Summer ONLINE Sessions begin 7/6

Summer session is here!
 Thank you all for sharing practice during our free sessions while on break, and also for the participating and support for our Black Lives Matter fundraising Spiral Qigong workshop last weekend. If you would like to make a contribution to BLM Seattle, follow this link.

Also, tomorrow morning begins our summer sessions! The codes and passwords for the online sessions have been sent to those I have registered, so if you didn’t receive them, please let me know. The links are no longer available on the calendar, so once you received the log in info, please save it for easy access for the rest of the quarter.

We have made a plan to teach the Wed. evening classes through SSC, also online beginning Wed., July 22nd, Yang 24 Tai Chi at 5:30 – 6:50 and Qigong from 6:30 to 7:20pm, both of which are open for registration now through SSC following these highlighted links.

More info below on our summer schedule of classes, how to register or offer support, as well as booking private lessons online, easily seeing available days and times.

I’m excited to be sharing practice with you, even if we are not together in person, I feel grateful for this connection through shared practice, building and maintaining good health and vitality.

Please stay safe and take good care.

Patience, peace & practice,
Viola
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SUMMER SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
Day and Class
MONDAY
Qigong 7:30am
Chen Taijiquan 8:45am
Tai Chi for Seniors 10:30am
Chen Taijiquan 6pm
TUESDAY
Yang Tai Chi 8:30am
WEDNESDAY
Qigong 7:30am
Chen Taijiquan 8:45am
Burien Tai Chi & Qigong for Immunity, Wellness, Vitality 10:45am
SSC Yang 24 for Beginners 5:30pm
SSC Qigong, Health of Body, Mind & Spirit 6:30pm
THURSDAY
Yang Tai Chi 8:30am
Tai Chi for Seniors 2pm
Chen Taijiquan 6pm
FRIDAY
Adv. Chen Taijiquan 8:45am
SATURDAY
Spiral Qigong 9am
Chen Taijiquan 10am
Tai Chi Weapons 1pm, at Pratt Park
 
 Please note that classes through South Seattle College & Burien Community Center require registration directly with them and are not included in the Wise Orchid Unlimited registration.

Reminder about Paying for tuition, support & tipping:
 Our Square store is easiest if you prefer to pay by credit card. (please note that a 3.5% transaction fee is charged) Please note that there is now a tip option on our square store. This is completely voluntary and an option if you’d like to provide extra support.

We also have a donation option on the square store now if you are interested in making a separate contribution. The contributions help us pay for our Studio lease and the additional expenses in bringing your online content. Please let me know if you have any questions and know that no amount is too small and any amount is completely voluntary and deeply appreciated.
 Other ways to pay:You are welcome to use one of the following free apps.
Zelle: https://www.zellepay.com/
Venmo https://venmo.com/
All you need is my phone 206-321-0613 or email: viola@wise-orchid.com 
The money comes directly into my account without a transaction fee on either side.

Check: feel free to mail a check to: Viola Brumbaugh, 1311 12th Ave S B201, Seattle WA 98144

And lastly, other support you can offer:
We have a Patreon account set up if you’d like to make a monthly contribution. You can choose any amount and set yourself up for auto-payment, and cancel it at any time. Become a Patron!  
 Private Lessons: Now available in person (at a distance) or online!
In order to deepen your practice, sometimes you need a closer look at your practice. I am now offering private lessons in person outside following safety guidelines as well as online via Zoom. I’ve set up a calendar where you can find a time and book a lesson based on what’s available. Check it out here:book a lesson here!

World Tai Chi QiGong Day 2012, Beacon Hill, Seattle, WA

Part the Wild Horse's Mane, Yang Tai Chi's 24 form, World Tai Chi Qigong Day 2012

One World ….  One Breath ….

What an incredible morning!  Saturday, April 28, 2012, World Tai Chi Qigong Day, I woke to the forecast of clouds and occasional showers.  I was braced for the changeable spring weather of Seattle such as we had last year, with a torrential downpour just before we got started and then brilliant sun.  This year, I brought sunscreen just in case, and the skies did not disappoint.  Down to just a t-shirt and no hat, you’d think it was already summer in Seattle.

And so we arrived at Jefferson Park, not knowing how many people would be able to come.  I know weekends in the spring are a slam of opportunity as we  come out from under the cover of winter… You have many options and obligations of things to put your energy toward.  But you came, you practiced, and together we created some positive qi and inspiration to all our bystanders at Jefferson Park.  I thank you all who were there in person and in spirit, joining in the wave of healing circling the planet.  With 35+ people in attendance and several dozen onlookers, we had an amazing turn out!  Folks came from Bellevue, Auburn, Renton, Burien, West Seattle and around Seattle proper as well.

We practiced some Joint Lubrication Longevity Qigong exercises, Silk Reeling, Tai Chi Walking, and then jumped into some Yang 24 Tai Chi form, Topping it off with some Chen Taiji Laojia Yilu and the finale’ the Yin Yang Medical Qigong!  Whew!  Such a treat to have two hours to play together in the park!

