Question 2: I love how you describe the Song, I use Chinese character a lot when I teach and I found the richness in the characters in Chinese culture add so much value to Taiji/Qigong theory and practice. When you describe the vertical alignment in Song state, which parts of the body are not in the song state? Answer: All of the body is in song state! Sometimes I even imagine I can see my individual cells being in song! The vertical alignment of the spine is only one part of Song. One can also imagine a vertical line through each bone (the forearm for instance) which lengthens, but one als ..read more

Question 1: What kind of breathing method do you use when practice Wuji Qigong or any Qigong? Reverse breathing (Ni Fu Shi ) or Belly Breathing (Shun Fu Shi)? Also, do you inhale and exhale through the nose or breathe in through the nose, breathe out through the mouth. I just recently took a private Qigong lesson from a very accomplished Qigong and Taijiquan teacher from China, and he mentioned that Qigong should always breathe in through the nose and breathe out through the mouth. I would like to hear about your thoughts on this? Answer : Master William Ting* never speaks of how to breat ..read more

One of the most common mistakes I see in Tai Chi practitioners of all levels, is losing the overall shape of their Tai Chi by retracting their elbows or scapula back, or opening their arms up too wide. This video will give you a simple tangible exercise, using a wall, to feel and practice your Tai Chi shape ..read more

When you do tai chi, your spine should feel as if it is continuously expanding. This may seem to be unrealistic, because, after all, nothing in our physical world goes on forever. And yet, continuously expanding the spine is a key concept in tai chi. First, let’s explore what expanding the spine means. In the tai chi posture the head goes up and the hips and legs go down. This is done with a relaxed body so that you are not trying to expand the spine, but rather the spine expands because the hips are relaxing and dropping away from the head. If you try to expand the spine by purposefully elo ..read more

On my last camping trip I would make an early morning campfire to stave off the edge of cold. I had some interesting thoughts come to mind, so decided to share my campfire and my thoughts with you. As I sat around the crackling campfire in the early morning hours, I discovered new perspectives on finding balance in life. In this serene natural setting, it became clear to me that just as the forces of gravity constantly weigh us down, we have to make a conscious effort to lift ourselves up to counterbalance. Because.... What we focus on grows. It's so easy for us to focus on the negative ..read more

When I was a child, I loved singing “This Little Light of Mine.”  What a simple tune, yet truly profound message. This Little light of mine,  I’m going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.  Can you hear it? As I reflected this morning on that simple song, I envisioned a candle, sitting solitary in a darkened room.  That single flame filled the space with its unwavering glow.  Even when a cold breeze came and seemingly extinguished the flame, the wick continued smoldering, and eventually reignited to cast its warm, comforting light once agai ..read more

Susan takes you through a few of the most common Tai Chi mistakes and how to easily fix them. Also the why behind the how! Watch and transform your experience with Tai Chi ..read more

Susan discusses 7 qualities of a good Tai Chi teacher. Start here to look for a good Tai Chi teacher. Learn how to discern between a Tai Chi teacher that is actually doing Tai Chi and knows how to teach Tai Chi. Enjoy ..read more

Tai Chi Chuan or Taiji or Tai Chi, and Qigong, Chi Kung, are all a kung fu practice. Tai Chi is considered among the martial arts as one of the most effective fighting mechanisms. But Tai Chi is many things, not just martial arts. Kung fu means a focused practice with high level skill. So Tai Chi can also be a healing art, bringing about health and wellness through the circulation of Qi, or life energy. In this video Sifu Susan decides to play with Qi during her camping trip. Her friend has low back pain, so Sifu Susan experiments with sending her Qi, her healing life energy, into her frien ..read more

Sifu Susan gives a spontaneous talk on the Purpose of Life as she sees it today and how Tai Chi illustrates the path toward transforming our life purpose. The purpose of life is to journey toward transformation. We are meant to transform ourselves into something different, something better. That transformation is to move from external living to internal dwelling. Things such as moving away from the materialistic way of living and more into a place that is detached from the physical, the needs, the wants. When we are born into life, we are bombarded by the physical world; the lights, the sound ..read more