I loved the warm up. It was a perfect gentle way to get the circulation, nerves, respiratory system and joints to wake up.

Human beings give off energy in the infra red spectrum, due to our body heat. Infra red is a spectrum of energy that is just below the lowest frequencies we can see, thus, this light is not visible to the human eye. If we could see infra red light, then when we close our eyes, we would be surrounded by light, far more than what comes to us from the visible light of the world around us. It is there, from us, all the time. We are beings of light. It's just a light we cannot see. Unless we look deeply for it. Interesting.

The concept of Myofascial Spiral Trains is very interesting in light of Structure and Compression work. The Double Helix representation of the motion pathways through the body at the level of fascia can be well and truly felt in stance and forms training. One reason the Internal Martial arts, and QiGong (umm.. and Yoga too for that matter) are trained slowly is to find these pathways of efficient and coordinated movement. They are found also by gymnasts, weightlifters, soccer players etc. all movement uses these connections. But often these are reflexive, fast twitch, sometimes nearly unconscious movements, trained and honed as bursts of speed by repetition and ever greater force generation, usually concentrated in muscle. The slow ways of opening them become extremely conscious, deeply felt and ultimately very powerful, as martial arts, as dynamic kinesiology, as tools in physical therapy and rejuvenation. Worth a look.

Ever seen an "electric" lighter?Not one that has a wheel and a flint, just a push button that goes -click- and the lighter lights? That click is the effect of compressing a small crystal enough that it generates electricity, it's call the piezoelectric effect. The interesting thing is that it happens in your body as well, when you compress your bones, tendons, ligaments and muscles- they create electricity- really! Not, as some would have you believe, a woo-woo notion of "energy" but electricity. Interesting. What do you think?

This can get confusing, maybe this can help clear it up- Qi is pronounced "chee" and sometimes written as Chi- refers to the energy that underlies life. Taiji, or Tai Ch'i uses a different character that means "Ultimate" or "highest point" . So although TaiCh'iChuan sounds like it has Chi in it's name -and certainly has Chi in its practice- it actually translates to "Great Ultimate Fist/style"