionally,  energetically and you will have discovered  how powerful these simple movements are in calming your mind and returning you to your center.
So let's move on to stage two and dive deeper into this great work.


Short Form To Single Whip from ann on Vimeo.

Here is the  Sedona Method

I promised the link at last nights class.

T'ai Chi Mini Form And Beginner's Lessons

Here is the Beginning of the Mini Form for people who have just joined T'ai Chi

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



Here is the Mini form To Brush Left Knee And Push( For people who have done the first few lessons.)

Mini Form to brush left knee and push for the Monday Morning Class from ann on Vimeo.



And The full Mini Form ( For all who are almost finished the Mini Form. )
Full Mini Form from ann on Vimeo.

Another Great Day in The West

I love these Sunday T'ai Chi journeys.

I am always curious to see the changes in the landscape as the clouds part on wet days.

I never tire of these mountains ,

And the light inspires and fills my heart 

To overflowing.

This beauty awakens my love of and for this lifetime.

For the privilege to travell and see God's work.

And man' efforts to connect,

Are also beautiful and uplifting.

All in All a great journey.

Silhouettes and Steeples On The Way to T'ai Chi

I love being surprised by ' new' views of my favourite steeples.

And skylines from different angles.

Had a coffee with my brother Donal home on a visit from Fiji and frozen with the cold .

We met at the Glucksman on a sunny day.

Donal said that the silhouettes of winter trees are some of his favourite sights as he drives around  visiting people during  these winter visits.  I agree with him I think that our winter landscape is wonderful it even makes up for yhe cold.

More Steeples as I pass through town.

Some barely visible in the distance !

So much beauty in our amazing world.

The Most Powerful Antioxidant

By far the most powerful antioxidant ever is always available and it is absolutely FREE.
Even though it is widely available and always free, in fact maybe because it is always available and free we tend to overlook it.

            LOVE,         LOVE,         LOVE   !

 Love heals all wounds, physical , emotional, spiritual, and financial.
All wounds stem from lack and the basic lack that most of us suffer from is lack of LOVE.
Love heals all wounds, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial. When you enquire beneath the surface of problem no matter what they appear to be you will find that there is a search for completion. This sense of completion is never satisfied by external gains ( even though there is Nothing Wrong and Everything Right with having external gains ).
Remember when you had a bad pain ( maybe a tooth ache ) and you told yourself that if only the pain was gone you would be fine and never complain again. The dentist visit sorted out the pain, you forgot about your decision to be fine and sure enough another 'issue ' replaced the toot ache.
 At least that is how I operated, always searching for the next 'fix'. Now there is nothing wrong with with this, in one sense it is what led me to realise eventually that finding those answers to life's issues never solved the basic 'problem' which was hidden beneath all those external issues.
The underlying issue (for me at least and I don't think that I am unusual ) was. a deep sense of unworthiness, or unloveableness. I have found that as I work on Letting Go of my unloving feelings and replace them with LOVING feelings that sense of unworthiness is dissolving and I am learning to LOVE and APPROVE of myself more each day. I have also noticed that this LOVINGNESS doesn't stop with me but extends to my world . People seem more beautiful, the world looks more beautiful and  seems more of a safe Loving place to dwell.
So why not join me in finding the LOVE inside. Listen to Your own voice as you start saying" I LOVE YOU ".

Say  "I LOVE YOU " to your body.

Say  "I LOVE YOU " to your dishes as you tidy up .

Say  "I LOVE YOU "to your work.

Say  "I LOVE YOU "to your nagging mind.

Try it just make a practice of saying  "I LOVE YOU "to everything that arises and watch what happens.

For more on LOVING YOURSELF join us in Blackrock on January 30'th for the next Releasing Session. email me @ taichimcilraith@yahoo.co.uk for details.

Love And Light  Ann

Listen to Your Heart

( Scroll Down For Beginnere T'ai Chi Lessons )

Our hearts radiate out an energy field which is much stronger than the energy field radiated from our brain.
When we are in a positive loving state of mind,  you know what I mean we feel good about ourselves, we are optimistic, and feel warm towards our world and everyone ( including animals and inanimate objects in our world )our heart beat and our energy field becomes coherent.
So What ! you might say well it so happens that when our heart is coherent our whole physiology responds positively.

Our hearts are so amazing modern science is confirming what conventional wisdom always told us.
                                   "Listen to Your Heart"
Here is an exercise I have posted often but it is a great exercise for enhancing our heart listening .
It also encourages heart coherence , and you will begin to feel good within a few minutes of practicing the exercise. It is also a really easy exercise to do while waiting in line or when stuck in traffic ( just keep your eyes open when in charge of a car ).

Heart Coherence Exercise 

Step 1: Heart Focus

Gently focus your attention on your in the area of your heart.It may help to place your hand over your heart. If your mind wanders just keep bringing your attention back to the area of your heart.

Step 2:

Heart Breathing

As you focus on the area of your heart , pretend your breath is flowing in and out through that area. This helps your mind and energy to stay focused and your respiration and hearth rhythms to synchronise. Breath slowly and gently, until your breathing feels smooth and balanced.

Step 3:

Heart Feeling

As you continue to breathe, recall a positive feeling, a time when you ' felt good inside.' Now try
to re experience the feeling. This could be a feeling of appreciation or care toward a special person, a pet, a place you enjoy, or an activity that was fun. Allow yourself to really' feel ' this good feeling of appreciation or care. If you can't feel anything, it's okay, just try to find a sincere attitude of appreciation or care. Once you have found a positive feeling or attitude, you can sustain it by continuing your heart focus, heart breathing, and heart feeling.

Lessons For Friday Morning's T'ai Chi Group

A big welcome to Friday morning's T'ai Chi group, welcome to those who are back to 'polish' the Mini Form and a warm welcome too to those beginning their T'ai Chi journey.

I am noticing that the most popular exercises ( in most classes ) are these simple energy exercises that I developed a few years ago. It is very rewarding to see people feel and enjoy this subtle listening with the body. Even watching the exercise you can 'feel ' the push and pull of the energy.

November workshop from ann on Vimeo.




The video below has the first two lessons of the Mini Form.

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



And here is the Full Mini Form to help you  'remember ' the work you did already.
So lovely to have you back I'm looking forward to a great term of fun and learning together.

  Full Mini Form from ann on Vimeo.

Here is a link to the BuDDha at the Gas Pump site where you can find a short biography of Anita Moorjani and also her interview  ( a really interesting story ). this is the woman I was speaking about in the class who reminds us to LOVE OURSELVES.    Anita Moorjani

My Beloved City

It never matters how my mood is,

A visit to the market will lift my spirits.

Or a stroll along the lanes,

Just admiring the beautiful work 

Inspires,

Uplifts

 The  river Lee enchants,

With it's many different aspects,

The Churches that adorn it's banks,

And distant spires that reach to the sky.

 So Beautiful !

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

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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 

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.