Tai Chi class notes - Saturday 3/22/14 - Sandy

We had a nice class this morning there were nine of us including myself (Read, Janie, Meg, Ted, Nancy, Pat, Jack and Karen). We started with the warm ups, walked a bit, then moved onto push hands, single both sides onto brush knee twist both sides keeping in mind each others center, relaxed but pung feeling and sensitivity throughout the drill. From here most continued onto the dance, Pat worked with Meg on the Solo Form. We ended with the the Solo Form. A very nice light hearted class, it felt good to be back in the studio again, leading class and being with my pals:)

Saturday 3.16.14 Tai Chi class - Marty Cormie

Had a good class with Jeff,Jack,Nancy Karen,Wes.and Meg. Did the usual warm ups and standing. then we did some two person push hands.then worked on the dance,ending with a round,both Jeff and Jack helped,

Tuesday Tai Chi class notes - Marty Cormie

It was a  good class with 7 counting myself,Jack,Wes,Karen,Nancy,Creg and Janee. I did the usual warm ups and for standing meditation we did 2 of the 21's. We worked on the dance as Nancy had not been  to class for a long time and wanted to brush up Jack had to leave early for school so Wes Nancy and Karen worked together and Creg and I worked on the first 2 parts of the dance,Creg also ahd to leave at 8:45. We ended abot 9:15 with a round all in all I think it was a good morning.

Deerfield Academy T'ai Chi class 2/23/14 - Sensei Chaisson

I had a private lesson today with only one student showing up.  We made the best of it and worked a good deal on the form once we were done with the warm ups and meditation.  Currently in the process of negotiating a spring schedule to continue to teach at DA.  I'm hoping to increase the frequency of the classes there.

Deerfield Academy T'ai Chi class notes - Sunday 2/9/14 - Sensei Chaisson

 I'm up to 6 for my class size today.  It felt a little different today due to the size though.  I didn't feel like I had as much control over the group due to everyone being a beginner and there being that many of them.  Something I'll have to keep an eye on.  We went through the warm ups, did some standing meditation and moved on to some arm circling drills for coordination and some stepping drills.  We ended the class working on the beginning of the form. 

T'ai Chi class notes - Saturday 11/17/12 - Sandy

Saturday Morning Tai Chi class was well attended. We had a quiet group this morning, many were feeling the stiffness of the cold. We began with our warm ups and went right into working with partners. Marty worked with Suzanne on part one of the solo form, Phil worked with Jack on part two of the solo form, Nancy and Karen worked on the dance starting with part one, working through part five, questioning part five and staying with it. They always work well together. I worked with Pat on the dance, reviewing parts one through three and then the beginning of part four. Then we finished with the solo form. It was a nice class. Thanks for the discussion of your practice at the end of class. This is all very interesting. Thank you and take care, Sandy

T'ai Chi class notes - Saturday 11/10/12 - Marty

The class was good size for what it has been, there were 7 and myself Jack,Jean,Wess,Phil,Pat,Gretchen,and Suzanne.

     I did the usual warm ups,for standing I did the 21,then the grand circulation.

     We did a little push hands then Phil worked with Gretchen and Jean on the end of part 2 and the beginning of part 3. Wess and Pat did the dance. I worked with Jack and Suzann on part 1. Finished class doing a round with you.

I think class went well.

Tai Chi class notes - Thursday 10/25 - Sandy

Thursday morning Tai Chi class was very large and full of fun energy. There were 13 of us in total. We were joined by a potential new student named Jeremy. We began our warm ups, every time I would look around we were joined by another student. This is definitely the largest class I have led in a while. It was fun. From there we did the ward off left/right drill alternating from side to side. I asked everyone to concentrate on the balance, structure and coordinating movement. We had a nice discussion at the end of the drill. Then Marty worked with all of the part one people, Janee worked with Jeremy, Read worked with Ted with the Da Lu and beginning part one of the dance, Karen and Nancy worked on the dance alternating sides in part one and finally Max and Wes did the same working in part one alternating sides, I assisted where needed. We finished with the solo form. It was a really nice class. Thank you, Sandy

