The video is designed to let you follow the movements in your own daily practice. It includes eight complete Qigong sets. These sets are the core forms in first level of the TCCII Professional Qigong Certification course series.

About “Moving with the Tao” Qigong Practice DVD

The Five Animal [...]]]> Check out the new trailer for our Qigong Exercise DVD.

The video is designed to let you follow the movements in your own daily practice. It includes eight complete Qigong sets. These sets are the core forms in first level of the TCCII Professional Qigong Certification course series.

About “Moving with the Tao” Qigong Practice DVD

The Five Animal Frolics (Wu Qin Xi Qigong) form of medical Qigong was invented by Hua Tuo, one of the fathers of Chinese Medicine during the Han Dyanasty. It features the Tiger, Deer, Monkey, Bear, and Crane animals which were later incorporated in to Chinese Kung Fu. Eight Pieces of Brocade (Ba Duan Jin) is attributed to the Taoist Immortal Lu Dong Bing and is the most commonly practiced Qigong in the world. Post Standing (Zhan Zhuang) is considered one of the most important foundation exercises in Tai Ji (Tai Chi), Xing Yi (Hsing-I), Ba Gua (Pa Kua) and Yi Quan (I Chuan).

The Body Opening, Meridian Opening, and Shaking Sets are Nei Gong (Taoist Yoga) designed to enhance your overall health and well-being. The Energy Replenishing and Refining sets are meditation in movement. These practices will help energy healers, yogis martial artists and meditation practitioners.

1. Body Opening
2. Meridian Opening
3. Body Shaking
4. Energy Replenishing
5. Energy Refining and Projecting
6. Eight Pieces of Silk Brocade
7. Five Animal Frolics
8. Post Standing

The complete Qigong set is available on DVD at http://www.filmbaby.com/films/4744

The music on the video is “High Mountains and Flowing Waters” from the “Rising Moon” Guzheng CD, by Bing Xia Available http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/BingXia

There are all kinds of people in this world. Some people are angels, others are assholes. Most people are somewhere in between. But this spectrum (should we call it the A-A spectrum?) is not all there is to defining what [...]]]> I recently got a question from someone asking advice on “How to deal with crazy people?”

There are all kinds of people in this world. Some people are angels, others are assholes. Most people are somewhere in between. But this spectrum (should we call it the A-A spectrum?) is not all there is to defining what people are.

Some people are just crazy.

Of course, a statement like that begs for a definition, but I’m not going to provide one for you. Calling someone crazy, much like calling someone an asshole, is too relative and judgmental. In the cultivation and teaching arts, we strive to avoid attachment to labels like “crazy, asshole, angel, etc.” They tend to stereotype and group people without due consideration to their individual character. But we do recognize that colloquially, these words are used. That is, most people will occasionally come across someone who is, for a lack of a better word, crazy.

In some cultures, the crazy people – the British might say ‘madmen’ – are thought to have seen a glimpse of the God’s face. What is certain is that they see the world differently than most people. For some, their perspective is so different they become dangerous. These people are not all locked up, but the truly dangerous ones can generally be avoided if you take reasonable self-defense precautions. These aren’t the people we’re talking about here.

Most crazy people are relatively harmless and somehow manage to function in society.

Let’s just say crazy has degrees, or shall we say variations.

Certain activities, like Qigong and Kung Fu, tend to attract those who are crazier than others. That is why my friend, a Tai Chi teacher, asked the question. Here’s a summary of what I shared with him.

The Kung Fu crazies are usually those who think they are (or want to be) Bruce Lee reincarnated, or something like that. Most of them are not so much crazy as they are lacking serious perspective. Sadly, they probably won’t get it until they run into someone (perhaps someone who falls on the wrong end of the A-A spectrum) who teaches them a hard lesson.

On the spiritual or Qigong side, you might meet “Thor” (Note: fantasy name changed to protect fantasy identity.) Who is channeling the spirits of deceased Druid Extra- Groovy High Priests from Pluto. Who knows, maybe he is channeling something. While it’s possible for this phenomenon to happen, it is far rarer than people would like to believe. For the most part these people are harmless, and are usually perfectly happy with their current situation. At most they usually just take up a little time while they tell you something about themselves. If you weren’t trying to work with a group of Qigong students, they might even provide you with a plot for a bad Hollywood B movie script.

