Hello Chi Family!
As most of you know the governor of Florida has issued stay at home orders beginning midnight tonight, April 2. The exceptions to those orders are listed as essential services and include grocery shopping, medical services AND outdoor recreation in groups smaller than 10 that maintain appropriate social distancing. Since both the governor of Florida and Sheriff Wayne Ivy recognize the need to stay healthy and our outdoor classes meet essential services guidelines, I will continue to lead outdoor classes as listed on the website schedule until I am prevented from doing so. I respect if you choose not to come. I also highly respect those of you who have trained with me for months and years for this very situation: to stay healthy and center in the face of change. The very symbol of tai chi, representing the harmony of yin and yang, is traditionally displayed spinning on a spindle, not still, to represent the ever changing nature of our world. Through our daily self-care practices, whether they be in times of peace, calm or pandemic, we learn to hold our balance and center, not tensing or stressing, able to breathe deep healing breaths no matter how much change we encounter from the world which will always be changing. As the world changes faster and faster not only because of health crisis but also the huge advances in our technologies, tai chi and qigong are the perfect method of adapting. Not only do they create new neural pathways in our brains (meaning they make our brains better able to adapt to change and stress), they also provide us continued physical and mental health that no medicine does. Our Tai chi and qigong self care exercises provide a daily ritual of health that creates a sense of routine and order even when the world may seem to stop. Tai chi and qigong boost our immune systems, calm our minds, strength our bones and provide a moving form of meditation that connects us to the powerful moving force that we are in the world, empowering us to take control of our own health, empower the health of others and be responsible for the health of the planet. Tai chi and qigong have always been about working gracefully with and within our natural outdoor environment and world instead of against it or separate from it. We will continue to train in nature, with nature using natural healing methods as we have done for years now. May you and yours stay chi strong.