[WAG] Some updates.

[clif at eugeneweb.com]

Hi Isaac,

Thanks for the email. Yep a few folks have changed their emails and I 
guess the rest are still here. I still live in Eugene and am working on a 
few projects as usuall. I try to meditate every day too. I'm interested in 
takeing another workshop but havn't commited yet.

 	Happy Trails,
 	Clif

On Tue, 4 Jan 2011, Isaac Freeman wrote:

> Well I'm still on this list and facebook is kind of lame sometimes, so I
> thought I would see how many people still get these.
>
> Well since 2006, Emi and I got married and now have a baby boy almost 7
> months old.
>
> We are on 8 months vacation in Japan.
>
> I recently took a trip to China and studied the basic Yang Style Tai Ji 24
> form in December, so memories of the old group in 2006 and 2008 came back
> while I was there, so I thought I would send an email.
>
> My trip was interesting as I landed in Shanghai and to escape the cold
> immediately rode the train to Kunming in Yunnan province. In Kunming I was
> looking for language lessons at the schools and while I was near the
> university I found my teacher at a small restaurant.I studied Mandarin and
> Tai Ji pretty hard core for about 28 days and then returned to Japan.
>
> When I did I found my boy able to inch around the floor like an inchworm, it
> was great to see him make so much progress in a month as before I left the
> most he could do was hikoki (Airplane pose).  Often I watch him and try to
> mimick his movements and more often than not I find I have discovered an
> interesting exerise hehehe, kind of baby yoga or something of that nature.
>
> We are headed for Ishigaki Jima tomorrow to hang out in warm weather for two
> months, I hope to do a lot swimming (if I can avoid the jellyfish that
> aparently are around this time of year, and Tai Ji on the beach, we also
> have about 17 islands to explore if there is something to be done.
>
> I feel grounded a lot more since learning the Tai Ji form, I also like it
> because it satisfies the technical mind in me that is probably the hardest
> part to tame in my daoist training I know have just touched the iceberg of
> Tai Ji, and yearn for a more Wu style practice, and there is much more to
> the practice and many types out there, some teachers know more and some know
> less, but it feels good to finally have got my foot in the door.
>
> I thought Classical medicine was dead in China until this trip too, but I
> met a few amazing Doctors while I was there and it shows me that althought
> TCM took a serious curve towards westernization, there still some doctors
> that climb the nearby mountains on the weekdays and even produce their own
> formulas, a few of which I took while I was there and was amazed at the
> flavor and efficacy of the formulas.  Normally a TCM formula for wind heat
> is super bitter, but this one doctors formula was very light and almost
> sour, yet somehow produced better results than the traditional formula.
> When we asked what the formula contained, he said we'd have to come to the
> mountains with him on the weekends if we wanted to learn his formulas
> because they were kept secret and only him and the clinic staff that boiled
> up the raw herbs knew what was in it. I laughed and agreed to go with him
> the next time I was in Kunming.
>
> Anyway Big Love to everyone on the list and hope to see you all again at
> some point throughout your life journey.
>