The third major category of “crazy” people is those in serious need of help. They usually know they need help, but the way they ask for help is, well, not always normal. They might for example, have a real medical problem but blame the root cause of the problem on some nebulous conspiracy. These people can be the most difficult to deal with because their problems often prevent them from getting the help they need. So what should you do when these people show up? Should you shut them out? Should you try to “fix” them?

As Taoist and Buddhist cultivators, we have a concept of synchronicity. That is, things happen, people show up, because of certain conditions. Buddhism relates it to the law of cause and effect. The Chinese would say that “you have common affinity”. Yes, as strange as it sounds, that means that you and “Thor, the Channeled Spirit of the Dead Druid High Priest from Pluto” have a connection.

Buddhism asks its practitioners to have compassion.

Taoism reminds its practitioners that “softness and gentleness is the application of the Tao.”

So, when “Thor” shows ups, consider a few things. First, unless you are in a profession that is qualified to treat that person’s problem with a particular modality, don’t try to fix them. Instead refer them to a professional who you believe can help them. This is just common sense and applies not only to crazy people, but to everyone.

Second, before you give your advice, find something in them to which you can relate. Because they are ‘crazy’ they will likely have a hard time understanding suggestions that imply they aren’t normal. For example, telling “Thor” to “go see an exorcist” is probably not going to help, even if that is what he should do. You see, such a suggestion carries with it so many unwritten connotations that it can be extremely hard for him to accept without other conditions being in place. When you can find something in other people that you can relate to, it means that you have found a way to connect with them. If you can connect with them in a way they can trust, then your gentle suggestion is more likely to be accepted.

Third, you have to learn how to manage the time these people will want to take up in the class. In some cases, you might have to ask them to leave. But in most cases, you can probably find a way to help them, even if just a little bit. For nothing else, a kind word might be in order. In any case, the important point is there is a middle way to walk between having the crazy person disrupt the class and totally shutting them out.

Remember, even crazy people have real problems. Use compassion, wisdom and gentleness. It might even help them. And you might even get a movie plot…

I recently took my 4 year old son to get pizza at one of the local re-developed town centers around Washington DC. These places, though very commercial, are often great fun for the young ones. That evening they happened to feature a local band which was [...]]]> Most people want to be perfect. Not everyone, but most.

I recently took my 4 year old son to get pizza at one of the local re-developed town centers around Washington DC. These places, though very commercial, are often great fun for the young ones. That evening they happened to feature a local band which was going to play some sort of rock-funk synthesis. My son and I thought that was pretty cool.

This band was very serious about their music. They got there an hour early to warm up. Cool, these guys are a little better than “three cords and crank the Marshall to 11.” They were pretty good, for a free concert in the middle of planned town center.

People started showing up to hear them play – it was time to rock!

They kept warming up.

“We just want to get it just right” one of the band member announced.

They kept warming up.

“Hey, it’s DC, it’s okay if we start late, right?” another one said.

They kept warming up. It almost seemed like they were practicing for their next show.

People started leaving.

They kept warming up. They had to get it perfect…

… After all it was rock and roll. And everyone there in the little town square with the makeshift stage could tell if the guitar was slightly off, especially the first generation Chinese lady with her grandson.

More people left.

The band was tired – they spent their entire first set time warming up – they needed a break before they jumped right into rockin’.

Finally, we had to go – two hours is a long time for a 4 year old to wait for the band to get it perfect.

You could tell by their warm up the band was pretty good. But they weren’t exactly Parliament or the Red Hot Chili Peppers or AC/DC.

Two hours warming up just didn’t make them sound any better than they did after a half hour. At least if they had started playing many more people would have been exposed to their music.

This obsession with perfection is understandable in our society – on a certain level it is encouraged, even rewarded.

Unfortunately, it is also one of the greatest barriers to real success in life. Because our obsession with perfection creates a reality that very few can live up to, we often delude ourselves. In many cases this keeps us from accepting responsibility for our own actions or our own situation. It keeps us from really doing something.

Instead of doing something, we spend all our time getting everything just right.

In the end, we don’t do anything, just like this band. It becomes delusion when we think getting ready to do something is the same as doing it. We might wonder why, after we spent two hours warming up, all these people left.

Perfection is certainly one of biggest challenges a student encounters when studying Kung Fu, Qigong or meditation. Instead of just practicing their art, they worry about whether they have the form perfect. Instead of sitting down to meditate, they worry that everything isn’t “just right” for meditation.

