Goodness! Day 5 completed already and I’m loving the tutorials, talks and very friendly community. Thanks for all your support and I’ll be staying after I complete the 7 day challenge.

Hello from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I am very new to Tai Chi. I am very much looking forward to learning from this community!!

Thanks for the help on suitable shoes. I got a pair of Vivobarefoot shoes on Amazon UK. I usually have trouble getting shoes to fit my UK size 3/3.5 but these are just fine. Can’t wait to try them out.

I completed Day 4 today and the new vivobarefoot shoes are wonderful - so much so kept them on for a while afterwards.🤗 I love how Sonny explains everything so clearly. Looking forward to tomorrow’s session.

From the Xin Qi Shen Newsletter Archive. Originally published spring 2005. Shared with express permission of the author. Moving Beyond Form Xin Qi Shen - Body Energy Spirit Qi Xin Shen - Energy Body Spirit Shen Qi Xin - Spirit Energy Body ⸻ The wonders of the internal arts, for the dedicated practitioner, move far beyond the mere exercise of the movements and attending classes one or more times a week. These arts are the physical manifestation of the Taoist philosophy. They are a series of hand-on exercises we can practice to understand the Tao. How to practice non- action, harmonizing with nature, understanding our own nature, nurturing a non-fighting mind, merging with the flow of the universe. “To flow with the universe is to find peace and contentment, to resist the flow is to fight and find difficulty.” ⸻ This all takes study, practice, and work to arrive at understaing, knowledge, and non- action. In all fields of art or skill there are the basics to master. Just as pianists must practice their scales in order to develop physical coordination, flow, and an understanding of the piano, our solo forms do exactly the same. Looking at an accomplished piano player as well as a Taiji practitioner it all looks so easy. This easy, or non-action/non-effort they exhibit all comes from years of disciplined and mindful practice. You just don’t sit down at the piano as a beginner and play Jazz. ⸻ Xin is the first level of our practice. This is not only learning the physical movements but studying the body mechanics and structure they require and teach. Once the basics are somewhat understood we need to move past the technical to the flow, to the energy, to the coordination of the physical elements. ⸻ Qi is energy. This can also mean flow. In our forms this also translates as studying the transitions of the movements since the art is more than the postures. Everything becomes a transition. In our forms this could be the continuous flow of the ripple of power moving up from our legs to be