Dog Moon Rises
Dogs are loyal, loving, and kind. They are responsible, dependable, sweet, caring, and compassionate. The only downside to a dog is that they can be a little naive at times - borderline gullible. Dogs are loyal to a fault. They will follow their master to the ends of the earth - even if their master is an idiot.
As for the poetry of the moment, be helpful, but help yourself first. It's just like getting on an airplane when they go over safety protocols and they tell you to put on your oxygen mask first before you help the person sitting next to you. You can't pour from an empty pitcher - take care of yourself first.
To make this make sense, learn to say NO. By saying NO to someone else, you get to say YES to yourself. Moreover, there's a fine line between helping and enabling. The last thing you'd want to do is create a dependency - you won't want dead weight dragging you down this Winter. It's ok to say NO.
✧ The Final Moon of Fall ✧
Buddy Up: Invest in friendships
Go For a Walk: Take a short stroll after supper
Play Fetch: Reminisce on old times with an old friend
Roll Over: Take some time to digest your day
Cuddle: Snuggle with a loved one
Selfish First / Selfless Second
Contents
⭐︎ Shifu Says: A brief word from our head teacher, Shifu David Wei
⭐︎ Autumn Curriculum: It's time for our Dragon Gate Pilgrimage set!
⭐︎ The Daoist Calendar: Special holidays and how to observe them
✭ Tai Chi True or False: You've got a 50/50 chance. Is it Yin or Yang?
✭ Deep Steeps: Shifu Zooms in from Germany with Sifu Brian Kuttel
✭ Story Time, Story Time: A painter, a wealthy aristocrat, and a cat
✭ Final Fortune Cookie: Big wit and wisdom from a tiny little idiom
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✧ Shifu Says ✧
Last Monday was Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day and the sponsor of our weekly online classes observed that day as a holiday so our free qigong session was cancelled. As such, our favorite, Mary Constance-Parks, took it upon herself to organize another community event in San Francisco!
I wasn't able to make it because my goddaughter was visiting from Hawaii and we already had plans for the afternoon, but I still made it a point to send gifts for all the participants. From what I gather, the event went on smoothly without any hiccups. Mary served our private press pu'erh out of a thermos for everyone and Eileen led the group in a lively partnered practice.
This is the second special event organized by Mary for our community in San Francisco. Her first event was last month at the Presidio in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Day, and she already has plans for more monthly meetups into the new year! It's not always easy for people to make it over the bridge to see us in Oakland, so it's quite special that Mary has made it a point to create these ongoing gatherings for our friends across the Bay.
Curious about the next event? Live some place else and want to have an event of your own? Shoot us an email, let's see what we can create!
We Bring the Mountain to You
Autumn Curriculum
Hey guys, it's that time again! Every two months or so, Shifu switches up the curriculum of our free community classes to reflect the progression of the seasons. Now, as we head out of Autumn and into the colder moons of Winter, he's chosen a short form that could be performed hard or soft - it's the perfect segue set. It's our Wudang Daoist Gate Pilgrimage sequence.
Shifu first learned this set in 2014 from his Grand Uncle, Yun Xiang Tseng, out in Colorado. Grand Uncle Tseng gifted the set to Shifu after he stepped in to lead a demo team at the first-ever Universal Consciousness Festival when his original demo troupe from China had their visas canceled at the last minute. This would become the last classical sequence that Shifu ever learned and integrated into our curriculum - making it a particularly special.
What many may not know is that Shifu teaches the form quite differently from the way he originally learned it. Originally it was called "Taiji Qigong," but the name was generic and non-descriptive. Since the form comes from the Long Men (龍門), or "Dragon Gate," sect and illustrates an epic journey toward the peak of Wudang Mountain, Shifu eventually began calling it the "Wudang Dragon Gate Pilgrimage Set." He also modified the movements by adding simple progressions designed to make the postures easier to learn and execute. Shifu has shared this set all over the world for the last 12 years
- and he's only now making an instructional course for it.
Shifu's been on quite the production run this year - starting it all off with Eight Immortal Methods, our Summer Circulation series, Tai Chi Treasures, Pai Da Gong, and now this! While the new course is underway, come learn the material for free in our online community sessions. You're gonna love it!
✧ Autumn Curriculum ✧
Build the Bones: Static Postures for Power
Build the Blood: Gentle Patterns that Pump and Pulse
Build the Qi: Create a Reservoir of Energy all for Yourself
Build the Skill: Easy Moves with Simple Progressions
Build a New You: Just in time for the Holidays
We Bring the Mountain to YOU
Daoist Holidays
Ninth/Chrysanthemum Moon: Yang Earth Dog
Qi Node: Cold Dew
Holiday: Cai Shen (Money God) Birthday
Clean the Kitchen, Clear out Clutter, Turn Over Storage, Make Space
*Use Promo Code TEA20 for 20% Off of the First Month of Tea
Tai Chi True or False
True or False:
Tai Chi requires no attention to alignment or body mechanics.
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