Foundation Tai-chi Teacher Training 2004
FEEDBACK
Heather Cardwell (Year 1 FTT)
Where do I begin? There has to be a beginning to my experiences on this course but now that I am on it, it feels like I have been on it and will continue on it forever.
I find it hard to put into words the changes in me. I came to this course full of hope, full of fear, full of neediness but full of excitement. I had no idea if my needs would be met or even what they truly were.
One year on the woman I am becoming astounds me. I feel that as the year has gone on more and more layers have been peeled away; more and more tough varnish has been stripped to give a better glimpse of the Light Being I truly am.
There have been enormous hills to climb, and there still are. The difference now is I KNOW I can climb them. I am delighting in feeling my true, happier self grow day by day and I can’t wait to get to know and love her better in the year to come.
The course and the teaching has been astounding. There have been so many priceless and moving moments. This amazing group of people have shared in my tears and joy, my struggles and my triumphs. I have felt priviledged to be trusted with theirs too.
Choy as a teacher has given his very best and in return expected and receives the very best from his students. At times our tasks and homework have been incredibly challenging but would I have wanted it to be any other way? The answer is no - I know that I have been able to look within myself and discover resources, strengths and talents which I never dreamed I possessed.
As to whether the tools we have been given work - my answer would be that they are an integral part of my daily life. I use them all day every day. I cannot now imagine not being able to turn to them and I am so grateful to have the 15 Fundamentals in my life - they truly are my friends.
As I write this I am about to take my first class. It feels like another crossroads on my journey.
I am so excited to be sharing Rainbow Tai Chi with others. It has become part of my essence, part of what makes me - me! I am so grateful for everything I have learned this year and am so excited about the year to come. I would like to repeat my words from Summer School - I am grateful and proud to be a student here.
Frances Powell (Year 1)
As an example of how the FTT course has affected my life -
Last year’s Summer School Part 1 a photo was taken of Heather and I doing Kidney Chi Kung at Mothecombe Beach - when I saw the photos then, I had very little appreciation for myself, my image.
Today, Heather has passed the original photos to me, and they are included in brochures, now I can appreciate the beauty and joy from the pictures.
My self esteem and image has completely transformed.
Through Choy’s tender, individual attentive teachings I have learned and continue to learn to balance my emotions, listen to my heart, love and care for my inner self and body, to find stillness, to quieten my mind and to find myself true and beautiful.
I have learned and am learning to trust my light being and appreciate her. I have learned appreciation and love and trust of chi - I have an amazing, stimulating, exciting relationship with chi. Chi has become a loving, faithful friend, with beautiful lessons.
I have learned, and continue to learn, to act from my centre.
My mind can come in and bring concerns and worries about teaching, but I have learned that when I am in my centre, with my inner family and Light Being, my Light is the teacher and my guide.
The Inner family development was so powerful a tool. I love my inner family and when George was “ill” in the summer the power of the Inner family was tested and I was so delighted and proud of them. I was also so delighted with the support and Light from the School at that time and other times.
The first year of the FTT course has been a crucial, key year in my life. My life is so enriched and full, with excitement and joy, with confidence and self esteem, with understanding and light. Thank you Frances, Thank you Chi, Thank you CHOY!
Liz Gardner (Year 1 FTT)
1) A huge healing journey. Experienced many powerful healing experiences both during the FTT weekends and at home under the direction and with the loving support of Choy. Got in touch with much repressed pain and grief and gradually over the year begain to let go of more and more of it.
Became stronger and more balanced with each month that passed. Still have some way to go with this and look forward to another year, learning to let go of more and more of it.
2) It seems nothing short of a miracle that the very weark, fragile, exhausted, frightened Liz that I was in October 2003 is now starting out with the first of her weekly Tai Chi classes in a few days time (September 16th), less than a year.
3) Also a growth in self-confidence. Last October I could hardly speak to people at all, and as my energy grew I didn’t want people to hear me sing even though I could sing to the trees. Choy helped me unlock my little girl frightened and ashamed, and gradually let her out to sing and to dance. Another miracle to see the transformation of that sick Liz into a Liz who could dance so energetically and dynamically and with such Light and Joy at the Summer School!
4) But truly the most amazing transformation or benefit is that I’ve found my Light Being, and can get in touch with her daily. I can cry tears of Joy and Wonder that I’ve found what I’ve been searching for all my life from being a little girl. NO need to search any longer. No need to look outside for anything. Only to keep on working and studying and growing the relationship with my Light Being. I want this to be my Life’s Work from now on and to share my Light with others.
