<div>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.</div>
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<div>Well since 2006, Emi and I got married and now have a baby boy almost 7 months old.</div>
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<div>We are on 8 months vacation in Japan.</div>
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<div>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.</div>
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<div>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.</div>
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<div>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.</div>
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<div>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.</div>
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<div>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. </div>
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<div>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.</div>
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<div>Anyway Big Love to everyone on the list and hope to see you all again at some point throughout your life journey.</div>
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