Just a quick note to let everyone know I'll be running online classes this Monday, May 18, 2020, as well as for the rest of May and on into the future, if people want them!
Monday Online Classes
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
The complete online schedule can be found at the top of the page here.
If you're not currently a part of online classes, but you would like to be, contact me at smithmk2@gmail.com or (905) 521-0043.
Some Audio Content for You
Dear All,
Just a reminder that there are no classes this coming Monday the 11th or Wednesday the 13th of May (2020 if you're still counting).
These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
While I'm otherwise occupied this week, I thought I would leave you with some material to keep you entertained and hopefully help you continue to practice. I was originally going to release this on class days but some of you got excited when I spilled the beans at class, so here you go! You should be able to listen directly at the link, or download these files for later by clicking on the three little dots on the right side of the screen under the file info and selecting "Download."
This is a rough draft that isn't road tested but let me know if it's helpful: it's the Tai Chi Set, narrated in the same terms I use at class. I found it a little tricky to narrate this while sitting at my desk but it's a start anyway! Future drafts to follow.
This is a set we've done at class many times, but I've been struggling to figure out a way to lead it during Zoom classes. I sat down to record it, deciding that I would really take my time with it and...it's 43 minutes long! It's a really take-your-time-ish version of this meditation, and if I do say so myself, will leave you feeling really refreshed and balanced. It can be done sitting in a chair or standing. Either way, you'll want to have enough room to move your arms out to each side. Enjoy!
***
If you're not part of my classes but you find these files useful anyway, that's great! You can share these and any other original work from this site if you credit me, but you can't remix them or sell them.
These works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
No Online Classes for Monday, May 11 and Wednesday, May 13 2020
This is a reminder that if you're part of online classes, there will be no classes on Monday, May 11, or Wednesday, May 13. All other classes will run as usual in May 2020 and beyond.
Check this space for some audio content on Monday and Wednesday to keep you occupied while classes are on hold!
Subscribe to make sure you don't miss any posts. Subscribing will deliver new posts into your email inbox.
Check this space for some audio content on Monday and Wednesday to keep you occupied while classes are on hold!
***
Subscribe to make sure you don't miss any posts. Subscribing will deliver new posts into your email inbox.
Guided Meditation Sessions, May 2020
As many of you know, I've been running guided meditation sessions for the past few weeks in order to help us stay connected as a community and meditate together. Developing and leading guided meditations is a skill I learned in order to help people understand energy and spiritual matters better. Guided meditation has certainly served to deepen my own practice in all kinds of ways over the years.
If you're not familiar with it, a guided meditation is a journey or visualisation that participants follow as a facilitator talks them through it. These can be very simple, like the meditation we do for relaxation and grounding at the beginning of a Tai Chi or Qigong class, or they can be more elaborate, like a story you are part of. These evening guided meditation sessions involve the more elaborate kind of meditation.
The session includes a check-in, where we each share a bit about how we're doing (this is optional and voluntary—you can pass if you want to), then after a break we go through the meditation, and then we finish by sharing whatever we wish to about our experiences with the meditation. The session takes around two hours.
I wanted to extend the invitation to join the guided meditation sessions to our larger community. There's no prior experience necessary to attend.
Thursday, May 7, 2020, 6-8 pm
Topic: Finding Guidance
This meditation takes place on the night of the Flower Moon—which is also the last supermoon of 2020! There should be great viewing that night! In accordance with the energies of this moon, we'll be working with a meditation that should help us blossom.
Sometimes, we want to know if we're on the right path, or we just want help, or to know that we're not completely off kilter. If you've been a part of New Age or meditation circles, you might have heard people talking about seeking guidance, or getting in touch with their guides. This meditation will focus on accessing intuition, your higher self, and benevolent energies in order to learn to find and understand guidance in almost any situation.
Friday, May 22, 2020, 6-8 pm
Topic: Finding and Creating Sacred Spaces
Sometimes, we need a place to settle into ourselves or connect with higher energies. According to feng shui, there are some arrangements of objects in our homes that make for optimal energy flow, and in nature, these arrangements happen quite spontaneously. There are many places where the terrain and plant life come together in order to raise the energies of a particular area. This may be a corner of your own balcony or yard; it may be a small area of a public park, or it may be a small area of your home.
