Perhaps I should rename this "Sifu Britt's Semi-annual Remarks".
Oh well.
The first part of this year has been consumed with the Head Start programs. It has been very interesting and very challenging. A project teaching 3 to 5 year olds has never been done through Tai Chi Chuan. Normally this age group is considered too young for the training, and, if the traditional training syllabus were to be used, they would be.
The training for the children has been developed somewhat 'on the fly' but has been based on several principles from the art. These children are young enough that they have their full natural range of motion. Following the axiom that 'if you don't use it you lose it', they are taken through exercises that require the use of that full range of motion. The purpose, obviously, is to assist them in maintaining their limberness. It is a good tonic to ensure that they have to move every day, even if winter weather leaves them classroom bound.
The exercises, in accordance with Tai Chi Chuan principles, are bi-laterally symmetrical. This means that the exercises are performed equally on the left and right hand sides of the body. This is critical at this early stage of development as the children are learning to co-ordinate the left and right side of the brain with physical motion. To further assist this development certain challenging motions involving separate co-ordination of the two arms and legs are taught. (Think rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time).
To strengthen the control of motion exercises are taught involving tracing certain patterns in the air to assist in motor control linked with visualization and spatial relationships.
Muscle mass development is carried on as with adults through the utilization of bent knee postures to support body weight combined with arm elevation, rotation and stretching.
Silent meditation is also taught using the horse stance posture, with needless to say, mixed results and much squirming, but the children are gradually acquiring a taste for the silence. To assist them in having a purpose to focus on during this training they are directed to 'listen' to the sounds around them and report afterward what they heard. Oddly they report hearing tigers, dinosaurs, tornados and occasionally usually silent things such as snowballs.......
Oh well.
All of the above has to be presented in a spirit of playfulness, somewhat like games as children, like adults, have a natural resistance to exercise seeing it as a chore. Given that I am just a big kid myself this has been the enjoyable part of developing the program.
I have learned a tremendous amount about myself from these young ones. Through their keen powers of observation I have learned that I have hair on my arms, that my teeth are crooked, that my veins on my arms are visible, that I have dimples or 'holes in my face' and that I have hair in my nose.
Whether this program will continue into the next year depends on the evaluation of the staff at TOFM Head Start.
I am greatly impressed with Head Start. These centers are like tiny oases for the children in the middle of a very harsh world. The staff are loving and professional in every way. Head Start has received criticism from detractors as being an unnecessary program but I can tell you from first hand observation that it is irreplaceable.
I promise to write more frequently over the summer so keep an eye on this column. 05/02/2008
The pace has definitely not slowed down for me.
Firstly, let us deal with our 2007 banquet. I feel, and I hope that everyone that attended will agree that this was a fantastic event. I wish as always to thank the Sterling Inn Banquet and Conference Center and, in particular, Paula Potter, Sales and Catering Manager for her professionalism in handling the details.
In total this year we had 300 in attendance in this, our 20th anniversary celebration. The demonstration team did a great job on the form and applications. I will be posting some video from the demonstration on our video page once I have had a chance to edit it down. If you would like to see some photographs from the banquet, click on the blue link at the end of this article.
I was honored to receive a letter from Governor Granholm congratulating me on 20 years of service to the Michigan community. If you wish to read her letter, click on the thumbnail below.
I also was honored to receive a presentation of cash, (always nice), a personal memory book from Joe Quasarano which I cherish and a beautiful broadsword!
Thank you to everyone involved in putting all that together. I was greatly touched.
The month of December kept me hopping as we were in the process of finalizing the most adventurous project to-date in Detroit.
We have begun instruction through TOFM Head Start teaching children ages 3 through 5 at six centers in Detroit. Currently I am doing 18 classes weekly for the children. So far the classes seem well received by the children. I am very impressed with the professionalism of their teachers and the quality of learning experience the Head Start facilities offer.
It is so much fun working with the children I feel guilty calling it work. Hopefully I will have some photos soon to share with you from these classes.
My thanks go out to all those involved at Head Start that are working to make this project a success.
More information will come on all of the above as I get caught up here.
