Resources for Motivation

Personal growth and wellbeing blog

FionaGray — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:35:51 +0000

A free resource for anyone who is interested in personal development, growth and wellbeing - a safe place to reflect on life's challenges and regain your strength. An honest look at what we go through in life, what it teaches us and how to live consciously and confidently.

"Release For More"

Leon Benson — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:10:28 +0000

"Release For More"

"Alone are you at the end of every night whether your loved one are with you they do not think for you who are independently dependent uopn hugs and kisses from the Mr. or Mrs. Stop bluffin and release the cuffings of love for it will not fade of it's sincerity but of it's repeated acts of artificial behavior if given the opportunity to shine in that light." -Mereald Leon Benson III.

Blog of inspiring videos

Communicate with Confidence — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:07:21 +0000

This is a link to my blog of inspirational and motivational talks. A lot of these are from TED, which has a wealth of great speeches on every subject imaginable.

Have a look and get inspired!

Andy

Well-Being and Health for Schools

janlever — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:15:31 +0000

Enhance learning, support PSHE Education and improve well-being.

The Well-Being and Health for Learning Programme provides a structured framework and process to help improve the well-being and health of the whole school community.

The premise is that a positive and healthy community is best placed to afford a wealth of learning opportunities for children and young people.

History of Tai Chi

sifuvince — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:05:10 +0000

The term Tai Chi Chu’uan translates as "supreme ultimate fist".
The concept of the Tai Chi appears in both Taoist and Confucian Chinese philosophy, where it represents the fusion of Yin and Yang into a single Ultimate, represented by the Yin / Yang symbol also known as taijitu. Thus, tai chi theory and practice evolved in agreement with many Chinese philosophical principles, including those of Taoism and Confucianism.
Tai Chi training involves five elements, nei gung, tui shou (response drills), sanshou (self defence techniques), Weapons, and solo hand routines, known as forms (taolu). While the image of Taijiquan in popular culture is typified by exceedingly slow movement, many Tai Chi styles (including the three most popular - Yang, Wu, and Chen) - have secondary forms of a faster pace. Some traditional schools of tai chi teach partner exercises known as "pushing hands", and martial applications of the forms' postures.
Since the first widespread promotion of tai chi's health benefits by Yang Shaohou, Yang Chengfu, Wu Chien-ch'uan, and Sun Lutang in the early 20th century, it has developed a worldwide following among people with little or no interest in martial training, for its benefit to health and health maintenance. Medical studies of tai chi support its effectiveness as an alternative exercise and a form of martial arts therapy.
It is purported that focusing the mind solely on the movements of the form helps to bring about a state of mental calm and clarity. Besides general health benefits and stress management attributed to tai chi training.
Some martial arts, especially the Japanese martial arts, require students to wear a uniform during practice. In general, tai chi chuan schools do not require a uniform, but both traditional and modern teachers often advocate loose, comfortable clothing and flat-soled shoes.
The physical techniques of tai chi chuan are described in the tai chi classics, a set of writings by traditional masters, as being characterized by the use of leverage through the joints based on coordination and relaxation, rather than muscular tension, in order to neutralize, yield, or initiate attacks. The slow, repetitive work involved in the process of learning how that leverage is generated gently and measurably increases, opens the internal circulation (breath, body heat, blood, lymph, peristalsis, etc.)

