Newsletter #138 - February 2013

In this issue:

• From me to you, Paul Lam
• Tai Chi Teaching and Life Experiences, Krista Hom
• How Tai Chi has Helped Me, Bob Schlag
• Tai Chi Principles as Guidelines for Living, Caroline Demoise
• Sharing Tai Chi with a Loved One with Alzheimer’s, Alex Penny
• A Tai Chi Poem, Jodie Maloney
• Humour, Laughter and Radiant Health, Bob McBrien

Click on the title above to read the articles, this link to read all previous newsletters and here to subscribe.

Hello Everyone,

With the excitement of the 15th Annual workshop in Sydney and the 10th Annual workshop in the USA over, I have been amazed at the participants’ progression of tai chi level each year. The camaraderie, sharing of positive spirit and friendships continue to grow and improve. As it was the 15th anniversary of the Sydney workshop this year, we had some special features. More scholarships than before were awarded, and we had the inaugrial talent show. Everyone at the show, including myself, either laughed till their jaws were stiff or were moved to tears. At the conclusion of the show everyone sang in one spirit.

I opened the January 2013 Sydney workshop with a talk on ”How Tai Chi Can Empower You” which you can view on this youtube link.

Immediately after the workshops I flew to New York City to see my 91-year-old mother who has been diagnosed with a terminal condition. She was discharged from hospital by the time I arrived and is now under the home hospice care program. When I visited her, she was pale, confused and tired.

Many carers have told me they have used this program in aged care, retirement homes or rehab settings. I have heard of cases where the clients start doing the program and then the staff and relatives join in. The energy and bonding make everyone feel better. You can read an example of this in Alex Penny’s article this month where she shared Seated TCA with her mother who is an Alzheimer’s sufferer.

In this newsletter:

• Krista Hom shares with us her trials and tribulations of tai chi teaching and life experiences.
• Bob Schlag inspires us with his story of how tai chi has benefited him.
• Caroline Demoise talks about staying within your comfort zone as you integrate tai chi principles into your life.
• Alex Penny describes the enjoyment of a new pathway of communication and mother-daughter bonding that occurs through the tai chi movements.
• Through poetry Jodie Maloney expresses her appreciation to the TCA class in the 2013 Annual Sydney one-week workshop.

Upcoming workshops:

May 11 - 12  Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis

Singapore, Singapore

May 16 - 17 Exploring the Depth of Tai Chi for Arthritis

East Molesey, Surrey, United Kingdom

 

May 16 - 17 Tai Chi for Kidz Instructor Training

East Molesey, Surrey, United Kingdom

 

May 18 - 19 Tai Chi for Energy Instructor Training

Esher, Surrey, United Kingdom

Jun 01 - 02 Tai Chi for Energy Instructor Training

Madrid, Spain

Jun 08 - 09 Tai Chi for Beginners Instructor Training

New London, CT, United States

 

Jun 10 - 15 One Week Tai Chi Workshop

New London, CT, United States
  
Many other workshops conducted by my authorised master trainers are listed in Workshop Calendar.

Yours in Tai Chi,

 

Paul Lam, MD
/taichiforhealthinstitute.org/

 

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Tai Chi Teaching and Life Experiences
Krista Hom, Tai Chi for Health Instructor, Phoenix, AR, USA

 

The Arthritis Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona, has chosen Krista Hom to be the Honouree for a fund raising event called, “Oscar Experience”.  She will be giving the following speech regarding her life’s journey with health and tai chi.

 

“I have been fighting to CURE Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).  I have lived with RA all my life.  RA has been in my family for generations.  My grandfather and mother had it.  My mother was stricken with RA when I was just a toddler.  Mom became crippled in several short months.  She subsequently lost her nursing career, all while raising three small children and she was only in her 30’s.  Through all the broken bones, bleeding ulcers and RA complications, our family admired her strength.  She was the rock of the family.

 

When I was 23, I had a brainstem stroke.  I was paralysed on the left side of my body and numb on the right side.  I could not swallow, I could barely speak and I had double vision.  The doctor informed my parents that I would not survive through the night.  The doctor woke me up the next morning.  My life was blessed with the Grace of God.

After many weeks of physical therapy, the doctor told my parents that I would NEVER walk again.  As I lay in my hospital bed, my mother sitting next to me was having a Lupus attack.  And my father, with a worried look on his face, had been laid off from his job recently.  I looked at the doctor and told him, “You have no idea who you are dealing with”.  Our family worked through all our challenges, what made this struggle any different? 

 

Finally, several weeks later I was able to go home because I could swallow water.  Since I could not work, I lost my health benefits.  Because I lost my healthcare, my father would put a life jacket on me and place me in the pool for therapy.  Six months later, I am proud to say; I walked without a walker or cane into my doctor’s office.  My walking skills were shaky, but none the less, I could walk.  The look on his face was ‘priceless’.  He was so thrilled that he showed me off to the other doctors.  I had conquered my odds, my sceptics and my strength. 