In the meantime, here is the link to the banquet pictures. 2007 Banquet Pictures
There are new classes happening. My senior disciple Dr. Alex Green has started a very successful class for the employees of Botsford Hospital. My disciple Don Runyan has a wonderful new program running through Lathrup Village, Elaine Frost and James T. Ellis have a new program up and running through The Center Of Lifelong Learning For Active Adults, Jonathan Lupa has renewed and continues Sandy Zenisek’s programs through Creative Solutions, Arlene Wetherby has taken over Sifu Ashmore’s classes through Bethany Church, Sifu John’s disciple Cliff Gibbs has started a new class through the Birmingham Masonic Lodge, I am starting a new class through Friendship Meadows in Detroit and we are on the verge of starting classes for children in association with Head Start.
There are more new programs in the offing that I will list as they come to fruition.
I do promise to get back on track with this column as it is a useful medium for our Institute.
In the meantime, get your tickets! 11/03/2007
Summer is drawing to a close and we are now gearing up for the fall.
It is time to start purchasing tickets for our upcoming banquet. It comes up Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 at the Sterling Inn. The reception will be held at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are $35.00 with a cut off date of October 30th for purchase. Last year 80% of the tickets were sold in the last 4 weeks before the event and we simply cannot coordinate seating and payment to the hall with that little time. The tickets are being printed and will be in the hands of your instructors September 4th. Tickets purchased after October 30th will be $40.00. Remember that we do have a bursary program, so if you need financial assistance with the tickets please contact me by email by clicking on this link: Sifu Britt.
Remember! This is our 20th anniversary! We have a very special program this year and I highly encourage you to bring your friends and family members.
I have been very busy of late. I accepted a position in marketing with AT&T and went through a wonderful training program with them. The main teacher was Gail Wilder who is one of the best teachers I have ever encountered. Those who know my background know that I have experience in the corporate world and I had felt that I was under-utilizing those skills. What rapidly became apparent to me from conversations with our teaching staff was that my skills were still needed in program development of our Institute and in consequence I departed from AT&T. I would like to thank them and especially Gail for their high level of professionalism and kindness in their dealings with me. I will miss those in training with me greatly as well. They are all nice people.
As a result I am back at the promotion work full steam. There is a wide open market for us and high demand. You will be hearing of new programs in future monthly remarks as they arise and are finalized.
The wedding plans are proceeding smoothly, Samaritan and I are wedding Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. Any students wishing to attend should contact me by clicking on this link: Sifu's Wedding.
I will be doing a seminar September 15th covering form refinement and pushing hands in detail. The seminar will run from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and will likely be the last seminar I will be doing until 2008, so get there and tune up your forms and pushing hands.
Finally, I would like to hear from you. I wish to put together a remembrance document on this our 20th anniversary. I would like to hear from you with a memory or two you have humorous, testimonial or otherwise from your history training with us. I hope to distribute the collection at the banquet. Please take this request seriously! Send you memories to me by clicking this link: 20 Year Memories.
We have a Saturday class which is available to you all at Our Shepherd Lutheran Church. It runs from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. and is led by Sifu Michael Ashmore. If you train with us anywhere in the city the fee for this class is $5.00. It is an excellent opportunity to have space to work on various aspects of your training. If you wish further information contact Sifu Mike by clicking on this link: Saturday Classes. 08/24/2007
Here we are in July of 2007. It was in July of 1987 that Sifu Edie Wu, Calvin Ng, Martin Kennedy and I came down to Detroit for a seminar with local students interested in Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan. The positive interest and the seriousness of the response to the seminar led to my coming back in August of 1987 to begin teaching classes on a regular basis.
As a result this year is our 2oth anniversary. Happy anniversary everybody!
I wish to thank the many hundreds of persons who, over the years, supported and encouraged me at the task of handing down this marvelous art form in what, for me, is a new land.
What I, and everyone else associated with our Institute have gone through over the last 20 years would fill many books. Students have come and gone, married and divorced, children have been born and some students have passed on…
Throughout the years two objectives have been fulfilled. The first was to provide a continuous home for students to train in. The second was to hand on the art to the point where new teachers were developed and the students could develop to the point of being able to self-correct their forms and other aspects of their training.
Our teaching staff and discipleship have grown to the point where if I were to pass the Institute would continue.
This does not mean that we have no more work to do. It is however a major achievement. I tip my hat to those students who have stayed since the very beginning, working through to the point where the benefits of the training could become fully manifest through their efforts.