This meditation will invite you to go within to find and create a sacred space so you know what one looks and feels like, therefore allowing you to locate or make one wherever you may be.
This meditation takes place on the night of the New Moon. This is a wonderful time for planting seeds of self-development: as the moon waxes or grows over the course of the following two weeks, so the skill or ability we learn at this meditation will be easier to develop.
How to Join
All meetings take place via Zoom. If you'd like to join, contact me at smithmk2@gmail.com or (905) 521-0043 and I will send you an invitation. If you've joined previously and you want to invite a friend, please do!
If you haven't been a part of our classes before and you're not coming in through a past participant, please get in touch with me ahead of time so I know you want to attend.
Fees
Cost is $20 per session.
This fee is flexible for people who have already studied with me. I know this is an uncertain time. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions or concerns.
This blog is the primary way I communicate with my students. If you're not signed up and you wish to receive future posts in your email inbox, and keep updated about classes, workshops, and Tai Chi and Qigong topics, subscribe.
If you have received this message by email and you wish to respond, don't hit "Reply"! Your message will go into the void. Make sure smithmk2@gmail.com is in the address bar of your email program or app.
If you're not familiar with it, a guided meditation is a journey or visualisation that participants follow as a facilitator talks them through it. These can be very simple, like the meditation we do for relaxation and grounding at the beginning of a Tai Chi or Qigong class, or they can be more elaborate, like a story you are part of. These evening guided meditation sessions involve the more elaborate kind of meditation.
The session includes a check-in, where we each share a bit about how we're doing (this is optional and voluntary—you can pass if you want to), then after a break we go through the meditation, and then we finish by sharing whatever we wish to about our experiences with the meditation. The session takes around two hours.
I wanted to extend the invitation to join the guided meditation sessions to our larger community. There's no prior experience necessary to attend.
Thursday, May 7, 2020, 6-8 pm
Topic: Finding Guidance
This meditation takes place on the night of the Flower Moon—which is also the last supermoon of 2020! There should be great viewing that night! In accordance with the energies of this moon, we'll be working with a meditation that should help us blossom.
Sometimes, we want to know if we're on the right path, or we just want help, or to know that we're not completely off kilter. If you've been a part of New Age or meditation circles, you might have heard people talking about seeking guidance, or getting in touch with their guides. This meditation will focus on accessing intuition, your higher self, and benevolent energies in order to learn to find and understand guidance in almost any situation.
Friday, May 22, 2020, 6-8 pm
Topic: Finding and Creating Sacred Spaces
Sometimes, we need a place to settle into ourselves or connect with higher energies. According to feng shui, there are some arrangements of objects in our homes that make for optimal energy flow, and in nature, these arrangements happen quite spontaneously. There are many places where the terrain and plant life come together in order to raise the energies of a particular area. This may be a corner of your own balcony or yard; it may be a small area of a public park, or it may be a small area of your home.
This meditation will invite you to go within to find and create a sacred space so you know what one looks and feels like, therefore allowing you to locate or make one wherever you may be.
This meditation takes place on the night of the New Moon. This is a wonderful time for planting seeds of self-development: as the moon waxes or grows over the course of the following two weeks, so the skill or ability we learn at this meditation will be easier to develop.
How to Join
All meetings take place via Zoom. If you'd like to join, contact me at smithmk2@gmail.com or (905) 521-0043 and I will send you an invitation. If you've joined previously and you want to invite a friend, please do!
If you haven't been a part of our classes before and you're not coming in through a past participant, please get in touch with me ahead of time so I know you want to attend.
Fees
Cost is $20 per session.
This fee is flexible for people who have already studied with me. I know this is an uncertain time. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions or concerns.
***
This blog is the primary way I communicate with my students. If you're not signed up and you wish to receive future posts in your email inbox, and keep updated about classes, workshops, and Tai Chi and Qigong topics, subscribe.
If you have received this message by email and you wish to respond, don't hit "Reply"! Your message will go into the void. Make sure smithmk2@gmail.com is in the address bar of your email program or app.
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