Posts tagged world tai chi day

Black Belt Leaders have Self Control.

By on January 30, 2012

One of the most valuable things that martial arts students learn is self control, the ability to think before you act.  We do this through the discipline of managing ourselves, and to be honest, learning to manage force, power, and violence.  Most little boys at one time or another turn a banana into a gun, play fight and wrestle, and display other forms of “play violence.”  Little girls do as well, but differently. As a father of only girls I was amazed to learn what girl world is like. It’s a scary place:). Basically, girls are violent as well, but it is much more Machiavellian.

My point is this, violence is an attempt to build power and as humans we seek power.  This in and of itself is not a bad thing, but this power needs to be honed and focused towards positive ends.  This is where a martial arts education in self control is so important.  We address force, power, and violence directly and teach how to control these things, this quest for personal power, and how to shape the power we seek into a positive direction instead of a destructive one.

Here is a short video with this lesson as it will be taught in class.

For more information about our school click here.

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Join our new QiGong and Meditation class!

By on January 4, 2012


By popular demand we are now offering a QiGong and Meditation class every Monday night at 7pm beginning on January 9th. This class will center completely around building chi with the objective of solidifying the relationship of the mind leading the chi and the chi leading body.  We will use Yi Jin Jing QiGong, Primordial QiGong, and a few other forms of getting chi to flow.

QiGong can be used for three main functions: power in the martial arts, physical fitness and harmony, and the pursuit of personal development and enlightenment.  This class will not touch on martial arts at all and will focus entirely on the health and meditative aspects of QiGong.

These practices have been used to create and maintain good health in China for around 4000 years.  Having lived in China, the Chinese are a very intelligent and practical people. The only reason to do something that long is that it works.

Try this class once for free.  You will find that this is the perfect addition to your current fitness practices, and is a great very low impact way to get started on a fitness program regardless of your current level of health.

Stop by on Monday night from 7-8pm to try one class out for free.  If you have further questions call 828-713-0765 or email dctai@charter.net.

 

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Dealing with Negative Peer Pressure.

By on October 4, 2011

Our personal safety topic for this testing cycle is How to Deal with Negative Peer Pressure.

It’s tough being a kid.  One of the things that makes it so is Peer Pressure.  Some peer pressure can be good, but some can be negative.  As parents there are a few things we can do to monitor what is going on in this regard.

1) Create a relationship with your kids that enables them to speak honestly with you about anything.  This is easy to say and hard to do, but do  your best.

2) Keep tabs on who your kids friends are and get to know their parents.  This way both sets of parents can help to steer both kids away from negative behavior.

3) Do your very best to instill a positive system of values in your kids.  If  your kids have a strong sense of what’s right they will be less likely to do things they know are wrong.

Here are some tips that kids can do when faced with Negative Peer Pressure.

1) Know thyself.  Have strong moral values.  Be a person who works to be the good guy, not the bad guy.

2) Stand up for yourself.  It is okay to not do something that you know is wrong.  Use the 5 ways of saying no as a good guideline as to how to do this.

3) Pick friends with similar values to you.  If somebody claims to be your friend, but they want you to do something that you know is wrong, then this person is not your friend.

4) Talk about it.  Talk about this with your parents and teachers.  They can help.

5) Be a positive influence. Remember, part of being a good martial artist and a Black Belt Leader is to be a positive influence on others, not to be negatively influenced by them.

For this testing cycle our students can write a short report on this subject along with their thoughts on the matter(or draw a picture about this if they can’t write yet) for an extra credit prize from the prize box!

For more information about our school, click here.

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Porter’s Black Belt Challenge: Compassion

By on September 14, 2011

For his first tip on his Junior Black Belt, Porter had to read the Charter of Compassion and discuss it a little bit.  Here’s what he came up with.

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Hi Master Croley,

Summary of Charter of Compassion:

Compassion is to treat all other as we wish to be treated. To always speak respectfully to others and do not show hatred to one another. Not to be selfish to one another and always be kind.Compassion helps us relate and work better together. Compassion is the way to the creation of justice. That is what I think Compassion is.

What is Compassion and what does it have to do with being a good black belt and person?:

Compassion has to do with being a good person or black belt because if you have no respect to others you will not be liked.You have to display positive attitude towards other because if you do not do this you will not be respected.To be a good black belt or a good person you need to have good leadership and responsibility.That is what I think being a good black belt and person is.  

Thank you,

Porter

For more information about out school please click here.

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The value of “song.”

By on September 6, 2011

I enjoy a good tune as much as anybody, but in this case we are talking about the Chinese word “song,” meaning relax. Almost everybody carries a great deal of tension around in their minds and bodies. One of the first things we do in internal martial arts is to train relaxation. First to be relaxed while still, and then to be relaxed while moving.

This is incredibly valuable on many levels.  Firstis that this is obviously an excellent way to manage stress.   People carry emotional stress in their bodies, especially in their shoulders and neck.  The first thing we work on is to relax this area.  Pretty soon you will get so good at achieving “song” that you will be able to relax at will.

Second, you will find that being able to relax leads to a great deal of mental clarity. You will be able to immediately dump stress- enabling you to think more clearly under pressure. The trick of this is to relax the body and activate the mind.  In Chinese martial arts they say to have a relaxed body and an alive mind.  This enables your body to be empty and calm while your mind is aware and active.

Third,  the ability to relax is great for self defense.  It enables you be dead weight- which is difficult to for somebody else to move, and easy for you to maximize your personal power.

For more information about our school click here.

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UNCA Tai Chi Presentation

By on August 20, 2011

Yesterday I was privilidged to teach a group of incoming UNCA freshman a Tai Chi class!  There were a great group of kids and all of them did great.  The main jist of the presentation was on

1) What is Tai Chi,

2) What is chi really (beyond the lame “it’s like energy man” explaination),

3) what is internal power, and

4) what do you do with all this stuff: self defense, better health and fitness, stress release, etc.