The reality is that the form will never be perfect. The conditions will never be ideal for meditation. You just have to do it. Over time, with hard work and good instruction, you will get better.

One day, if you can give up the concept of perfect and replace it with hard work, you might even find you have some attainment.

That is the real meaning of Kung Fu – skill obtained through hard work over time.

Great masters aren’t born. They work hard at it.

Can you find the great master within yourself?

You can if you remember you don’t have to be perfect. All you have to do is do it.

Sometimes, it just needs to be “good enough for rock and roll.”

I went up to the terrace at 7:30 AM to practice my Yang Style 108 Form Tai Chi with the sight of people working in the fields and barren 13,000 ft. mountains rising in the background. It was absolutely beautiful and peaceful with clouds seeming to brush the tops of [...]]]> Day 9, Saturday, April 24 (Xizhou)

I went up to the terrace at 7:30 AM to practice my Yang Style 108 Form Tai Chi with the sight of people working in the fields and barren 13,000 ft. mountains rising in the background. It was absolutely beautiful and peaceful with clouds seeming to brush the tops of the mountains and the sun slanting through the clouds. Afterwards, at 8 AM, I joined the others in the courtyard where we practiced Qigong and Chen Style Tai Chi which gave me a full workout before breakfast.

Daybreak over Yunnan: Sun shines through the clouds as a lone farmer begins his work

We left on the bus at 9:30 for Weibao Mountain which is a sacred mountain about 1 ½ hours’ often perilous drive from Xizhou. This driver just loved his horn and used it constantly. Like people who cannot talk without arm gestures, I would bet he could not drive without his horn.

As we drove through the Yunnan countryside, I noticed cedars of Lebanon—shades of Italy—and more browns than ever before. We drove past fields and fields with farmers working them. Brian, who with Frank and Neil had accompanied us that day, explained that the government was putting in pathways and irrigation to make the farmers’ lives a little easier.

We passed a big, modern building that was at least seven stories tall. It was a new middle school! The Chinese government in the wake of the earthquake in Sichuan Province has been building all new schools, replacing the poorly constructed ones like those which were destroyed in 2008.

The mountains always stood in the background. The fields made a huge patchwork quilt of browns, tans, greens stitched together with thin rows of green grass (?). We drove out of Bai country and into the land of the Yi people. What a contrast! Instead of the white walls with black and white tile paintings on them, the homes of the Yi people were covered in what looked like brown mud. I even saw someone plastering the mud (?) on the side of a house. It was put on in an artistic way, but it still looked like mud.

Weishan

We visited a textile factory in Weishan. Some woman were tying elaborate knots in a white cloth. Outside stood huge vats used for dying and fixing the dyes. It seemed like a pretty big production, but there weren’t many workers that day, and it seemed almost closed down. They opened the warehouse for us, and I looked for a jacket but found a pretty scarf for my 90-year-old mother instead. The warehouse was very small, more like a large closet really, but the quality of the merchandise was unmistakable.

A few (not me) went upstairs where people were sewing and found a clean, Western toilet—a total luxury this trip as we have not seen many when out and about in the countryside of Yunnan Province where not that many tourists venture. The report was misleading. A kind worker had unlocked their secret treasure for a desperate tourist and then locked it up again. It was marked only in Chinese characters, so, when a few of us went in search of this gift, we found nothing. I asked people in Mandarin. One said “upstairs” (lou shang). Another said “below” (lou xia). We never found it. I guess the workers’ largess only extended so far…

Upstairs at street level, we found a store. The prices were less than those of the warehouse! I bought a glasses holder for my mother. A mannequin displayed the traditional Bai outfit we had seen so much of — red and white with a little blue headdress, a pink or red vest, white shirt, and pants with roses on them, plus a white apron with a rose. I didn’t expect this as this was Yi People country.

Weishan is a pretty town with the Yi mud-sided houses and fluted gray roofs. We went to a restaurant. By that time, those of us who hadn’t found the WC in the factory were beyond asking about bathroom qualities. Good thing we were desperate. This restaurant offered us a slit in concrete that sloped down to the outside. We literally had to hold our breath as we squatted, but nonetheless it was a very welcome hole in the ground.

The restaurant, despite its rather odoriferous facilities, was lovely but simple inside. A huge obviously hand-painted Bai-type mural decorated one of the walls “inside.” I put “inside” in quotes because, although we weren’t exposed to the sky and elements, one side lacked a wall. Luckily, it wasn’t too cold.