 

In 2004, my sister and I were diagnosed with RA.  I remembered my Mom had promised that we would not get this disease.  I became very depressed.  I felt as if this was my death sentence.  There were no life jackets this time.  This should be the best time of my life!  I just married Henry, and my son, Colin was in high school.  I knew that I needed a doctor who believed in health like I did.  My prayers were answered with Dr Paul Howard. Simply put, Dr Howard saved my life.

I knew that I had to take charge of my life, so I went to the Arthritis Foundation’s website and found that tai chi was suggested as a good exercise program.  I called the Arizona Office – to be told there were no instructors.  I told Dr Howard about tai chi and he told me, “Krista, you should learn tai chi and teach!”  I took his suggestion and was certified a year later.” 

That’s my speech!   Now, I would like to tell you about several experiences my tai chi teaching.

 

First, when I returned to Arizona after being TCA certified, I was so excited to tell my other tai chi teachers of Dr Lam’s TCA program.  To my surprise, they responded negativity toward Dr Lam and his programs.  I was hurt terribly.  I decided that I couldn’t become a teacher.  It was the mental “attacks” from the other tai chi teachers that I had practiced with. They crushed my aspirations to teach.  With a troubled heart, I called the woman who had certified me, master trainer Robin Malby in California.  She calmly answered with a positive voice and told me, “There are many people who do not understand the TCA program.  We are guides.  We teach people a tool they can use to strengthen their health and promote their own healing. ” I trusted her words, went out and found classes to teach the TCA program, which is so very unique.  I call her often when I need her Guidance. 

 

Second, I had a fear to tell people that I had a stroke.  I thought it would discourage people to hire or practice with me.  Again, I called Robin Malby.  She told me, “Some of the best instructors are often the wounded.  The ones who have lived through a health crisis or some other challenge and have come out the other side the wiser.”  Her words encouraged me to be an inspiration to others!

 

The moral of this story is:  Call your teacher!  Tell her/him how things are going in your practice.  Listen to their wisdom when it rings true. Also, listen and trust your own strength and courage.    Now, I teach at three retirement communities, Dr Howard’s office and a company’s fitness program!  If you have the opportunity to meet Dr Lam… it’s an experience of a lifetime.  I have been blessed to have met and practiced with him. 

 

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How Tai Chi has Helped Me
Bob Schlag, student, St Marys, GA, USA

 

My name is Bob Schlag and I have 2 years’ experience with Tai Chi. I have been privileged to take lessons from Nancy Tuccillo and Maureen Miller.  What I like best is that they stress safety first, ensuring that the student does not injure themselves.  This is very important to me because I have very severe arthritis in both knees.  Eight years ago the doctor said that if I were 10 years older, he would recommend replacement of the knees.

 

The point of this article is to tell my story about how Tai Chi has helped me.  Anyone with arthritis of the knees knows that not only does it affect your knees but also, because you limp, it affects your hips.  Tai Chi does not take away all the pain but it definitely helps me get through the day.  If I cannot do a form when I get up in the morning, I at least do the exercises.  This stretching of the muscles and joints is very important so you do not injure yourself.  I try to do some type of form at least three times per week.  It does not have to be Tai Chi for Arthritis.  It can be any form of Tai Chi for health.  I noticed that if I do this on a regular basis I can walk further and stand longer.

 

The story does not end there.  Since I am over weight (by a large amount), I am having gastric bypass.  I can no longer take my arthritis medicine (for the rest of my life).  When I came off of the medicine, my knees started to hurt more and more.  I have increased my Tai Chi to almost daily and I definitely can tell the difference.  Some pain is still there but is more tolerable.

I am not a physician so I cannot prescribe this activity, but it is worth the try.  The Tai Chi principles have helped me.

 

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Tai Chi Principles as Guidelines for Living
Caroline Demoise, Master Trainer, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

When you apply tai chi principles to every situation in life, you achieve the best possible outcome. This does not mean you win every encounter. Quite the contrary, the objective is to learn from every situation, actively embrace the process of learning and emerge from every life experience with new insights. Life is the process of growth and change. When you learn to relax into each situation, remain aware and responsive, the tai chi principles will teach you to be successful. Integrating the principles and utilizing them in every circumstance you encounter in life makes you a formidable, resilient human being. When you have internalized tai chi’s principles beyond solo practice or push hands training, there is nothing to fear in life.