In Detroit you were all pioneers of a sort. At first no one here knew Wu Style. There was no support system of experienced fellow students to assist others in apprehending the knowledge. If you were training in Hong Kong there would have been a base of students and disciples who had trained for many years to encourage and assist you. Tai Chi Chuan would have been a part of the culture, understood by everyone to a greater or lesser extent. Here you all had to learn everything from scratch. I provided every advantage I could, exposing you all to the culture through tours of Asia and our associated schools and by bringing you before my teachers at every possible occasion.
You earned everyone’s respect over the years; including mine.
We have much to do. Many good things are coming. Begin making preparations for our banquet this year! It is going to be something! I strongly encourage you to bring your friends and family is this is going to be quite a party…
The deadline for ticket sales is October 30th, 2007. After this date the ticket price will increase to $40. The reason is that last minute ticket sales make seating arrangements almost impossible.
I am sorry for the delay in posting this month’s message. I have been distracted as I am returning to the corporate world this month and many arrangements had to be made, and we are in the process of making wedding arrangements for myself and Samaritan in September, so it has been a busy time.
I will be more timely from now ‘till year end. 07/14/2007
I am taking time to write my remarks relating to our 20th anniversary. Look for my next remarks to appear July 1st, 2007. 06/20/2007
I have been reflecting on the nature of achievement recently. It is essential to a teacher to assess whether their efforts on behalf of the students in their charge are properly aligned to produce the maximum amount of benefit in the shortest amount of time possible, to honor the efforts and commitment of the students. It is also a duty resting on the teacher to ensure that the art is honored as well by transferring knowledge in a way that will ensure the arts continuance to future generations. In accepting to honor the students and the art form the teacher’s teachers are then honored for their efforts and sacrifice.
Some people, (or actually many people), have ridiculed me over the course of my life for holding archaic values. I have been told to lighten up more times than I can count. Responsibility seems to be a four letter word to many in this current world.
So what is responsibility? From my point of view there are some basic premises that have to be in place in a person’s consciousness before they can understand and accept responsibility.
Firstly there has to be the knowledge embedded in the heart beyond doubt that we are children of a higher power, given gifts and capacities and indeed life itself, for which our actions or inactions will be held accountable by that higher power. I do not perceive this as a form of judgment wherein I fear doom and chastisement throughout my life, but rather as a parent/child type of exchange. To my way of thinking my creator created me out of love and consequently has only my best interests at heart. I believe I exist to learn and to grow forward, the measure of my forward growth being my capacity to love and to emanate compassion. This positioning begins with caring what affect our actions may have upon those around us. I care how others treat my heart so I have the responsibility to try my best to treat the hearts of those around me well.
Do I succeed in this all the time? Of course not! I am here to learn, therefore I am not perfect. What matters is not how far advanced I may or not be, but rather that this issue matters to me. If growth and love and people did not matter to me, why would I need to accept responsibility for my actions as a teacher or otherwise?
The second ingredient I see as essential to understanding responsibility is dissatisfaction; dissatisfaction with the self and dissatisfaction with the world. If one does not see need for improvement of the inner self, if one is not challenged by a wish for greater internal peace and greater understanding of the nature of life and self, then one is not accepting the responsibility for personal growth. Again this comes back to testing ourselves against the effects our lives have in reflection of the hearts of those around us. If societal structures and behaviors offend us then we have a responsibility to see what we might do to help or improve the situation through our efforts. In many situations we may have no direct way of influencing our external environment, in which case we have to adjust our inner selves to find the survival skills necessary to endure that which we cannot change in order to evidence a spirit of endurance and overcoming to our families and friends whose hearts are in our care.
These two principles may be ‘packaged’ simply this way. We are given life and various gifts according to our capacities and developmental level. In turn we need direct these gifts toward the over-coming of that which disappoints or concerns us. In this way we are automatically ‘guided’ to the appropriate use of energy.
Things that bother us need to be fixed, and as we move forward and tackle problems we learn. If we sit back and expect someone else to fix life and our situations we do not develop our skills and our lives stagnate. Accepting responsibility for our actions and attitudes thus prevents stagnation. I would rather go through the trials and pains of effort than simply rot.
So what has this to do with Tai Chi Chuan?
