Supercharge your body and your creative powers in this extraordinary six-week course using Healing Sounds Qigong and related writing exercises amidst the majesty of forest, river and sky.

I am very excited to be offering this course in Nanaimo! I hope you will join me Tuesday mornings, 10:00-11:00 a.m., beginning March 6. Cost: $95 ($75 if paid by February 23).

As we journey through the five principal organs of our bodies, we will simultaneously make an external journey upstream in a wooded setting. Experience the ultimate fusion of mind, body and spirit as you discover the vastness of your creative energies.

Each session will be devoted to a specific organ and its associated properties, and will occur at a different location along the river. (The river in the outer world corresponds to the river of energy coursing through our own bodies.)

The riverside location chosen each week will embody the particular qualities of that week’s organ. For example, the liver’s element is wood, its colour is green, its virtue is kindness, and its deficiency manifests as anger or envy. So a grove of cedar trees is a massive expression and extension of liver energy.

Your writing will arise from the different energies you set in motion within your own body each week using the Qigong and nature itself. I will guide you in this creative process by providing specific writing prompts tailor-made to fit each week’s organ and its special properties.

Your in-class writing can be poetry, fiction or journaling. You need not be an experienced writer. Anyone can benefit from this course. (“First thought, best thought,” in the tradition of the Beat poets.)

Healing Sounds Qigong is based on Five Element Theory, which is the underpinning of Traditional Chinese Medicine. This course has the potential to change your life! Read some testimonials from previous students here.

This is an outdoor class. If it rains, we will work under trees. Dress warmly and bring something to sit on while you write (a mat, towel or campstool). We will walk a short distance each week.

DETAILS:

Time: Six Tuesday mornings, 10:00-11:00 a.m.

Dates: March 6–April 17, 2012 (no class March 27)

Cost: $95 for six weeks, or just $75 if you pay by February 23.

HOW TO REGISTER:

1. Make cheque payable to “Kim Goldberg”, and mail to: Kim Goldberg, 35 Prideaux Street, Nanaimo BC, V9R 2M3

2. Or send your tuition by Paypal to  goldberg@ncf.ca

3. Be sure to include your phone number and email address so I can contact you with details about location.

For more information, email me at  goldberg@ncf.ca

This course is part of my Pen & Dragon series, which I teach in Nanaimo, Victoria and beyond. I have been studying Qigong and the related Taoist internal arts of T’ai Chi and Liuhebafa for 15 years. I am the author of Ride Backwards on Dragon and other books.

WORKSHOP

Join me on beautiful Galiano Island for this special workshop combining martial arts movements from Liuhebafa with Qigong and creative writing prompts to awaken your body, unleash your mind and stimulate the flow of words!

Discover what happens to your creative powers when Angry Horse Turns Head Around or Green Dragon Stretches Claws!

Liuhebafa is a 1,000-year-old martial art from China. The 66 flowing movements of this ancient practice are purported to be a recipe for internal alchemy and even immortality.

Tap into your hidden creative powers. Explore your spontaneous writing abilities (“first thought, best thought,” in the tradition of the Beat poets) that are alive to the moment unfolding around you and within you.

Join me in this exciting journey into mind-body connection! No prior background in martial arts is necessary.

This workshop is part of the 3-day Galiano Literary Festival, which runs from February 24-26. You can register for just the Kung Fu For Writers workshop ($20), or take in other festival activities too.

For full festival details visit: http://galianoliteraryfestival.wordpress.com/

I am reminded of T.S. Eliot’s epitaph (which he chose himself) inscribed above his interred remains at St. Michael’s Church in East Coker, England. Lines he selected from his famous Four Quartets:

~

This simple expression – by mushroom, by Eliot – of the Tao.

1. Know yourself.

2. Do your best.

3. Don’t overdo it.

4. Make a little progress every day.

~Master Jou, Tsung Hwa (1917-1998), author of The Tao of Tai-Chi Chuan

What a GREAT bunch of students in my first Kung Fu for Writers course at Victoria College of Art’s School of Writing! I couldn’t ask for a better or more enthusiastic group.

I will be starting a new Kung Fu for Writers course on November 10, 2011 at Victoria College of Art. Six Thursdays, 7-9, pm, $195. Join me! There is no other Creative Writing course like this one.

Martial Arts + Qigong + Writing Prompts = Kick-ass Creative Writing!

“Body Talk: Kung Fu for Writers” will run from Nov. 10–Dec. 15 on six consecutive Thursday evenings from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Vancouver Island School of Writing housed at Victoria College of Art (1625 Bank Street, Victoria BC). Cost: $195.

Please join me in this exciting journey into mind-body connection! During each class we will combine martial arts movements from Liuhebafa with Qigong and spontaneous writing exercises to awaken your body, unleash your mind and stimulate the flow of words. Read what past students have to say here.

