Knowing the Body as Body
Based on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
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Archive for the ‘About our center’ Category
One Day Meditation Retreat with Master Ji Ru
In About our center, Meditation on January 30, 2012 at 4:11 am
Greet 2012 in MIndfulness
In About our center, Mindfulness on December 31, 2011 at 6:55 pmHere are some suggestions on how to start the new year with peace and harmony.
Happy 2012 everyone!
Little Village Buddhist Meditation Center Now Open
In About our center on May 23, 2011 at 3:30 pmGreat news!
¡Grandes noticias!
The new center is now open and developing programs and classes. We even have a new WordPress website!
Please visit us online and in person in Little Village. The website will have info about classes and class times. Some classes will be starting right away so look for news before this day is over!
Wishing peace and happiness for all beings.
El nuevo centro ahora es programas y clases abiertos y que se convierten. ¡Incluso tenemos un nuevo Web site de WordPress! Visítenos por favor en línea y sobre clases y tiempos de la clase. ¡Algunas clases comenzarán inmediatamente así que busque las noticias antes de que este día haya terminado!
New Buddhist Meditation Center in Little Village Chicago
In About our center on May 16, 2011 at 2:41 pmSaturday, May 21 Open House!
The center is opening to serve the families of Little Village and the surrounding communities. Our doors will be open to all. Our intention is to help people reduce their levels of stress. Our classes will help people of all ages attain better health and peace of mind.
We’ll offer classes in meditation, Yang tai chi and Ving Tsun (Wing Chun), a very effective style of Chinese Kung Fu.
For those interested in learning more about Buddhism, there will also be opportunities to learn more about that as well.
And please, tell us what you’d like to see happening at the center. We want to hear from you.
Tai Chi Weekends
In About our center, Tai Chi, Taiji on March 18, 2011 at 12:42 pmDe-Stress Your Weekend
I’m changing the schedule up to return to my original practice of reserving the mornings for my own training, so I can better serve you, the students.
As the saying goes; One door closes – another opens. Many have asked for an evening class time … So, I’m happy to announce that starting today, in celebration of Spring being nearly officially upon us …
Friday evening classes at Ping Tom Park from 6-7pm.
from park district web site
Every Friday, weather permitting. All welcome, no previous experience required. Just come in comfortable attire and soft shoes and let’s get started. $15/class.
This is a great way to end your work week and let go of the stress you’ve been toting around. Shift your gears to a lower speed and bring yourself the peace resulting from uniting the body, breath and mind. I’ll be teaching 18-form qigong, known as Shi Ba Shi and Yang 24-form tai chi (taiji).
Ping Tom is lovely – water, bamboo, cypress trees and flowers. Very very nice. So come join me. Together we can make ourselves and the world around us more peaceful one breath at a time.
Take a look at this neat article from Huffington Post about the many wonders of qigong.
And here’s another good one, about everyday benefits of tai chi. (also spelled taiji.)
The best way to find out, is of course, through your own experience. So come on out. You’ve got nothing to lose but your stress, anxiety, headaches, restlessness, agitation, worry, sleepless nights … and so much more.
And, please bring your friends. We’ll have a great time.
Hillary
Tai Chi Shi Ba Shi Video
In About our center, Stress reduction, Tai Chi on March 8, 2011 at 7:36 amJust wanted to let you all know, that Calm Chicago is on You Tube. You’ll find our short videos about the 18-form qigong to help support your practice.
Each video deals with just one posture right now. And while getting to a class or involved with some kind of one-on-one instruction is ideal, in the meantime, I hope these can help answer questions you may have.
Let me know what questions you might have.
And if you’re interested in studying but can’t make it into the center, let me know because we’re be happy to come to your home, office or community space. We’re right here in Chinatown, so the South Loop is particularly close by.
Stay well.
Hillary
Hillary in 1st posture 18-form Shi ba shi
Getting Profoundly Empty at Calm Chicago
In About our center on March 6, 2011 at 2:19 amSo sweet, a student sent me this message recently after a private class where we practiced walking meditation. An exercise in which we focus on the fine points of the experience of walking. If you want to go forward you must shift the weight to one foot entirely, that leg becomes full…the other leg, ready to step forward, has become empty. The heel touches down to the floor or earth, the shifting of weight begins, filling that leg, the other becomes empty. And so on, over and over. Each step, like each breath a bit different. Arises, exists for a time, then passes away.