Lunch consisted of the usual veggies, veggies with a little meat, veggies and tofu, and fava beans. Once again, these were the type of beans that people pick up from the road after the cars and motorbikes and motorcycle cars run over the stalks so as to separate out the beans from the chaff. In this area they grow corn and garlic as well as the beans. All are plentiful at every meal, and the lots of garlic permeated the food we had been eating.

The restaurant kitchen was smaller than a ½ bathroom or about the size of a head in the cheapest cabin on a no frills cruise ship. Someone had cooked at least a dozen dishes in that kitchen for us, not to mention the dishes for other patrons. Incredible!

Outside the restaurant, I finally snapped a good picture of one of those ubiquitous motorcycle cars—a motorcycle with an attachment that makes it look something like a car. This was one of the better ones.

In the town square about 15 dancers and musicians performed for the locals. They were from the Yi ethnic group. They wore colorful outfits with white tunics, bright green pants, a black apron (women) or vest (men). The dancers invited us to join them. Weishan is not a tourist town. Westerners are still a curiosity of sorts. Donna so entranced one man that he asked her to marry him. (Yinong translated for him.) We danced a little, Donna being the star.

We walked up a side street off the square where Brian wanted to show us a funeral shop. The shop sold paper goods of EVERYTHING of the earthly world so that people can buy them and burn them to help send their loved ones over to the other side with all the luxuries he or she probably didn’t have in this life. Brian told us that families are sure to include the deceased one’s favorite things as well as the luxuries including lots of money. The shop sold paper cars, radios, dishwashers, fridges, clothes, money (one was a fake $100 bill with a picture of Confucius on it!), toiletries, radios, TV’s, everything imaginable. It was quite fascinating.

The Bai architecture also is prevalent even in this town of mostly Yi people. Yinong told us that the Yi people tend to be more outgoing and that the Bai People tend to be more somber and serious than other ethnic groups. 25 of the 56 ethnic groups in China live in the Yunnan Province. Perhaps that’s because it is the crossroads between South China and North China, Mainland China and Tibet.

Up the same street as the funeral shop, through a small arched door, we found a courtyard complex that Brian hopes to get from the government to start another Linden Centre in Weishan. Brian told us that the Chinese government is pleased with their work in Xizhou and might give them the historic complex for free for 10 years and then charge about $2500/year rent from then on. This comes with the deal that the government would develop the infrastructure of the town to support the tourists who would come.

At the present time, in a large room off the courtyard was a dance studio. Little girls, who left their little shoes outside, skipped into the room to dance. They listened intently to their teacher and tried each step very hard. Their little foreheads screwed up with concentration. A few parents stared anxiously into the room from the courtyard. It was quite a picture into modern China. The little girls couldn’t have been more than six-years old. Some of the parents carefully balanced their daughters on their knees to take off their shoes.

Weibao Mountain

We walked back through the streets of Weishan and boarded our bus to continue our journey to Weibao Mountain, honking all the way. We passed through Xiaguan, a town with a million people in it, so much larger than the towns we had been visiting. Xiaguan is a transportation hub for the region. A large Muslim population lives there. The rest of the trip, the bus wove up and around a new, steep, winding, narrow road to climb the mountain to Weibao Mountain Park. We could see cell-phone towers and new electric lines atop one of the mountains. China now leads the world in wind turbine-produced electricity!

Sacred Weibao Mountain rises to a height of 9000 feet. The altitude did not prove to be a problem as we had been living at over 7000 feet for almost a week. Of course, before hiking up a steep mountain path, we just had to empty our bladders of all that tea we had drunk. A modern, two-story building that housed the facilities stood just outside the park. We climbed some steep stairs to the second floor bathrooms. They were absolutely luxurious–Asian toilets complete with ample TP and artfully decorated with black tile all around and a lovely black and white wave-like border at about chest height. Unfortunately, spotless and beautiful as it was, the bathroom still smelled faintly of previous users because of the necessity of putting TP in wastepaper baskets. The national parks do better than many restaurants!

Relieved once again, we walked over a huge Yin/Yang design made of stone or tiles, under an elaborately-carved entrance with its delicate, flowing fluted roof, and into the park. There were a total of four temples in the park, but the time was a little late, and Temples #3 and #4 would be a four-hour hike up the mountain and back. We opted to visit only the first two. We walked up at least 200 steps, probably many more than that, slowly climbing up the mountain. The altitude didn’t seem to bother anybody, but I noticed that we did move very slowly. The steps and wide paths were new, having been constructed only a few years previously.

