|
|
an Introduction to
June 25 to July 23, 2008
Peace Lounge, 7th Floor, OISE-UT, 252 Bloor St. W., Toronto
Hasu Dojo/Classical Martial Arts (79 St Clair Ave E.) and
Aikido Sandokai (near Lansdowne Station)
|
|
This unique series of seminars features 5 different practitioners of
martial arts involved with social and personal change—one 2-hour
session each week (4 on Wednesday, 1 on Monday), June 25 to July 23. Each presentation will provide a
different balance of intellectual and practical exploration, and participants
also have the opportunity to experience two of Toronto’s most
progressive dojos—the Hasu Dojo of Classical Martial Arts (first
session) and Aikido Sandokai (July 14 session). Participants are encouraged to
participate in whatever way they feel drawn. Loose clothing is recommended.
suggested $10 donation per session, or whatever
|
|
June 25
2-4pm
at Hasu Dojo/Classical Martial
Arts,
79 St Clair Ave East, Suite 203
(above Sobey's, take
the entrance beside the dry cleaners)
Martial Arts as a Tool
for Individual and Planetary Healing
Ann Phillips
 Ann Phillips,
aka Kohai Phillips, is no ordinary martial artist. She is a peaceful warrior healer. Dr
Phillips started training 20 years ago and in her 12+ years of concentrated
training, Ann has focused on healing herself physically, mentally,
emotionally and spiritually by learning,
practicing, and applying the healing elements of the martial arts
which she studies. Her training
in the diverse arts of Goju Ryu Karate, Kobudo, Escrima, Iaido, Jodo, Tai
chi, Chi Kung, Bagua, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira and Aikido, has allowed her to
develop a deep experiential understanding of chi, the energy that animates
all things and is necessary for maintaining health and life; of breath, which
connects the internal and external chi in the human body; of present moment
awareness and of power, the ability to gather and mobilize chi. Also a student, researcher and
practitioner of natural, traditional and shamanic medicines, Ann has
integrated her expertise and understanding of the healing elements of the
martial arts with a practical knowledge of traditional and shamanic healing
and demonstrates exercises to facilitate individual and planetary well
being.
The session will focus
on developing an experiential understanding of chi, breath,
present moment awareness, and power through karate, tai chi and chi
gung exercises that facilitate individual and planetary wellness.
Program/Agenda for Session 1
Links: StayWell and Travel with
Spirit CMAC Hasu Dojo Ann at the CMAC Wellness
Clinic
|
|
July 2 2-4pm at the Peace Lounge, OISE, 7th Floor, 252 Bloor St. W.
Paths Beyond Domination:
The Walk of Life:
Centre, Circles, Power & Blending in
Bagua and Tai Chi
Brian Milani
What are
Internal Martial Arts, and what can they offer individual and social change
today? A unique mix of
theory and practice, this workshop provides a historical perspective on the
evolving nature of martial arts, along with a tangible experience
of the ways the internal systems can cultivate consciousness, power and
relationship. These practices are
distilled from the Neijia
schools of Chinese boxing—Baguazhang
(Eight Trigrams palm), Taijiquan (or Tai Chi
Chuan, Great Ultimate fist), and Xingyiquan
(Form of Mind fist), which will be described in the workshop. Special attention
will be paid to radical internal perspectives within these systems that focus
on the leading role of the mind—trained
through standing meditation, circle-walking and visualization. Participants can personally sample
what “whole body power” is, and
how it relates to both higher states of individual consciousness and blending
in movement. Experience how
simple images can create surprising balance, strength and sensitivity; and
contemplate the potential of such mind-body experiences for individual &
social change, and for navigating everyday life. The workshop combines Powerpoint
presentation, video clips of
internal masters, basic visualizations, posture testing, and free-form
partner work.
Powerpoint Presentation for Session 2
Brian Milani has been
a student of internal martial arts for over 20 years, with an emphasis on
Bagua for the last 8. He
practices with the Toronto Jiulong
Bagua group affiliated with Dr. John Painter of Dallas, and teaches green
business and economics at York U’s Faculty of Environmental Studies and
the OISE-UT Transformative Learning Centre.
|
|
Articles:
§
The
Circle Walk Practice of Ba Gua Zhang (Pa Kua Chang Journal)
§
Yiquan:
Power of the Mind, Karel Koskuba in Tai Chi magazine
Links: Sifu T.T. Tchoung 9 Dragon Baguazhang
(Dr. John Painter) Cheng Hsin (Peter Ralston)
Living Tao Foundation (Chung-Liang Al Huang) Warriors of
Stillness (Jan Diepersloot)
Master Yau-Sun Tong Tai Chi magazine Pa Kua Chang Journal
Clips:
Bagua
Masters Applications,
Circular Stepping
Robert
Smith on Cheng Manching
Bagua Training in classic
80’s chop-socky movie: Pride’s Deadly Fury Gao
style Bagua
|
|
July 9 2-4pm at the Peace Lounge,
OISE, 7th Floor, 252 Bloor St. W.
A Taste of Qi Gong as a Healing &
Transformative Art
Roxana Ng
Qi gong is a form of meditation and
physical exercise, as well as a martial art, originated in ancient China 5,000
years ago. It has received renewed attention recently due to its health and
anti-aging benefits. It is used widely as a healing modality in China, either
on its own or as an adjunct to other treatments (such as surgery and
medication). Its effectiveness lies in its simplicity; its integration of
body, mind and spirit in healing; and its focus on the vital energy (Qi)
circulating in the human body and in all living things. This workshop will
address the healing aspect of qi gong. It will begin with a brief explanation
and discussion of its basic principles, to be followed with qi gong exercises
so as to enable participants to experience this exercise form. There will be
time for questions and discussion.