The study of tai chi chuan primarily involves three aspects:
• Health: An unhealthy or otherwise uncomfortable person may find it difficult to meditate to a state of calmness or to use tai chi as a martial art. Tai chi's health training, therefore, concentrates on relieving the physical effects of stress on the body and mind. For those focused on tai chi's martial application, good physical fitness is an important step towards effective self-defense.
• Meditation: The focus and calmness cultivated by the meditative aspect of tai chi is seen as necessary in maintaining optimum health (in the sense of relieving stress and maintaining homeostasis-standing still) and in application of the form as a soft style martial art.
• Martial art: The ability to use tai chi as a form of self-defense in combat is the test of a student's understanding of the art. Tai chi chuan is the study of appropriate change in response to outside forces, the study of yielding and "sticking" to an incoming attack rather than attempting to meet it with opposing force.
Pushing hands is a name for two-person training routines practiced in Tai Chi Ch’uan.
In Tai Chi Chüan, pushing hands is used to acquaint students with the principles of what are known as the "Eight Gates and Five Steps," eight different leverage applications in the arms accompanied by footwork in a range of motion which proponents say will eventually allow students to defend themselves calmly and competently if attacked. Also known as the "13 original movements of tai chi", a posture expressing each one of these aspects is found in all tai chi styles.
The Eight Gates (bā mén):
• P'eng - An upward circular movement, forward or backward, yielding or offsetting usually with the arms to disrupt the opponent's centre of gravity, often translated as "Ward Off." Peng is also described more subtly as an energetic quality that should be present in every Tai Chi movement as a part of the concept of "song" - or relaxation - providing alertness, the strength to maintain structure when pressed, and absence of muscular tension in the body.
• Lü - A sideways, circular yielding movement, often translated as "Roll Back."
• Chi - A pressing or squeezing offset in a direction away from the body, usually done with the back of the hand or outside edge of the forearm. Chi is often translated as "Press."
• An - To offset with the hand, usually a slight lift up with the fingers then a push down with the palm, this can appear as a strike if done quickly. ‘An’ is often translated as "Push."
• Tsai - To pluck or pick downwards with the hand, especially with the fingertips or palm. The word tsai is part of the compound that means to gather, collect or pluck a tea leaf from a branch. ’Tsai’ is often translated "Pluck" or "Grasp."
• Lieh - Lieh means to separate, to twist or to offset with a spiral motion, often while making immobile another part of the body (such as a hand or leg) to split an opponent's body thereby destroying posture and balance. Lieh is often translated as "Split."
• Chou - To strike or push with the elbow. Usually translated as "Elbow Strike".
• K'ao - To strike or push with the shoulder or upper back. The word k'ao implies leaning or inclining. Usually translated "Shoulder Strike”.

The Five Steps (wǔ bù):
• Chin Pu - Forward step.
• T'ui Pu - Backward step.
• Tsuo Ku - Left step.
• You P'an - Right step.
• Chung Ting - The central position, balance, equilibrium. Not just the physical center, but a condition which is expected to be present at all times in the first four steps as well, associated with the concept of rooting (the stability said to be achieved by a correctly aligned, thoroughly relaxed body as a result of correct Tai Chi training).
The Eight Gates are said to be associated with the eight trigrams (Bagua) of the I Ching, the Five Steps with the five elements of the Taoist Wu Hsing; metal, water, wood, fire, and earth. Collectively they are sometimes referred to as the "Thirteen Postures of T'ai Chi Chuan" and their combinations and permutations are cataloged more or less exhaustively in the different styles of solo forms which Tai Chi is mostly known for by the general public. Pushing hands is practiced so that students have an opportunity for "hands-on" experience of the theoretical implications of the solo forms. Traditional internal teachers say that just training solo forms isn't enough to learn a martial art; that without the pushing hands, reflex and sensitivity to another's movements and intent are lost. Each component is seen as equally necessary, yin and yang, for realizing the health, meditative, and self-defense applications.
Pushing hands trains the technical principles in ever increasing complexity of patterns. At first students work basic patterns, then patterns with moving steps coordinated in different directions, patterns at differing heights (high, middle, low and combinations) and then finally different styles of "freestyle" push hands, which lead into sparring that combines closing and distancing strategies with long, medium and short range techniques.
These exchanges are characterized as "question and answer" sessions between training partners; the person pushing is asking a question, the person receiving the push answers with their response. The answers should be "soft," without resistance or stiffness. The students hope to learn to not fight back when pushed nor retreat before anticipated force, but rather to allow the strength and direction of the push to determine their answer. The intent thereby is for the students to condition themselves and their reflexes to the point that they can meet an incoming force in softness, move with it until they determine its intent and then allow it to exhaust itself or redirect it into a harmless direction. The degree to which students maintain their balance while observing these requirements determines the appropriateness of their "answers." The expression used in some Tai Chi schools to describe this is "Give up oneself to follow another." The eventual goal for self-defense purposes is to achieve meeting the force, determining its direction and effectively redirecting it in as short a time as possible, with examples provided of seemingly instantaneous redirections at the highest levels of kung fu by traditional teachers. Pushing hands also teaches students safety habits in regard to their own vital areas, especially acupressure points, as well as introducing them to the principles of chin na and some aspects of tui na also taught in traditional Tai Chi Chuan schools. At a certain point, pushing hands begins to take on aspects of chi kung, as the students learn to coordinate their movements in attack and defense with their breathing.

School Website

stamachristos — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:48:25 +0000

Balanced View: For the Benefit of All.