The Great Master, Chang San Feng spoke of the inner search and development of character. He and his lineage were persons dedicated to spiritual growth. They explored the nature of consciousness and the nature of the physical world in great detail. The path he outlined involved inner discipline to condition and control the activities of the mind to concur with the nurturing aspect of nature, or in other words to cultivate the positioning of mind and self concerned with the ability to bless others and the nation, combined with the discipline and the training of the physical self to overcome the limitations of the challenges of existence in a physical rather than spirit form.
The following is attributed to Chang San Feng:
“Wishing to form a triad with heaven and earth, can we afford to lose the root of our intrinsic nature? If we are able to act in accordance with our intrinsic nature, then we will not lose the root. (‘Root’ here means our divine connection….s.b.) Since we have not lost our original nature, then how could we lose the direction of our physical bodies? Wishing to find our direction, we must first know where we come from. Knowing our origin, we will find the path, for the means are surely at hand. But what are the means? It is simply our own innate knowledge and ability. No matter whether brilliant or foolish, virtuous or otherwise, all can use their innate abilities to approach the Tao. Being able to cultivate the Tao and understanding our origins, we will understand the direction we must go. Knowing our origins and direction, we must understand self-cultivation. Therefore, it is said from the emperor down to the common people, all take self-cultivation as their foundation. But how should we go about self-cultivation? It is on the basis of innate wisdom and abilities. From the vision of our eyes and the hearing of our ears we have acuity and clarity. The hands naturally gesture and the feet stamp; we are endowed with both martial and spiritual capacities. Thus we must extend our knowledge and investigate the world, so that our thoughts will be sincere and our hearts straight. The mind is the ruler of the body, and thus we must rectify the mind and make our hearts sincere....The eyes and ears, hands and feet, being divided into pairs are like yin and yang, and their uniting into one is like t’ai-chi. Thus the external becomes concentrated in the internal, and the internal expresses itself externally. In this way we develop within and without, the fine and the gross, and with penetrating understanding, we realize the work of the wise men and sages. Wisdom and knowledge, sagehood and immortality, these are what we mean by fulfilling our intrinsic nature and establishing life. Herein lies the perfection of spirit and divine transformation. The way of heaven and the way of humanity is simple sincerity.”
Deep stuff indeed! However there is no question that the first application of Tai Chi Chuan is the cultivation of self and spiritual progress. The martial aspect is trained to test the assimilation of understanding of the underlying principles of the unity of mind in its’ relationship to spirit. If the mind spirit relationship is in order then the physical body reverts to its’ original nature behaving in unison with intent rather than as an external thing or obstacle.
I believe you can see that the Great Master was interested in accepting responsibility for his life and actions, researching deeply into the nature of that which dissatisfies us mortals, looking for inspiration and guidance from the Divine to guide his efforts. His observation was that by taking care of what is in front of us to work on we stay in the correct stream of learning. As a result the art and the Divine nature inherent in all of us becomes the teacher.
So what is a teacher then? A teacher is someone that helps us to stay focused upon what needs to be worked on and at what time to allow the understanding to grow within the student from the students own efforts. Hence the saying, “First there is a teacher, then there is no teacher; First there is a system, then there is no system”.
As the saying goes, “I said all that to say this”.
As a teacher I work from a position of having accepted responsibility. My responsibility is to give to the student what they need at the right time. What the student needs is determined by what they are frustrated or dissatisfied with at any given moment. By directing my teaching efforts on this principle I will not err in the dissemination of information, as it will always be timely if attuned to the students needs.
I am not however a mind reader. Ask more questions! Communicate with me more!
If you do I will not have to sit around contemplating the nature of achievement. I will be able to rejoice with you in seeing all that you have overcome. 03/04/2007
Forgive me for not entering remarks over new years; it was a very busy time for me.
In consequence this is my first opportunity to write in 2007.
This is a landmark year for our Institute being our 20th anniversary. After Sifu Wu’s introductory seminar in July of 1987, I taught the first formal class in August of the same year, and we have been going strong continuously ever since.
This year will be a year for expansion for us. We will be starting new programs, expanding existing programs and expanding the curriculum we cover.
By the end of February I will have more information to share about new classes opening. This is going to be a busy month.
As always I thank everyone for your support and energy. I am looking forward to the next twenty years with you. 02/02/2007
Please accept my apologies for being so late with this month’s message.
As most of you know, we just had our second annual banquet. I enjoyed the event and I hope that you did to. It was good to see so many of you coming out in support of our Institute.
