Next Eternal Spring Workshop: June 30th, 1-3:30 pm

Eternal Spring Chi Kung and Tai Chi

"My name is Louis Lortie. I am classical pianist and conductor. And I am very happy I met Master Chu about two years ago. Because since then I do chi kung every day of my life. And it really helps me focus on my chi, on my center of energy, just before and during a performance, and also in everyday life. For the stress of traveling, I have to go through many jetlags so I do this even before boarding an airplane, or after getting off the airplane it helps me get much better sleep and just focus generally much more on what I'm doing and also in life--in general--easier breathing, easier connection with myself, and with the universe around me." -- L. Lortie (Click on image to Play Video.)

About the Program

Eternal Spring Chi Kung and Tai Chi is a healing exercise created by Master C. K. Chu. It includes many aspects of the healing arts of Tai Chi, Nei Kung, meditation, and deep breathing technique. The program is easy to learn and remember. That is why it is good for all levels and ages, including, especially, seniors and people with physical conditions. You will feel the benefits from only one or two classes. To maintain these benefits, it is good to do the exercises at least twice a week. The benefits one should expect to derive from this exercise include an improvement in:

• Deep breathing from the diaphragm
• Balance
• Coordination
• Flexibility
• Strength
• Natural healing
• The ability to relax and to manage stress

Read about how the program has helped some of our students: Student Testimonials. Or Click for book review.

For more details, please visit: www.taichichuancenter.org

On-Going Classes:
Monday-Friday 7:30-8:30 AM*
Tuesday & Friday 12:30 - 1:30 PM
Tuesday 5:30 - 6:30 PM
Friday 6:30 - 7:30 PM
Sunday: 1:00 pm ($5 for registered Students)
* April through October, Tuesday & Thursday 7:30 - 8:30 AM is an outdoor class. CLICK HERE for more information.

Eternal Spring Intensive

In order to facilitate student improvement in the Eternal Spring program, CK Chu Tai Chi will be offering an advanced Eternal Spring Class. This class includes more instructive training than a regular Eternal Spring Class. In a regular class, students are led through a routine without pause. In ES-I, we will do at least 3 supplemental exercises and in each session we will spend extra time on one 'exercise of the week.' This focus will include directions, suggestions, and corrections for doing the 'exercise of the week' better. Thus, we will have at least one pause to talk about one of the exercises each week. This is a class for everyone - beginner's who want to learn how to do the program correctly and regular practitioners looking to improve their practice. This new class will become part of the regular schedule on 9/4 and will meet on Tuesdays at 5:30.

Eternal Spring Improvement

Like the Nei Kung Improvement Special Class, this 10-week course is designed to help you improve your practice. An overview of the theory of chi kung will be given as well as the way to progress in your training. The entire Eternal Spring program consists of 24 postures. Focusing on a few postures each class, we will cover all the exercises - how to do them and how to improve your practice of them. Classes will include student demonstrations and critique as well as instructional explanation. Contact the office to sign up. (Last Offered spring and summer 2012, inquire in the office for the next offering.)

Quarterly Workshops:
For those who cannot commute to the weekly on-going classes, we give intensive weekend workshops four times a year. In the first part of the workshop, Master Chu discusses the concept of Chinese medicine, nei kung and tai chi, on which the exercise is based. In the second part, he guides you through the exercise with attention to details. There will be time allowed for questions and answers. For the uninitiated, this is a good introduction. For students who live outside the Metropolitan area, it's an opportunity to receive corrections and ask questions directly from Master Chu. Ongoing students can reinforce their practice by understanding in depth the underlying principles of each posture. Eternal Spring teacher apprentices will receive credit for participating and assisting.

The next workshop will be: June 30th, 2013 (then:Oct 27).

Discounted prices for early registration. For information and registration, call or email CK Chu Tai Chi: (212) 221-6110, center@chutaichi.com.

New: Eternal Spring Practitioner's Certificate

Starting in 2013, CK Chu Tai Chi will be awarding Eternal Spring Practitioner's Certificates. Check back for more details on the program.

