Newsletter #107 - July 2010

In this issue:

Hello Everyone,

I have been approached many times to organise a tai chi trip to China. The idea was appealing but time constraints and other factors prevented it from eventuating until March/April this year. It was such an inspiring trip for me and all who took part I decided to devote this newsletter to share our experience with you.

It was during dinner after a successful workshop in Florida in 2008 that the idea struck home. Caroline Demoise’s idea of a group of us practising tai chi on the Great Wall and Susan Scheuer’s interest to see my home in China resonated with me. We also went to places I always wanted to visit: Wudangshan, the legendary birthplace of tai chi, Huangshan with its mysterious mountains and Hangzhou the most beautiful city in China.

The feeling of being at the birthplace of tai chi and practising tai chi as a group in all these places was amazing. Our tai chi would never be the same. We saw incredible temples built on cliff faces, tasted sumptuous foods from different regions, and stayed in five star hotels. There was the bonding, the fun, the emotional encounter when I introduced my tai chi family to some of the family members I grew up with are things I will never forget. For most of us it was a trip of a life time. You can read contributions from different participants who went on this tour including one by Maureen Miller which appeared a couple months ago here.

After my time in China I spent three weeks in Singapore where Tai Chi for Health has reached out to thousands through their People’s Association. The People’s Association is a government body which started facilitating Tai Chi for Health classes in 2008. Within one year 151 classes were running with a total 3608 participants. On 15 May 2010, PA organised a Tai Chi for Wellness meeting. Initially only expecting 600 participants, on the day over 1,800 people showed up! Please view photos of meeting.

The USA workshop in Tacoma last month was a resounding success. You will hear more about the workshop plus articles and video clips in the August newsletter. My three months overseas workshop tour ended with a cruise to Alaska with some Tai Chi friends. Dan Presser from FourWinds coordinated this cruise. There was a large room reserved for us from 7am to 9 am each day during the cruise for tai chi practice and we certainly made good use of that. At the farewell party, Dan generously donated USD $1,500 to the Tai Chi for Health Institute for the purpose of scholarship fund for future one week workshops in the USA in honour of his wife Dr Stephanie Taylor. This gift also commemorates the inauguration of the Tai Chi for Health Institute in a few weeks time. Photos of the Alaskan trip are posted online.

In this newsletter:

• John Upfield’s fascination of China is shown by his detailed account of the cities he visited.
• Jef Morris likened climbing the 10,000 steps in Wudangshan to the spirit of tai chi.
• For Joanne Zeitler, the China tour was a yin and yang experience.
• While Maree Chadwick, it was a gastronomic experience.
• Jennifer Chung shares with us the historic Tai Chi for Health mass meeting in Singapore where over 1,800 attended.
  

• China Tour Photos CD: 200 full size digital photos of the China Tour
• China Tour DVD: Videos of the Tai Chi tour team at the Great Wall, Hangzhou, Wudangshan and Shantou, plus a specially edited video clip on the trip.

Buy a China Tour Photos CD together with a China Tour DVD and you will receive Dr Lam's Alaska Tour Photos CD free! Worth USD $25.00 or AUD $25.00.

Limit to one order per person. Click here for more information or to place your order.

 

Upcoming workshops: by Dr Paul Lam

July 15 - July 16, 2010. Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand
Tai Chi 4 Kidz Instructor Training

July 17 - July 18, 2010. Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand
Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis

 

July 24 - July 25, 2010. Sydney, NSW, Australia
Tai Chi for Arthritis Instructor Training

July 24 - July 25, 2010. Sydney, NSW, Australia
Tai Chi for Diabetes Instructor Training

July 24 - July 25, 2010. Sydney, NSW, Australia
Tai Chi for Arthritis Part ll & Update

August 14 - August 15, 2010. Sydney, NSW, Australia
Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis

 

September 16 - September 17, 2010. Hurst, TX, United States
Tai Chi 4 Kidz Instructor Training

 

September 18 - September 19, 2010. Hurst, TX, United States
Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis

September 25 - September 26, 2010. Sebring, FL , United States
Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis

October 2 - October 3, 2010. Chicago, IL, United States
Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis

October 16 - October 17, 2010. Bern, Switzerland
Tai Chi for Osteoporosis Instructor Training

October 21 - October 22, 2010. Nottingham, United Kingdom
Tai Chi for Osteoporosis Instructor Training

October 23 - October 24, 2010. Nottingham, United Kingdom
Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis

 

Many other workshops conducted by my authorised master trainers are listed in Workshop Calendar.