Thanks for the one-on-one session today. I tried to be mindful of things being empty and full–just during lunch hour–and there’s a lot, like maybe everything. Things have to be empty before they can be full, and vice versa. Wow–new concepts to consider!
I was exhilarated by her discovery. Way to go. And many thanks.
mindful of body, breath and mind.
Sifu Matt and Calm Chicago visit the Boy Scouts
In About our center on March 4, 2011 at 6:52 am
My husband, Ving Tsun Sifu Matt, and I had the pleasure of visiting a group of Boy Scouts this evening. It was really great.
The kids learned a little sitting meditation (they were SO silent and still! Amazing!) and Sifu Matt talked to them about having respect, patience and a quiet mind before training kung fu.
Check out our video slide show.
If you like, we’d be happy to come do a similar class for you. Let us know. We’re so happy to share with others what we’ve been so grateful to learn.
Many thanks to our teachers, family, students and friends.
Tai Chi, Meditation and the Lorenz Butterfly
In About our center, Tai Chi on March 3, 2011 at 10:21 pm
My philosophy for teaching,
practicing, living tai chi,
qigong and meditation
is all about being practical.
These are practices that yield immediate practical results that improve with repetition. Best of all, at least a little bit every day. Better five minutes of reallyy strong focus than 25 with the mind wandering all over. They are means to seeing reality clearly, without the fog of emotions obscuring our understanding. Through practice, and looking for ways to apply our discoveries in practice to the “daily grind” (time to change that label, eh?!), we learn accept life, moment by moment, without judgement, either positive or negative and to adapt as the stream of events presents various changes and challenges.
from yang tai chi shi ba shi qigong first posture
Taiji, qigong and meditation (sitting, standing or walking), are all ways of learning to be mindful, allowing us to do one thing at a time, peacefully. Most importantly, we reduce our stress this way and the stress of everyone around us.
Sensitive Dependency on Initial Conditions from Wikipeadia
Because all things, all beings are interdependent
and interconnected, the more we are mindful,
the more the whole world becomes more peaceful.
“We are each of us, a Lorenz Butterfly. And as such, we affect everything around us in ways we cannot possibly predict.” When we go through the world in anger, jealousy or other negative emotional states, we tend to see the world negatively, in fact creating conditions for anger and jealousy to arise. On the other hand, when we go through our day peacefully, trying to balance or actions and the things we say, the state of our own minds, in a balance of wisdom and compassion, observing without judgement, good or bad, love or hate… we can see things just at they are, and accept that.
So, in the interest of creating the greatest possible harmony, I use tai chi, qigong and meditation as ways to help individual students reduce their own stress by guiding them towards directly experiencing life as a flow of moments, thoughts, words and actions, (in effect choices we make). Those moments are endlessly arising, existing and ceasing, one after the next. The more we try to live very simply, blamelessly, letting go of each moment as it passes, whether pleasant or not pleasant or just in-between, the less stressful life becomes. Those ripples of peace, spread out from us, endlessly. Through our simple practice, we create conditions for more happiness for ourselves and others.
Form is emptiness ... emptiness is form - calligraphy in our school
Let me know what you think. I’m eager to hear.
Tell us about your study where ever you are,
your discoveries and practice.
Together we can help support each other in practice.
Everything Old is New Again
In About our center on March 2, 2011 at 7:53 pmWe’ll be returning effective immediately to our old space at:
2147 S Lumber St Suite 504 (free parking! near red line and busess)
Call or email me for the access code before your first visit.
Nice to be back with Sifu Matt (my husband) and sharing the space for our various teachings.
There will also be adjustments to the schedule in consideration of my new routine with Storycatchers Theatre.
Now that spring is nearly here, we’ll also soon be holding all tai chi and qigong classes in Ping Tom Park, with its lovely aromatic cypresses, water and pagoda.
Ping Tom Park Pagoda
It’s very easy to find and a clearly identifiable landmark … So, come join us! New schedule coming soon. Happy Spring everyone. I hope the new changes will serve to support your practice. Thank you for stopping by.