In this age of cable TV, computer games and web-surfing, joining together over food for discussion and enjoyment seems to be a dying art. I find this most regrettable. It is true we can learn much as individuals from our studying, but unless we apply this knowledge in inter-action with others we have no way of testing our growth and positioning.
The I Ching, a Taoist classic upon which the art form of Tai Chi Chuan is based says it best. “A lake evaporates upward and thus gradually dries up; but when two lakes are joined they do not dry up so readily, for one replenishes the other. It is the same in the field of knowledge. Knowledge should be a refreshing and vitalizing force. It becomes so only through stimulating intercourse with congenial friends with whom one holds discussion and practices applications of the truths of life. In this way learning becomes many-sided and takes on a cheerful lightness, whereas there is always something ponderous and one-sided about the learning of the self-taught.”
I must admit to great frustration at times teaching in this consumption driven Western world. Many people see taking a class through the eyes of a consumer. The positioning can be described as, “I have paid my money and I expect you, the teacher, to make this worth my while.” After each class the student then weighs what they experienced in judgment. “I didn’t like the way the teacher did this or did that…..I would have done this or that…..so and so in the class bothers me they way they do this or that and so on….”
From the balance of these lofty judgments is based the students decision to continue with the class or not, and, the decision as to how to recommend or condemn the teacher in public.
From the teacher’s point of view things are a little different. We work from the positioning that it is not up to the teacher to prove themselves to the student, it is up to the student to prove themselves to the teacher.
In teaching Tai Chi Chuan we are giving each student the opportunity to improve and maintain their health, to free themselves from unnecessary stress, to heal and work through old injuries and limitations, to experience an expanded social circle, to be cared for and supported in a non-political environment, to learn more about other peoples and other cultures, to re-energize and regroup to thus be able to better cope with the stresses of work and with this renewed energy to be better able to support family and friends in their day-to-day lives.
All of the above benefits cannot be realized by the teacher for the student. The student has to apply the knowledge they are given and work on it. If they do not work on it, they cannot make the material their own, and thus do not benefit. There is no magic injection the teacher can give. The secret to growth involves work.
Each person coming to Tai Chi Chuan has a list of needs, usually with improving various physical conditions at the top. It must be remembered that however many years it has taken to find oneself in a particular physical state, it may take years of hard work to reverse those situations. No six week session will reshape your life. The blessing in Tai Chi Chuan is that by doing it you can reverse those situations. If you do not do the work, those situations will continue and probably worsen over time, so it is to the benefit of the student to do the hard work now, in order to able to enjoy a full life later.
Do not come into class with arms crossed in defiance asking the teacher to perform. It just will not work. A wrong beginning can only lead to a wrong ending. We teachers have a joke we share amongst ourselves about the students who say, “We are screwed up! What are YOU going to do about it!” Well, we show you what YOU need to do. We cannot do it for you. If you want the skills we have, you will have to pay the same price we had to pay to acquire them. A price paid in trust, respect and diligent effort.
I saw some people coming into the banquet complaining. Complaining about seating or viewing, or how long it took to start eating. The majority of people however were coming in joyfully, greeting old friends and talking a million miles per minute about everything under the sun. These people had one thing in common. They had experience of years in their training. They have gone through hell and high water together in their studies. As a result they knew to rejoice in this opportunity for fellowship. They had paid the price to learn new growth in their lives and see their life through the eyes of growth and new opportunities. This is the ultimate benefit of learning how to learn.
The I Ching speaks of this thusly. “…when there is a real rallying point, those who at first are hesitant or uncertain come in of their own accord. Late-comers must suffer the consequences, for in holding together the question of the right time is also important. Relationships are formed and firmly established according to definite inner laws. Common experience strengthens these ties, and he who comes to late to share in these basic experiences must suffer for it if, as a straggler, he finds the door locked.”
It is through our interactions with others that we can assess our progress, both through discussion of where we ‘used to be’ and through seeing what affect we have on others in terms of uplifting them. We have two choices in life. We may either bring down those around us or lift them up. At the root of this is the choice to be either selfish or selfless.
Given all this, are we justified in wishing our teachers to indulge us and entertain us, or should we acknowledge what they are giving and work on our training so that we too can benefit as they have? 12/11/2006
What an exciting month! Between taking on new disciples, Sifu Ashmore's and Katherine's wedding and banquet preparations things have been going non-stop. My apologies for the lateness of this column.