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 06:58:58 +0000

“Open Intelligence: Changing the Definition of Human Identity”

Balanced View is a global community and movement of mutual support for empowerment of open intelligence and its beneficial qualities and activities of mind, speech and body.

How do you define strategy-execution approach?

godonovan — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 01:38:56 +0000

You need to know how strategy-execution approach works? Gerard talks about it on is blog! Check it.

Talking about Focus

godonovan — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:02:00 +0000

Gerard O'Donovan shares you something about focus and how it will help you. Find it out.

What we believe at School of Everything

paulmiller — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:53:52 +0000

As we decide what next for School of Everything we’ve been doing a little bit of soul searching and thinking about what we truly believe in (as well as working hard, being nice to people and the power of good chili sauce). Here’s what we’ve come up with - would be great to know what you think.

We believe...

Everyone has something to teach. Everyone, yes everyone, has something they can teach someone else.
Everyone has their own way of learning. It’s better to learn in the way you want to. You know what suits you best.
Learning is better with friends. People are brilliant, inspiring, generous and smart. Being with others makes it easier and enjoyable to learn more.
You should never stop learning. You can keep learning whatever your age, far beyond your school days.
Education shouldn’t be expensive. With a bit of ingenuity you can learn new things without spending lots of money.
All subjects are important. Learning is learning, and learning is good. Knowing how to rewire a plug is just as valuable as understanding inverse trigonometric functions.
Qualifications are overrated. A good education is about the things you learn along the way, not a fancy bit of paper.
The real world is better than the internet. Step away from your computer please. Getting out and trying new things is better than being sat at a desk all day.

Enlightened Living

True Alignment — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:45:12 +0000

This blog has been created to support people on their own unique, spiritual journey. With inspiring reflections on daily life, it will motivate you to contemplate your own life and the ways in which you can offer your gifts and talents to the world.

Back to basics: our values

paulmiller — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:14:26 +0000

In the early days of School of Everything we decided to write down our values when it came to education. We never really put them in the foreground on the site but as a team we're having a bit of a think about this kind of thing and we thought it might be worth revisiting them. Do they still hold up? Have we stuck to them? Are there ones that have developed as we've gone along. Would be really great to get your views. Here's what we said two years ago.

"We don't have a manifesto or a blueprint for the future of education, but there are a few shared values behind what we're trying to do:

Learning is personal: People tend to learn best when they can choose what, when and how they learn - and when they can find the right people to learn with.
Learning starts with what you're interested in: It doesn't matter how long you're shut in a classroom, you won't learn anything unless you want to. But start with what you're interested in and it's surprising how fast you pick things up.
We like face-to-face: The internet's a marvellous thing, but spending your whole life glued to a screen does strange things to the brain. So our focus is on helping people find real-time, offline, face-to-face learning.
We're open-minded: We don't mind whether you use the School of Everything to organise a public course or a private lesson, a book group or a game of Hide and Seek. And whether or not you charge money, that's cool with us.
Everyone has something to teach, and everyone has something to learn: This is the most important bit. Expertise, experience and excellence are to be admired, but there's knowledge and wisdom all over the place. We want to help everyone unlock it."

Lishi Clips

lishi.org — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:40:36 +0000

A taste of some of what you might do in a Lishi class (probably not at your first class :-) )

SpeakersBank Public Speaking - Top Ten Tips

Speakers Trust — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:27:50 +0000

SpeakersBank's Top Ten Tips for speaking in public.

SpeakersBank Public Speaking Training

Speakers Trust — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 10:24:56 +0000

Provides details of SpeakersBank core training.

PsyCentral

psycentral — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:41:21 +0000

PsyCentral Blog with Psychologist, Coach, Author & Broadcaster Dr Gary Wood - offering a psychological perspective on human social life including current affairs; sex, gender & relationships plus learning, development and coaching insights and tips. . . the odd acerbic comment and the occasional rant.

PsyCentral

psycentral — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:41:10 +0000

Official Website

Yog Fellowship Temple — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:10:30 +0000

Hypnosis and Beyond

lianavoia — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:45:06 +0000

The blog represents an interactive space for those interested in hypnosis, hypnotherapy, Yoga, EFT, MTT, NLP, shamanism, nutrition and other healing modalities. The blog is being used to exchange ideas, views, beliefs, perspectives in a non-judgemental manner.

The Coaching Academy

uklifecoach — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:08:39 +0000

I qualified, gaining a distinction, with Europe's largest Coaching Training Provider The Coaching Academy.

I continue my professional development by attending courses on various different aspects of coaching and NLP with The Academy.