Today -- July 4th, 2009 -- is the first anniversary of the launch of my online internal arts school. I opened the virtual doors a year ago today and it has been a great year.
I'm celebrating with a new 10-part free course in some of the key skills you need for quality Tai Chi, Hsing-I, or Bagua. The photo at left is from the video lesson on the first key skill -- establishing and maintaining the ground path.
Over the years, I received several emails from people around the world, asking where they could study these arts if there were no teachers in their area. This online school is the answer.
In one year, I've put up more than 300 video lessons, downloadable e-books, audios, and other material on the site. I'm not even halfway finished. This week, Nancy and I have been vacationing in Ft. Myers, Florida. During our vacation, we taped the 8 Pieces of Brocade, and the Yi Jing Ching -- 36 chi kung exercises that date back many hundreds of years. They will be put on the site in the next few days. Nancy and I also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday on the 3rd. I couldn't do this school without her.
One new member posted a message on our private discussion board, saying that the instruction he has received so far in the online school is the best he's had other than when he's able to go to China. That's just about the best thing anyone can say about American instruction in the internal arts. Another member a few months ago told me he trained in Hsing-I under a master in Taiwan, and the Hsing-I instruction on the site was helping him keep up to speed, and it was just like what he learned in Taiwan.
Another reason I started the site is because I met a lot of internal artists around the country who simply haven't been taught properly. They haven't been taught the body mechanics that are required by these arts. Some of them have even been teaching for decades. I've been lucky to have teachers who taught me these skills (Jim and Angela Criscimagna chief among them) and who introduced me to members of the Chen family, giving me the opportunity to learn from them, too. I also have to tip my hat to Mike Sigman for what he has taught me about internal strength that has helped me understand internal arts instruction even better.
So I launched the online school and put lessons on that cut through the garbage -- teaching what people need to know and holding nothing back.
If you'd like to receive a free 10-part video course in key internal arts skills, just put your first name and email address in the boxes below. It's part of my celebration of this great online adventure.
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