I am full of gratitude to my Light Being for leading me to David Ellis and for David leading me to Choy. I was always meant to be coming here. What I’ve learnt this year has simply completely changed my life and the way I live it forever. I look forward to being able to help my family and my students using the Tai Chi tools and I am deeply indebted to Choy and to Christine beyond words.
Fiona Howard (Year 1 FTT)
My health and stamina have improved greatly. My self-confidence and self-esteem are gradually increasing in small, manageable steps which from nothing at all is a very big thing.
I can feel the energy if I focus on it most of the time although I obviously still get caught into negative states from time to time and I have to start again.
Being able to focus on the energy is helping me become more confident - for example when I ran out of physical energy completely walking up from the beach with some friends I was able to quietly centre myself, connect with my feet and find my LB. Keeping very focussed I could then walk slowly but surely back up the hill - giving myself re-focussing stops on the way. I didn’t need to make a fuss, find someone to lean on and I was able to transform a situation where I was in danger of collapsing to a strong and wonderfully sustaining experience of chi. These experiences mean I can gradually expand the walls of my life outwards, slowly.
I feel much more joyous and happier generally (hiccups aside). The FTT has given me hope for the future which previously seemed very black.
It has been really surprising and joyful to share my poems and paintings through the FTT with your dogged and persistent encouragement. It has lead to a whole different experience. I am lso very moved that people actually wanted their own copy and that has lead to a whole new set of interchange experiences with people.
It is almost as if I was in a Nursery class as a student and I am practising now in a protected and nurturing environment some of the skills I will need when I am ready to go out into the wider world.
I love the fact that the FTT encourages and embraces the creative part of me. Aside from my Tai-Chi and Chi Kung practise this is when I feel happiest and most with my true self. This is when things seem to flow for me. Part of that creative self is the self which loves nature and that part of me is honoured and encouraged here. I can now connect with a tree waving to me even in the middle of a concrete city street.
I have met some amazing loving beings on the FTT and I feel honoured to have made such loving and supportive friends. And it is so amazing to have a teaching which seems to cover everything - even when initially I have some resistance perhaps I now know that if I stick with it ‘a greater positive and creative’ will arise.
I personally really benefit from the fact that you will do everything you can to
see what it is I need and where I am. I really appreciate this very much and
all your wonderful dedication. I am so grateful for the FTT. I honestly feel
it has saved my life. Thank you so very much.
Fiona
SELBY THOMAS (FTT Year 1)
To start to describe the learning I have gained from this course I will break the lessons into the fundamentals as so many of the lessons overlap.
I have learnt to see how I am more honestly, where I hold myself in a role and use it as my identity, eg, mother, perfect mother, carer, community builder. I have learned to balance the mountain of negatives I have had within with some positives and through doing that touched qualities I don’t think I ever knew, eg, calmness, gentleness, peace, bubbling happiness, centeredness.
I have learned to accept my creativity and other parts of myself even occasionally myself in its totality.
I have realise how much I love out, how much I have to give to others but how little I have managed to give to myself. I have learned the best tools imaginable to help me find a more gentle way back to my centre. To sit with the Wu Chi and the not knowing has been very hard but possible and exciting even.
To have not handed in homework fo ra few months was a chance to touch a freedom to choose which I have never allowed myself before.
I think the biggest lesson of it all has been the project - it has taught me the most - to be able to listen to other people’s pleasure and to acknowledge a uniqueness in my expression. I am not certain I have held onto that but somewhere the seed will flower again I hope.
I have enjoyed learning to share with the others, to see the bits of myself I was unaware of, that have been revealed in others honesty and openness. They have reflected back to much to me about my patterns. It has been like another family but a more trusty one, one that I feel safer with to really be myself.
I have learned to laugh at myself, to relax more into myself, to be happier to take up space within the group, to let go of the fear of self expression be it words or music or being.
This course has given me a confidence to be mself, to listen to my heart and its desire and to follow them.
Thank you Choy for a really remarkable gift which quite honestly words cannot express the depth of the lessons.
Selby
GUNN-BERIT KLEIVELAND (FTT Year 2)
I feel much closer to nature (and a part of nature and nature a part of me.)
I am taking steps coming closer to myself - I have a more solid understanding of me being responsible for me now.