I tell you, at least with me, (I do not know about you), a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. A while back I received an email from a former student in Toronto. He had acquired my email address through our website. Seeing a chance to get some unbiased feedback I asked him what he thought of the site and he let me know (gently) that he did not like the newsletter column. I realized his criticisms were valid and decided to do something about it.
Now please remember I am still learning this web business. I have this ornery streak that wants me to be able to do everything on this site myself, mostly to learn but also so as to limit the time others would have to give up bailing me out of my screw-ups.
So it goes like this....
I realize that our newsletter was like a blog. No index. A nightmare if one ever wished to go back to a previous item. What was needed was a split page, with a title border across the top, a list of news headings down the left side and a page to the right wherein the content would appear when the heading was 'clicked'.
With great self-delusional confidence I begin an exploration of the single page formats provided by FrontPage, the simpletons Neolithic design program I use for this site, and find just such a split page template. (Hoorah!.....)
I boldly open the new page, ready to cut and paste my way to newsletter glory. However...... It turns out each section of the page had to be established almost as a separate page. The program automatically started asking me to save, rename and build into the navigation structure what ended up as seeming like a thousand pages. I am aware, before the emails come flooding in that I was doing it wrong, but the end result was a list of new pages with vastly similar names, no newsletter, and a defeated me sobbing over my desk.
I at least knew enough to avoid publishing anything to our server before sorting this out. But how? I had hit OK when it wasn't 'OK' more times than I could count. I went into a cold sweat. People were waiting for my monthly remarks with baited breath. I had assured my friend in Toronto I was going to improve the newsletter. There was news on top of this. A wedding. New disciples. Eeeeeek!
After several days of fasting, prayer and atonement it finally dawned on me that everything that I had added I had added in one frustrated fevered night. All I had to do was to undo everything I had done by going by the date of the revision. Oh what relief....what Divine succor. As I purged all the input, (or should I say wrongput), I felt a lightening of soul. Now I was ready to be prudent. Do the research first.
Well, no one source carried the information I needed. Everything I read started coming into my mind's ear in the voice of Mr. T. saying "Newsletters are for the gifted, Fool!".
More fasting, more prayer and more time passed. Slowly a tiny voice of salvation started coming through.....bookmarking......bookmarking.....bookmarking.......BOOKMARKING FOOL!
Then I had an inspiration; "What about using Bookmarks?".
Then came 9 hours work re-doing the newsletter. I think it is OK. Let me know what you think of it. I never want to see it again.
The banquet is fast coming up. Please order your tickets as soon as possible. We need a final count and time to arrange the seating. 11/12/2006
It is fast approaching banquet time! Sunday, December 3rd is not far away. The tickets are being printed and will be available this week. The location is the same as last year’s festivity, namely the Sterling Banquet and Conference Center. The reception time will be 6:00 P.M. Tickets will be the same price as last year, $35.00 US. (If you cannot afford a ticket, please speak with your instructor. We may be able to cover the cost through our bursary program).
This year’s banquet will be a wonderful event. I will not say what exactly is planned in order to surprise our guests, but I will let you know what will not be happening. There will neither be a discipleship ceremony nor certificates of recognition being given out. Although these are important and vital parts of what we do, this year’s event is all about fun.
I strongly encourage you to bring families and friends. It is, as you will recall from last years event, an excellent opportunity for people to see what you do and an excellent opportunity to share good food and fellowship.
For many during the holiday season there are opportunities to attend various functions through business or church, but for many others a dinner such as this is unique, affording a rare opportunity to step out a bit.
I am truly excited about this banquet.
Some people have asked me about our bursary program. It is quite simple really. Some people, who are able, pay extra in their fees for classes or seminars to enable us to cover those who may be financially challenged. When a student is suffering financially it is obviously very stressful. We train Tai Chi Chuan to overcome the effects of stress in our lives. If we were to preclude a student who could not afford classes for financial reasons we would be taking away from them the very thing they need at the time they need it the most.