Each week, we will explore one of the body’s five principal organs (heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys, liver) using Five Element Qigong along with a corresponding movement from Liuhebafa – an ancient martial art that purports to hold the key to immortality. In the sixth and final week we will focus on the San Jiao, or Triple Burner, to balance all the energies we have set in motion.

Creative writing exercises will be linked to specific qualities of each week’s organ for the ultimate mind-body experience. Writing will be shared but not critiqued. The goal is to develop a Spontaneous Writing practice. (“first thought, best thought,” in the tradition of the Beat poets) that is alive to the moment unfolding around us and within us.

Discover what happens to your creative powers when Angry Horse Turns Head Around or Green Dragon Stretches Claws. It’s all one grand experiment! There’s no telling what will arise. The only thing you can know for certain is that your life and creative practice will be changed in some way by this experience.

This course is well suited to people currently writing poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction, or for writers who are stuck and need a creative kick-start, or for people just beginning to explore their creative abilities with writing. No prior background in martial arts is necessary.

More details on the transformative (alchemical) powers of Liuhebafa and Five Element Qigong can be found in my book Ride Backwards on Dragon: a poet’s journey through Liuhebafa.

To register for the course, contact Victoria College of Art.

LATEST NEWS: A new “Kung Fu for Writers” course will begin next month on Nov. 10. Six Thursday evenings, 7:00-9:00 pm, at Victoria College of Art (1625 Bank Street, Victoria BC). Cost: $195. All other details about the course are the same as the course advertised below. Only the dates have changed. 

For those of you who live in or near Victoria, British Columbia, I will be offering my six-week creative writing course called “Body Talk: Kung Fu for Writers” next month starting on September 22. The course will run on six consecutive Thursday evenings from 7:00-9:00 pm at Victoria College of Art. Cost: $195.

This course is one of the inaugural offerings at the newly launched Vancouver Island School of Writing, which is housed at Victoria College of Art.

I hope you will join me in this exciting journey into mind-body connection! During each class we will combine martial arts movements (from Liuhebafa) with Qigong and spontaneous writing exercises to awaken your body, unleash your mind and stimulate the flow of words. Read what past students have to say here.

Each week, we will explore one of the body’s five principal organs (heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, spleen) using Five Element Qigong along with a corresponding movement from Liuhebafa – an ancient martial art that purports to hold the key to immortality. In the sixth and final week we will focus on the San Jiao, or Triple Burner, to balance all the energies we have set in motion.

Creative writing exercises will be linked to specific qualities of each week’s organ for the ultimate mind-body experience. Writing will be shared but not critiqued. The goal is to develop a Spontaneous Writing practice (“first thought, best thought,” in the tradition of the Beat poets) that is alive to the moment unfolding around us and within us.

Discover what happens to your creative powers when Angry Horse Turns Head Around or Green Dragon Stretches Claws. It’s all one grand experiment! There is no telling what will arise. The only thing you can know for certain is that your life and creative practice will be changed in some way by this experience.

This course is well suited to people currently writing poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction, or for writers who are stuck and need a creative kick-start, or for people just beginning to explore their creative abilities with writing. No prior background in martial arts is necessary.

More details on the transformative (alchemical) powers of Liuhebafa and Five Element Qigong can be found in my book Ride Backwards on Dragon: a poet’s journey through Liuhebafa.

To register for the course, contact Victoria College of Art.

May you be five clouds holding sun,
Kim Goldberg

 I just wanted to thank you for your assistance with that little matter down at the park last week. The situation now appears to be resolved. I am sure it must all seem very silly to you – the two of us filing harassment complaints against each other. Point taken about kids in a sandbox. Fortunately the swords don’t have real edges. I hope this doesn’t wrongly colour your impression of Tai Chi. It is actually an excellent tool for reducing stress and calming the mind. 

(From Ride Backwards on Dragon)

True story. ‘Nuff said. (Although if I were plied with sufficient Hobnobs and Extreme Green, a few more specifics might be forthcoming )

But on the subject of the meaning of this 21st movement within our Liuhebafa practice, I do have a few thoughts. I am unaware of any alchemical interpretation for the phrase “Child delivers letter”. However, in terms of imagery and intention, this move is an expression of giving, of innocence, of service – even dedication, for the child tries three times to deliver the letter. At a martial level, this “innocent” child is actually warding off a quick succession of three attacks while advancing forward. (Who says those ancient Taoist sages weren’t droll?)

The Chinese phrase for this movement can also be translated as “Student Delivers Book.” And in a way, that is what I have done in distilling my own experience with Liuhebafa into my book Ride Backwards on Dragon, and dedicating the book (“delivering” it, essentially) to my teacher Josh Crossley.

May you be parting clouds,

Kim Goldberg

Text and photos (c) Kim Goldberg

I have had this cactus for more than 30 years, given to me as a small cutting by friend and field naturalist and fabulous Dutch gardener Peter van Kerkoerle.  This is the first time I have ever seen it bloom.  Wonder is everywhere, always… Crowding in on us before we can even get out the door.