 

Yours in Tai Chi,

 

 

 

Paul Lam, M.D.

http://www.taichiproductions.com

 

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Discovering China
John Upfield, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

 

I am not sure just when it was that I first added China, and specifically The Great Wall, to my list of places I wanted to visit. It was at least 25 years ago, and the realities of the time pushed such thoughts into the background. So when the opportunity came to join Dr. Lam and 16 members of his team on a trip to China it was a dream come true.

 

Beijing: The Forbidden City, Tian An Men Square, The Temple of Heaven, The Summer Palace – all places on the “traditional” list of places to go – were interesting; but a bicycle rickshaw ride through the narrow streets of a Hutong neighbourhood showed the people at work and home. It gave me a better understanding for the people. The Great Wall was undoubtedly the highlight of this first stop on our trip - and I was able to check off one item from my “bucket list” of things to do in my lifetime.

 

Wudang Mountain: This visit to the place generally considered as the birthplace of tai chi turned out to be the highlight of the trip for me. Our first stop on the mountain was the Purple Cloud Temple. After the group performed tai chi in the entry courtyard, we made our way up into the many layers of the temple. As I explored this 900-year old Taoist holy place I found myself drawn back to the main temple, and while I stood in meditation an elderly attendant quietly brought a chair for me to sit and continue my contemplation. I felt completely at home. Over the next day and a half we explored several other places on this amazing mountain.

 

Shantou: This south coast city of 5 million has a climate and vegetation similar to what I had experienced in Florida. After tai chi at the waterfront, we visited beautiful gardens and parks in the city. The next day we drove to nearby Chaozhou, where we wandered across a floating bridge, through the old city wall, into a local market area full of small shops and street vendors selling just about everything imaginable. After lunch in that area, our bus took us to the area where Dr. Lam’s family lives. We were warmly greeted and shown around, visited with the family members, sharing tea before reluctantly heading back to our bus to continue our journey knowing that we now had a connection to a family that lives in China.

 

Hangzhou: We travelled by air and bus to this fascinating city just west of Shanghai. That afternoon we visited an old Buddhist temple and wandered its grounds. That night we saw a Dance and Light Show on the city’s West Lake. The next day we visited the site of Mao Tse Tung’s private villa in the Hangzhou area. This large estate is now property of the Chinese Government, and is open to the public when not in use for formal State occasions. We walked the extensive gardens, performed tai chi on the Lakefront of West Lake, and had Lunch at the Guest House Restaurant.

 

Yellow Mountain: Our last stop was to the famous mountains of Huangshan. We took a long cable car ride up the mountain to our hotel for the night, and spent the afternoon and next morning exploring this area that is frequently the subject of pictures looking down on the clouds from the mountain tops. A beautiful silk wall hanging of white cranes came home with us and now hangs in Caroline’s tai chi study as a remembrance of this amazing journey.

To see slide shows of the trip, go to www.innerpathtaichi.com
Select the Links tab on the first page and Scroll down to the previews of Part 1 or Part 2 and Click on the large flashing arrow in the previews.

 

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10,000 Steps - Waking within Your Breath
Jef Morris, Master Trainer, Miami, Fl, USA

 

The local tour guide was the head of the dragon, as we climbed up, and down the 10,000 steps to our hotel. Carol Lu, our lead guide, and Great Mother was the tail of the dragon, so we would not wonder off to far. Marta Venegas, and I were often taking one step at a time, behind the tail of the dragon.

 

We were quite a team, Marta’s knee began to bother her, and I thought my heart was going to explode right out of my chest. So we stopped and looked at each other, and to catch our breath. I looked at Marta and said we need to set our intentions, and here is our mantra for each step:

 

At the end of life, one more step,...
At the end of Life, one more breath,...
At the end of life, one more smile,...
At the end of life, one more tear,...
At the end of life, one more step,...

This is how we climbed part of Wudangshan,...

 

Later, Janet Cromb walked beside me and offer that I might want to walk within my breath. And I had to stop and think, climbing these 10,000 steps was no different than Brush Knees, breathing while moving. It was interesting that within a few steps there was no strain in my heart, and I was breathing with ease.

The more time walking the mountain, you feel the spirit of Tai Chi, and your insights grow.

 

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China Tour
Joanne Zeitler, Senior Trainer,

 

The China Tour with Dr. Lam was a yin/yang experience for me.