Student Testimonials:

Dear Master Chu: I have discontinued my asthma inhalers thanks to the effect of Eternal Spring Chi Kung and Tai Chi. I was able to decrease my inhaler use to only once a day after having taken only one class a week for a few months. Now, as of this Fall, I no longer need any asthma medication. My lungs have been liberated by the attention to the breath in the forms you have created. I am deeply appreciative of no longer having asthma and feeling the positive impact on my entire well-being of the Eternal Spring form. Gratefully, Catherine Plansky

Healing Practice

Bernard J. Plansky, MD, Fellow American Academy of Family Practice

Three years ago a chronic ankle injury became acute and on the verge of major surgery for severe post-traumatic arthritis. Three years later I have returned to my athletic activities which at one time did not seem possible - and at a higher level of performance.

As a medical doctor I know that central to this remarkable turnaround was studying Nei Kung, Tai Chi and Eternal Spring with Master Chu. Traveling the four hundred miles from Rochester, NY to Times Square on a regular basis, I continue to take classes with Master Chu and then practice daily in Rochester.

The body's response to injury, if made chronic, can serve to seal in the original injury. Recent neurological research has shown the changes in blood circulation and the flow of attention in relation to the injured part creates the necessary factors for maintaining a state of inflammation. The joint becomes tight and closed and functionally disconnected from the flow of the rest of the body.

The isolated parts can be identified and treated with the intent of enabling joint relaxation, strengthening and opening - but at what pace and in what sequence? What is indisputably needed is an integrative form with time-tested principles of directing attention to the body which when followed enables the intelligence of the body to find its own trajectory for reconnection and healing.

Master Chu's Nei Kung, Tai Chi and Eternal Spring are such treasures. With diligent practice and training they allow a gradual restoring of functioning, reestablishing of connections within the body and healing of injuries.

Chu Tai Chi

By Darcy Sender

I am lucky.

I have had fourteen operations in the past 10 years, some of them major, including open heart surgery and a complete re-building of my left foot. I also developed asthma after being downtown on 9/11, and I had Lyme Disease for six years.

Everything I had was correctable or treatable.

As I said, I am lucky.

But I started to feel as if my luck was the left-handed kind.

I never fully recovered from one operation before I needed another. I spent all my time in the OR or at work; all my vacation days were sick days. I could not keep up with my friends.

After I developed asthma, I coughed constantly for a year. When I contracted Lyme Disease, the doctors misdiagnosed it as rheumatoid arthritis -- it was not treated properly for several years. It became entrenched and left me with systemic tendonitis. I was in constant pain, always exhausted, and becoming increasingly deconditioned from lack of exercise.

I tried to push through it. I went to the gym and followed a light exercise program. I tried Yoga. Everything made my symptoms flare.

It was stressful.

I started to look for a Tai Chi studio to help me deal with this stress, but I needed to find a program that was physically accessible to me. And I had other requirements. I have an undergraduate degree in Asian Studies and a Masters from Columbia University in East Asian Languages and Cultures, so I am something of a purist when it comes to such things. I wanted authenticity -- I wanted to be taught by someone who understood Taoism, even if we never discussed it -- and I wanted this person to be intellectually disciplined, not someone who was going to put a Pop Culture spin on a major philosophy.

What were my chances?

Personally, I did not give myself very good odds. Then I found Master Chu and his studio. I was thrilled: this was someone who knew Taoism, someone who was a scientist, and someone who had developed a program called Eternal Spring specifically for people like me. Unbelievable.

I started classes. I just knew this was going to help me manage stress. I also thought that if I could keep it up without aggravating my tendonitis, I would be less debilitated. All true. But I never expected it would give me a way to control the previously unrelenting pain I experience. It does. Talk about unbelievable.

One more thing. I had given up long ago on the idea of making physical progress because every time I picked myself up, I got knocked down. Progress had become an 'out of the spectrum' concept for me. My goal was not to lose any more ground.

But after twenty Eternal Spring classes, I was strong enough to take my first real Tai Chi class. Now I am learning the Tai Chi form. My pain is under control and I am no longer too exhausted to take advantage of the life my doctors gave back to me.

How lucky is that? Well, it is, but Master Chu is the person who made that luck for me.

If you have a medical issue, check with your doctor, as I did, before starting, then go for it.

You might have the Chu Tai Chi kind of luck too -- it's amazing!

