SESSION 30 JAN 2020 - CLEARING AND STRENGTHENING

Clearing and Strengthening with Tai Chi and Chi Kung

This is a video of Cheng Man-Ch'ing performing his own short form of Tai Chi. It's the form I learned myself and I wanted to let people see it partly because it's lovely to watch his gently controlled mastery (check out his "Snake Creeps Down" movement at about 3.45) but also because there's a couple of movements in it which I find really helpful for clearing and for revitalising.
REVITALISING, STRENGTHENING
Right at the start of the video, 0.06 to 014, there's a movement called "Lifting Water", simply lifting the hands gently up and down in front of you. It looks nothing at all at first glance but if you practise it slowly a few times while focusing on your energy centres in turn as I suggest for tuning in, using your hands to help you to focus on each one in turn, it can be come a very gentle but powerful movement.
CLEARING
There's a lot of movements in this form which are basically pushing, or pushing and deflecting. If you practise these with the intention of clearing unhelpful energy from your personal field or returning, dissipating or deflecting unhelpful energy that has been directed towards you, these can be very helpful in everyday life. If you practise you'll find that just imagining yourself doing these movements with that intention in a difficult situation can be surprisingly helpful...
TAI CHI AND CHI KUNG
Tai Chi, or Infinite Ultimate fighting system, is a martial art, Chi Kung, or energy development, gives its movements their power. Martial arts are not ultimately about fighting, if you see a situation as a fight you've already lost. The ultimate goal is peace, for the two parties to find a deeper understanding and a cooperative way together.
SESSION TODAY
If you can join in the session today why not try following some of these movements first - have a great session!

Bladder Meridian - 4th Session

The Free Remote Group Craniosacral Energy session coming up this Thursday 25th April will be the last one focused on the bladder meridian.

I saw this amazing photo by Christy Lee Rogers, "Harmony", in the paper - thought it was appropriate for our bladder/kidney focus

THE MUSIC OF THE HEART

I've been exploring the various different rhythms of our heart and circulation and I'm getting the idea that you can best understand them in terms of music. I got an idea that the four valves of the heart work together a bit like a barber's shop quartet whereas the chambers have a deep resonance more like those enormous Tibetan horns.

Then focusing into the blood flow itself, just as there's a slower rhythm within the cerebrospinal fluid than the craniosacral rhythm itself, there seems to be a series of longer and longer tides within our blood's circulation, the long tides of the heart, with a music that takes in all frequencies, like the sea on a pebbley shore.
If you'd like to set your intention to explore all this yourself during the Free Remote Session coming up on Thursday 1st of November I'd be fascinated to hear what you find. And if you'd like to ask for help with a health issue as well or instead that's cool too! At the end of the day, aren't all our health issues at least partly heart issues?

Hands-on and Remote Treatment - Latest News

Since we've moved back to Perth there's been some fascinating new developments in my therapy work - how great to be setting out afresh at the grand old age of 64... still 24 on the inside of course...

A Red Plum Branch against the Summer Moon

It's great to be seeing more patients in the hands-on way again. What I'm finding is that all the remote craniosacral energy work I've been doing over the last eight years has given me some fascinating insight into treating people in the hands-on way as well.

Tai Chi for Beginners - Weds 11 April - Inspire Dance Studio

Pretty much everyone who's come along to my Chi Kung Plus classes has been more interested in learning Tai Chi, so that's how I'm going to focus them now.
NEXT CLASS: Wednesday 11 April at Inspire Dance Studio, 7pm to 8pm.
I was looking for good images to use for posters and flyers, and some brilliant cat photos came up on Facebook. It's interesting that a lot of Tai Chi and other martial art movements come from the observation of animals: the snake fighting the crane, the "animal frolics", and so on.

Cat doing Tai Chi? Brilliant photos of cats playing by Hisakata Hiroyuki.

These classes are for complete beginners, and all ages and fitness levels. I've split the form I learned up into easy-to-learn chunks so that you will have something to practise straightaway. Though this makes it as simple as possible, and it's intended to be fun, there are many immediate benefits from learning Tai Chi: improved balance, suppleness, relaxation, better energy and much more. It might have its roots many hundreds of years ago in the mountains of China but Tai Chi is as relevant, or maybe even more so, than ever in a crazy, stressful world.

First Perth Chi Kung Plus Class

Thanks for your company everyone who came to the first class here in Perth last night, what a great bunch you are! Next class is in two weeks time, the 21st March, see you then. Inspire is a very friendly place and brilliant for teaching with its mirror wall, which makes it possible to demonstrate a move and watch people at the same time.
As well stretching and the personal and interpersonal energy work I had planned, I slipped in the Short Short Tai Chi form which I developed while I was helping Steve Jones to run and teach his Sector39 Permaculture courses back down in Shropshire.

Birth of the Short Short Form in Treflach Farmyard

Steve is really an afternoon-evening person whereas I'm more of a morning one, so it worked out well to fit in some Tai Chi before classes started, and the students found it really helpful. The courses were just two weeks long so there wasn't time to teach a full form - I learned the Cheng Man Ching Sort Form, which even though "short" still takes weeks and weeks to learn. My Short Short Form is a condensed version of it which you can pick up quite quickly but still has a lot of the basic elements and movements. You would find it a good start if you ever went on to learn a full form but will still give lots of benefits just on its own.

!! NEW !! - Chi Kung PLUS - Classes and Tuiition

I developed Chi Kung Plus through showing clients exercises, to help them deal better with stress and as a general health boost. Chi Kung Plus is easy to learn, calming and fun, and highly effective. The exercises combine traditional Chi Kung with my complementary therapy experience, especially of CranioSacral Therapy. More here: Chi Kung Plus.

I'm available for small classes of two or three people and individual tuition here in Perth at Tay Medispa and currently sorting out a venue for larger classes.The studios at Inspire look great, one of them has a mirrored wall which is really handy for teaching, and there's a good friendly atmosphere there.
Chi Kung Plus is great for starting the day on courses or for a break in a stressful working day - please get in touch to talk about holding a class in your course programme or at your workplace.
email: ianecowatt@hotmail.com
mobile: 07450 332 430

FLOW

FLOW

A lot of a treatment session, hands-on or remote, is about assisting FLOW - whether it's of energy, ideas, blood, lymph, cerebrospinal fluid, air, nerve impulses, blocked emotions and patterns...

Something I've got interested in through treating patients in the hands-on way recently is the flow of development, from the embryo to the adult; and in the adult, the flow of renewal of tissue.

NEUTRAL, CENTRED and GROUNDED

It’s a great place to be whether you’re giving or receiving treatment and also in our everyday lives, but what does it mean and how do you get there? I think the answers could fill several books but here’s a few ideas:

neutral, centred and grounded the Twilight Samurai way...

NEUTRAL
To me this means not pumping energy out, nor drawing it in, keeping our personal energy to ourselves and cultivating it. Allowing a flow of universal healing energy is different and can be done in a neutral personal state. For the therapist, I think "neutral" means not trying to "fix" the patient, and certainly not using personal energy to do that, but listening to them with you ears and heart and so helping their own healing process along.