T'ai Chi class notes - Wed. Sept 26, 2012 - Sandy

Wednesday night Tai Chi Class was well attended.  It was good to see Max there with his friend James and some old faces I haven't seen in a while.  The energy was good and fun, we started with our warm up and then went right into working in groups.   Max helped me out with Jack and James as they were both in the beginning our Part One Solo Form, Mike worked with Mary Colleen and Doug with me in the back drop for questions, I observed and they all did quite well.  I worked with Scott and Thomas.  They were a pleasure to work with, they are both at the end of part 3.  They had good questions and good work ethics, we repeated sequence from Hid Pat Horse to the end of the form many times to get the sequence enbedded in the mind.  They both did quite well.  We finished with the form with the newest members in the middle of the group to follow accordingly with foot work.  It was a wonderful class and a great group of people.  Phil and Luke also joined us the last half hour or more of class it was wonderful seeing them and having them join us.  Thank you, Sandy

T'ai Chi class notes - Saturday 9/22/12 - Sandy

Saturday mornings Tai Chi class was fun and energetic, it was good to see Phil! There were eight of us, we began with our warm ups, worked with the exercise that we have been working on in class rolling the ball, palms facing each other first stationary then with full body movement and then finished with the Grand Circulation exercise. We then proceeded to do partner work. Nancy and Karen worked on the dance, Phil and Wes worked together on the dance also with Mike in tow. Phil alternated with Wes and Mike, helping Mike with the beginning of part one of the dance on the chopping side. I worked with Jean in part two of the solo form (Jean works very well independently), alternating with Suzanne who is refreshing her memory on the first part of the solo form. Suzanne explained to me that she follows very well but can not do the form independently so we worked on the first few moves. I encouraged her to say the names of the postures to help guide her through. I had her repeated the first few moves over and over then jumped in once in a while to do the form with her. She was doing well by the end of class and felt that she could go home and work on this portion of the form on her own. I also gave her a little note with the first few moves written down so she can say them and remember them. She is frustrated with her memory, I told her...me too we just have to work at it. As you know the class finished with the form. It was an enjoyable class. Thank you, Sandy

T'ai Chi class notes - Saturday Sept. 7, 2012 - Marty

Small class with Nancy,Jean,and Suzanne and me. We did the usual warm ups also the 21 and the grand circulation.

      Jean and Nancy worked on the form while I worked wth Suzanne.If Nancy and Jean got stuck I would help them out and get them back on track,all went well,then we did a round to end the class.

Tai Chi class notes - Saturday Aug 11 - Sandy

Saturday's Tai Chi Class was tiny but very uplifting. It was just Wes and myself. We started with our warm ups and then went right into the solo form. Since it was just us, we did the form without music or count. It took us 50 minutes to get through the form as we stopped, reviewed and discussed postures that Wes had questions on. We worked on the kicks, concentrating on balance, structure, alignment. Importance of tucking the tail bone and lifting the head. We really got a lot out of doing this, Wes was so happy. It really gave my a boost to refine these postures. When we were done, Wes requested working on the left side of the form. So we worked on part one. I explained to him, if you get confused go back to the right side of that posture, look at it and then recreate it on the left side. We ended with that. It was a wonderful and helpful class for both of us. Thank you, Sandy

Tai Chi class notes - Thursday 8/2/12 - Sandy

Thursday 8/2/12 Tai Chi Class

Thursday class was small but informative.  Nancy was there, it was so good to see her back.  Janee, Marty and Max were with us (Max left during the warm ups, moving day for him.  Very exciting).  We did our warm ups at a good slow pace, Nancy did only the ones she was comfortable with.....which was most of them.  She is amazing!  After that we went directly into the form.  After this I focused on Nancy and any questions she had to bring her back up to speed.  So we picked apart pieces of the form, parting the wild horses mane, diagional flying (position differences), we talked about the kick sequence and so on.  We referred to Sifu Hayward's manual.  What a great book!  Focusing on Nancy helped all of us and her questions opened up a lot of discussion.  It was a very informative class...and fun too.  Thank you! Sandy

Tai Chi class notes - Saturday 7.14.12 - Marty

 Had a good class this morning with 7presant Sandy,Pat,Mike Karen Peter,Jean,Colleen and myself.

        I did the warm ups It was so hot and humid we did them slow for standing I did a round of the 21.

        I tried to stay with theme of the month upper split,lower split,and the diagnial split.