2012 World Tai Chi Qigong Day Participants, Jefferson Park, Beacon Hill, Seattle,WA

Yang 24 Tai Chi Group at WTCQGD 2012

Wise Orchid Taijiquan & QiGong, World Tai Chi Qigong Day Seattle 2012 Yin Yang Medical Qigong

for more pictures, check out my flickr page

Thank you to Rusel DeMaria and Leo Manzano for taking these great pictures!

Spring 2011 Newsletter

Travels to Shaolin Temple 2011

Dear Friends of Wise Orchid Martial Arts,

Spring is approaching and as the light returns I thought I would send out a wish for you all to be in good health and spirits experiencing the renewal that this time of year brings.  With so much desperation and difficulty in the world, I hope that you are continuing to cultivate peace and goodness in your own lives and in your own way.

Viola’s Travels and Class Cancellations:

With Spring comes the Eugene Chen Tai Chi Camp!  Yes, Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei will be giving his annual training camp in Eugene at the end of this month, followed by a Chen Tai Chi Summit in Los Angeles.  I will be attending both back to back, so mark your calendars; there will be no classes for Wise Orchid Martial Arts on the following dates: March 23rd & 24th and March 31st through April 5th.

NEW and Continuing Classes for Spring 2011:

When I return, there will be new sessions of Tai Chi starting at South Seattle Community College, Delridge Community Center, Renton Senior and Activity Center and the Burien Community Center.  Of course, classes will be continuing down in the ID and at Fauntleroy.  But the exciting news is that a New Class will be starting on Beacon Hill at the Jefferson Community Center, Mondays & Wednesdays at 11am to noon.  In this class I will be offering the Chen 18 form, along with Grandmaster Chen’s Longevity Exercises, Silk Reeling, and Chen Style QiGong.  Please come and join us in learning this wonderful style and form.

Why Chen Tai Chi:

I began my journey some 18 years ago now with Yang Style Tai Chi.  Not by choice, but because the teacher that came most highly recommended to me in town taught that style.  After less than a year of practice learning the Yang 24, Master Leung introduced me to some Chen Style Tai Chi.  For me it was love at first spiral.  I had loved the introduction of Tai Chi through the structure and grace and openness of practicing the Yang form, but discovering and learning Chen Style was… expansive beyond belief.  I began to better understand the development and movement of qi.  Through the spiral movements of the form, I felt my practice deepen, my spirit grew lighter, and my roots deeper.  I was able to incorporate the foundations I had learned in Yang Style to this new found love of spiraling open and closed, learning about flow, and the potential of my own strength and connection on a whole new level.  I would really enjoy sharing this art with you as it will only deepen your own understanding and practice of Tai Chi.

Thank you for joining me on this part of my journey and doing what you do to make this world a better place.

All of my best,

Viola Brumbaugh

….  expand & flourish!

chance encounters, walks with Masters, bumpy roads & wet laundry

Friday early evening, 9/10, somewhere in Henan Province, China, Just gave up on drying my laundry in my room, so took my tree climbing throwline which I brought as a clothes line and took it out to the trees for some different kind of tree rigging.  My roommate, Janet, and I now have our underwear hanging out in the grove just outside the building here at the fishing villa resort.

We are located about a half hour drive from Chen Village, so this morning after practice and breakfast, we 13 plus loaded into the bus and headed for the birthplace of Taijiquan.  We had just parked outside the shrine entrance when Zhu Tiancai appears walking toward us.  We had hoped to be able to arrange some sort of get together with him at some point, but to meet in the middle of the lane was such serendipity…  We took a stroll with him down through the famous drainage ditch of Chen Village, passing old men training young men along the path, stopped to do a little demonstration for the Grandmaster (insert bug eyes here) and of course got the feedback that we work hard and need to keep practicing.  Then we continued on down the ditch and up the path to where his house is being reconstructed.  It was so cool, he gave us a personal tour of his new home and training spaces.  This was all before even touring the shrine and museum.    We completed the tour, including having some of his students from Venice who were staying there for  a month of study, demonstrate for us, and then went on with our tour of the village’s shrine to Taiji’s origins and ancestors.

Chen Village site seeing

Chen Taiji Grandmaster Zhu Tiancai shows our traveling Taijiquan group around Chen Village

We were given a personal tour through the halls and temple and grounds and museum taking pictures and paying our respects, and then went on to a tailor’s shop and were measured for custom Qipao outfits.  Exhausted by the humidity and the heat and the long morning, we headed to lunch which turned out to be another banquet…  I head down to the hall for dinner here shortly and am looking forward to more of a family dinner again.  The place where we are staying, not only catches and serves you fresh carp, but is also an organic farm that serves you all the vegetables they are growing.  So far this trip has been an amazing journey. And I haven’t even been here a week.  Hydration and rest are the biggest difficulties.  But so far my gut is in good shape and I am staying healthy.

The Taijiquan Shrine in Chen Village

Yesterday we went to Yun Tai Mountain which is a national heritage site and hiked down through the red rock gorge and up to the Grand Waterfall.  Imagine Yosemite and the Rock Wonders of Utah together on steroids…  I can’t even begin to describe the awe of this place.

Anyhow, time for supper, so I better close. I will send this off tomorrow or once I have an internet connection again.