If you are interested in a similar presentation for your school, organization, or work email me at dctai@charter.net.

If you would like information about our regular Tai Chi classes click here.

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Our Theme of This Cycle: Integrity

By on August 9, 2011

 

By our definition, Integrity means to always do what you think is right- no matter what everybody else is doing.  Here is a section from our students lesson packet.  

To have Integrity means to follow through with what you know is right. If you know, think, say, and believe what is right…follow through with it. Most of us know what is right.  We have an internal understanding of this. Don’t be fooled by anyone to go against this understanding of what you know inside. You will encounter many individuals who will knowingly or unknowingly attempt to sway you. Sometimes that person will be you. Be disciplined to stick to what is right by thinking and acting appropriately.

Your task for your next belt is 10 acts of Integrity. If you see someone doing or saying something you know is not right, respectfully suggest something or guide them to the right action. This may mean taking someone aside and having a polite discussion, role modeling the right way, writing them a note, pointing out someone else doing the right thing, and what benefits there are to doing so. This is sometimes difficult. However, this is what being a Black Belt Leader signifies: doing your best to live the virtues of the Black Belt all of the time, and showing (Leading the Way) others what benefits there are to doing so. Are you beginning to live by the Student Creed and the virtues of the Black Belt Leader?

Also, this cycle we are workig on defenses against grabs and locks from behind.

If you would like more information about our school just click here!

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So what is Chi really?

By on July 21, 2011

There is all kinds of information available on the subject of chi.  Much of it is correct from a certain point of view, but the problem is that chi is an oriental concept and doesn’t really translate very well to the western mind.  The differences in culture are really just as important as the differences in language- oriental people just think differently than we do.

So here it is.  Chi is change.  A change of state like ice to water.  A change of velocity- acceleration or deceleration.  A change in temperature.  The change of seasons.  The difference between air and wind. Chi is simply when something changes.

For martial arts we are interested initially in change as it pertains to your body.  The common termonology in internal martial arts is that a person has chi or does not have chi.  This is a silly statement as everybody has chi.  Your heart pumping is chi.  Your nervous system firing is chi.  Your body is always changing and moving, and therefore has chi until you die.  For this reason, chi is often defined as “life force” or “vital energy.”  This is true enough.

To have chi for martial arts means that you are using your core muscle agility to fuel your movements while the rest of your body is melted and empty, giving you a tremendous amount of efficiency and more power then you ever thought possible.  The change we are most interested in within your body is the change within the core muscles. Not tension, not relaxation, but movement.

When you can do this you will find that you can relax every other part of your body, giving you what is called empty force.  This means that not only will you have tremendous physical power, but you will achieve a much higher degree of physical health than the average person.  They used to call this the art of immortality as practitioners of these arts would live into their 70′s and 80′s when the average person lived to their mid 20s.

Learn more about how to build chi in your body for health, longevity, or whatever else you want, click here to find out more about our school.

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Abe’s Honesty Homework and Reading Assignment.

By on July 20, 2011

Not only do our students have to do their kung fu sequence for their next belt, they also have to write down 10 things that they could have lied about but chose to be honest instead as well as to read a martial arts related book.  Here is what Abe had to say about this.

HONESTY

1.  About what I did at home all day.

2.  Whether or not I had seven cups of water.

3.  If I brushed my teeth.

4.  If I exercized.

5.  If I did my chores.

6.  If I practiced Hebrew.

7.  If I fed the cat.

8.  If I fed the dogs.

9.  If I washed my face.

10. If I spent the whole day staring at a computer screen.

And for his reading project:

ABE’S TAKE AWAY FOR IRON AND SILK

I took three things away from this book.

1. Know matter what you are doing one should always get multiple perspectives.

2. One can’t do what they are trying to do if they don’t keep doing it.

3. There is no chance of getting what you want if you don’t ask for it.

If you would like more information about our school please click here.

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The Anti-Bullying Campaign Continues!

By on July 12, 2011

Yesterday I went to the Avery’s Creek YMCA Summer Camp to do a presentation on Bullying.  They seem to run a great camp over there, all of the kids were well behaved and participated in the conversation- which is always nice!

We talked about what a bully is, defining a bully as somebody who says or does something mean.  They had a lot of good examples of real bullying behavior.  We then talked about the three kinds of involvement in bullying- the victim, the bystander, and the bully.

The victim has a few rules to follow.  First, you are not allowed to be a human punching bag.  If somebody tries to hit you block, cover, dodge- whatever, but don’t let people hit you.  Second, tell the person to stop.  Third, tell the teacher, then tell your parents.  Fourth, create a written record of what happened- it may come in handy in the future.

The bystander also has a few things to take care of.  First, if it is within your power to intervene, do so.  For example, somebody calls somebody else a bad name you can say, “that wasn’t very nice. Why did you say that?” Then tell your teacher.  Second, if it is a more serious situation or of you feel things are beyond your ability to help, skip trying to intervene and just go tell the teacher.

The bully needs to do some rethinking.  Sometimes people bully others in an effort to feel more powerful, sometimes people bully others as a bad joke.  If you find yourself being a bully because it makes you feel more powerful you need to find a better way to build that feeling of power.  Try getting involved in sports.  If you just took a joke too far, or started a line of joking around that wasn’t cool to begin with, apologize to the person you were bullying and don’t do whatever you were doing again. 

This, in a nutshell is what we talked about.  One of  the best ways to empower yourself in any of these three roles is to enroll into a quality martial arts program.  Having high self esteem and self confidence with humility goes a long way in dealing with these issues, and that is what we specialize in.

For more information about our school please click here.

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