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Showing posts from April, 2010

[Interview] He Jinghan

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He Jinghan is the author of Bagua Quan Foundation Training (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2009) and Bagua Daoyin: A Unique Branch of Daoist Learning, A Secret Skill of the Palace (Singing Dragon, 2008). A fifth generation practitioner of the BaguaQuan lineage, he was introduced to Master Gong BaoZhai at the age of 23 and began to specialise in Bagua. He Jinghan is now dedicated to the cultivation and promotion of the Bagua Daoyin. When did you first become interested in Bagua Quan? I was interested in the teachings of Gong Bao Zhai, my teacher, before I began to learn the art of Bagua Quan. I started practicing Bagua Quan because I found it had more depth in comparison to the other Chinese martial arts that I had previously spent some years learning, like Taiji Quan or Xinyi Quan. As I started to understand the philosophy and theory of Bagua Quan through physical practice, I began to experience the real depth of it. It is since then, that I have been interested in Bagua Quan. What ar

[Interview] Alma Kroeker

In this interview, Alma Kroeker talks about her blog novel, In the Absence of White Rabbits : When did you start writing? I would say that I started writing as a child, but this particular work began about four years ago. I was lucky enough to have a day-job that allowed me to work on the novel. I didn’t want to be overly poetic with the writing which is why I decided to make half the novel dialogue. Publication was simply a means to having the story out there, for anyone who might be interested. Who is your target audience? I worked in a hospital and was witness to some of the issues and people, surrounding the field of psychiatry. I wanted to write something that would incorporate both sides, doctor and patient, of the experience of being mentally ill. As such, the novel is probably of most interest to those people, though others have also enjoyed it. How have your personal experiences influenced your writing? I think we’ve all, at times, on a spectrum of intensity, felt the press

[Interview] Ged Sumner

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Ged Sumner is a practising craniosacral therapist and Chi Kung teacher. He has also studied shiatsu, healing and attachment based psychoanalytical psychotherapy. He is Director of the College of Elemental Chi Kung . His new book You Are How You Move: Experiential Chi Kung has just been published by Singing Dragon . How and when did you first become interested in Chi Kung? When I was 25 I went to a class by a Chinese Chi Kung master in London and was completely blown away. The movements were like nothing I had seen before and the energy was remarkable. I could instantly see it was an amazing mix of exercise, meditation, and subtle energy. Since then I have been studying with different people, learning more about it, practicing and teaching it. What is experiential Chi Kung? The art of deepening into chi is to become skilled at being body and chi aware. You have got to experience what's within the movement forms so that you deepen into a body sensation and a chi field state. You fee

[Interview] Richard Wink

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Richard Wink's poetry has been published in magazines that include Ditch , Underground Voices and Aesthetica Magazine . He has also published a number of chapbooks, among them, The Magnificent Guffaw (Erbacce Press); Apple Road (Trainwreck Press); All Along the Wensum (Kendra Steiner Editions); Delirium is a Disease of the Night (Shadow Archer Press) and Devils and Daylight (New Polish Beat). Dead End Road (Bewrite Books, 2009) is his first full length poetry collection. In this interview Richard Wink talks about his writing: When did you start writing? I started writing poetry after finding out that I had been gifted the happy knack of putting together some snappy metaphors alongside sparse, blunt prose. Overtime I graduated from bedroom notepad scribbles to actually getting my work published in various magazines and periodicals. This took a great deal of perseverance and patience, as paper cuts bled into rejection letters and grovelling around on my hands and knees led to

[Interview] Marita van Aswegen

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South African author, Marita van Aswegen writes poetry, short stories and novels for both children, young adults as well as adult readers. Her work has been published Afrikaans, Sesotho and English. Her books include Dance Thispo, dance (Kwela, 1997); Gavin’s Game (Masterskill Publishers, 2009) and Phapo’s Gift (Knowledge Thirst, 2010). In this interview, Marita van Aswegen talks about her writing: When did you start writing? I wrote my first story when in 1964 when I was fifteen. I sent it to a magazine ... but it was rejected. It was a love story and I sent it to Sarie . That was the favorite magazine of the sixties. I was a teenager and my mind was filled with roses and moonshine and the perfect love. What would you say motivated you to start writing? As long as I can remember, I always wanted to write a book. During the years when my children were small, I wrote essays and poems because essays are short and you can complete one in an hour or so. ( Small children do not gi

