Issue 54 - Tse Qigong Centre

Instructor InsightStefan Eekenulv & Barbro Olsson:Goteborg, Sweden.Our story as a couple is strongly connected to Sifu. This is how it all began. Barbroand I met back in 1989 and we decided to go on a cycling holiday to Scotlandand England in the summer of 1990. Barbro had spent 3 years (1985-88) inTotnes, Devon on a training course to be a teacher of the Alexander Technique, sowe planned to stay a couple of weeks in Totnes with some friends. Their son wastraining Kung Fu with a teacher who had invited a Chinese martial artist andQigong master with the name Michael Tse. It happened that he also stayed at ourfriend’s mansion which made it almost impossible for us not to “follow the signs”and to attend the course during the weekend. It was a wonderful seminar ofspontaneous Qigong, the beginning of Wild Goose and some Wing Chun. Thecourse ended with a spectacular transmission on Barbro. With my theoreticalphysics background I was a “non-believer” until this very moment…Barbro wentup on her toes and was like a puppet on a string, and I remember getting flashesfrom the film “Exorcist” and wondered if the head would spin as well…We were privileged to spend some time with this powerful man duringlunches and at our friends’ house and before we left England we had invited ournew Sifu to Gothenburg in Sweden.So this year in February it is 10 years since Sifu first came to Sweden toteach Swimming Dragon. At first we invited Sifu because we wanted to learnmore and to introduce Qigong and Michael Tse in Sweden. Now, we are a familyof four and Benjamin (5 1/2 years) and Gabriel (1 1/2 years) are used to Sifu’s visitsto our home and Qigong and Taiji is very natural and real for them …One of the Stefan and Barbro are qualified to teach the Dayanmost precious gifts you can give to your children is the possibility to meet and to Qigong Syllabus. They can be contacted on:be influenced by extraordinary people!(31) 253025We are both instructors now and are running our own classes and seminarsas well as organizing and building the Tse Qigong Centre in Gothenburg. Sometimes we’re overwhelmed by the richness of skilland knowledge there is to learn being a part of the Tse Qigong Centre big family. Over the years we have learnt many forms andphysical skills, but maybe the best is to be a part of it all, seeing how Sifu evolves as a teacher and how the Taoism can be appliedto everyday problems…a true master has a good heart!It is wonderful to see how the interest for Qigong and health is growing every day and that the many hours of workarranging courses, promoting, talking on the phone with interested people etc…gives fruit and that we now take another stepinto the future with a second instructor course in Sweden.Our wish for the future is to develop an even stronger connection between the Centre in Gothenburg and the Tse QigongCentre in England, having teachers coming over every month (or staying for a couple of years!) teaching both Qigong and ChenStyle Taiji.Barry Paul Horrell: Nottingham.Barry Horrell is qualified toteach Healthy Living Gong 1He can be contacted on:0774 836 4887 orBarry_horrell@hotmail.comMy first interest in Qigong was after watching Tse Sifu on a daytime TV show performing somefive animal movements. This was around 1989 or so. I was very impressed with the gentle flowingmotion so different to the ‘hard’ style of martial arts I had been practising. I wrote to Sifu withquestions I had about Qi and Qigong, and also subscribed to Qi Magazine.I have been reading the magazine and contributing to the letters pages since issue 7 and haverecently opened my own Healthy Living Gong classes. Speaking to Sifu about this we agreed jokinglythat this kind of makes me one of the “oldest youngest” club members! Before starting this club I wasvery busy with my music studies, which consisted of piano practice and private compositional lessonscoupled with the usual university work. After graduating, I found I could spend the right energiestowards Qigong as well as music. I have found that Qigong helps my development as a composerand ‘opens’ my potential. Often when we have a question or problem, when our Qi is strong we are‘told’ the answer. Qigong has helped with my spiritual Qi and helped me become a more balancedperson. This leads me to discuss what I think about Qi and Qigong at the moment.Right now, I am more aware of my Sifu’s words and teachings. I have found that Qigong isreally ‘life and character skill’ and it’s the benefits and potential of the human skill that Qigong isreally about and not the external image or moving shapes of the exercises.I have found a lot can be achieved through Qigong and a good diet, and realise that although my external martial artforms were good for self-defence unfortunately they did not give me deep solid foundations I needed for experiences later in mylife.I tend to perform my martial arts differently now as well as keeping up my regular Yang Taijiquan practice. I feel that withall the different styles of Qigong available today, it’s a case of choosing and sticking with the one that personally feels right.Metaphorically speaking, enabling oneself to climb naturally up to the top of the mountain. I hope that we can all stay healthyand “fly away like wild geese”.Qi Magazine 35