Issue 57 - Tse Qigong Centre

Instructor InsightHelen Howes: SuffolkHelen Howes is qualified to teachthe Dayan Qigong syllabus andcan be contacted on 01508548137 (daytime)/01508548134 (evenings)One day in the summer of 1995, I sat and watched a class at my local martial arts centreand fell absolutely in love with something I had never seen before. If I had been told then that Iwould one day teach this exotic and elegant stuff, I would have run away at once! In the yearssince then, my life has changed entirely. My health, which was very bad, has improved enormously,and I spend much of my free time either training or teaching, or in class with my Sifu, Julian Wilde.I have my own small class in Beccles, and this year I am able for the first time to recommend thatone of my students be invited to attend an Instructors course. This makes me very happy!I find that there are great pleasures and some trials in teaching. When a student isvisibly much more alive and well, that is a great reward. When I find just the right way to explaina movement or exercise, that’s a pleasure. When I teach someone half the form and they just loseinterest or find something else to do, then that can be frustrating. I always enjoy the process ofmaking forms, with their long history and tradition sing for a new student. I find much pleasurealso in attending class. The more I learn, the more I want to know, and the more there is to findout.It took a while before I came to appreaciate that I had not just acquired a skill, and allthe health benefits, but also a big and varied and caring family in my fellow students and in myteachers. There is nothing quite like an instructors course for reinforcing that bond and makingnew friendships from all around the world. Qigong changed my life at a point when it was muchneeded; I hope that I may one day leave many other lives changed in the same way.Sue Burton:West WimbledonMy first professional work was as a ballet dancer. I later moved on to acting and, like many other ex-dancers, I startedteaching once I had stopped performing. As a dancer, I also acquired some massage skills and have more recently studiedvarious forms of massage therapy, including Chinese Massage with an acupuncturist colleague. Because he knew I was interestedin therapeutic exercise, he suggested that I might also like to try Qigong.I was very fortunate to find John Hayes’ class close to where I live in South-West London (luckily I also live quiteclose to where the London Tse Qigong Centre is now based). So in April 1996 I took part in my first Qigong class. My firstimpressions were of a group of dedicated students performing fluid, graceful movements and of Sifu’s relaxed, patient teachingstyle. I found it difficult at first (it still is) to drop some of the movement habits engrained from years of ballet dancing, but I reallywanted a new challenge and found Sifu’s class inspiring.When I began to attend Tse Sigong’s seminars, I found out the more I learnt, the more important the ethosunderlying his teachings became to me. Then, when I attended my first instructors course, Sigong said that one of the mostimportant things in learning to teach was to be of Good Heart. This is what attracts me about the Tse Qigong Centre and I amsure this is what makes it so successful.I myself have been teaching Qigong for two years to a group of women, the eldest of whom is in her eighties! Sofar they have learned Taiji Qigong, Balancing Gong and the first part of Healthy Living Gong with me. Each week we warm upwith some self massage, then each student lets me know if they have any particular physical problems, so we can practise theexercises that will be of most help. The group is all very supportive of each other and I am very fortunate to have the support ofanother instructor, Marie Bell, in my class.If I experience any problems I try to follow Sigong’s advice to keep things simple.I look forward to what the future brings for us.Qi Magazine 30