Periodically along the path we stepped under a stone gate with colorful little flags flying from the sides on strings going diagonally into the ground as they did at the front entrance to the park. What looked like pine trees lined the path.

Resting places for the bodies of Daoist priests

Like grim sloping sentinels, covered in algae, moss, and leaves occasional graves stood on one side of the path. We had seen many of these oddly-sloping graves on the way to Weibao Mountain. They look like body-sized sloping cylinders with writing on them. Yinong read the characters on one of the graves and told us it was that of a special soul, a Taoist priest or monk who was well on his way to being a Celestial Immortal.

Temple #1

The first temple, a Taoist/Buddhist Temple that still was in use, displayed a female Buddha. Round cushions with crocheted covers that resembled some my grandmother had made dotted the floor in front of her waiting for followers to kneel. Incense burned and perfumed the building with its pungent aroma. Food offerings lay on the table. Beautiful wooden panels with colored inlays stood near the entrance. We all took pictures.

Outside the temple we encountered a man who wore the very same black and white jacket I had bought in Dali. It looked worn and well used.

Down from the temple on a lower level, we found a long, very long, pinkish (almost orange) wall that looked brand new which it was. Yinong told us that it had been modeled on a Japanese wall and told a story. Yinong related it—life, battles, love, peace, harmony. The wall looked out of place in front of an old-style temple.

Temple #2

Itenerat Daoist Priest at the Sacred Dragon Well

The second temple, although not actively used, housed an itinerant Taoist priest. This temple was much more interesting and looked really old and well used. We spent quite a bit of time there in the courtyard. This temple is very special as it guards a Sacred Dragon Well. A clear small lake in the middle of the large courtyard reflected the walls of the temple. A stone fence surrounded the lake and willow trees dipped their branches into the water. A bridge, draped with plants and what looked like small weeping willows crossed the lake in the middle. In the center of the bridge there was a small covered pavilion with a fluted roof. Chinese characters decorated all the posts.

Group Photo at Dragon Well Temple

In the main part of the courtyard by the pavilion, we held a healing circle led by Yinong. The chi coming from the Sacred Weibao Mountain and the temple was very strong. We all felt it. I tingled and buzzed all the way down to my toes. The feeling lasted until we left the temple area. We also sent a chant into the Universe to heal the Earth.

The priest came out from the inner sanctum to stand with us and talked to Yinong. Then, moved by our healing circle and perhaps with permission of the priest, the caretaker brought out bottles and allowed Frank to fill them with water from the Sacred Dragon Well. He used a long ladle to scoop up the water into a bucket and then pour the water into the bottles. The well was just a hole in the stone of the courtyard with a fern growing out of it. The water is supposed to promote long life and good health. Everyone received a bottle. Brian told us that never before had the caretaker let non-Taoists drink from the well.

Jan and I took our bottle of Dragon Water back to the Linden Centre where we put it into the water boiler provided in every hotel room in China (for tea) and boiled it for the requisite amount of time for purification. Then we put some tea into it and drank it. Sacred water or not, we didn’t want to take any chance of getting sick.

The caretaker, who lacked half her teeth and seemed taken with us, urged us to go back to the front of the Temple to take a group photo. We insisted that she be in the photo as well. She stood, all four feet of her, between Jan and I, looking tiny and bent. She seemed quite pleased with us and with herself.

Then, for a photo-op, Shawn stood in front of each of two Bai style murals that flanked the front entrance to the temple. One of the murals depicted a tiger, the other a dragon. Shawn went through some of his Kung Fu moves in front of each as we snapped pictures of him in action. His tall, lanky figure dressed in black and the graceful poses he practiced in front of the huge dragon and tiger paintings in black and white painted an unusual living picture that should be immortalized somewhere. I just found out that a UTUBE video of him practicing in front of the tiger has been posted on the TCCII website.

On the honking bus ride back to the Linden Centre, we passed the biggest Wal Mart any of us had ever seen. I would have loved to peek inside. The building was so many stories that I couldn’t get the entirety into a picture. We also enjoyed seeing the usual fields, lakes, as well as more of the oddly-shaped graves out the window, but the Wal Mart really caught our attention. The motorcycle/car body combination and people in traditional dress standing out front contrasted with the ultimate symbol of modern life. China continues to be a picture in contrasts.