        Sandy worked with Karen on the dance,Mike worked with Jean on part 2,and Pat worked with Colleen on part 2 and I worked with Peter on part 1.  

Ended Class with a round with you.

 

T'ai Chi class notes - Saturday 7.7.12 - Sandy

Saturday Tai Chi Class - We had a nice group of people, the studio was very hot so we did our warm ups slowly and concenstrated on each stretch.  We had 7 people including myself, the energy was good despite the heat.  After the warm ups we all sat down to cool down and we discussed this month's theme, split energy.  We had a nice discussion and then proceeded to partner work.  Marty worked with Peter on the beginning of part one solo form.  Read worked with Karen on the dance and the beginning of part 7.  I worked with Mike on the applications and parts of the solo form and with Jean (Jean worked independently on the solo form part two) when she got to a stopping point in part two. We ended with the solo form, I had Read/Marty lead the form and I worked with Peter to give Marty a chance to do the form with the group as she worked with Peter for a bit during class.  I like to alternate people to give everyone a chance to get their form in.  Thank you! Sandy

Tai Chi class notes - Saturday 6.9.12 - Sandy

6/9/12 Tai Chi Class

We had a small group today, Marty, Jean, Mike and myself.  There was good energy and light conversation as we did our warm ups. We proceeded to two person work, I worked with Mike, Marty with Jean.  We stayed within this months theme of Bonkai, Applications. We started with the single hand push hands, roll back alternating back in forth.  Marty stayed with Jean on the first two drills and then proceeded onto the solo form.  Mike and I went on the neutrelizing the punch and recreated the first application for ward off left.  Mike & I also worked on the Da lu to tie together the ward off, roll back, stance work.  Lots of good information in there.  We finished with the solo form.  Thank you, Sandy

Tai Chi class notes - Thursday 5.24.12 - Sandy

Thursday Tai Chi class

Sifu worked with us on the Crane/Tai Chi Walking breathing exercise.  I took the class over at 8:30.  We had a nice class, a small group with good energy.  We did our warm ups and went right into the solo form so everyone would get a full round in.  Jean and Peter were in the middle of the group and followed accordingly.  After the form, Marty worked with Peter on part one solo form, I worked with Jean also in part one.  Wes and Karen worked on the dance. It was a fun group.  Thank you, Sandy

Tai Chi class notes - Tuesday 5.22.12 - Read

Tuesday, May 22nd T'ai Chi class from 8 to 9 a.m. Six of us there: Marty, Bob, Karen, Pat, Peter and Read. Warmups and then some of Master Duan's Qigong. Did footwork for part one of "Hotel Room" form in small space and then Bob worked with Peter on his form while the rest of us did the "Hotel Room" form to music with counting.

Tai Chi class notes Thursday 5/10/12 and Thursday 5/17/12

Tai Chi 5/10

We had a small class full of energy and fun.  We started with our warm ups, from there we worked with partners.  Our newest student Peter worked with Marty on the first couple of moves in part one solo form.  Janee worked with Jean on part one solo form, Wes and Karen worked on the dance, a nice review for them.  I worked with them when needed and with Janee on the dance for a few minutes while Jean worked independently.  We finished with the solo form.  Thank you, Sandy

Tai Chi 5/17

We had a good size class.  We started with our warm ups and proceeded to the first three Crane breathing exercises.  From here we went into the form as Wes needed to leave early and I wanted him to get his form in. I had Peter and Jean stay in the middle of the group, Jean followed accordingly, Peter with the feet only. After that we split up into partners, I worked with Becca, she wanted to review Part one, Karen worked with Max who wanted to review part two, Wes worked with Ted at the end of part three.  Peter and Jean needed to leave early.  We had a good class.  Thank you, Sandy

Tai Chi class notes - Saturday 4.7.12 - Sandy

Saturday morning Tai Chi Class was fun. There were 7 of us, we began with our warm ups proceeded to a nice meditation and finished with the Grand Circulation Qi Gong exercise. After that Read worked with Mike at the end of part 3 solo form, Marty worked with Gretchen in the middle of part two solo form and I worked with Wes and Karen on the dance. I did a round robin starting with part one up to part seven with both of them. Read assisted me showing them just a bit further in part seven for their viewing. We ended with the solo form. Thank you, take care, Sandy