A New Awakening: Transform your Life!

2011-01-19T11:48:00.006-05:00

MayaJourney Espaňol

Lak'ech Ala K'in "I am you, and you are me..." Maya Greeting

Learn stress management through the ancient arts of T’ai Chi and QiGong. Discover the many possible health benefits. The main benefits of this discipline are balance, meditation and flexibility. The gentle flowing movements help reduce stress and improve health. Find out how to get started, and learn to meditate while exercising. This is a modified style that is easy to follow. Transform your life. If you are unable to join our class, try to get an instructor. If you do not like the instructor, change the class until you find one that you like and makes you feel comfortable.

If you are unable to go to class, do the exercises by following the easy instructions on this site. Start with any of the videos of QiGong as they are easy to follow. Follow one of the many videos, or search instruction through books or videos at the library.

"When the student is ready, the teacher appears"

Start moving your energy without special equipment or uniforms. Have fun and concentrate in your breathing. Go on top of the site and explore.

For people with Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Stroke or Parkinson’s there are many ways you can help yourself and others, with these simple exercises.
Sickness and death comes when one is not flexible. I have students of all ages, some could not stand on one leg. Three months later, the changes were wonderful. Students with Parkinson's have also seen results in their flexibility and balance.

If you are thinking about the season ahead, sow a seed.

If you are thinking ten seasons ahead, plant a tree.
If you are thinking of 100 seasons ahead, educate the people!
Anonymous Fifth Century

Keep it simple. When you can follow the movements without getting tired and when you enjoy them, gradually read the instructions. The important thing is to move, to exercise, to be flexible, to move your vital energy called Chi (Qi).

Try to exercise at least ten minutes every day, and, before getting out of bed move your toes, then circle your feet, move legs, trunk, arms, wrists, each finger and head. Never get up from the bed without moving while you are in it.

There are several styles and variations, depending of the school. These are the stiles that are easier to recognize:

T’ai Chi Chuan - Combining the power of the body, mind and spirit, T’ai Chi Chuan incorporates breathing, visualization and meditation techniques. There are several styles and variations. Try different videos until you like one. Keep moving and breath deep. Have fun

Chen-Chiang Style – Tai Chi/TaiJi was taught to the Chen Family by Chiang Fa. The Chen family created their own version derived from the original Shaolin Temple in China of the "Cannon Pounding" art with elements from the Shaolin Red Fist. This style requires more space since it consists of fast movements, quick motions and stamping of the feet and it is done in a faster pace

Yang Style – Yang was a serf (person occupying a plot of land owned by a lord) with the Chan family. Yang learned the art secretly by drawing and repeating all the movements. When Yang's master died, he went to Peking, now Beijing, where he was hired as the bodyguard and Imperial Family martial instructor of the Manchu prince. Yang softened the art of Chen Wang Ting by removing many of the more vigorous tactics, while his son Yang Chien Ho improved the techniques for health

Wu Style – Yang Lu Chan and his son Ban Ho taught this small style. The second style of Wu was a version of the above. The third version called the Wu School was created around 1852 by Wu Yu Xiang and it is a compact form

Sun Style – Sun Lu Tang, a boxer, combined the three schools into one

Dan Tao Taiji Quan – Ham King Koo, from the age of eight studied the Dan Tao Taiji Quan with an imperial ex-official in the 1900’s, he referred to the form as Wudang Neigong Taiji Quan

Dragon Style – This is one of the oldest Taoist forms of Tai Qi and its emphasis is on the opening of the Minor Energy Channels of the body

Wudang Style – Is a complex style with low crouch positions and jumping forms

Share the Qi. Join us!

A new awakening: transform your life!
María Okie Baum

My dream: to have children practicing T’ai Chi in every school.

Chen Style T’ai Chi 第一次学太极

QiGong or Chi Kung

Why Yin and Yang symbol looks this way? Earliest written forms of Dào: script characters from Zhou Dynasty 1045-256 B.C.E.

Master Jesse Tsao - D'antien Rotation - Hand Silk Reeling

This exercise promotes the circulation of Chi or Qi (the vital energy).

Relax your hip, lower your weight mentally; sink your weight on the floor. Imagine roots in the ground
Kua Closure - When one closes a Kua, the opposite opens. Kua, has been translated as the inguinal canal; where the thigh joins the pelvis
Posture - I tell my students to imagine a balloon connected to the top of the head. The balloon pulls you up, keeps your back and posture straight. From now on, you will imagine the balloon pulling the top of your head, taking it everywhere as a reminder to have good posture. Put an imaginary balloon on your children. Teach them from a young age to maintain a good posture, so our Chi / Qi can travel the meridians*
Breathe - Do not forget to breathe deeply
Tonic and Aphasic Muscles - Do not tense muscles - Learn to use tonic muscles instead of aphasics. They are the ones who support your posture, give you balance and help you against the gravity of the world in which we live. We are constantly fighting against gravitational attraction, which causes us imbalance, which, when we get old, our position changes and we do not walk straight. Tonic muscles tend to shorten if they do not exercise specifically and if they do not stretch regularly. Although aphasic muscles tend to be elongated; All extremes are bad. Tonic muscles work to maintain our posture, while aphasics weaken if we do not strengthen them. All muscles work together and must be balanced
Concentrate - While doing your exercises, imagine the movement before doing it.
Visualize the breath, movement and circulation of your Qi

- Do not complicate life or allow anyone to complicate it

- Make it easy and fun. Follow the movements and gradually learn to breathe, be flexible and calm your thoughts

- Balance your life
- All extremes are bad
- So you can breathe, let go of all the feelings that are controlling your life, your anger, frustrations, and breathe
- Forgive yourself for everything you did or should have done, for everything you said or when you keep silent and should have talked
- Forgive yourself for everything you missed, so you didn't share
- Forgive all people who have hurt you or have not defended you
- Above all, forgive yourself, because you can no longer change anything you did or stopped doing
- Learn from your mistakes
- Do not try to change anyone, only through example will you be able to influence or change others
- Do not try to control the lives of others, or their way of being
- Do not criticize, or allow others to criticize. It affects you, and everyone around you. They in turn will affect others

*Meridians - In acupuncture and Chinese medicine, 12 meridians are the roads or pathways in the body along which the Chi or vital energy is said to flow. The twelve pathways are associated with specific organs. The Yin meridians of the arm are Lung, Heart, and Pericardium. The Yang meridians of the arm are Large Intestine, Small Intestine, and Triple Burner. The Yin Meridians of the leg are Spleen, Kidney, and Liver. The Yang meridians of the leg are Stomach, Bladder, and Gall Bladder.

Tai Chi - QiGong

A New Awakening: Transform your Life!