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 Jane Morro, Camperdown

I have come to Tai Chi due to a myriad of sporting injuries which have had a myriad of treatments but still remain firmly entrenched in my body. As a mum of two small children Tai Chi also provides me with some quiet time and a time for reflection. I have found that Tai Chi helps me greatly - not just physically. It also helps me as a parent, especially in the way it reminds me how one learns effectively. This is extremely helpful for our family, due to my daughter's learning difficulties... and she will hopefully continue to join our class. I feel Tai Chi is of great benefit for both of us on so many levels.

 

 

Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 7:37 PM
Subject: RE: postscript {please show Eloise?}

I have been thinking about my illness and I have been wondering about something... on Saturday morning I got out of bed (in bed most Wed, all Thurs and Fri) and found I could barely walk - it was like my brain had forgotten, but my brain feels weird now, like it has realigned or something.
It is like I am sharper and I think faster and more clearly...my typing is faster... weird. That feeling of not knowing which way was up was part of that realigning. Can't explain it any more than that.

 

Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2007 1:20 PM
Subject:
One more thing

I just wanted to mention that I found it interesting practising the new parts of section 2 last night. When I got to the new part where we were facing left wing it was a bit of a blur, literally... when I was remembering how you did that part, it was like you were in fog. So I suppose that is how the learning is going at the moment... the fog is lifting.

 

Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2007 12:33 PM
Subject:
Yesterday

Saturday 9th June.
Quite sore in the bad bits at the beginning of Tai Chi, so it was a bit difficult to let go of the pain and not focus on it. The 'voice prompt' from you was very helpful re the new parts of S2.  The form was great... so much happening... I am noticing a difference between S1, which I sort of know and the rest of the form. The first part flows whereas the rest is just 'clunk, wobble, clunk'.

I found myself watching your hands and knees Ric, and of course your 'straightness'. I felt that by using the knees more, which was not easy when I tried, was like the power was being drawn out of the ground... more strenuous, a definite work out. I am focusing on my straightness too, which provides me with a stronger sort of balance.

Then there was a realisation that we were telling a story with the form... that was fun as my mind was getting into the movements. As I mentioned at coffee there are movements that evoke certain things for me. There is 'certainty', 'searching', 'coming out of the mist' and 'contentment', amongst others. Eloise has her own name for certain moves - 'holding the mirror', 'putting the mirror down', 'the giraffe' and 'the honey jar', with more to come no doubt.

So Tai Chi was a series of 'wow!s' yesterday. Wow this feels great! Wow this feels clunky! Wow look at those hands! Wow the straightness, wow the knees! Wow that's hard! Wow I love this bit, wow what is this story? All interspersed with a few pangs of pain, a dog running off with my shoe and noisy birds. Thoroughly enjoyable.

 

Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 9:09 PM
Subject:
match reports etc.

MATCH REPORT: Saturday 2nd June.
The first part of the lesson practising the beginning of section 2 was 'interesting'... a to and fro of not thinking and then thinking.  The trend is going more into 'not thinking'.
The form felt like it was a big rubber band stretching back and forth and in and out as everybody moved around and sometimes at different tempos... as usual it all came out in the wash at the end. It's like the form has a life of its own with all of us in it.
Sometimes the bits that I don't know, even though they are familiar, are like I haven't seen them before and this was one of those days. Some of these parts felt 'rough' and the movement 'clunky'.
When I got home I realised that the soles of my feet were no longer sore.  I also want to thank you for the last five months... I believe they have been a life saver and I don't say that lightly.  The way my body and my soul feel is a remarkable turn around. Yes it is all very weird... I came to Tai Chi with hope that my aches and pains would decrease and my flexibility improve. Yes, this has happened, but also much more.  It is 'weird' because I do struggle to get my head around the spiritual elements, but at the same time this struggle is ending... another trend.

