

An Introduction to Chi Gung
At The Creative Innovations Centre, Paul Street, Taunton
Tuesday evenings 7.15-8.45
Five week course £40
18 November - 16 December
Discover the benefit to your health and wellbeing of practising simple, easy-to-learn exercises drawn from various traditions of taichi. Learn about the energy-architecture of the human body and how to use the knowledge to live a more effective life. Chi Gung is about developing a more efficient body and a keener awareness of what is most important to you. In the process, decrease stress and diminish the habit of thinking and worrying about what is really not so important.
Venue details

Autumn Retreat: Mr Gogus and Conscious Living
Hawkwood College, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK
Friday 31 October – Sunday 2nd November
A three-day autumn retreat in lovely English countryside. Talks and dialogues on living more consciously. Meeting Mr Gogus: the evolutionary impulse that draws us to the truth and the discovery of our purpose in life. Chi gung exercises to strengthen against the oncoming winter and counter the disturbances which accompany change.
Registration: 11-12.00 on Fri 31 Oct / Close: 16.30 on Sun 2 Nov.
Optional extra nights accommodation: Thurs 30 Oct and Sun 2 Nov. Those coming for extra nights will be offered personal sessions.
Cost of accommodation and meals: Shared room: £184 (Extra nights £26 pp/pn). Single Room: £226 (Extra nights £42.50 pp/pn). Course Fees: £90
Booking: Reserve your place by email [chi.gung@btinternet.com] and secure it with a non-refundable deposit of £90. The cost of accommodation and meals is due at registration and paid to Hawkwood College.
Venue details

Mr Gogus and The Mystery
Continuing an investigation into the mysterious impulse that determines the lives of those drawn to a more conscious life.
Why do we ask why? What is not clear, simple or obvious? And why not?
Four meetings, once a month, on Saturday afternoons.
Sept 13, October 11, November 8 and December 13 2014
In The Court Room, upstairs at the Hankridge Arms, Taunton (Hankridge Way, adjacent to the Travelodge. M5, J25)
2.30 (prompt) until around 5.00pm
£10 including tea and biscuits.
To attend, reserve seat. Contact Elena: 01823 619672 / 0752 6158739

The Hestercombe Chi Gung Group
At The Memorial Hall, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton
Courses on a particular theme, each lasting for six or seven weeks.
Each class is for 90 minutes on Wednesday mornings, starting at 10.30am.
Cost for seven classes: £35
10 September - 1 October
5 November - 17 December
7 January - 18 February 2015
11 March - 22 April 2015
13 May - 24 June 2015
Autumn 2014
The group is currently closed to newcomers to allow present members to refine and develop their practice. Having worked for the last year or more on weight-shifting, grounding, verticality and yin/yang, the next steps introduce chi-breathing, working with and from the spine, and placing the attention more intently on postural alignments.
—Most people hold a degree of tension in their breathing pattern. Chi-breathing is mainly about consciously regulating your breathing to unseat that habitual tension. Then we develop the ability to place the breath in each of the three 'chi burners' in the body and learn to perceive the chi in the breath.
—To drive our awareness inward and enhance the perception of the principles at work in chi gung, it follows that we move inwards towards the energetic core of the body; and outwards from the spine or, equally, upwards and downwards. Increasingly subtle adjustments of posture are made, particularly in the neck. This work leads to more appreciation of the opening and closing mechanisms that stream chi through the body.
—The main exercises used in the two Autumn courses are Shibashi 1 and The Marriage of Heaven and Earth.
Practice Sessions
Between the courses, and if the weather is fine, there are usually free chi gung practice sessions in Hestercombe Gardens on Wednesdays from 10.30 and Saturdays from 10am for an hour. Anyone who practices Shibashi Taichi may attend. Garden entrance fee applies.
To check if practice is planned for a particular day contact Elena 01823 619672 / 0752 615 8739.
Hestercombe details
More about the Hestercombe Chi Gung Group.

Meeting Mr Gogus
A series of talks, with dialogues, questions and answers. The first proposition I make is that we are all engaged in the evolution of consciousness and that knowing this gives purpose to our lives. From time to time everyone gets a sign, an insight, an intuition that life is more meaningful and mysterious than we know. What is it speaking to us in these moments? What’s the hidden message in our vivid dreams, in the coincidental, the meaningful encounter, in significant books or the powerful words of teachers? How is it that we may fall in love with one person and with others not? What is it that attracts us to the truth? Let’s say it’s Mr or Ms Gogus at work behind the scenes. Meeting Mr Gogus is sometimes confusing, can be disturbing, may be a revelation or an enchantment, but when you’re conscious of your purpose in life, he (or she) is your guide and companion.
Thursdays 7-9pm Feb 13 & 20; March 6 & 20; April 3 & 17; May 1 & 15;
at The Frank Bond Centre, 84 Mountway Rd, Bishops Hull, Taunton. Approach Mountway Road from Silk Mills Road; then the entrance and car parking is first left. Tea and biscuits on arrival.
£5 per session. Pay at door but please book first with Elena on 01823 619672

Midsummer Chi
A five-day residential retreat on an island in the Baltic just after midsummer when the sun barely sets. With chi gung sessions in the mornings, talks and walks in the afternoon, sauna, swimming, relaxation and good food.
Labbnäs, Kimito Island, Finland
June 26 - July 1st
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Weekly Classes with the Hestercombe Chi Gung Group
Weekly meetings continue on Wednesday mornings at The Memorial Hall, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton 10.30-12.30
Summer Season: 30 April - 4 June
When not meeting in Cheddon Hall there are informal practice sessions in Hestercombe Gardens. (Garden Membership applies).
Group Membership is £50 a season (£30 for May-June). The Group is currently closed to beginners to allow for more advanced chi gung and nei gung practice. Nei gung means working with the perception of chi and applying the principles of chi gung to promote more consciousness in daily life.

Beginners Intensive Shibashi Training
At the Creative Innovations Centre, Paul St, Taunton (UK)
Two Sundays: May 4 & May 11: 10am to 5.30pm
Beginners £65; Old Hands £20/day
Newcomers will learn the shibashi sequence from scratch in two days. They may then join the Hestercombe Group for practice sessions during the summer.
Anyone may attend who wants to revise the form or catch up with more advanced students.
Participants will also get an introduction to the energy-architecture of the body and the essential principles of chi gung practice.

Shibashi Taichi For Beginners 2014
At the Creative Innovations Centre, Paul St, Taunton (UK)
Monday evenings 10 February to 31 March 7-8.30pm
A new eight-week course of instruction in the 18 shibashi movements. Shibashi is a modern and easy to learn chi gung which uses exercises drawn from various taichi traditions, designed to improve flexibility, increase blood circulation, release physical tension and promote wellbeing. Read more here
This shibashi is the form taught by Sifu Wing Cheung. To see a video demonstration go to Sifu's website:
www.taichi18.com
The Beginners Course fee is £60. Attendance at all classes is required to learn the whole sequence. Booking: 01823 430061 Anyone who has already learned shibashi with Clive Tempest may drop in to any class for £5.
Venue details

Enquiries: chi.gung@btinternet.com
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