The “yin” being an amazing personal journey of connecting Eastern Culture values & beliefs that drew me to study Oriental History in college 45 years ago and also drew me to the study & practice of Tai Chi 12 years ago.

 

The “yang” being an incredible adventure with my Tai Chi Family – bus rides, plane rides, visiting tombs, temples, palaces, parks, trying new foods, climbing many steps, getting rained on, laughing, discovering, meeting Paul’s family & feeling our Tai Chi Family instantly grow, and most of all playing tai chi in places pulsing with tai chi energy & feeling our tai chi evolving to another level.

 

Thank you Paul, for making this amazing journey & incredible adventure possible!

 

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China Tour: The amazing food of China, varied and fascinating food experiences on our Tai Chi Journey with Dr Paul and Eunice Lam
Maree Chadwick, Senior Trainer, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

I went to China for Tai Chi and friendship, and found myself part of a gastronomic merry go round. From our first walk down a Beijing street, to our final breakfast in Shanghai, our food experiences were full of surprises. So many highs, so few lows.

 

We soon learnt that colour, aroma and taste are the features of Chinese food. Whether on the colourful food barrows, in the streets, or in restaurants, it’s a feast for the senses. We ate in some dazzling surroundings, a few more subdued, but everywhere the variety was astonishing. Meals back home seem limited now somehow.

 

In Shantou, street carts sold pastries, roasted chestnuts and sweet corn, mango on a stick. In Wudang town we saw the “Wudang Martial Arts Flaky Pastry Store”! We spent much time in the mountains where meat was less available, so for Vegetarians it was “heaven on a plate” though different from their usual fare.

 

 

Our welcome banquet at a Peking Duck Specialty restaurant, saw us offered an amazing array of food: Crispy Melon; Chicken and Green Beans; Seasoned Dried Beef; Jellied Chicken; Mushroom broth and then Duck Sanchoy Bau, duck soup, duck feet, duck neck bones - even before the Peking Duck arrived, what a start to the tour.

 

Huangzhou on West Lake is renowned for both its scenic beauty and its delicious traditional food. Many ingredients come from the lake and river, so Lotus and other water plants are used, as well as fish, chicken and duck.

 

We sampled local specialities at both the lavish Weizhuanghu Lakeside Restaurant in Hongli Villa near Yonggong causeway (during our farewell dinner with our Beijing travel agent), and also at Chairman Mao’s sumptuous former lakeside retreat, surrounded by glorious traditional gardens summerhouses and shaded walkways, “Like looking out from a painting”, said a fellow traveller. These included the following:

1. Jiaohuaji Beggars Roast Chicken (Talk about yin/yang) eaten in sumptuous surroundings of Chairman Mao’s villa restaurant. It was presented in a frothy nest, the dark lotus leaves peeled back to reveal a chicken baked with mushrooms and herbs, fragrant, tender delicious. In the old days, beggars would seal a chicken in clay and roast it over their fire, hence this dish.

2. Dongpo Braised Pork, skin, fat and pork meat cooked together gives a moist juicy result (one can leave the fat, Eunice told me and she was right). Delicious.

 

3. West Lake Brasenia Soup, contains a rare traditional water plant – healthy and delicious.

Travelling south to Paul’s home area of Shantou/Chaozhou, we began to hear about their local specialities, such as: Oyster Pancake (which Paul cooks well, according to Eunice), specially prepared duck and my new favourite dish – fresh prawns steamed with local tea (a very subtle taste and fragrance).

Throughout the tour, meals often featured:

1. TOFU: every which way – soft and silken or firm; in soup, deep fried, marinated, baked, stir fried, rolled in herbs or combined with vegetables. At our Wudang Shan vegetarian banquet, tofu dishes resembled chicken, pork, ham, sausages and even orange fluoro prawns!!

2. FISH: fillets or whole; steamed, baked, fried - from whole fish interleaved with bacon to tiny whole fish deep fried complete with fins, mouths and teeth.

3. VEGETABLES: a dazzling variety and many combinations.
Dinner often finished with sliced fruit, such as watermelon, guava, cherry tomatoes and once a chocolate car with a sign that read “don’t drink if you are driving”!

 

We were fortunate to have Paul, Eunice and our guide Carol to interpret both the menus and the new taste sensations, which make up the Smorgasbord that is Chinese food.

