Tai chi

Benefits of Martial Arts Weapons Training

There comes a point in the training life of every traditional martial artist when the shiny glint of a blade catches their eye and lures them into the temptation of training with traditional weapons.  For me, it began with the ‘jian’, more commonly known on these shores as a Chinese …

Dealing with Stress in the Workplace

I’m lucky enough to be able to work for myself now but I spent the best part of 20 years in a corporate career. Whilst I didn’t always feel that way, many times over the near two decades people would frequently comment on how un-stressed I was at work. My …

Martial Qigong

Welcome to another edition of the weekly White Crane Online blog. Over the past few weeks we have been exploring topics in and around the theme of Taoism. Last week I introduced the core concept of Qi (if you missed it, you might want to read it here first) and …

Qi

Teacher: ‘Well done today everyone, great class! Does anyone have any questions?’ Student: ‘Yes, I was wondering, what is Qi?’ Teacher: ‘Good question. Have you seen Star Wars?’ Student: ‘Yes.’ Teacher: ‘It’s The Force.’   Being a man, and tai chi instructor, of a certain age there are two cultural …

The 5 Elements

The previous two blog posts in this Taoism series have explained the concepts of Wuji, and Yin-Yang. Respectively the unseen, unfathomable void from which all existence springs (Wuji), and the duality of natural phenomena which gives it its definition (Yin-Yang).  Our next step in our journey of understanding Chinese thought …

Yin and Yang

Yin and Yang are fundamental to Chinese cosmology. The symbol is a familiar one, even to us in the West, I remember trying to draw it as I graffitied my school books as a child! Even though I had no clue what it meant… ‘something to do with peace!?’ was …

Wuji

In the next few blog posts I intend on explaining a few key concept of Taoism – and what better place to start than with absolute nothingness, before time and space!   Everyone is familiar with the ubiquitous Taiji symbol:     In the west we often refer to it …

China 2019

Mark is in China in the Guangxi province, exploring Chen style tai chi. Follow Mark’s trip to China on our sister website www.whitecraneacademy.com: Day 30 – Final Thoughts Day 29 – Hong Kong Tourist Day 28 – Travel to Hong Kong Day 27 – Modern Day Self Defence Day 26 …

Tai Chi and Dementia

This week is Dementia Awareness Week. In the UK alone there are over 850,000 people living with dementia and this figure is only set to rise – to a predicted 1 million by 2025.   Dementia comes in many forms, the most common of which is Alzheimer’s, which counts for …

This week in the UK it is mental health awareness week. According to the charity Mind, approximately one in four people will experience a mental health issue every year, and one in six people report a mental health problem – such as anxiety or depression – every week.   These …