The new year is here and it’s a good time to recap what’s on offer at Laingholm Eleven.
Tai Chi for Beginners – Wednesday Evenings
This is a casual class that is suitable for anyone who wants to learn Tai Chi. The class is made up of two parts: In the first part we do preparation exercises for becoming more aware, centered and calming the mind. In the second part of the class we do Tai Chi exercises.
The first part is designed to help to release the worries of the day, which is especially useful for people who have come from work or from a busy day at home. This puts us in a good state of mind to practice Tai Chi, and these centering techniques can also be used in many of life’s stressful situations.
In the second part I teach a set of twelve Tai Chi exercises that contain the fundamentals of Tai Chi. Usually we focus on a few different exercises in any given session. This format allows newcomers to join at any time of the year. It takes around a year to learn all twelve exercises, and they can make an excellent practice to start or finish the day with.
Participants are welcome to stay for a cup of tea after class. We’ve had some really good company and interesting discussions over the last few months. People who are interested in Tai Chi are usually the interesting kind!
As for Tai Chi itself, it is a mixture of exercise and meditation. What it does for the body is improved balance, flexibility, coordination and blood circulation. And for the mind – improved focus, calmness, clarity and awareness. At higher levels of Tai Chi practice, when mind and body work together in harmony, the practitioner learns to feel and direct their internal energy (chi).
It has now been a few months since the opening and we have a group of locals who come regularly. Participants comment that the class has a relaxed atmosphere, a friendly group and is a fun way to learn Tai Chi. So if you are looking for a new hobby for 2013, feel free to come along and give it a go.
Moving Meditation – Friday Evenings
This session is for people who have a personal interest in spirituality – whether the interest is fresh, or well developed, or whether it has been on the backburner for a number of years. In this session we explore different meditation techniques, both still and movement-based. The techniques come from Eastern and Western philosophies, and are not religious.
It is not really a class with a teacher and students, but a workshop where each participant learns from their own experience. The techniques offered in this session are designed for inner exploration – essentially to know more about ourselves. It is a practical exploration of subjects such as body intelligence, internal energy, workings of the mind, emotions, and awareness.
Participants comment that the Friday session is a comfortable, friendly and relaxed environment with a mix of people from different walks of life. Also that it is a great way to wind down at the end of the working week, and that the techniques they’ve learned here are very applicable to enhancing their day to day experience of life.
Thought for the Month
In the recent decade people have become more aware and selective about what they put into their bodies – the quality of food and its effects on their wellbeing. Effects of junk food became widely known and almost every person knows that eating fresh fruits and vegetables is good for their health.
A less common idea is that what we put into our minds can affect us just as much. Most people will agree that thinking the same thought a thousand times will make a person more likely to act upon it. However, not many are selective about their intake of thoughts and ideas.
Perhaps the biggest source of mental “junk food” is television. On any given day, TV programmes contain hundreds of ideas and images about violence and consumerism (“buy this and it will make you happy”). Frequent viewers may find that TV has a subtle effect on their sense of safety in the world, and a subtle influence on where they look for satisfaction and fulfillment.
Do you agree or disagree? Click: Post Your Opinion, Read Others.
Details & Directions
All classes are free of charge.
For full details click: Tai Chi, Moving Meditation, Directions.
PUBLISHED IN MAR 2013 ISSUE OF LAINGHOLM ROUNDABOUT.
Hey Valera. I think television has the capacity to be fun and / or informative, so it’s not all bad. And obviously most shows are centered around significant dramas – after all, shows that truly depicted the average life would probably make us all nod off! But I believe constantly subjecting yourself to violence, over-the-top drama and cynical comedy starts to impact your sense of who and how you think you should be in the world and what your environment is like. You can lose touch with reality (and “reality TV” deserves the quote marks I just put around it). So it’s definitely a good idea to get out of the habit of zoning out in front of the TV every night. Watch what you really want to and turn it off. And these days there’s more than just TV – we can be constantly connected online if we really want to which can get overwhelming and addictive. I don’t use Facebook, watch shows on DVD only and spend a minimum amount of time on standard news sites. After a while of doing this, I noticed how irrelevant most of the information I was loading myself up with really was. I reckon it’s better to connect with real life as much as possible – it’s rich in its own way and generally makes me feel much more optimistic about life!
As for my personal experience, I stopped watching television about 12 years ago. I noticed a few benefits from doing this:
Firstly it freed up a lot of time. This could be 2-3 hours per day, which is 1/7 of the waking time or one seventh of life!
Secondly, not having the dominant cultural norms reinforced on a daily basis makes it easier to be a unique individual and get in touch with how I really want to live my life.
And thirdly, it can be substituted for a more active form of entertainment such as using the Internet. The Internet lets users choose what information they want to access and the choice is much wider and not censored by someone else. Also it allows for active and creative engagement, such as making a web site, exchanging ideas with other people via online forums, etc.
Maree, I’m with you on the fact that it’s not the technology but the use we put it to. In other words I think television is a great invention with a lot of good potential. However, I think that most programmes currently shown on television are “mental junk food”.