There’s a story about a famous doctor who was named the best doctor of his time by his patients. He humbly refused the title and told the story about his two brothers, who were also doctors. Below is a version of this story:

“I am the doctor that cures the disease when it has already occurred and is doing damage. My second brother is the doctor that cures the disease when it’s just started to occur. My oldest brother is the doctor that prevents disease. My ability to repair physical damage is easily noticeable, and the word of my ability has spread far throughout the country. My second brother’s ability to cure the disease before it does any major damage is less noticeable. He is, therefore, known only around this region. My oldest brother’s ability to help prevent disease before it occurs is hardly noticeable. He is, therefore, hardly know in his province.

Dear friends, even though I am the most famous of my three brothers, I am not the greatest doctor, because I can only repair the damage. My second brother, even though he is less famous than I am, is far greater than I am, because he is able to correct the disease before it does any damage. My oldest brother , the least known, is the greatest of us all, because he is able to prevents problems before they occurred.” (from: “Tai Chi Chuan, 24 and 48 postures with martial applications”, by Master Liang, Shou-Yu,and Wu, Wen-Ching, 1993).

I think the oldest doctor used to prescribe Tai chi and Qigong practice to his patients!!!

I have been invited by General Electric Japan to give a demo class of Tai chi.
The company wanted to provide relaxation classes to the staff and last Wednesday GE celebrated the World’s Health Ahead day, providing Yoga, seminars on supplements and nutrition, and Tai chi.

There were almost twenty people joining my class. They followed me diligently for one hour, practicing Chi Kung and Tai chi.
When I showed them the self defense applications of the main stances we were studying, most of them were so surprised! They did not know that Tai chi was a martial art and they were even more surprised by how hard it is to practice the basic walk in Tai chi, moving from one “Bow stance” to another. How can Tai chi “relax” if it engages so many muscles? And why is Tai chi called “walking meditation”?

When we think to relaxation we think to “collapse” on the couch, doing anything. This can help for awhile, but afterward we feel still exhausted because we haven’t really relaxed. Through Tai chi we basically lower our energy stuck in the “head and heart” complex to the lower body. Afterward we feel relieved, fulfilled, rebalanced and deeply restored: this is relaxation.

Focusing on our posture, balance and coordination breaks the cycle of toxic, recurrent thoughts. One can think that meditation is concentrating on one thought but this would mean again being used by a thought.
Meditation, in my opinion, means listening to your body, connecting the mind to the current sensations in your body and breathing correctly and thoroughly, in order to eliminate anxiety (breathing out) and open to life (breathing in).
That’s why Tai chi is called “walking meditation”. Simple like that…

Doris and Sofia

Yesterday Doris and Sofia were very brave because they accepted to perform “Eight Style’ by themselves. They did a great job and I understand  there’s a lot to remember to perform this form. Their stances are getting nicer and the transitions smoother.

They pushed themselves and they definitively stepped into a new phase of their Tai Chi practice.

Congratulations to Doris and Sofia!

Today I felt that my Italian friends and I were blessed, at Yoyogi Park. It was cold but sunny, we practiced as usual and at the end of the lesson Katia shot these amazing photos. Simona was willing to help me in demonstrating the martial application of “Yema Fenzong” (“Parting the Wild Horse’s Mane”) and “Lan Quewei” (“Grasping The Sparrow’s Tail”). As soon as the practice was over and everybody reached home it started raining!

Enjoy the photos!

Yema Fenzong

Lan Quewei

Today Micaela, my Italian friend, and I practiced at Yoyogi Park. This morning the sky was blue, the air crispy and the sun shining: the perfect day!
We went to our usual spot and started warming up. Then we practice the walk, the change of direction, back and forth, and “Eight Style”. We reviewed all the main stances breaking them down to the single moves.
The cherry trees are already blooming and it was beautiful to practice Tai Chi with the traditional Chinese music in this amazing scenery; I really felt connected with nature and with everything and everyone.
It’s incredible how Tai Chi can make a bond among people!
But the most ineffable thing for me was to feel the commitment and the motivation of my student Micaela!

I want to thank all my friends who came and watched my performance last Sunday at Sogo Sport Center, in Hamacho.
I want to thank also those ones who wanted to come but couldn’t.
I was happy about how I performed; a lot still needs to be refined but I feel my internal energy is getting better and better.
You can watch the performance, shot by my husband, in the video page.
The title of the video, “One move, one hundred moves“, describes the true essence of Tai Chi and is a traditional saying that tells a lot about the smoothness, the never ending motion and the roundness of each move in Tai Chi. My teacher, Master Gao, mentioned it to me for the first time, few years ago and I still remember it. It means that, in order to do a move correctly, you need to do 99 other moves!
Challenging, indeed!

Every Thursday, in the morning, I practice Tai Chi with my Italian friends in Yoyogi Park, central Tokyo. It’s a lot of fun, I love their very active attitude and their curiosity. Today I wanted to remind them the difference between “Ward Off” and “Parting The Wild Horse’s Mane” since both stances start holding the ball. I’ve been asked about the martial application of “Ward Off” and after I showed it we starting talking about Tai Chi and self defense. I mentioned “Push Hands” techniques as a gateway for students to undo a person’s natural instinct to resist force with force, teaching the body to yield to force and redirect it. “Push hands” is performed with a partner and allows to learn how to respond to external stimuli using techniques from their forms practice. Training with a partner allows a student to develop ting jing (listening power), the sensitivity to feel the direction and strength of a partner’s intention. In that sense “push hands” lets students to train in the defensive and offensive movement principles of their martial art: learning to generate, coordinate and deliver power to another and also how to effectively neutralize incoming forces, in other words, to be in control and defend oneself.
I found this video very interesting and I invite you to watch it.