[Interview] Michael Acton

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Michael W. Acton is Founder and Senior Instructor of the Wu Shi Taiji Quan and Qi Gong Association UK . He has been training for over 30 years and is the sole representative of Dr Li Li-Qun , a fourth generation Wu Style Taiji Quan master and a leading Qi Gong master. His new book entitled Eternal Spring: Taijiquan, Qi Gong, and the Cultivation of Health, Happiness and Longevity has just been published. When did you first become interested in Taijiquan and Qi Gong? When I was young I was fascinated by Indian Yoga and so I began to practice meditation when I was eleven. I was without a teacher then and pretty much in the dark. There were no yoga teachers anywhere near my home town in the early sixties and I certainly had not heard of Taiji quan or Qi Gong then. I have always been drawn to yogic practices. I was also interested in all things Chinese and especially Chinese painting and its Daoist roots. I was already a good candidate for Qi Gong and Taiji though still knew little to noth

[Interview_2] David Hough

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Historical romance author, David Hough has been writing for more than 20 years. His books include King’s Priory (BeWrite Books, 2007); The Gamekeeper (Lachesis Publishing, 2007) and The Gallows on Warlock Hill (Lachesis Publishing, 2008). In an earlier interview , he talked about the factors that motivated him to start writing. David Hough now talks, among other things, about his novel, Prestwick (BeWrite Books, 2009): Are you still writing everyday? Some days I will get 5,000 words onto my computer, other days it will be only five hundred, but at least I will have written something. That’s important. I write every day. The process starts shortly after I wake up. While enjoying my first cup of tea, I will focus my mind on the scene I expect to write that day. I don’t switch on my computer until I have a good idea of how that scene will pan out. Then I start writing and I keep on writing until I have completed all I planned before I started. The next bit is easy.

[Interview_2] Gail McFarland

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African-American contemporary romance author, Gail McFarland has written and published seven novels, among them, Lady Killer (Domhan Books, 2003); All For Love (Lulu.com, 2006); and Dream Runner (Genesis Press, 2008). Her work has also been featured in the anthologies, Bouquet (Pinnacle Books, 1998) and Can a Sistah Get Some Love? (Lady Leo Publishing, 2010) and includes the ebook, If Ever (Lady Leo Publishing, 2009). In this interview, Gail McFarland talks about her latest novel, Dream Keeper (Genesis Press, 2009): What motivated you to start working on the novel ? I have to say that it was a combination of love for the characters and curiosity. I had barely written the last words of Dream Runner before I began wondering about the rest of the story -- well, that and the characters started to “haunt” me. I also got tons of emails and letters asking (actually demanding!) to know about Rissa and Dench. How would you describe Dream Keeper ? Here’s hoping that I di

[Interview] Noah Karrasch

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Noah Karrasch is a certified Rolfer and licensed massage therapist. He teaches core bodywork skills and has recently published a book, entitled Meet Your Body: CORE Bodywork and Rolfing Tools to Release Bodymindcore Trauma (Singing Dragon, 2009). How did you first become interested in Bodywork and Rolfing? 25 years ago I picked up Ida Rolf's book, Ida Rolf Talks about Rolfing and Physical Reality (Rosemary Feitis & Ida Rolf) for $1. At the time I was a music teacher, but the cover and the concept captured me. As I read the book, and her quote: "This is the gospel according to Rolf: When gravity gets flowing appropriately through the body, then spontaneously the body heals itself," I was hooked. Though I had no training or inclination in this area, I immediately resonated and knew I wanted to learn her work. Within a year, circumstances allowed me to pursue the training in Boulder, Colorado. I've been employed as a bodyworker, and more recently as a teacher of b