I just wanted to share some thoughts after yesterday's QiGong class. Something just clicked into place when Mr. Bronson taught us about having access to lightness and happiness, using memory. Based on what's been happening so far, it's changed my life! That was definitely missing from my practice. I tend to go straight to my head, get focussed, think too much. But this new exercise is giving me huge energy! This makes me think that not being light, rather being depressed or stressed, sucks a…

I've been thinking more about why we should study martial arts or any other art, even if we never have to defend ourselves or become professional artists. 

I speak from the viewpoint of a violin/viola teacher and relatively new blue belt student of kung fu, so I can experience these arts from both sides, the beginner and the expert. It has been so many years since I have been a beginning/intermediate student of music, that it is hard to recall what it was like, but learning Kung Fu…

Tonight I went to forms class and was the only one there, so I got a private lesson. There was some real weather, which probably kept everyone else at home. 

Mr. Bronson and I ended up discussing legacy, our connection to history, and what  we can do to preserve some sort of context for our arts. He has talked of this in some classes, explaining where our forms originated, where his teachers came from; and for me this had the lovely perfume of a plea to us - please remember our…

We've been trying to apply some permaculture principles in our garden. I planted comfrey around the drip lines of two fruit trees, and then put down newspapers and dirt/compost under the tree, with oregano, chives and wild arugula on top of that. The comfrey mines the soil for minerals and makes excellent mulch. It seems to blanket the tree roots well, and the trees are doing fabulously. We're rid of that pesky grass, and the herbs are in flower. For the first time, the pears don't have…