I am more grateful and happy about being me - also to my physical body.
I feel being in the middle of a process experiencing again and again the difference between being in and trusting chi - and the tools of the fundamentals and not trusting chi.
I feel calmer - when I get out of my centre/out of balance I come more quickly back.
I have got in touch with my centre (should have been first listed).
I experience the strength of gratitude of my heart. I’ve got in touch with my Light Being.
The stillness.
It’s so much to be grateful for - and so much to thank. Thank you for all the lessons you have taught me.
Gunn-Berit.
PER ODÉN (F3T Year 2)
When I started the F3T I felt very uncentred and my relationship was a continuous quarrel. My first experience was a renewed understanding of the 15 Fundamental exercises. Through the daily practice I felt more and more centred and the relationship got better. The shift of energy happened in the second year and in the Fusion of the 5 Elements a total transformation took place. My partner experienced the change in me, and the beautiful thing is that I did not try to change, it just happened. The most important thing to me after two years is the relationship with the chi. It has become personal and real. Everyday I experience the chi and the silence and it is always fresh and new. What more can I say. Thank you Chi, Thank you Choy.
Per
JEAN-BENOÎT LOUVEAUX (FTT 2nd Year)
I am not the person who began the FTT 2 years ago. Even my name is different. My memories too, the way I look back at my past does not have the same quality it did before.
Yes, if I slow down and connect, the joy and love are there. That is my focus; what my life is about. My journey is a journey into love. I am not alone in that journey though. Because love is with me on that journey, reminding me of my purpose. That is something the course has deeply emphasised for me.
With love and gratitude to an excellent teacher,
Jean-Benoît
DIANA WACKERBARTH (Zhineng Chi Kung Year 2)
The main wonderful thing for me from the ZCKH course - what I wanted when I joined and what I got in bucketloads - was all the benefits of regular contact with the School, your teaching, you, and bes tof all the other students. In this setting I am more wholly and truly myself than in any other area of my life - without roles, I have been able to explore and discover myself in friendships of all sorts and this has been an essential counterbalance to the rest of my life. It has also helped me enormously in deepening friendships and relationships of all sorts. The first year was an important milestone for me forming true friendships with men (very necessary); the second with women (equally necessary).
Over the last 2 years I have received so much affirmation. I feel held and - most of the time - entirely safe in this process.
It has been a fantastic experience - 2 years was about right and I feel ready and energised to go into the next phase(s!)
Very best wishes and blessings always to you and Christine in the next phase(s!) of your life together, and thanks to you both for your care and nurturing of us and of this beautiful place - your soul gardening is beyond price.
Thank you from Diana
LYNNE CLEMENT (Zhineng Chi Kung 1 Year)
This has been a wonderful year for me, although the outcome has not been as I expected.
I have loved waling with the people in the group and Choy is an inspiration transformer and catalyst. I been able to connect to the profound poetic depths of each person in the group, and to recognise and celebrate these aspects in myself. I thank the beauty, the poetry and the songs and photographs which have been co-created in my relationship with the Chi energy.
I have realised the truth in the words of a friend of mind ‘every encounter which you have can be a healing encounter’ and this, for the present time is where I am in sharing my relationship with chi - to find the light connection in each encounter I have and to do my best. Synchronicities light up my life with the divine.
I find infinite peace and happiness in the stillness of being and in all my daily tasks. I have come to realise that for now , my purpose is in walking in the world with the duality of seeing a human being, particularly in enjoying my relationship with my daughter, my partners and my partner, also with my work colleagues.
Everything is flowing, everything contains the divine. Just today in the four seasons meditation - I had a strong sense which I find difficult to put into words - the energetic presence in each moment, atom, and the equal importance and definite purpose in each unfolding situation, person, plant, animal and being - and their connection to each one.
Thank you Choy for inspiring, teaching and giving space for this journey which is endless, and will continue with the Centre in my Centre.
With love and light and respect
Lynne Clement
FEEDBACK SUMMER SCHOOL 2003
Part One
“Wonderful, immeasurable support of Choy, Christine and the whole group, particularly when I was struggling, scared, upset and off-centred. They helped me to face myself and my fears and in doing so I found peace and am learning to accept myself right now where I am.
Food
was absolutely delicious, very colourful and has inspired me to cook lots of
vegetarian meals for my family when I get home.
