Posts Tagged ‘qigong’
chicago meditation center, qigong, tai chi, taiji
In About our center on March 2, 2011 at 7:53 pm
We’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.
41.853495
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mind and body, qigong, tai chi, world tai chi day chicago, Yang tai chi
In Tai Chi on February 26, 2011 at 7:24 am
This is the first of a series of videos I’ll be posting to support teaching at Calm Chicago. Each short clip features one posture from the 18-form qigong which are terrific mind/body exercises. They are great for preparing the body and mind for further study in tai chi if you wish but are also good on their own for general health of the body and to help support single pointed focus of the mind required for deepening meditation practice.
from yang tai chi shi ba shi qigong first posture
I present these videos of tai chi and so forth as part of my own practice, with all humility. I hope they help support your practice. Please let me know. I look forward to your feedback.
peace everyone,
hillary
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body and mind, breath, Buddhism, Chan, Compassion, dharma, enlightenment, happiness, job, karma, loving kindness, meditation, meditation center, Metta, mind and body, mindfulness, multi-tasking, multitasking, Peace, practice, qigong, retreat, sitting meditation, stress-management, stress-reduction, taiji, wisdom, work, world tai chi day, world tai chi day calm chicago, world tai chi day chicago
In Meditation on January 31, 2011 at 3:14 am
breath, Chan, Chicago, Compassion, dharma, enlightenment, happiness, mind and body, practice, qigong, retreat, sitting meditation, stress-management, stress-reduction, tai chi, taiji, world tai chi day, world tai chi day calm chicago, world tai chi day chicago, Yang tai chi, Yang Taiji
In About our center, Tai Chi, Taiji on January 30, 2011 at 9:43 pm
#8 Reason to get ready for World Tai Chi and Qigong Day ….
Nothing is closer to our life than the breath. Think about it.
No breath – No life. It’s that simple. Want to have a good life? – Cultivate good breath.
Tai chi and qigong are ways of getting in close touch with your breath, cultivating a healthy awareness of it.
Constrained breath leaves us tied to the ground
When we know what’s up with the breath, we have a pretty good idea of how the rest of the body and mind are doing.
When the breath suffers so does the rest of us. But when we gently pay attention to the breath, making it stronger, our bodies and minds become stronger and healthier too.
Breath slow and steady and strong, like the ocean. in ... out ...in... out
So, World Tai Chi & Qigong Day? Sounds like a slam dunk to me.
41.853820
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body and mind, breath, Chicago, happiness, loving kindness, meditation, meditation center, mind and body, mindfulness, multi-tasking, multitasking, Peace, practice, qigong, retreat, sitting meditation, stress-management, stress-reduction, tai chi, world tai chi day, world tai chi day calm chicago, world tai chi day chicago, Yang tai chi, Yang Taiji
In About our center, Tai Chi, Taiji on January 29, 2011 at 4:38 pm
#9 Reason to get ready for World Tai Chi and Qigong Day ….
because it’ll be so much fun to participate in a world-wide celebration involving more than 60 countries and millions of people, all joyfully, peacefully breathing together all at the same time!
Tai Chi is more fun in a group!
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body, breath, capitalism, Chicago, chicago yang tai chi, chicago yang taichi, Compassion, enlightenment, facebook, happiness, karma, loving kindness, meditation, meditation center, mind and body, mindfulness, Peace, practice, qigong, sitting meditation, stress-management, stress-reduction, tai chi, taiji, wisdom, work, world tai chi day, world tai chi day calm chicago, world tai chi day chicago, Yang 24-form, Yang tai chi, Yang Taiji, yin and yang, zen
In About our center, Compassion, Stress reduction, Tai Chi, Taiji on January 28, 2011 at 11:53 am
#10 Reason to get ready for World Tai Chi and Qigong Day …. 
It’s FREE! You can get ready for this world-wide day of healing and it’ll cost you nada, zero, zip, the big goose egg ….
ok, we confess – it’ll cost you the loss of some stress.
Bummer dude.
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adaptability, body, body and mind, breath, change, flexibility, Imagine, job, meditation, meditation center, Metta, practice, qigong, retreat, sitting meditation, stress-management, stress-reduction, tai chi, taiji, wisdom, Yang tai chi, Yang Taiji, yin and yang
In About our center, Meditation, Peace, Stress reduction on January 28, 2011 at 4:31 am
Please say hello to the center’s two fish, Yin & Yang.
Meet Yin and Yang, the center's two calm fish. They remind us daily that everything changes.
They have a pretty pleasant environment with lots of plants around. We’d love to have more plants, so we can really freshen the air in the center as much as possible without chemicals. Many thanks to Vincent for all the plants you see here. They were a gift in our prior location and in the move had to be re-potted and trimmed up some. Moving plants in -4 degrees weather is not ideal for the delicate house plants but they seem to be bouncing back.
We love a lot of plants at Calm Chicago. Makes the air clean and healthy.