What Tai Chi Has Done For Me

By Randy Bartlett

I've been a lawyer for several years. Litigation has been the main focus of my practice. The stresses of this type of work are well known among lawyers. On the one hand, it is very demanding mentally: a high degree of concentration, constant deadlines, contention with judges and other lawyers, and an unrelenting workload. On the other hand, it's a sedentary lifestyle, involving sitting for hours on end. This combination of extreme mental exertion and physical inactivity had a cumulative effect, which I did not like. Over time, my muscles had become soft and weak, my joints had stiffened, my reflexes had slowed and my ability to work for long hours had flagged. I decided to start an exercise program. Luckily, I found a good teacher and started practicing tai chi.

When I use the term "tai chi", for want of a better term, I am actually describing three sets of related exercises, which complement each other. First, is tai chi chuan, which is the classic fighting form and which many people know as a series of slow, precise movements. Then, there is nei kung, which are positions and movements to increase the body's strength, power and resilience. Finally, there is chi kung, which is the program known in the Tai Chi Chuan center as Eternal Spring. It has many of the same characteristics as tai chi chuan and nei kung plus the added benefit of developing slow and powerful breathing. Tai chi chuan, because of the intricacy of the movements, requires one to spend many years to become an adept martial artist. The other two types are easier to perform, although the benefits from each form become apparent right away.

Although I believe that staying in shape, especially as I age, is very important, I have never been able to consistently perform repetitive exercises, like lifting weights, running on a tread mill or a track, or swimming laps in a pool. However, I enjoy a tai chi workout, probably because is engages my mind along with my body. The benefits of tai chi include my increased awareness of body mechanics, alignment and posture, as well as improved balance, strength and agility. I no longer feel flabby and stiff like I used to.

I can participate in a variety of recreational activities, which many people let go as they grow older. I ride a bicycle and can get on a pair of downhill skis and go because the positions in tai chi are essentially the same used in skiing. After being away from softball for more than fifteen years, I played in a game and hit a home run on my first time up at bat. This was a result of my having learned how to maximize force with minimum effort.

In conclusion, I believe that my becoming a tai chi practitioner is one of the best things I've ever done. It proves to me that just because we have no choice about getting older, we can chose not to become feeble.

"I have been practicing Eternal Spring exercise since 2001. Besides coming to the class twice a week, I practice it on my own every day. I had previously practiced tai chi in Queens for about 10 years, yet never felt my chi (life force) so strongly. After my first Eternal Spring class, my body felt very energized. Since then, there have been many beneficial changes in my body.
      I used to work at a dry cleaner, ironing clothes all day long. Because of my job, I had developed arthritis in my hands. My fingers were swollen and in pain much of the time. Now the fingers are no longer swollen or in pain, and I can move them without any problem.

      I also find myself doing house chores for a long period of time with ease, moving things around, picking them up, bending down and reaching up. I used to have to be careful about pushing myself because I would get muscle aches and headaches. But now all I get is a deeper-than-usual night's sleep, which feels really good.

      Recently at a check up, my doctor said my bone density had increased by about 20% since my last check up 3 years ago. He was very surprised.

      When I hold the Easy Horse Stance, I now often feel the chi shoot up my spine like some kind of heat. Master Chu says only few people experience this in such a short period of time. I am proud of my progress." -- L. Wong

"The Tai Chi Chuan Center has been my second chance in life!!!

      It started 5 years ago with a total hip replacement at the age of 42. Dealing with alcohol and drugs to overcome the pain was a way of life for me. I've dealt with this pain most of my life, with a broken back from an accident at work.

      My life hit rock bottom with my wife of 24 years leaving me due to the state of mind caused from pain. Then, fate lead me to the Tai Chi Chuan Center!

It's been about one year now since I joined the Tai Chi Chuan Center and met Master Chu and the whole staff. It's just short of a miracle: NO PAIN, lost 45 lbs., and I'm proud to say that I'm spending time with my daughter and not drinking!

      I attend as many classes as I can, on some days two. I hear Master Chu speak about Chi this and Chi that, make round and breathe, etc. It's over my head. But Master Chu says, "JUST DO IT, don't think about how it works - just know that it does."

In closing, I'm pleased to share the experience of my second chance. My journey ahead is long, but on my way I hope I can make a little difference in someone else's life and give back this true spirit." -- M. Baum

"October makes one year that I have been coming to classes and workshops at CK Chu Tai Chi. Thanks to you, I have an entirely different skeleton and musculature than I did a year ago.