ETC: The whirlpool things:
Ric do these things travel with you?  Is there any more that you can say about them? You were at the apex and they were at the other corners of the triangle... it was not an equilateral triangle.  The 'base' between the things was quite wide; longer than the distance between you and the things.
You mentioned sparkling Chi in relation to the dots... these didn't sparkle but they did shine even though they were clear.  They moved around in their spot but they were like jelly, wobbling/moving in and out and also around.

Cheers, Jane.

 

Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2007 3:13 PM
Subject:
Gregor in air

My first experience of 'Round the World' was a bit disorientating, and I had to sort of 'stay in myself' to keep track of where we were at. At one stage, early on in the piece, Gregor was in front of me and he appeared to be somehow 'in' the air (but still on the ground), surrounded by it and moving through it, like he was making ripples in the air but not really(!).. and then it was gone.
I was noticing your stance in R the W, and was looking at the effortless straightness of your body... is that something to do with "Charlie Chakra"?
After the Chi therapy today and also last week, my stomach was making gurgling noises and felt great. This has happened to me before following acupuncture. Psoas, glute and sacrum feel much looser, and the 'bad bit' feels smaller. Hip is getting better. Sore point near my left shoulder blade is not good - what is that?

 

Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 10:03 PM
Subject:
How much can my shoulders sleep?

Saturday, 19th May.
The Tai Chi session last Saturday was one of those lessons where things seemed to flow... I'm not so stuck on that part of section 1 where I seemed to be stuck for so long. I think this is in part because I'm not trying to think things through so much, but I am just starting to learn how to move from visual memory, trying to piece together the different views that I have of you doing a particular movement.
The 'Booster Shot'/Chi Therapy was pretty amazing... the way the energy changed and moved from my shoulder to down my arm and also down around my spine was something I find I can't really describe. The ramifications this week have been an interesting array of pulses, pins and needles, pain and discomfort in my neck, jaw, and head (really weird pins and needles starting at my neck then quickly travelling up my jaw, ear and side of my head, off and on since Sat), right side 'Bad Area' and also finally my right groin is starting to loosen up so that my right leg is starting to have a better range of movement. I am waiting patiently for my psoas, sacrum and glute, all on the right side, to chill out. Maybe then the bad area will shrink more... the right side of my diaphragm is no longer part of the bad area.
As to other areas that are continuing to chill out, I must say how much I enjoy walking now... my feet, toes, ankles, knees and sometimes my pelvis just relax and I seem to 'flop along' and I enjoy feeling the mechanics of those parts of my body moving as they should... something that hasn't happened for over 20 years. My shoulders are getting there, and I wonder how much more my shoulders can 'sleep'... although I know that the right shoulder needs to more than the left.
I realised suddenly the other day that the large swelling on my left ankle, from an old sprain and then fracture over 10 years ago has gone... disappeared. It was there maybe even two months ago, but now nothing. Yee Haa!

 

Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 8:35 PM
Subject:
  Dance programme structure

Hi Master Ric,
Can you tell me the significance of the spiral in the image?....Just had this strong pulse in my neck for about 5 seconds, on the RHS of my neck as I was about to send this... things are movin'.

 

Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 9:50 PM
Subject: Bits and pieces (including 'the finger')

Hi Master Ric,
It has been a very interesting week in lots of ways this week.  I have felt the need to do lots of Tai Chi this week, and I am not so 'stuck' where I have been.  It may be a strange coincidence, but it has been a week where a couple of personal issues that have been buzzing around in the background, have come forward to be reconsidered and reassessed... it's been a case of moving forward in Tai Chi and in life.
 I was practising in the kitchen last night with Eloise, and Sebastien joined in.  First he did want to join in, then he didn't, then he did.  The 'session' was quick and fun, and then they raced off to play after.

 My back and side have been on the mend, with the bad areas sort of opening up.  This means it is easier to get to the areas that I believe cause the pain.  They are still very difficult to get to as they are in the deep muscles around the spine and in my stomach but at least now I can locate and isolate them whereas up until very recently those same areas have been just a mass of rock like numbness causing very deep pain... which takes me to "the finger".

