Chinese Healing & Movement Arts

04/27/2026

Saturday was another wonderful World Taiji Qigong Day! To top it off, the weather was fabulous. Great folks, great energy, great practice. Lets do it again - put it on your calendar for next year - the last Saturday in April!

04/25/2026

Tomorrow, the last Saturday in April, is World Taiji-Qigong Day, truly a world wide event. People engage in their practices from 10 to 11 am local time to put healing, peaceful energy into the universe and envelop our planet with it after a full rotation. Olympia-area practitioners and like-minded folks (including meditators, yogis) will gather at Marathon Park at 9:30 am to begin practice at 10. Please join us!

Photos are from past years.

02/17/2026

Happy Lunar New Year, the year of the fire horse! Check out all that goes into the lions and dragons in the celebrations - including the tradition, meanings and the martial arts.

(Many thanks to a student who sent this to me!)

In a San Francisco garage, Corey Chan and his team create giant, spectacular lions that will lead the festivities.

12/15/2025

Year of the Yang Fire Horse begins February 17, 2026! Our t-shirt commemorating it will be a bright red (color may not be as shown). Orders are being taken for shirts NOW and will end on Saturday, so order yours now by messaging me here, text, email, or IM. Prices have gone down because TAGS, our local printer lowered their production costs and passed them onto us. For more information - https://www.chinesearts-oly.com/special-events.html

Shirts:
Gildan - 6 oz. 100% US cotton, Red
Econscious - 5.5 oz. 100% organic cotton, Red Pepper

Short Sleeves (Gildan) - $20 (all prices include tax)
Long Sleeves (Gildan) - $30
Organic Short Sleeves (Econscious) - $30
Unisex sizes - S, M, L, XL, add $2 for XXL

Special Events, in addition to Qigong and Taiji (Tai Chi) classes, are for fun, community, learning and inspiration. They include World Taiji (Tai Chi) & Qigong (Chi Gong) Day, seminars, workshops, Arts Walk, movies, and celebrations.

11/04/2025

I saw a great post and visual outlining 5 steps for learning Taiji. Now I can’t find it, so I’ll try to recap it as best I can remember.

1. Learn the choreography of the form. Be able to show the choreography without help from others.

2. Incorporate proper body alignment/structure and basic Taiji principles.

3. Practice. The form, with proper structure and Taiji principles, will become natural without straining to remember or make corrections.

4. Incorporate internal energy and relaxation with the external movement.

5. Be able to express Taiji principles and proper internal energetics with relaxation in both mind and body. The movements no longer need to be confined to the choreography of the form, but can be free-form.

10/27/2025

Fabulous workshop on Saturday! Pei and ShiauYun shared the cultural foundation behind several well known names of Taiji movements which communicate the spirit behind how the movements should be practiced. Along the way, we were presented a timeline of Chinese history, learned about the virtues attributed to various animals, heard stories from classical literature, and got insights into 5 Elements and astronomy (and more!) - all in 2 hours! A big thank you to Pei and ShiauYun as well as everyone who helped and attended.

06/30/2025

Remembering Master Wen Mei Yu the day after her birthday. I learned Liangong and Wu style Taijiquan from her. She was a force!

05/03/2025

https://fb.watch/zi3jxUAd5F/?

04/30/2025

Last Saturday, another great World Taiji-Qigong Day sending healing and peaceful energy out into the universe. Join us next year - always the last Saturday in April, Marathon Park, meet at 9:30 am to start practice at 10.

03/09/2025

12/15/2024

Last chance to order Year of the Snake t-shirts! The deadline is this Thursday, December 19. If you’d like one (or more 😊!), details are below. A photo of 8 of us wearing different zodiac shirts in class one day is in Comments.

January 29, 2025 is the first day of the Year of the Snake. Its energy is yin wood. The snake brings an introspection geared toward moderation, reflection, and discernment. (www.karmaweather.com).

This design was created by our own Penny Martindale, a retired faculty of art at Centralia College and studio community member practicing Liangong and Taiji for many years. She outdoes herself each year with these zodiac creations. The shirts are printed locally by Tags Awards & Specialties.
Picture

Shirts:
Gildan - 6 oz. 100% US cotton, Charcoal (dark gray)
Econscious - 5.5 oz. 100% organic cotton, Charcoal (dark gray)

Short Sleeves (Gildan) - $25 (all prices include tax)
Long Sleeves (Gildan) - $35
Organic Short Sleeves (Econscious) - $35
Unisex sizes - S, M, L, XL, add $3 for XXL

Orders will be taken through December 19. Comment below, or send an email or DM to place your order. Be sure to include your size, short or long sleeves, and if short sleeves, organic or not. DO NOT PAY now. Payment will be taken when you receive your shirt (mid-January). I can ship with shipping costs added on.

Only a few extra shirts will be available for purchase after the ordering period. To be sure to get one, PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW!

12/08/2024