15th January '09

So, I’ve had a few problems with money, and I’ve been pretty stressed because of it. On checking my accounts I found that most of the money I needed to live on whilst here was gone – it seems from an electronic error at the airport, where I was trying to withdraw US dollars. I got really upset, mostly because that money isn’t only mine but represents the faith and trust of my wife; it’s our money. I found this really upsetting, and wasn’t able to appreciate being here and being with everybody here at first, but Life’s settled down some since. As Bobby beautifully put, a crisis or emergency isn’t something that can easily be solved with a few hundred bucks but something which may involve guns and/or hospitals…

Training’s been good this week, starting directly with the foundations of Yang Style Tai Chi from a classical and literary perspective, looking at how push hands has been depicted from the earliest records and what happens if you follow those old instructions… Sam’s knee’s been playing him up, so the weeks training was partly geared around that, so looking at breath and breathing, qigong and meditation, as well as a lot of pushing hands.