Our new season begins in October 2023! Join us for Tai Chi and Qigong at the Regent Centre on Locke Street South.

Online Tai Chi and Qigong Classes~Now with Lok Hup Ba Fa!

Hello everyone,

I realise it's been over a month since I last updated this site. If we haven't been in touch (or even if we have), I hope you're doing well, and holding steady in the face of all the adjustments we've had to make in the past few weeks.

It looks like our current need to practice social distancing is going to carry on for a while, so we'll be limited to online classes for the medium or long term. If you've been missing Tai Chi or Qigong classes or are hankering for some training, but you haven't had the chance to drop in yet, you are absolutely welcome to do so! I'm offering regular online classes at all levels of Tai Chi and both regular Qigong (Saturdays) and Health Recovery sessions (Mondays). In Qigong we've just switched routines, and are now working on Five Elements Qigong, so this is a great time to join.

If you've been a student of mine at the Regent Health Centre but haven't joined yet, then please ping me at smithmk2@gmail.com and I'll send you instructions for joining. If you have a computer, tablet, or phone with a functional screen and speaker, you should have no trouble seeing the session and following classes. If you don't wish to appear on camera, or you don't have a functional camera or microphone, that's fine. You'll appear in the gallery of participants as a black box with your name on it. There is a chat function so you can communicate via text if you want. (Needless to say if you want corrections, I would have to be able to look at what you're doing.)

I'm writing now because some participants in the continuing session on Monday requested that I add  Lok Hup Ba Fa training to the mix. I'm delighted to do this, since before things shut down, I was planning to add Lok Hup to our program at the Regent Centre.

Lok Hup Ba Fa is a complex, deeply satisfying, and sophisticated internal martial art. Similar to Tai Chi, but more challenging to learn and perform, it represents the essence of our practice, and is well worth trying if you've already learned Tai Chi and are looking for something more advanced. Lok Hup sessions will begin Wednesday, April 29th. I'll be teaching the set from the beginning. See notes below on how this will work.

The new reality, and the limits of online classes, call for a different approach to training, so I'm going to be adding 30 minutes of Lok Hup lessons to the end of the current schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays, with a further opportunity to review in the last few minutes of Saturday's continuing sessions. If it's appropriate in the future to explore Lok Hup in a different format or at a different time, we'll do so!

The new schedule for online Tai Chi, Qigong, and Lok Hup (plus weapons work!) is as follows:

Monday
Qigong 1pm-2pm
Intermediate Tai Chi 2-3pm
Continuing (Sword and sometimes Sabre and Hsing-I*) 3-3:30
Lok Hup Ba Fa: 3:30-4pm

Wednesday
Beginner's Tai Chi 1-2pm
Intermediate Tai Chi 2-3pm
Continuing (Sword and sometimes Sabre and Hsing-I) 3-3:30
Lok Hup Ba Fa: 3:30-4pm

Saturday
Qigong Noon-1pm
Beginner's Tai Chi 1-2pm
Continuing (Tai Chi, Sword and sometimes Sabre and Hsing-I, plus a skootch of Lok Hup review) 2-3:30

*At this time, Sword, Sabre, and Hsing-I sessions are review only. While we are going over some movements in detail, I'm not teaching these sets from scratch at this time.


NOTES ON LOK HUP ONLINE SESSIONS

These sessions are meant to be add-ons to the Tai Chi program. If you want to attend but aren't able to or don't wish to come to the Tai Chi Intermediate and Continuing sessions that precede Lok Hup, then I strongly suggest that you come to class having done your own warm-up. We won't have time to do any warm-up in the Lok Hup session itself. You will get much more out of your Lok Hup training if your body is prepared when you begin.

Yes, these sessions will be short! We're not going to be ambitious about how much we do in each class. For twenty minutes, I will be teaching the moves one at a time from the beginning of the set, and we'll be spending the last ten minutes doing the set from start to finish. If you don't know Lok Hup, you can begin to learn, and if you already know it, you'll get the chance to practice.

This is a unique opportunity to learn the set in tiny, digestible increments, and to comb through it and renew your relationship with it if you've learned it previously. For the first couple of sessions, before we start doing the set itself, I'll be going over technique relevant to Lok Hup. This is material you already probably have a sense of from Tai Chi or Qigong, but which is essential to bear in mind when you practice Lok Hup.

Learning Lok Hup this way is going to require you to practice in between sessions. A few minutes on your own each day, going over what you've learned, will be extremely beneficial. Success will also depend on a commitment to attending as many sessions as possible.

The prerequisite for learning Lok Hup is Tai Chi. I recommend Lok Hup for people who have done Intermediate and Continuing Tai Chi training. 


FEES

There is no additional cost for Lok Hup online training. At this time I'm offering these lessons as an extension of regular classes, so they're included in your regular fees.

For Canadians, I accept e-transfer at smithmk2@gmail.com

I've also set up a ko-fi account which should enable you to pay from anywhere or pay with a credit card.

I understand that this is an uncertain time, and some of you may have experienced disruptions to your income. If you've been a student of mine at the Regent Centre, and you simply cannot afford to pay, know that I consider you part of my Tai Chi and Qigong family, and I am committed to continuing to train you. I would love to see you at whatever classes are appropriate for your level of training. Please get in touch with me if you're unsure about any of this.

I am extremely grateful to the people who have been paying for online classes. Teaching is my business and my part-time job, i.e., an important source of income for me. It's also my vocation and something I love to do. Your support has allowed me to continue at a time when I may have otherwise been forced to stop. Thank you very much!


A NOTE FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T TRAINED WITH ME PREVIOUSLY

I've had a couple of requests from people to come into the online classes who haven't trained with me before and whom I don't know personally. If this is the case for you, I would like to accommodate you, but please understand I will need to process you in differently from the people I already know. This is in order to ensure that both new participants and current students have as positive an experience as possible, and also that I can adequately meet your needs.

Some things to consider before you ask to be included:

Online training is quite different from in-person classes. There is an adjustment period in terms of getting used to the way I use technology to show moves and to offer corrections. If you're coming in for Tai Chi or Lok Hup, I'm very hesitant to include you if you aren't local to Hamilton, Ontario and don't intend to follow up with in-person classes or workshops later on, so we can fix whatever bits and pieces you might have missed. In the past I've taught Lok Hup as part of advanced class, as a special summer evening weekly class, and lately I've been offering instruction in a four-hour Sunday workshop format. All of these formats, or other formats, are possible in the future, once we're back to doing in-person training. Obviously I don't know when that might be happening.

If you've trained at an outside club, you'll have some habits to correct / some polishing to do, especially if you're interested in training in an advanced set. If you're very attached to the technique you've learned so far, you probably won't enjoy learning from me. If you feel that you need improvement and your current training isn't quite cutting it, you might be very happy.

Before you join, I require people I don't already know to attend an online interview, 20-30 minutes in length. The purpose of this interview is for me to ensure that you understand the software we use, to discuss your training, and for you to get to know me. Doing this interview is free of charge and will enable me to make recommendations about which classes are appropriate for you, and to help you decide if you want to train with me. I am nice and I will not bite and this will probably be a pleasant experience.

If I don't know you already, you must pay fees in order to attend. This indicates your commitment to the training. I promise that in exchange, you'll learn a great deal.

My fees are extraordinarily reasonable:

$40 per month, unlimited classes
Students / ODSP / OW / Under 18 / Financial Need: $20 per month, unlimited classes

Drop-In: $20 per class

Thanks for understanding! For more information, please contact me at smithmk2@gmail.com or (905) 521-0043.