Sifu Thomas Ogram
Thomas has been studying and practicing martial arts, yoga and fitness for the last 30 years and has taught in South Africa, England, Ireland, India, Denmark, Spain, China and Thailand. He has been teaching for 20 years and is a living testament to the effects of his practice.
He visits China each year where he studies with various Chen Tai Chi and Qi Gong masters, his current teacher is master Wu Ying Feng the senior disciple of Grand Master Chen Quanzhong . His previous Chen Taiji teachers have all been students of Master Wang Hai Jun annother of Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei's more senior students. Thomas attended seminars by Master Wang Hai Jun while in Ireland.
Thomas is a student of Chinese Medicinal Qigong and has been studing this subject for more than 15 years, he trains with a number of emminent masters in this field and his direction is helping people take responsibility for their own health and provides the technology to help this happen, Thomas is an adept at emmitted Chi for healing but only uses this in critical cases tho he has been known to fix sprains and severe bruising without touching the recipient.
The focus of Thomas's teaching is the development of a solid and practical foundation and the transmission of the essential principles allowing his students to understand clearly what they are learning and why, and to develop their practice from there.
"Understanding what one is doing is important. Taiji works best when it is done correctly. It's pointless practicing a movement unless it is right, learn to master its components first and then it will work much better.
Thomas likes to work one on one which he feels is better for his students as they get 100 percent attention and as a result make significantly faster progress.
Thomas believes that people only learn well in a relaxed atmosphere, but will encourage people to develop their best.
Learning the ancient art of Tai Chi and Qi Gong is a very rewarding endevour. Like all things worthwhile one should pursue this undertaking with intelligence and patience. In order to make any real headway it is important to understand a few things about what this is all about and how best to go about getting the most from it.
Tai Chi is an exact science, not some abstract new age fad. One will reshape the body and change the way we use it in every arena of our lives. Classically the process is a step by step one, meaning we start by preparing the body to be able to move correctly. During this time we may need to repair our bodies from a life time of incorrect motion habits and the effects of sedentary modern life styles. In the west we are constantly competing and rarely do we ever take time to rest and allow a natural rebalancing to take place, we just drink more coffee or other stimulants and keep on going at great expense to our selves, only later paying the price for it all. The price is reflected in our physical and mental breakdowns. More and more we are becomming aware of this today. Is there a simple solution to this or do we need to rely on more and more chemical therapies?
Yes there is a rather simple way to go about this and Tai Chi and Qi Gong offer a marvelous way to a life filled with rewarding experiences and abundance in many respects.
So how to go about this? Well first we must return the body to a natural state and allow it to progress. We start this with a Taoist practice that is very easy to learn and is very effective in stripping stress from the mind and body. Depending one one's initail state of health the period required varies, but is very effective from the onset.
Our school begins each day with a few hours of this practice. This is the first level required for the study of both Tai Chi and Qi Gong and is a very rewarding practice in itself. The movements aquired during this phase develop into the next level being Silk Reeling Qi Gong. This develops whole body move as one skill and enhances the flow and quality of available energy giving the body greater reserves to cope with life and boost our health.
Silk Reeling forms the platform of every form in Tai Chi and it is essential to master Silk Reeling before moving on to forms or we will not make any real progress. Forms are the last stage of foundation training as all the essential principles and methods are trained during Silk Reeling, after this we understand every requirement for each form and it is a correct practice from the beginning. It is not feasible to start learning Tai Chi or Qi Gong without this foundation. The time needed to move through these phases varies from person to person, determined by their health and natural physical aptitude, dancers and athletes have an adavantage over someone who has been deskbound for twenty years with no physical activities. This is not to say that the later will not get some thing out of the practice right away. Tai Chi and Qi Gong work, fast if taught right.
Please view the videos below to see the Taoist joint opening set and Silk Reeling demonstrated by Master Huang Hua from Yangshuo China. Click one any of the titles to be directed to the relavant video and click here to visit his website.
Taoist Joint opening and preparation set and four basic Sik Reeling's Click here to view You tube play list six videos
We are a traditional school, we are representatives of a long standing authentic lineage and as such adhere to certain principles and ethics. The first being that we do not make hollow promises for the sake of making money. there are enough of these establishments today missrepresenting Tai Chi and Qi Gong.
Every person who comes here obviously has differing expectations. The subject will not be changed to suit the mindset of anyone. We teach step by step at each persons rate of assimilation. In other words we will not promise to teach anyone anything they are not ready to learn.
If a person remains for only a short while they will have a working practice to take away with them, it will probably not be a long form or even a short form. This is not what Tai Chi is about. We only teach the next step when a person is ready. We respect a sincere attitude and expect people to work on aquiring the habit of self practice early or they wont be able to do it when they leave, obviously.
We will only teach higher level Qi Gong such as micro circut energy guidance to people of a heart centred disposision, and we never teach the martial side to anyone who has a quarllesome personality, we do not train thugs.
Qi Gong is a life changing practice and in the initial stages it will bring up some issues that may challenge the person learning, we will always help with emotional support during this stage. This is very rare as our practice is very old and generally works very smoothly. The exceptions being recovery form drugs and some mental ailments. We understand that at times life is a great challenge and teach meditation to make coping easier. Our meditations are based on Buddhist and Taoist traditions that have stood the test of time.
We require that fees are paid in advance and allow a few days as a casual student to get a feel for teachers and the practice. After that we expect a strong committment and payment up front as a gesture of sincerity. The reason for this is that its very to give up, westerners have lazy minds and are more interested in a quick fix. If you wish to study here we hope you are serious. We do guarantee that what we offer works, it has for hundreds of years all that is needed is effort and perseverance. We will help you develop positive mental attributes, self discipline and a better life. After all we only get what we earn in this life. Learning is not the responsibility of the teacher but the responsibility of the student.
Having said all that and on a softer note we will support any student who tries no matter how slow they learn or how challenging the practice or how much old traumas the clearing process brings up.
Pai is a very scenic small town nestling in a quaint valley north of Chaing Mai. It is well above the flood plains and enjoys cool temperate weather, beautiful sunsets and an abundance of natural attractions.
It is serviced by bus and light aircraft. Offers a range of places to stay to suit every budget. It is a small town and has a village feel to it that attracts a spectrum of people from hippies to families. It has the most friendly locals in Thailand and no one harrasses anyone for anything.
There is a wide range of food available from veggie to Vietnamese and even very good Chinese. The town offers a vibrant nightlife with Jazz and rock, many live bands and cool reggae bars.
When one needs a break there are many treks and a lot of seculded of the beaten path natural places to hang out and relax.
Off road biking and cycling along with white water rafting make it a fun place for those who like a bit of excitement. There are meditation centres and good Yoga teachers here. Good schools of Reiki and a Chinese Chi Gung healer who is one of my teachers. Health food resturants and book shops. Fast internet.
Pai is one of the cheaper places to visit in Thailand and there are many minority tribes situated in the mountains.
Be warned, Pai is a very difficult place to leave.
Jared Pace
Jared is a partner in the school and also a teacher, he has been with the school for a few years now and spends a lot of time getting folk started on Tai Chi, he is immensly popular with all our students as his enthusiasm for Tai Chi rubs off on all our students. Jared started with the school two years ago and recently returned to take a full time position with us while deepening his practice in preparartion for his first visit to China to meet Master Wu Yingfeng.
