Skype lessons?

On 4/05/2015 12:52 AM, Gregor wrote

I have studied Yuan-Chi Tai Chi Chuan since 2005. After having the opportunity to learn from Sifu in Jubilee Park, I moved to Melbourne in 2013. Earlier this year I have again started to take lessons from Sifu, largely via Skype. Sifu is able to teach and “reach” me through this medium, and I am able to feel his influence on my movements. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Whilst I believe there will be limitations as to what can be taught via Skype, I am convinced that this point is still a long way off for me.

Some may regard learning via Skype to be not “as good as” a weekly lesson in person. I believe the unique benefits of Yuan-Chi Tai Chi Chuan and the depth of Sifu’s knowledge far outweigh the perceived drawbacks. Having lived in Europe and Australia, I believe the internet can give access to knowledge from around the globe which in previous times would have been inaccessible.  I believe Yuan-Chi Tai Chi Chuan is ancient movement and wisdom, infused with insights from meditation, expressed through the form of Tai Chi. I have not come across anything remotely close previously and, judging by the comments of what other students say, neither have they.

Participating in a workshop with Sifu can be a great experience. It will allow you to decide whether this school is the right one for you. Regular lessons via Skype and practice with other students will help develop on the journey.

Gregor Ptok

 

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6 Comments

  1. Subject: Report on meta-therapy:

    Due to my lumbar pain-lumbago – we had to stop progress in newer Tai Chi lessons. Instead, Sifu offered a meta-therapy session that I couldn’t refuse.
    I sat on a chair in front of the Skype camera ~2.5-3 metres away and after a short preparation Sifu started the session. I entered into a meditative mood, and started to feel heat coming out of the soles of my feet. Then an activation of my left Vishuddhi, an opening up and I went into deeper meditation, the head and agnya cleared out and I started to feel the flow of the Chaitanya around my head.
    I also experienced lightness in the body and even transcending the sense of the body, in this vibratory state the pain was gone, I mean no sense of the body – no pain.
    The heat also disappeared from the soles of my feet.
    Then we continued with the exercise of putting my attention on the painful area and also on Sifu’s same part of the body (lower back). I started to feel tingling, then heating up of my lower back, and again feeling the pain disappearing.

    After this I watched sifu performing stances cycle but I just didn’t get the point here, maybe the torso and the body are always aligned?

    In the last few minutes I followed sifu in simple weight-shifting and turning exercises, actually this part was quite subtle, I felt it had parts of unweighted foot/unweighted knee but also felt the body movements being guided.

    Best wishes,
    Aron

  2. Subject: Lesson 28/4/2015

    At the beginning of the skype lesson my mind was restless and reactive and my body tired.
    During practice I felt that my body slowly melted and my mind surrendered.
    We practised a new style and then I had to look at the other student and compare it with Sifu and my movement. I could feel the difference between the practice where the mind drives the body. The movement was also almost correct only physically. Looking at the style of Sifu I felt the body as an instrument of Energy, was the stream that drove the body and watching mind .
    When I practiced my style after observing Sifu I perceived at the conscious level as us only with our minds we block the flow that otherwise would flow naturally.
    I tried to close my eyes for a moment and totally surrendering even though the mind was there to remember the style of the new body was to be suspended over the normal forces that govern nature. Simply flowed.
    I believe that for a moment I really felt the immense and infinite greatness of Yuan Chi Tai Chi Chuan at the conscious level.
    The lessons are becoming a gift of infinite depth.
    Thank you.
    Jay Shri Mataji !!!

  3. Subject: Re: 04.09: Revision feedback 2

    At the end of the lesson we conducted the invisible exercise – “neither assist nor resist” – with closed eyes, during which I felt Sifu pushing and pulling me several times, resulting in my moving round the room and sometimes losing balance.
    Please note: these are Skype lessons.

  4. At the start of our skype lesson today Sifu had me stand facing him with my eyes closed. I felt energy transfer across the ether which put me into balance.
    Result? Felt healed and grateful with a really bad backache removed by the effortless flow of Yuan-Chi.
    Tip from today´s lesson: stretching during class actually blocks the flow.

  5. After the technical exercises we did a kind of energetic exercise; I cannot go into details right now as I’ve got no idea what the moves were about, actually they are not part of the 108. Really simple, small and slow movements as if the purpose(main point) was not the movement at all, but energy flow.

    At a certain point I felt myself losing balance, as if my coordination got lost or something unbalanced me, as if someone just pushed me without touching me. Unfortunately through the Skype camera I couldn’t figure out every move.

    After this part we did the remote{by skype, between Romania and Australia} push/pull exercise with eyes closed. I felt a push on the left side of the body, then on both sides, after this a pull in front.

  6. Subject: Lesson

    Sifu thanks for the wonderful lessons via SKYPE ..
    …at the end of the lesson earlier I could not even speak a single word in English. My mind went blank and entered into a state of deep meditation.
    After the lesson I did three times the “middle-aged snake” and then I sat in meditation; it was difficult to come out of this state.
    Every day I feel stronger and more detached and in peace and this gives me the clarity to see everything very well.
    JSM
    http://www.constantbalance.com/claudia-confides/

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