 

My understanding of the purpose of life is to fully explore and integrate our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects. When all your vehicles of expression harmoniously work together, you actualize your potential on the planet. The physical body and emotional body have limitations that must be honoured. Maintaining a high quality of performance requires periods of rest after expending energy in life. Health is a question of balance; so overall success depends on supporting the weakest link. As a human being, your weakest links are physicality and emotionality. Spirituality is unlimited. When you have achieved an inner alignment connecting you to spirit, a vast unlimited potential is available to you. What we think of as mind is connected to universal mind, another unlimited space. Alignment with these unlimited potentials unfolds uniquely within each individual. There are many pathways to this level of enlightenment. The underlying principles of tai chi are a blueprint for achieving this level of integration when you practice these principles beyond solo practice and apply them to every moment of your life.

 

Alignment principles go deeper than arranging your physical body so qi can flow, muscles can move with maximum coordination and achievement of fluid physical expression is realized. Alignment includes moving beyond your thinking mind to access the unlimited space of universal mind. Sensing a potential movement before it happens, allowing you to respond in a situation or manoeuvre to block an action as it is occurring, comes from a deep inner alignment. Alignment has an outer expression visible in your physical body and an inner component when you connect to the unlimited mental realm or to the spiritual dimension of life. Achieving balance, when combining a limited resource like your physical body and an unlimited resource like your mental body, is tricky. When you discover the potential power of your unlimited mental body, you want to identify with that capacity and insist that your physical body keep up. This is where people need to be mindful of their limitations so they can remain in balance. Dr Lam calls it staying within your comfort zone.

 

I can speak from experience about the challenges of balancing the limited physical body with the unlimited capacity of the mental and spiritual bodies during an intensive weeklong teaching experience. When you are flowing in a fast moving current of creative expression responding to multiple demands in the energy vortex of workshop with a hundred and fifty people, it is challenging to remain in balance. One workshop in particular was a blissful spiritual experience for me. I was in a flow of energy at a cruising altitude far beyond my physical body’s ability to keep pace. Creative and spiritual energy carried my body out of its comfort zone. Spiritual energy trumps the need of the physical body for sleep. The energy of the workshop experience carried me along. I felt alive and blissful, although I only slept a few hours each night. My physical body showed signs of distress in the form of gastrointestinal complaints. I could feel my brain struggling to articulate the exact word I wanted and noticed a decrease in coordination occasionally. And it took awhile of nurturing after the workshop to restore my nervous system and physical body.

 

Contemplating how that workshop had unfolded led to a deeper understanding of the importance of taking into consideration the limitations of physicality and the importance of nurturing yourself during an intense experience to maintain balance as you go through life, rather than having to repair the damage afterwards. Understanding the deeper meaning of Dr Lam’s golden rule in teaching to stay within your comfort zone is firmly etched in my consciousness as a result of this experience. This golden rule applies to teachers as well as students. Finding alignment and balance applies to acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of all four areas of functioning (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) to keep life running smoothly and maintain health.

 

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I feel so fortunate to have tai chi in my life. I first came to Dr Lam's workshop over 5 years ago because of arthritis and balance issues. Tai chi was not only a healthy solution to my physical challenges but also offered a fellowship of people that I can share the benefits and love of tai chi. In June of this year, I shared the gift of tai chi with my 88 year old mother. She has been slowly deteriorating over the last 5 years with the dreaded disease of Alzheimer’s and lives in a memory support facility.  She had fallen several times over the years, however; luckily she did not break any bones.  A week after I returned home from the June 2012 tai chi workshop in Mississippi - my mother had fallen again - this time sustaining a terrible contusion on her face.  She had physical therapy in the past but this time I thought of trying tai chi. Sitting across from her I started with the warm-up exercises and was delighted to see my mother imitate the movements. Encouraged by her willingness of participation - I then continued with Seated TCA and the cool down.  She had a big smile on her face!  We were not only having fun but also enjoying the new pathway of communication and mother-daughter bonding that was occurring thru the tai chi movements. 

Inside the room where Tai Chi began one warm Monday morn.

From river rock to mountain top the valley spreads wide
The cane fields and luscious land with the creeks running aside
The dogs and me would sit together and watch the valley sky
And the great ranges wrapping round the valley so high.

A source for laughter is the humorous signs English speaking travelers encounter in the non-English speaking countries they visited. The year my family and I lived in Japan there was a road construction site with a sign warning drivers, “Slow men working.”

• In a Japanese hotel room:  Please to bathe inside the tub.
• In a Bucharest hotel lobby: The lift is being fixed for the next day, during that time we regret that you will be unbearable.
• In a Yugoslavian hotel: The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.  
• In a Hong Kong supermarket: For your convenience, we recommend courteous, efficient self-service.
• Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop: Ladies may have a fit upstairs.
• In a Rome laundry: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time.
• In a Chinese hotel: Drinking excessively, making great noise or playing recorder loudly in hotel is forbidden.
• In Tokyo: Please use escalator on your behind