As I mentioned Ric, I started to experiment using my own sense of touch and feeling following that session a couple of Saturdays ago {5th May} where you pointed one of the fingers of your right hand towards one of my trouble spots in my stomach while I was experiencing my usual deep cramping and tightening pains.  This I found offered a 'clearing' type of relief and the pain and cramping subsided.

So I thought I'd give it a go, so have been trying it on myself, the kids and the dog(!).  For me, I found I have been able to locate in most (not all) areas of pain, a pulse that is at times strong yet spasmodic.  I hold the middle finger of my right hand on the area and just wait either until the pain clears or that bulging sort of pulse stops.  I have found it worked incredibly well on areas of inflammation - my own and my son's.  Sebastien bumped his chin and put his teeth through his lip the other day.  Once the bleeding subsided I held my finger lightly on his lip... and the swelling went down as I was doing it, and it healed very quickly.
 I have also found it requires a certain amount of focus.  It works when I can feel a very warm, tingling sort of feeling coming from my fingertips.  I use it on a needs basis and experiment with it a bit to work out how best to do it.

I feel a bit weird about all this Ric.  At first I thought I was imagining things, but I was amazed at how it worked on a number of my problem areas (neck, thyroid, shoulder, jaw, chest, head, stomach, back etc).  I find it hard to use on the deep areas around my spine as it is very difficult to get in there but I am working on it.

 

Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 11:05 PM
Subject: Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed the class on Saturday... it was one of those sessions where I noticed a few things that I hadn't seen before. It was sort of like a 'breaking', almost like discarding what wasn't necessary, and building something new. This has happened a couple of times before, and maybe it is progress. I still feel 'stuck' in other parts, but I know that will resolve in time. I miss not going twice a week.

Also, at one stage when I was at point I felt and sort of heard a 'pulsing'... and then it was gone.

Eloise flitted in and out and loves going to Tai Chi. I asked her later if she felt anything when she was giving it a go and without hesitation she said "I felt a glow in my stomach".  Wow!

I've also noticed this week that my walking has changed and is more balanced and free...I'm not so lopsided and twisted over to the right. It sounds silly but my legs feel long and my feet more relaxed. The untwisting continues.

 

Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 10:20 PM
Subject: To Know

There is a difference between the intellectual process of learning/ understanding and the true insight gained through experiencing a given moment/epiphany... it is one thing to 'think I know' based on what I've been told, and another totally different thing to 'know' through an experience. Whether one wishes to remain open and receptive to experience such insightful moments/reminders, is up to the individual... or they can be blinded by their own endeavours to maintain control - you can't make the horse drink.
It could be that understanding without Knowing can lead to extremes, because usually the essence is overlooked, ignored or perverted later, in order to justify future ends... something that seems to happen so much today.

 

Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 9:06 AM
Subject: Today

Following class on Saturday, I felt a sort of loosening on the left side, across the top of my glute.  I thought this was unusual... I have never felt anything like that before.  Later in the day, that sensation went away, but then popped up on the right side - not as intense, and for not as long.  The area of the twist and 'stitch' feeling that I have on the right side of my hip and diaphragm is decreasing in size and intensity, becoming more localized.  I feel like I am 'untwisting'.

 

Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 2:01 PM
Subject: "Tennis Anyone?"

I find that recently I am thinking more about Tai Chi Chuan and practising more even if it is just mentally going through the parts of section 1 that I know.
 Whenever I practice or go to class, my skin feels different... the skin on my hands and face feels and looks softer and less lined... my forehead doesn't feel so tight or furrowed, and in general I feel more relaxed.

Also, I have not played tennis for a long time... almost 9 years.  This was due to a combination of factors.  I was sick of it, and it was just too debilitating. However, this year I have been thinking about having a hit again.  Michael my partner and I had a hit on Friday... and it was fun!  We laughed and laughed, even though it was not easy and quite humbling.  The next day I was nowhere near as sore as I expected and the 'bad bit' around my side/hip/diaphragm/stomach was not bad at all.  In fact it felt better. 
The other interesting thing is that I am always worse on the 2nd day after, which was Sunday, but I was fine.

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