Jon Marshall
I have been learning Tai Chi from Ric Lum for about eight months. I have had strange undiagnosed pains in my knees and hands and was consequently unable to do much in the way of exercise previously. When I started Tai Chi I found it hard to do more than the first couple of movements, and am now successfully performing the whole set(108 sequences) – sometimes twice a day – plus walking and generally leading a much more normal life. Quite early on in my learning I found that at the end of practice I would be greeted by a kind of ‘explosion of peace’, this still occurs. I am, according to my wife, much better balanced than when I began the practice, no longer gripped by panic attacks and the feeling of imminent death. This might be a coincidence, but Tai Chi offers a meditative form of movement, which involves the person at all levels and has undoubtedly contributed something to this benefit. I can heartily recommend Ric as a patient, encouraging and complimentary teacher (he is the first person to ever praise any physical activity I’ve engaged in, anyway). The lessons are superficially easy, but there is always more to extract from them.
-30/11/04