For my entire life, I have had flat feet and pronated ankles. I managed to correct some of my misalignment over the years, through the Alexander Technique, the Feldenkrais Method, Pilates work, and a recent 90-pound weight loss, but your approach to tai chi and the Eternal Spring and Nei Kung exercises are working better and faster than anything else I've tried, in part because they are so simple that I can do them every day, or at least 5 days out of 7. My ankle-knee-hip alignment and the relationships between my skull, ribcage, and pelvis have completely transformed. The other day, my wife Gabriella, who also enjoys Eternal Spring classes, gasped when she saw little proto-arches under my feet. As a result of all these changes, my vocal technique has never been better and I've gained tremendous insight into any other exercise or bodywork I engage in.

As a classical singer, I have always struggled with technical consistency and stamina, but since I walked through the doors of your school, both have improved considerably. I am having more fun onstage than I have since I was 11 years old. Freedom of the jaw, tongue, and all the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the neck and throat depends entirely on good alignment. Of course, I learned that many years ago when I began studying singing, but I did not realize prior to coming to your school that I needed to completely rearrange my skeleton in order to achieve technical consistency. I'd absorbed important concepts from my voice lessons and the other bodywork systems I mentioned, but I never understood the extent to which I could change my body from the inside out until I started regularly doing the Eternal Spring exercises and receiving instruction and corrections from Gabor Reisinger, as well as Valerie LoGiudice, Rob Hofman, Jeremy Hubbell, and of course, most importantly, you, whenever I could take a workshop. Other teachers from whom I have learned a lot include Martin (from Britain), Ben Ho, Kathleen Keck, Sean (in ES teacher training), and Kate Wasilewski.

(A brief word about Gabor Reisinger: his holistic, individualized approach to teaching, willingness to make himself available, thorough understanding of body mechanics and movement principles, firmness of intention, inherent gentleness and perceptivity, and totally egalitarian treatment of students are nothing short of astonishing. And I'm sure you hear this all the time. Thank you for training him to be a wonderful teacher.)

The best part of your system is its simplicity. I just have to show up, breathe, observe, and do my best. And I know that the benefits and understanding I've gained this year are an infinitesimal fraction of what I can expect to receive over a lifetime of practice. I look forward to another year of learning, growing, changing, laughing, and breathing at CK Chu Tai Chi.

My deepest, most sincere, most heartfelt thanks to you, Sifu. It's unbelievable that you will turn 75 next year. You are one of a small number of people to whom I owe my present happiness. -- S. McGuire

"I've had many surgeries all over the body: three on my brain--two of them back to back, my knees and my spine. I walk around in knee braces. My spine was damaged by a fall causing gaps between the vertebrae. I have a blood pressure problem for which I took medicine. I would faint so easily and often find myself in an emergency room without remembering anything. The falls also gave me bad head injuries. I suffered from headaches, particularly when it rained or was cold. In the morning I was always dizzy so I had to be careful stepping out of bed. You can ask any of my friends and they'll all tell you I'm the one who was always walking around in pain.

      I came to Master Chu for tai chi classes and was recommended to do the Eternal Spring program. In the first class, I was unsure as to how these strange exercises would help me. The Frog Stance, in particular, seemed it could cause too much stress on my knees. I got through the one-hour class somehow. I was sure my whole body was going to ache the next day.
      That night I slept like a baby for the first time in a long time. It was a surprise because I had also suffered insomnia for quite some time. The next morning, contrary to what I had expected, I had no pain from the exercises. Not only that, my dizziness was gone and my body felt very light and energized. I felt great and went right to tackling the house chores in a good mood.

      After the second class, I was free of many of my chronic symptoms of discomfort. Things that used to bother me no longer affect me now. I stopped taking the blood pressure medicine and I am fine. I feel great and wake up full of energy every morning. I'm a complete new person! My friends are amazed at my change. I recommend the Eternal Spring program to them, too.

      I look forward to coming to the class every week. Even thunderstorms won't stop me from walking to the school because I don't want to miss it. And I have no headache from the raindrops on my head like before." -- V. Datar

Related Items: The book of Eternal Spring Chi Kung. Get the three Volume Eternal Spring Chi Kung DVD Series here. Browse All CK Chu Tai Chi Items for Sale