It’s now Tuesday evening and I’ve finally managed to catch up some lost sleep while traveling both to and from Horsham. We took of Friday morning at 3.30 am from Örebro and got picked up from Gatwick around 10.30 am local time. Saar’s workshop was on Saturday and Sunday, so Friday was an all in “experience-England-day”. We’ve been in Horsham several times before, we love it, and we keep coming back and after this weekend it starts to almost feel like a second home. Barbara Hammond and Peter Ballam opened their home for us on Friday and invited us for a well needed lunch and made sure we had everything we needed for our stay. After a few hours of rest in the hotel we were back for maybe the best pizza in the world and beverages at the famous Black Jug.
Saar’s workshop began at 10 am on Saturday and even if there was a pre-official plan for the workshop you never know where he will take you. Tao. We started off by separating the upper and lower body while working on forms to explore different layers and to set some kind of a checkpoint for the weekend. Structure was the underlaying theme and while we kept on dissecting more layers the “ahaaaa” moments in the room struck more frequently. Moving on to the afternoon session where Saar’s two man spear routine was the workspace. One person is fed with attacks to fixed points while the other person is doing techniques from the spear form, in the same order as the form. The attacking weapons and types of attack are free of choice as long as they is directed to the correct point. A lovely routine that really gives feedback to the practitioners and trains distance, angles and the ability to have a conversation in movements. Sunday was a shorter day and consisted of a recap of the spear routine, followed by more work with structure and centering in a pushing hands environment. Programming the body in a slow and safe manner. We ended the workshop with doing the short hand form together. Somewhat of a tradition. The structure felt different.
It’s always an honor to be able to travel and train in England, there is something in the air over there that really tickles my martial art soul. To be able to meet so many experienced people that have been around in in this world of tai chi for so many years is just amazing. The feeling of cold fresh air, a warm jacket, a newly poured Guinness and stories from the past at the Black Jug will be with me for a long time. Thank you everyone! I hope I get to see you all again very soon!
Below is a photobomb from the weekend.
