course content

Marco Feira, the coordinator of The Inner Way School (Tai Chi Hall, Auroville) in India, gives classes in a variety of ways:

  • One-week intensive workshops for beginners where students learn Chi techniques and the beginning of the 24-form
  • Three-week intensive workshops for beginners where students learn Chi techniques and the 24-form
  • One-week intensive workshops for advanced students where students learn advanced Chi techniques and work on details of the 108-form Daily classes for both beginners and advanced students who wish to practice the form
  • Two weekly Chi classes
  • Classes for students outside of Auroville

In 2012, five regular students of the Inner Way (Marie Demont, Krishna Devanandan, Divya Goswami, Kaarthikeyan Kirubakaran, Etel) started training to become teachers. Now, they are teaching regular classes.

Generally the courses consist of two parts :

  1. Work on the ground (Chi work)
  2. Standing work (Chi Qong and/or Tai Chi)

The principle themes of the work on the ground (Chi work) are:

Training in different relaxation techniques
Stretching exercises
Several breathing exercises
15 exercises for waking the hands to the perception of Chi
Techniques for self-massage
Exercises for sensitizing oneself to the Chi
Buddhist, Taoist and Chan school techniques (Chinese Zen) for meditation
Exploring the Tan Tien (Hara), the geometrical and energetic centre of the body
Training in the energetic techniques that encourage the Chi to flow through the various energy circuits of the body etc.
The objective of all the work on the ground is to release the body of its inner tensions, to develop and extend the individual’s awareness and capacity to direct the Chi around the body and to enable, through the circulation of the Chi, a practice of Chi Qong and Tai Chi which goes beyond simple muscular work.

The main topics of the standing work are:

Awakening to the state of our body
Exercises for muscular relaxation
Attaining the correct posture
Attaining a balance with one’s surroundings
The perception of the movement of the weight in the body, from empty to full
Communication with one’s surroundings
Preparation of the basic energy aspects of Chi Qong and Tai Chi
Chi Qong (the 11 Chinese health exercises)
Tai Chi: training in 3 Yang forms:

  • 24 postures
  • 108 postures
  • 127 postures

The standing work incorporates the work done in the Chi courses to return Tai Chi to a real form of meditative moving (the progressive union of the whole body with the universe and life).

The Inner Way School at the Tai Chi Hall also has other topics in the workshops/classes:

Training in the 8 brocades
Technique of the loop to protect the energy of those working with patients

The Tai Chi Hall, Auroville, organizes workshops in India of teachers from the École de la Voie Intérieure, St-Vincent-sur-Jabron, France. These courses can vary between the teachers because the repertoire is so big that it takes several years to cover every aspect. Teachers from the Centre themselves continue their training each year with the formateurs, to ensure they offer a consistent and high quality of teaching.