The First Rule of Qigong Club....

......Is you ALWAYS talk about Qigong Club. Couple of weeks ago I organised some special events that were taking place in my hometown for the first time ever. With the assistance and support of my Tai Chi Master and a colleague in Edinburgh we were bringing three Masters from the Chinese Health Qigong Association, based in Beijing, to the capital. It was for me a very big deal which I wished plenty of people to share in. So I spent a large chunk of time promoting the events. Thankfully the events were a great success but the only reason you know this is that either you were there or you have just read that line in my blog. I tried to arrange press coverage in the form of the local TV channel and the local press. All mail and phone calls fell on deaf ears to the TV channel and a cursory two line reply from the newspaper was all I received. "Please take some photos and write a short paragraph about the event and send it to us".
I fully understand that in the grand scheme of things these events were not front page stuff, but surely media outlets specifically designed to report on community events would show more interest than a metaphorical grunt of vague acknowledgement! So you want me to organise,facilitate, participate, promote and then write a report about it?- no it's not too much to ask, I'll self fund and publish it too if you give me another few minutes! To further shame the local media, here is a link from people who did decide to cover the event. The Chinese Press!! A reporter from the Shanghai Daily was in attendance, I guarantee they travelled further to report on this than the local press would have, if they had bothered.  http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=279180

Now although it may sound that way, I'm not bitter. It just got me to thinking about the profile of Martial Arts in general. A completely unverifiable "fact" that I heard once which seems to ring true, there are somewhere in the region of 20 thousand and 30 thousand people practising martial arts in the UK. You can search online directories of nearly 4000 clubs but of course there will be plenty more that aren't on there. At first glance you would think that the profile is quite high. The thing is that it's quite bias toward one end of the Martial Arts. Most coverage focuses on the sport/combat side. That's great of course as we definitely need all the support that we can muster but there are plenty other great things going on in the Martial World. As I've said before the sport side is one facet of this wonderful lifestyle. The coverage is usually from the same point of view. A press guy or girl goes along to give it a try and fails but has a laugh anyway, furthering the idea that Martial Arts is only done by people with special powers and thus proving that not everyone is cut out to do it. I can assure you that that bollocks! Perhaps if coverage was a bit more complete, we could highlight martial arts as a great alternative to team sports, (which most folk are forced to do at school even if it isn't for them) we could truly show people what they are capable of achieving with their own effort. In the case of Qigong, and this is where the lack of coverage saddens me, we could've shown people that your health is easily maintained and costs nothing but some time out of your day. No equipment needed, only knowledge which can be given to you once and then practised regularly. With diligence and some time that is all that is required to access the special powers of the Martial Arts. More than often the access to that knowledge is right on your doorstep-seriously search the online database and have a look. Beyond the necessary marketing to survive there are real people teaching real skills to folk like you and me. Sifu Steven Burton graciously allowed me to use him as an example. His profile is huge, he is soon to be teaching in North Carolina, New Jersey, China and as far afield as Sydney. His seminars are attended by hundreds of people and his youtube channel has over 1 million views. He has worked hard but he has been teaching exactly what he teaches now for many years. He candidly told me, that many years ago when he taught out of his gym in Accrington it proved much more difficult to get folk in the door. He was right there all along, a short distance away. Now the people of Accrington will travel to America, Australia and main land Europe to access his knowledge. So beyond the marketing and beyond the press coverage it falls to you. In the days past disciples would wander mountain ranges and go deep into the wilderness to find the true Masters. You don't have to do that. There is so much going on in your area, if you want it come and get it. Do me a favour? Tell someone what I do. Tell one person that you know about a guy that teaches Chinese Martial Arts in Edinburgh. Tell them that I'm here to help them if they want to help themselves. I'm not a master but I can assist. The first rule of Qigong Club is you should ALWAYS talk about Qigong Club.