This year our Dao Lu Awards and Chinese New Year Celebrations were held online. Here’s some screenshots:

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Programme

Awards

Dao Lu CIC has received the Feel Good Accreditation, recognising that we provide high quality sport and physical activity to Waltham Forest residents.

This accreditation enables us to continue using Waltham Forest facilities (e.g. booking indoor and outdoor spaces).

It also means we can be recommended to Waltham Forest partners.

In particular:

• Priority access to coach development courses organised by the Waltham Forest Sport and Leisure team
• The Waltham Forest Sport and Leisure team help to identify any support needs your organisation has in relation to developing sport and physical activity opportunities for Waltham Forest residents
• Able to use the Feel Good Mark logo on any publications
• Provides exclusive access for clubs to be involved in delivery of Waltham Forest Holiday Programmes
• Be recommended for external delivery to partners such as local schools, internal council departments etc.
• Promotion and exposure via the council’s social media channels

The Waltham Forest Feel Good Mark page is here.

We had over 70 participants for our online virtual World Tai Chi Day 2020. Here’s the feedback we received (names removed):

Absolutely!! Really great to have pulled that together so swiftly and effectively. Congrats to all involved 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

It was pretty easy going. Well done Aileen for keeping us on track.

I’m sitting in the sunshine feeling on top of the world after that. Thank you so much for all your work making it such a great event

Thank you Aileen, Colin and all the instructors. It was wonderful unforgettable event.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thank you everyone who organised and participated in todays world tai chi day event in east London. I loved Marianne’s exercises and Aaron’s cats company. It was a fantastic experience. Unfortunately I had to miss the last bit of it because my computer battery died on me. Look forward to many more such events in the real world. 🌷🌷

Wow! Never knew Tai Chi could be this good in lockdown and away from each other. Big thanks to all Dao lu instructors and members also Yorkshire’s very own Sarah and Marianne for making this day memorable. Thanks Shifu Aaron and Aileen for going back to the fundamentals and philosophy of Tai chi chuan,it really makes what where practicing more holistic . And last but not least thanks Colin for being the IT guru behind the scene to make it all run so smoothly. Tai Chi can bring world peace 🙃

👏👏👏 to everyone involved.
And how fantastic was it to have someone participating who was in Switzerland!

Big thanks to all of the instructors for bringing their individual characters through during each session!
And Colin, you’re fab!
An amazing experience! 👏🏼👏🏼🤗😃🌝

Well done to everyone 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Thank you Aileen and Co for such a wonderful event.

Thank you Aileen and all instructors thank you Colin for a wonderful event as someone relatively new to the world of Tai Chi I am enjoying it all🙏🏾

Thank you everyone for this a.mazing event. I am sorry I couldn’t stay until the end but I really enjoyed the sections I managed to do.🤗🤗🤗

Listening to more of the history such as Qi Gong was fascinating and I didn’t know that.

Huge thankyou to Colin who did a sterling job and made it look very slick. The practice was worth it!

Big hug Aileen. All of the instructors are wonderful and I want to learn more of your forms too. So much to learn, but that’s the fun and the journey. Xx 😁👍👍👌

Thank you Aileen Aaron Colin Sankofa for giving us this gift of TaiChi. It gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It is something to look forward to-a time if sanity & relaxation in all this madness. So a big thank you to you all. & well done for organising such a brilliant event. 🙏👍🌈🌻

Well done Aileen and Colin for driving today’s event and being the technological, promotional and inspirational leaders!! Thanks to Aaron, Itricia, Marianne and Joe for your skills, commitment and wisdom! A wonderful event, particularly in such a dark time in the world. You all shone a light for us today! 👌🏾🙏🏽👏🏿

“One world，one breath…” Motto for World Tai Chi Day

We made it! Strangely this year at this difficult time, it has been one of our most successful events. Feeling so good and uplifted and wanted to do and learn more…

We managed to strike a balance for Dao Lu students with 6+ years of training and brand new people who may dip in and out. Indeed it looks everyone has taken away something and get inspired to launch, or continue their Tai Chi journey, or in due course after this first seed has been sown.

Let us together make Tai Chi our way of life, as Shifu Aaron put it with such a beautiful sentiment, and enjoy its fruits while we grow together.

Thank you so much 🙂

Sorry I have to leave but it has been very interesting. Thank you all and Happy Thai Chi day.