 Roxana Ng teaches in the Adult Education and
Community Development Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education, University of Toronto. She has written extensively on issues
pertaining to immigrant women; globalization and work restructuring; and
marginality and equity in education. Dissatisfied with theories and practices
that privilege the intellect (simplistically equated with the mind) over the
body-spirit, in 1990 she began to explore eastern philosophical thoughts that
do not create this bifurcation. Using Chinese medical theory and qi gong as a
starting point, she has developed a form of transformative education,
which she calls “embodied learning”, that she is integrating into
her teaching and writing. She has practised tai chi and qi gong for over 15
years, and continues to study these healing and martial art forms.
Handout / Overview of Session
3
Articles
|
|
§
Roxana Ng, "Embodied
Pedagogy as Transformative Learning: A Critical Reflection,"
Proceedings, Canadian Association for the Studies of Adult Education (CASAE)
24th Annual Conference, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, May
28 to May 31, 2005
§
Diana L. Gustafion, Embodied
Learning about Health and Healing: Involving
the Body as Content and Pedagogy, Canadian Women’s Studies, vol. 17, no. 4
Links:
Emerge Internal Arts Sam Masich & Little Productions
Clips: Sam Masich on the Bridge Wudang 5-Animal Qigong
Shi Ming using Qi: Bill
Moyers Healing & the Mind
|
|
July 14 2-4pm (Monday) at Aikido Sandokai 87 Wade Ave, Unit 108 (near Bloor and Lansdowne)
Martial Arts as
Embodied Politics 
Jamie-Lynn Magnusson
Jamie-Lynn on this
workshop: “A karate dyke once said to me ‘I
embody my politics as a martial arts warrior’. By this she meant
that martial arts offered a way to reterritorialize her body, and to embody a
politics that actively interrupts subjectifying relations of gender, race,
class, heteronormativity, agism, and ablism. In this workshop we will explore
how martial arts can be taken up as a creative embodied practice with
political possibilities.”
Jamie Magnusson has earned a third degree
black belt in Goju Ryu, an Okinawan karate style. With her Goju Ryu teacher, Bill Hind Sensei, she studies
both the hard and soft, internal and external, aspects of her art within a
context of evolving energy awareness. Jamie also studies Aikido with Laura Holmes Sensei, and Robert
Bergman, a senior student at Sandokai
Aikido. She attends many martial arts seminars in both styles and has
studied with many wonderful and diverse feminist martial artists through the National Women’s Martial Arts
Federation. A professor at OISE, her research and writing explores the
intersection of higher education and neoliberal capitalism from a neo-marxist
perspective.
|
|
Links: Links: Women in the Martial
Arts National Women’s Martial Arts
Federation (NWMAF)
Clips: Great Aikido Masters Morihei
Ueshiba Yoshimitsu Yamada
Pre-WWII
Goju Ryu Training World Goju Ryu Championship
2006
NWMAF Special Training (ST)
’07: Gun Defenses ST ’07: Karate Demo
|
|
July 23 2-4pm at the Peace Lounge, OISE, 7th Floor,
252 Bloor St. W.
Capoeira and Embodied
Knowing
Professora Estrelinha (Lang Liu)
 Capoeira is the name given to a
vibrant and joyful martial art from Brazil, an art form that blends dance,
musical, ritual and martial elements, all within the structure of a circle
where practitioners sing in call-answer fashion. Although capoeira arose out of the
dehumanizing conditions of colonial and post-colonial Brazil, and is thus
deeply linked to slavery, it is both an expression of cultural resistance and
an affirmation of life. Its
strong African roots mingle with Indigenous, European and other influences to
create a beautiful and rich art form.
Lang will be focusing on a style of capoeira called Capoeira Regional that developed in
the 1930’s thanks to a Bahian capoeira master named Manuel dos Reis
Machado, or more popularily, Mestre Bimba.
Lang Maria Liu, capoeira admirer, student and teacher began training
capoeira 13 years ago. In
addition to teaching this beautiful Brazilian art form at the University of  Toronto (Hart House) and Dovercourt
House in Toronto, Lang is a Ph.D. student at O.I.S.E. (the Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto) in the Adult Education
Department. Her thesis work
explores capoeira as a form of embodied knowing – she sees this type of
knowledge as both holistic and transformational and believes that the body
can be a doorway to a deeper understanding of our selves and of our
world. Lang works hard in Toronto
to create a community with her group, “Filhos de Bimba” through a
variety of events including her weekly capoeira classes, music classes, trips
to Brazil and other events.
Lang’s second home is Salvador da Bahia,
heartland of capoeira.
 The Workshop.
Beginners and practitioners of all levels are welcome to participate in the
workshop that will be a blend of theoretical ideas and practice. Please wear loose-fitting pants and
t-shirt (no shoes required). The
emphasis in the physical practice will be on song, rhythm, groundedness and
circularity. The focus of the
talk will be on the ways in which capoeira develops what can be called embodied knowing in contrast to the
dominant intellectual approach to knowledge in Western societies.
|
|
Links
Wikipedia: Capoeira TLC
Capoeira Course Filhos de Bimba, Sao Paulo Filhos de Bimba, Newcastle
Clips Mestre
Bimba 1 Mestre Bimba 2
|