On other subjects, you have seen that we offer training clothing in the form of sweatshirts and polo shirts. It is traditional and appropriate for students to wear similar clothing when training. The reason for this is to reduce distraction when doing the form. Certain things can interfere with a person’s ability to focus on their form. If people are all going at various speeds during the form it is distracting, and if everyone is clothed differently it is also distracting. The objective is to have a calm, uniform and harmonious environment, not so that everyone becomes one mind or robotic, but rather so that each person can concentrate on their own efforts with minimal external interference. As a result I encourage everyone to secure proper training attire, being black pants and our Institute’s polo or sweatshirt. They are, as you have seen, of the highest quality and are available at affordable prices.
On our website, the questions section is greatly under-utilized. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have that you would like to see included in this section. 09/28/2006
We are here now at the end of the summer, and coming towards the first anniversary of Sifu Ashmore and Sifu Marchewitz agreeing to accept the responsibility of taking on disciples.
As far as assessing the impact of Sifus Ashmore and Marchewitz' taking up the challenge of disciples I am pleased beyond belief at their results. There is a new revitalization in their teaching and a new cogency or connectedness among their students which I am extremely proud to bear witness of. This success would not be possible without the efforts and enthusiasm of their students and disciples. A teacher without learning, progressing students is a failure. To be a Sifu is meaningless unless the results are seen in the students, and the results would not be there in the students if it were not for the work and enthusiasm they lend to the task. There is a symbiosis in affect there. I could not be more pleased with everyone involved and look forward to great progress in times to come.
I am also extremely pleased with the efforts of our other instructors who carry on continuous classes; Arlene Wetherby, Sandy Zenisek, Don Runyan and Sam Purdy.
I am also pleased with those who assist in our classes, who are too numerous to name, but whose efforts are key to the success of our Institute and whose enthusiasm sparks the enthusiasm of everyone laboring at the task of learning. I am proud of you all and wish I could show my appreciation in better ways, but please know my heart and my gratitude are with you all.
Whether you know it or not, I consider every decision slowly and carefully when it comes to matters that will affect the well-being of our Institute and its' students. This attention continues long after a decision or change has been made as I consider the effects created. When I make a decision I discuss the reasons as plainly as I can giving the reason why the change is seen as necessary and what result I am seeking through making the change. If the decision was in error I admit it and correct it immediately and openly. This is necessary because ultimately my reason for being in Michigan and doing what I am doing is to preserve and teach the art form of Tai Chi Chuan, including the 'spirit' behind the art, as shown to me by the teaching and the lives of those who taught me. If I do not show openly the ingrained factors that motivate me, there is no way anyone else would be able to learn what I have been shown. So I am open.
I am very protective of this art and even more protective of the people who do me the honor to come to me for instruction. I have gone through a living hell working to establish our Institute. Those who have worked with me from the beginning know the history and I will leave it for them to tell, but I bring this up to point out that even through the most inhuman of circumstances the love and the respect of the people I have dealt with here in Michigan has kept me going, keeping me motivated and keeping me strong. I cannot be in two places or states of mind at once. Many people on this planet of ours have to go through deprivation similar to what I have had to go through without the support of hundreds of kind and loving people such as I have had. I thank and bless every person that has had the love, the kindness and the caring to lift a finger on my behalf and help me through situations which seemed at many times to be beyond my strength.
My Father and Sister, may God rest there souls, were gravely concerned for my well-being during the worst of times. Their fears and concerns disappeared however when they came to Detroit and saw the support system I had in all of you. I have had to spend my Daughter's entire life separated from her to do what I have had to do here, but she has seen the enormous help people here have received from the process, the healings and growth, and is proud of her Father and what has been done. I mention my family as they are a yardstick for me, as each of your families may be for you. There is a rule in Tai Chi Chuan that family comes first, business comes second and Tai Chi Chuan comes third. In many many ways my family agreed to come after Tai Chi Chuan in my life, showing them as the far-sighted people they were/are who are highly deserving of all of your respect. Without their being supportive, I would have had to return to Canada as I believe in honoring family.
Am I waxing sentimental here or is there a purpose behind my words? Tai Chi Chuan is about health and vitality, and a life with no love in it is devoid of vitality. This is why I speak so often of love. Master Wu TaHsin's last instruction to me was that it was time for me to let my heart out, to bring it out fully in my teaching and express it fully in my dealings with the world. I can think of no other place where it is more appropriate to do this than in the light of the hearts of all of you I work with here in Michigan. You have proven this time and again and I thank you and I bless you. Now get back to training and work harder! 09/05/2006
Albert Britt 
Sandra Johnson 
Joy
Britt