Saturday Feb 9th workshop with Shih Fu Nick Hancock

Hurry to reserve your space 

in a special New Year's workshop 

bridging the internal and external martial arts

with Shih Fu Nick Hancock 

on Saturday February 9th 

from 11:30am to 1:00pm.

The workshop is free 

to Lotus and Leadership members 

of Body Balance Academy.

The workshop is open

to the public. 

Family and friends of

Body Balance students

are invited to attend.

Just $50 for the full workshop.

Discounts available 

for multiple family members.

To reserve your space,

sign up at the studio.

Or call 530-477-0677.

 

Celebrate Chinese New Year with us Feb 8th

On Friday, February 8th, 

Body Balance Academy will celebrate 

Chinese New Year 

with a Kung Fu and Tai Chi performance 

followed by dinner 

for students and their families and friends.  

Sign up at the studio to celebrate the 

Year of the Snake.

Chicken Soup Helps Reduce Joint Pain

This bit of culinary advice comes from my nearly 82 year old dad, Tony Stifter, who was an avid road cyclist for nearly two decades. He was a Type A guy and he holds every record in the Twin Cities Bicycle Club.  Now retired from the road, he sends me clippings on financial and physical health as well as recipes that he's tried and perfected.  This one, he says, truly benefits from the addition of the lemon at the end, as noted in the recipe.  

Chicken soup is supposed to be good for whatever ails you.  Vegetarians could make this a miso or veggie broth soup with slices of yam and enjoy similar benefits.  I use big fresh slices of warming ginger in my soups during the cold winter months. Instead of noodles, try leftover rice. Or for a bit of crunch, place a rice cake in the bottom of your bowl and ladle soup over it. Be creative!

If you are interested (as I am) in natural ways to reduce inflammation in painful or arthritic joints, read and use the food list along side of the recipe.  

All classes on regular schedule on Martin Luther King Jr. holiday

"During the less than 13 years of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December, 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced. Dr. King is widely regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history.

Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King led a nonviolent movement in the late 1950’s and ‘60s to achieve legal equality for African-Americans in the United States. While others were advocating for freedom by “any means necessary,” including violence, Martin Luther King, Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals. He went on to lead similar campaigns against poverty and international conflict, always maintaining fidelity to his principles that men and women everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family.

Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Nobel Peace Prize lecture and“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” are among the most revered orations and writings in the English language. His accomplishments are now taught to American children of all races, and his teachings are studied by scholars and students worldwide. He is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor, and is the only non-president memorialized on the Great Mall in the nation’s capitol. He is memorialized in hundreds of statues, parks, streets, squares, churches and other public facilities around the world as a leader whose teachings are increasingly-relevant to the progress of humankind."

(text from King Center website)

On the King Center website, ordinary people have shared their dreams about:
career
family
education
freedom
happiness
environment
government
poverty
respect
youth
be happy
end hunger
end war
equality
love
economics
animals
peace
travel
friendship
religion
racial integration
wealth
prosperity
sport
continue Dr. King's legacy
end violence
improve government
help others

To add your dream and learn more about Dr. King's legacy, visit The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change:
http://www.thekingcenter.org/

Tao Te Ching Chapter 37

The Tao is eternal without doing,
And nothing remains undone.
When nobility and royalty know how to cherish it,
All things will unfold by themselves.
If they unfold, and desires arise,
It would banish them through heartfelt simplicity.
Heartfelt simplicity creates freedom from desire.
Freedom from desire creates stillness.
And the world becomes right by itself.

--Translation by Matthias Schossig

Tai Chi/Tea & Promotion Ceremony Jan 12th

You are cordially invited to attend

Tai Chi with Tea

and

Promotion Ceremony

Saturday January 12

starting at 10am

Come celebrate the diligence 

of our Tai Chi community practitioners 

as they perform

Tai Chi Fundamentals

Ba Duan Jin

Section One

Section Three

Section Six

Tao Te Ching Chapter 29

Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.

 -A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell

(link brings you to an online mandala resource center with a wide variety of images, etc. Enjoy.) 

Practice Yi Jin Jing on Monday January 7 at 4pm Tai Chi

Shih Fu Eileen Hancock will lead the full Qigong set, Yi Jin Jing, at Monday's advanced Tai Chi class at 4pm. Please join us if you have completed the Six Sections of the Yang Long Form Tai Chi.