Plato and Gigi greeted us at the door. Plato always turns his head when I want to take a picture of him. Gigi ducks all pictures. Dinner at the Linden Centre was excellent and varied as usual. I think Pam and Jerlene and others had another massage. Tired, we all went to bed early.

When we travel in China, it’s mostly to train with our teachers and occasionally do a little business. But we always try to fit in a little time to absorb some of the [...]]]> With another foot of snow and white out conditions here in Washington DC, it’s easy to reminisce about the beauty of southern China.

When we travel in China, it’s mostly to train with our teachers and occasionally do a little business. But we always try to fit in a little time to absorb some of the more interesting sights. We work hard to avoid the worst places in China. Guangzhou is one of the cities we enjoy visiting.

Guangzhou is probably my favorite major city after Beijing. It has got to be one of the most beautiful of the large cities in China. That is hard to believe given that it has a population of about 15 million people (There is a very large migrant labor population of about 5 million which is not officially registered, according to our contacts in the provincial government.)

Guangzhou sits in the southern part of China, in Guangdong province (also called Canton). It is a major commercial and trade center. The pollution in the city seems to be a bit less than the other major cities in China. It’s still bad by US standards, but it’s pretty good by Chinese standards. It’s certainly much better than Shanghai or Xian.

Still, its nickname is the Flower City (Hua Cheng in Chinese). The city is literally covered with beautiful flowering plants and trees, complimented by the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) and enhanced by the sub-tropical climate. There’s a law requiring the planting of flowers, which is happily supported by the city’s residents. Even the highways have flowers covering the guard rails and supports.

The beauty of Guangzhou is also greatly enhanced by flowers of another sort… southeastern Chinese women have got to be some of the most beautiful in the world… and the sub-tropical heat combines with the regions natural blessings to produce some truly stunning sights.

It is understandable why lovely Chinese women are referred to “Flowers.” Their skin is soft, radiant and smooth. Many of them dress stunningly, and the best of them are very warm hearted.

Modern Chinese slang has even adopted a classical term “Freely Picking Flowers”* to refer to men who go through beauties in quick succession. Like the flowers in Guangzhou, it takes all of your training to refrain from picking them!

Guangzhou is similar to other Chinese cities in one respect — traffic is horrid. While stuck in the back of taxi one day on top of an overheated overpass, I looked to my left and saw the most amazing sight.

A striking young woman was walking along the top edge of the guardrail. Yes, an interstate overpass guardrail, about three or four inches wide. We must have been three stories high. She was wearing a short, tight white mini-skirt, perfectly white high heels, and walked with the grace of a cat on a Milan runway.

I guess the city’s residents take the flowers on the overpass law seriously!

She was completely unaffected by the fact that the slightest misstep could send her plummeting three stories down – a distance that is not quite enough to ensure certain death, but high enough to make you wish you had died.

When she appeared, everyone in my car and the surrounding cars snapped their heads like they were sideswiped by a bus — even the women.

The Chinese very much appreciate beauty combined with skill. She had clearly done this sort of thing before. She had some real Kung Fu – that is, skill obtained through hard work over time and effort. I don’t think a Hollywood movie could have orchestrated a better scene.

It is not unusual to find such displays of skills among ordinary people. The Chinese are forced by centuries of tradition and current conditions to work in a way that would flatten 99% of most westerners. Could you imagine your average westerner having the ability to do something like that? I can’t either.

She had what I call Nan Fang Mei Li Hua Qing Gong or Beautiful Southern Flower Lightness Skill.**

I think all the drivers on that overpass would have gladly offered her a ride.

But they were stuck in traffic.

And she walked, and walked, and walked.

When she got to the end of the overpass, she hopped down in one smooth movement, and dissapeared down a side street.

We were still stuck in traffic.

* A bit of trivia: “Freely Picking Flowers” (Luan Cai Hua) is the old name of the 5^th major drill in Chen Taijiquan Push hands (Tui Shou or Joined Hands), which teaches multi-directional footwork. Because of the modern sexual connotations they have dropped it in favor of something politically correct like “Free Stepping”, which is as interesting as cold Congee.

** Don’t go looking for this “system” of Kung Fu. In a fit of cunning linguistic inspiration, I made up the term up for your reading pleasure.