Choy encouraged us to confront our likes and dislikes and allow the
limitless Chi to come into our food and our bodies and suddenly I started to eat
everything with gusto and thoroughly enjoy it and my stomach/digestion problems
have totally disappeared!
En-suite
room started to have a calming effect on me and I felt the Chi in the room.”
Elizabeth Gardner
“In the
course I was also “reminded” about softness, acceptance, light approach
which I lost during the “hectic” life.”
This
workshop has felt like 100% joy and love! The
group energy has been amazing from the very beginning - so much love, wisdom,
beauty, vulnerabilty and commitment to the journey home.
I felt that we were travelling in the same bus - a bus full of beautiful
flowers and painted rainbow colours - the bus driver, Choy, patiently leading us
through remarkable landscapes with such clarity of direction and vision - and
such fun on the bus too! I look
forward to the next trip.
David Ellis
“Food
great, new facilities for campers a very good additon - people hanging out in it
all the time. The valley and pond is
also a great addition to the Centre, I can remember what it was like 2 years ago
and the change is amazing.”
Michael Cooke
“I
have been amazed and humbled by the experiences we have shared in this Summer
School. It has been a safe, loving,
supportive space in which to share fears, pain and especially joyfulness. The
group energy has been so strong and radiant, I am proud to be a part of it.
So many special memories to take away - particularly the chanting in the
pool, walking blindfold on the beach, visiting the nature spirits in the wood.
Heather Cardwell
“I
am so happy to have found this place - Choy, the school, everyone and everything
here and an opportunity to find more about myself - Yes, coming home to me.”
Frances Powell
“The
workshop has been a tremendously deepening and opening experience.
I feel I have met a whole new family I did not know I had and I have done
my best to open to the love and support.
Fiona Howard
“Working together in a group has given me the motivation to start taking care of myself and to live my life with Tai Chi being a major part. My thanks to Choy for helping me to find my inner child.”
Diana Meeten
“A
massive amount of loving, accepting and peaceful energy.
Learning the Tai-Chi was exciting and trips to the beach, valley and
woods were brilliant. I feel much more confident of how to use the 15
Fundamental exercises.
Tommy Baker
“I
have found a stillness, a quiet place within myself.
A place to listen to the feelings as they come, to be with them, rather
than react on them.”
Selby Thomas
“I enjoyed
the physical aspect and the philosophical discussions and the balance between
them. I had a peaceful, stressless
week.”
Tomer Berliner
Feedback Summer School Part Two
“One
magical moment was when I did the Zhineng form in the crop circle.
That was a peak in my experience of chi.
Tai-Chi Chi Kung 3.30 in the morning (in the crop circle) I really felt
the connection to the earth and how the chi was alive under my feet. The food
was absolutely excellent. I have
enjoyed every meal.” Per Odén
“After
having done Tai Chi in the river I was inspired to swim even though I had not
dared to swim for a year after having been really ill.
I started to swim, the river was beautifully cool and pure and clear.
I didn’t swim all tense and hesitant and nervous like I was ill, I swam
like myself with beautiful energy! I
was overjoyed, ecstatic and released some more from being ill.
When we were
chanting I became very moved and started to tremble.
I wanted to stay in the light that was within me and all around me
forever. It was so beautiful and
soft and gentle and loving. I cried
soft tears of peaceful joy.
“Feeling a
huge smile spread through me doing the form in the garden.
“Being
whizzed around the swimming pool floating!!
It was like I was going through a tunnel of light.
Incredible feeling of flowing and letting go.” Wayne Meeten
“Floating
in the pool and feeling bubbles of laughter welling up from my belly.
Feeling the power of nurturing love from the earth held by the crop
circle. Being able to carry my bags
to the car at the end of the field on my own without pain on the last day.
Feeling my body and limbs carried during the form practice.
Feeling in awe of the willingness of the FTT course members to share
themselves totally in the sharing. To
see them in their vulnerability was deeply moving.
“The
sheer joy, brilliance and amazement of every moment - the people, the sunshine,
the crop circles, the river, the food, the stunning nature presences and the
Centre.”
“Thank
you Choy for a truly amazing time - it has been a wonderful, special
and very precious experience and deeply inspiring.”
“Crop
circles, crop circles, crop circles. The
whole trip filled my inner familly with joy, love and excitement.
Really, really, really wonderful. Thank
you very very much.”