 

A few sample menus to wet your appetite:

 

Plum Flower Restaurant Shantou
Assorted pickles
1. Duck gizzards, neck muscle and bones
2. Corn, cucumber, red pepper and diced cuttlefish
3. Pork with greens and bamboo
4. Flat rice noodles stir fried
5. Brown beans, potato, tiny dried shrimp and pine nuts
6. Fish with strips of ginger and red chilli
7. Oyster pancake
8. Tea steamed prawns
9. Steamed rice
10. Sliced potato
11. Soup
12. Fried bean curd
13. Glass noodles with soy sauce

 

Beijing Sunday dinner at a Cantonese-style restaurant

1. Tofu
2. Boiled chicken in a flowerpot
3. Sliced pork with orchid garnish
4. Seafood with noodles
5. Eggplant
6. Beef with snake beans
7. Double cooked belly pork on black fungus
8. Whole steamed fish
9. Sweet lotus root filled with rice paste
10. Green beans with herbs
11. Green melon with squid
12. Beef with peppers
13. Fried rice

 

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Mass Tai Chi Singapore - 15th May 2010
Jennifer Chung, Master Trainer, Singapore

 

How it came about?

 

September 2009, after completion of 2 continuous TCH workshops by Dr Lam, the groups – Dr. Lam. Dr. Raymond Lau, Simon, Gladys and myself went for a drink as well as a group meeting discussing plan for year 2010. Dr. Lau and myself, suggested doing a mass tai chi event in May 2010 when Dr. Lam will be in Singapore.

 

At the same time, People’s Association set up the TCH Task Force Team. Dr. Lau – Chairman of the Team, supported by Gladys Tan, Jennifer Chung and SE Tan looking after Capability Development through “Train-the-Trainer workshops, Creating Interest Group Activities, Awareness and Outreach programs. Others in Task force committees also help to assist in the activities.

 

People’s Association (PA): Motto - Bringing People Together
Mission: To Build and to Bridge Communities to achieve one people, one Singapore, they initiate and offer a wide range of programs and services to cater to the needs and interests of Singaporeans from all walks of life.

Their new Active Ageing Councils set up to help more seniors aged 50 years and above to eat right, exercise, stay active and make friends through their various activities and wellness programs.

 

Year 2010 is also PA’s 50 Anniversary. With the strong support from PA, their Group Director wants the Mass Tai Chi, a high point event for 2010. Planning started in December 2009. SE Tan, Chairman of the Awareness and Outreach program, help to co-ordinate and working through all the meetings and reports preparing for the big event.

 

May 15th 2010, an important and memorable day for all TCH participants and trainers. A total of over 2,000 peoples attended the event, 45 mins of doing Tai Chi lead by Dr. Paul Lam together with other activities like Tai Chi try out, healthy eating, TCH health talks.

 

What we achieved – Managed to create awareness and spreading the Tai Chi for Health Programs in Singapore, ringing more people to do Tai Chi so they can lead a healthy lifestyle and wellness for themselves.

 

The magic ingredients: A dash of humour, plenty of hard work and lots of team effort – many hands make light work, lots and lots of great support from PA, make the success of this1st Mass Tai Chi Event in Singapore.

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Humour, Laughter and Radiant Health
Dr Bob McBrien, Salisbury, MD, USA

 

This month's essay will be of special interest to readers who are lexophiles. Thanks go out to Gordon Hallberg from Garden City, Kansas, a reader of the newsletter. Gordon answered my call for examples of healthy humor. He e-mailed me recently with his contribution. I am happy to share some examples of plays on words that entertain lexophiles.

But first we need a definition for this curious word. A lexophile is a person who loves words and word plays (including puns).

Here are some examples:

• A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
• A will is a dead giveaway.
• The guy who fell on to an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
• You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
• He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
• A calendar's days are numbered.
• When you've seen one shopping centre you've seen a mall.
• If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
• When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
• Acupuncture: a jab well done.
• A sling shot was confiscated from algebra class, it was
  a weapon of math disruption.
• No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationary.
• Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
• A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.
• When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said,
  "No change yet".

 

Have you decided if you are a lexophile?

Readers who have examples of humor that is uplifting, and want to share the fun may contact me at: drbobtaichi@juno.com

 

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END OF NEWSLETTER
Warning: Dr. Lam does not necessarily endorse the opinion of other authors. Before practicing any program featured in this newsletter, please check with your physician or therapist. The authors and anyone involved in the production of this newsletter will not be held responsible in any way whatsoever for any injury which may arise as a result of following the instructions given in this newsletter.

 

Ask Dr Lam- you can ask me anything about tai chi here.

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