So, if you have some plants you’d like to donate, they’ll be gratefully received. We get a pretty good amount of indirect light from the south.
We’ll be adding a jade plant soon. Lovely for the center because the soft, round green leaves are beautiful and grow only very slowly. This is how we develop our own practices in tai chi (or taiji), qigong and meditation…slowly, breath by breath.
Thanks so much to our teachers, family, friends and students for all your support. I am ever grateful. Together we make the city more peaceful and less stressed. I bow to you all for your efforts and dedication.
The center will be offering lots of wonderful new seminars this year. We hope you’ll join us as much as you can. Please let us know what you’d like to see offered that would really be of benefit to lots of people. We may not respond to every single idea but we’ll gratefully receive them all.
Many thanks, Hillary and Matt
The central yin and yang in our logo, symbolic of two fish, constantly moving, swimming, going up-coming down.
41.853820
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body and mind, breath, Chicago, Compassion, enlightenment, happiness, loving kindness, meditation, meditation center, mind and body, mindfulness, Peace, qigong, sitting meditation, stress-management, stress-reduction, tai chi, taiji, work, world tai chi day, world tai chi day calm chicago, world tai chi day chicago, Yang tai chi, Yang Taiji
In Meditation, Stress reduction, Tai Chi on January 27, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Just a flash of insight from practice the other day. Like many of my realizations, nothing earth shattering on the surface but buried in its simplicity is a deep thing.
Let’s see if I can put it into words.
Tai Chi (taiji) and meditation allow us to start the day mindfully and without stress
Every day I get up at 5:30 and do some qigong, tai chi and standing meditation to start the day. What happened was, as I looked at the clock on the wall in the center, I knew there was only 40 minutes to practice. At 6:40 a.m. I HAD to be DONE, because the drive to work can take a long time. The Deadline? Be at the desk no later than 8:30. But as often happens with tai chi and meditation, it feels so good and I want to stay and keep going.
I mean, I love tai chi and meditation even more than I like triple scoops of Mint Chocolate ice cream in a dark chocolate dipped waffle cone.
But, if I kept going, I’d be late for work. And that would cause a lot of suffering and trouble for not only for me with the boss, but for colleagues who rely on my presence to get their jobs done.
So, at 6:40 I turned off the light and locked the door to the center. I walked to my car carrying my breath and mind in each step, full and empty, full and empty.
Quan Yin reminds me to balance compassion with wisdom, to do what the next truly appropriate thing is, not just what I want to do.
There was the pleasure of a clear mind from practice and the knowledge that the decision to stick to the schedule was a benefit to me and those around me.
The deep lesson. There is a time for everything. A time for tai chi and a time to drive to the office. Sticking to the schedule reduces stress. The ego is reduced in size. The ego and it’s desire to selfishly pick and choose are set aside for the larger good; a more peaceful day for all the interdependent beings.
Try to live blamelessly, without causing trouble for the self or others.
Do you have times like that? Where you have something you have to do but would rather do something else? How does that play out for you? Are some times harder than others to be disciplined with? Why is that?
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body and mind, Chicago, Compassion, facebook, happiness, karma, loving kindness, meditation, meditation center, Metta, mind and body, mindfulness, multi-tasking, multitasking, practice, qigong, retreat, sitting meditation, stress-management, stress-reduction, tai chi, taiji, twitter, website, wisdom, world tai chi day, world tai chi day calm chicago, world tai chi day chicago, Yang tai chi, Yang Taiji
In Uncategorized on January 23, 2011 at 2:03 pm
I just realized that the one page I started this blog with is no longer a tenable option. Looking for posts on what interests you is like looking through a mountain of paper. I’m thinking – not so much!
So, with the new year, it’s time to learn more about how to construct a more user-friendly blog. I hope this helps. Please let me know what you think. I’d love to get your input so the blog can be more useful.
thanks, wishing peace and happiness to everyone,
hillary
41.853820
-87.634547
body, body and mind, breath, Chicago, chicago meditation center, chicago yang taichi, chicago yang taiji, Compassion, enlightenment, happiness, loving kindness, meditation, meditation center, Metta, mind and body, mindfulness, qigong, retreat, sitting meditation, stress-management, stress-reduction, tai chi, taiji, world tai chi day, world tai chi day calm chicago, world tai chi day chicago, Yang tai chi, Yang Taiji
In About our center, Tai Chi, Taiji on January 22, 2011 at 5:49 am
We have a great new location in Chinatown Square. We owe many thanks to Dr. Richard Li, an excellent chiropractor who’s sharing the space with us. (So, if you need some tuina massage or an adjustment, we got you covered!)
2155 s china place unit b (above t-mobile)
Walking distance to the Red Line, Cermak and Archer buses, parking lots.
Check out our new class schedule.
We also have FREE classes to get everyone ready for World Tai Chi Day on Saturday, April 30th. Join us!
Drop by any time to see what we’re up to. Just call ahead since we’re not there 24/7!
41.852973
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