 I am leaving now. This is been such a beautiful experience.   Thank you and Happy Tai Chi Day🕯🕯🕯

Great session, thank you very much. Wishing you all a happy Taiji day  🙂

Great session! Thank you Dao Lu Team! Wish ALL a happy Tai Chi & Qi Gong Day!

Thanks, really enjoyed it. Happy Tai Chi day!

Many thanks, looking forward to joining you in Lloyds Park as I am local , please keep me in the mailing list.

Thanks 🙏

Thank you for a really lovely session. Happy Tai Chi day 🙂

Thank you for an excellent morning, lovely, take care and be safe everyone,

Thank you everyone, I’m not joining the coffee morning due to other commitments. Bye and thank you.

Thank you that was really good

At the Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China

Temple of Heaven, Beijing

With a local Tai Chi community group, Temple of Heaven, Beijing

Practicing in the Temple of Heaven, Beijing

Forbidden City, Beijing

Forbidden City, Beijing

Forbidden City, Beijing

Forbidden City, Beijing

Practicing in Summer Palace, Beijing

Summer Palace, Beijing

Summer Palace, Beijing

Caligraphy in Wild Goose Pagoda, Xi'an

Hotel room, Xi'an

Morning practice in Xi'an

Our hotel on the Wudang Mountain

On the Wudang Mountain

Cable cars up the Wudang Mountain

On top of the Wudang Mountain

On top of the Wudang Mountain

Outside the Purple Heaven Temple

The Purple Heaven Temple

Practicing in the Purple Heaven Temple

View from the Purple Heaven Temple

View from the Purple Heaven Temple

Masters Zhang Jia Li and Tary Yip at the Purple Heaven Temple

View from the Golden Summit, Wudang Mountain

A temple in the Wudang Mountain

Some Shaolin Temple students

Gong Fu performance at Shaolin Temple

A roof in the Shaolin Temple

With Master Chen Chang Tian Family, Chenjiagou (Chen Village)

Chen Village Tai Chi Museum

Outside a restaurant, Chenjiagou (Chen Village)

Shanghai waterfront

Shanghai Old City

Shanghai Tower

Shanghai waterfront

Here is a small selection of people’s feedback:

We were kept well informed prior to travelling.

The information given was very useful especially for someone like me who rarely travels.

Very comprehensive and Aileen [Dao Lu coordinator] was exceptionally responsive to all queries

Fantastic experience, great sights, learnt a lot Qigong, and best group of people anyone could ask for

A very enriching, spiritual, full-on immersive holiday.

This visit to China was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. My existing respect for the Chinese people has deepened and I am still getting flashbacks of awe and wonder.

[Chinese tour guide] Lily was wonderful! So patient and attentive to all the quirky individual needs and wants. How she managed to keep track of us all and maintain her calm exterior is superhuman. I enjoyed all her running commentaries and stories too. Hard working has a whole new meaning.

Really enjoyed the depth of training and the explanations Tary [Tai Chi master / organiser] gave on the details of the various moves, the focal points, channels and the philosophy behind both tai chi and qigong

For me, the training was ideal as I was a bit anxious about not knowing any Tai Chi before the trip. The Qi Gong was accessible and gave immediate health and well being benefit. I will be joining local classes.

I enjoyed the time to train everyday. It is an absolute luxury when you are having to deal with the inconveniences of day to day life.

The WhatsApp group is great. I hope it will be used in the future for sharing knowledge, information and upcoming events.

Colin [Dao Lu webmaster] making pictures available on Google and YouTube is great!

Very good value

Very reasonable for a priceless experience

This was a wonderful, exciting, challenging, unforgettable, life-changing experience with a lovely group of people.

I am still amazed at the amount of places we visited in only two and a half weeks. Although my favourite has to be the time spent on Mount Wudang, I loved all the places we visited. I enjoyed the variety of scenery and the contrast between country, mountains and cities.

The food was so healthy and tasty. I have given my diet a complete overhaul as I felt so good after every meal. I am missing the round tables and lazy Susan with the steady flow of increasingly delicious dishes. I cannot say which was my favourite but I loved the variety.

Being the only vegan on the trip I think the selection of food was good. Overall there was an abundance of vegetables and fruit which was great for me. My favourite food was spicy tofu.

China is a fantastic country. The ancient next to the modern is awesome. The Chinese people make it though. I love them.

An enormous thank you to everybody who made this possible and the group for being such lovely warm, life affirming people