“Letting
go into the chi and joy of the exercises. Being
in the beauty and stillness of the crop circle under the orange glow of the
harvest moon at 3am. Being with the
Crop Circle Beings in their love and tenderness.
Chanting with the group - such connection, such love, warmth and healing
energy. In the woods at night under
the bright silver moon being with the tree spirits, holding fairies in our
hands, discovering the water spirits in the pond and most sensationally feeling,
seeing and interacting with the wind spirits - and feeling the hum and rhythm of
the earth - totally overcome with the sense of joy and connectiveness to nature
and the whole of creation in such a light, gentle, loving and easy way.
“Lying in
the crop circle feeling my body soak up the energy.
Feeling the stillness of the water be inside my stillness.
Doing the form and realizing it’s like getting to know somebody.” Kate Carr
“Completing
the form on the last morning and as we neared the end feeling at last I had
realised something about myself. I
have really brought my Inner Family into consciousness in this workshop.”
“The
end of the very first session by the pond initiated me to the magic of the week.
I had been rushing to complete business, driving and arrived late and
felt immediately the heart, body, mind, spirit energy’s transformative power
working on me, within me; melting me and offering the support and nurture for me
to let go, ‘Be still and know that I am God’ - the essence of these words
was gently whispered in my ears by the trees, the gentle Tai Chi form movements
and the teaching.
The time at
the Crop Cirles was particularly inspiring.
Being there felt like being at home - the Beings and energy were
delighted at our presence, and through the mists we were able to glimpse their
light and joyful presences and entered into their heart and consciousness.
Whoever/whatever the energies and Beings at the crop circle are, being
with them was to be at home. “
“I loved
the sessions in the pool when we floated in the silence.
I also really enjoyed visiting the crop circles and the beautiful
experience of sleeping under the stars inside the circle, experiencing the
feeling of being held in a very special place and of being inside someone’s
heart. It felt as if I was being
shown something very special and precious and when I went inside my heart to
offer it back it was a heart to heart experience, a communication of Light
Beings. I felt very privileged.
I
enjoyed Part 2 very much - the energy was very strong yet light and humorous,
possibly the best yet and I felt the teaching had reached a much deeper level in
terms of energy and dimensional work. The food was lovely and beautifully
cooked.”
WRITTEN
FEEDBACK FROM HAMOAZE HOUSE
DRUG ADDICT
REHABILITATION PROGRAMME
Rainbow Tai-Chi Chi Kung Day
24 June 2003
10.30am-3pm
What lessons
did you learn from the workshop?
Chi is
energy of life - heals body organs, revitalise. Key to Chi is fluidity. Rigidity
of mind excludes possibility of SOLUTION. Steve
K
I
learnt that my energy helps me heal, that I am connected to the earth and its
energy. Tim
I
learnt I have chi, I felt the energy tingling in my fingers. It is there for us
all to use if we wish.
To
relax, revitalize my body and the breathing.
Sharon
I
learned how to store the chi energy. Bosco
To
slow down and become aware of self and surroundings. I learned to flow.
Many thanks.
I
learnt about the body's natural energy. I also learned some more about
relaxation and what T'ai-Chi and Chi Kung are really about and what for. I also
learned a bit more about myself and some useful stuff about breathing, to keep
myself centred. Mat Brumby
I
got an insight into Chi and what it is. Mick
Martin
I
learned something about the Chinese Culture.
Today
I learned how to relax and feel calm and I know it works because I came in to
the second half really pissed off but I feel great now. I feel all loose and
tingly. I have learnt Tai-Chi Chi Kung exercises which I hope I can remember. I
learnt that it is fun and would be a good way to exercise.
Grace, 9 St Michael's Close, Mutton Cove, Devonport Plymouth
PL1 4RA
HOW DO I FEEL
NOW (at the end of the workshop)?
I feel tingling in my arms and
legs. I feel stronger. It's hard to do it slowly and to do it properly. I feel
more relaxed in my shoulders and arms.
Grace
'Energised
and enlightened.'
I
feel good. Mark
More
relaxed than when I started. Peaceful.
Calm,
grounded and balanced.
Relaxed
and aware. Many thanks.
I
feel good about positives and negatives.
Bosco
Invigorating,
relaxed and centred. Sharon
Positive
and calmer.
Calmer
- centred, more connected to my inner me. Part of the universe.
Tim
Relaxed,
energised. Felt the chi more as exercises progressed.
Steve K