Headingley News March 2016

Headingley News March 2016

Growing achievement for Lishi classes in Headingley.

Mar 2

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Photo courtesy of Wai-Yii Yeung

Photo courtesy of Wai-Yii Yeung

AN EXERCISE programme from China based on the philosophy of Yin and Yang has been introduced in Headingley.

The classes at St. Augustine’s Wrangthorn Church Hall in Headingley as well as Leeds University has gained a lot of success.

Lishi combines the very best from Tai Chi, Cardio Kung Fu, Self Defence and Daoist Yoga.

It has been practised for thousands of years and is still around today because of its relevance to the challenges of modern life:

Wai-Yii Yeung, the leader of the Lishi classes said: “I started Lishi when I was a student at the University of Leeds and I got so much from the classes that I wanted to make sure that other students could learn these arts and benefit from the exercises and philosophy.

I teach classes at Wrangthorn Church Hall as well as at the University and all my students agree that it helps them concentrate, de-stress and boost their energy.

“Part of the programme of self-development includes not only learning the exercises but eventually learning how to teach and lead.

“As I developed these skills I found that I really enjoyed sharing this ancient knowledge and starting classes in the area was a natural next step. I love it.”

Lishi classes have been going on throughout the UK and abroad, but it has been kept secret for a long time compared with other Tai Chi or Self Defence arts.

Wai-Yii added: “I hope that as more people experience the benefits they will tell others and Lishi will start to grow in popularity through word of mouth.

“I love teaching these arts but more than that I love it when people tell me how much the classes have had a positive impact on their life and time at university.”

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Find out more about Wai-Yii and her classes:

www.lishi.org/waiyii

www.lishi.org/classes/headingley

Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Source: https://newsinheadingley.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/growing-achievement-for-lishi-classes-in-headingley/
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Spring Vegetables with Tofu and noodles

Spring Vegetables with Tofu and noodles

Spring Vegetables with Tofu and Noodles

Serves 1

Ingredients

3 bunched carrots

2 spring onions

1 clove of garlic

1cm root ginger

3 large Chard leaves ( or equivalent)

2 sticks dried Tofu

50g (20zs) Noodles

300mls (1/2pint) vegetable stock.

 

Instructions

Break up the tofu sticks and soak for 5 minutes

Peel and chop carrots

Remove stalks from chard and chop

Chop or grate garlic and ginger.

Drain the tofu.

Place in a pan with the carrots, chard stalks, garlic, ginger and stock

Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Chop the chard leaves and spring onions.

Add  to the pan with the noodles and simmer for 5 minutes.

Recipes

Search my blog for more Chang Ming Recipes that I post regularly or buy The Basic Chang Ming Cookbook from Amazon

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Chang Ming Guide

Chang Ming Guide

How to follow a Chang Ming Diet….

The Chang Ming diet goes hand in hand with the Lishi practice.  So here are 5 basic steps to help you follow the

  1. Eat lots of veggies and wholegrains – yum!
  2. Replace refined sugars with natural sugars
  3. Cut out stimulants – byebye -coffees and chocolates – and then bye bye to mood swings, bad nerves and hello better quality of sleep
  4. Don’t drink when you eat – wait until after your meal to drink.  This ensures better digestion and that you are not diluting your stomach acids.
  5. Eat until you are 80% full – then stop….learn to listen to your body and stop before you are bloated.  It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register the signals from your stomach that you are full.  SO if you eat until you are full, then you are likely to feel too full

Recipes

Search my blog for Chang Ming Recipes that I post regularly or buy The Basic Chang Ming Cookbook from Amazon

Register Interest
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Qigong

Qigong

Lishi Tai Chi

What is Qigong?

Qi (pronounced Chee) means energy or focused intent.

Gong means to do work.

Qigong is an ancient Chinese system of exercise that incorporates physical postures that focus your mind and increase your energy levels.

Many people thinking of Chinese exercise visualise an old person waving their arms around in a park. Any fool would believe these movements are easy….until you try them.

When performed correctly these “gentle” movements have a profound effect on the body both mentally and physically.

The “Gong” in “Qigong” is not there for no reason!

What Types of Qigong Are There?

There are four main types of Qigong.

Sitting, Standing, Moving and even Lying down Qigong exercises.

Basically you can practice at any point in the day…. anywhere…. any time.

So there is no excuse for not making this a regular part of your day.

Benefits of Qigong

These gentle exercises help to reduce stress and improve your health.  The postures build physical and mental stamina as well as increasing your energy levels whilst activating the natural self-regulatory capacity of the body to heal itself (A Comprehensive Review of Health Benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi Jahnke, Larkey, Rogers, Etnier, and Lin; 2010)

It is a great form of exercise that helps balance your mind and body. Far from it being “only for old people”, qigong is an excellent tonic for young people in their twenties and thirties who want to harness and store their energy, building up reserves that will fuel an energised way of life even as they get older.

How Do I Get Started?

The right time to start practising qigong is now.

Watch the video below and follow along with a simple beginners level qigong exercise:

If you would like to learn more then come along to my next beginners course. You can find full details at lishi.org/classes/leeds

Lishi incorporates all four types of qigong as well as deep-breathing exercises, Tai Chi and Self-Defence. The course will teach you how to quiet the mind and you will practice focusing on one thing with full awareness.

It will calm your chattering brain and emotions so things in life don’t feel so overwhelming and you will learn to focus on the job at hand rather than procrastinate and choose to eat cereal or clean the fridge instead 🙂

Lishi Tai Chi
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2016 New Year Newsletter

Happy New Year!....

After the Christmas excesses it’s time to Get Fit, Get Healthy and Re-Energise at Your Local Leeds Class

Leeds Beginners Course start w/c 15th Feb 2016! – Yay!


Sign up for a 4 week beginners class on either
Monday night at Wrangthorn Church Hall in Headingley/Hyde Park  (7pm-8.15pm) or
Thursdays at St Martins Church Hall  in Chapel Allerton (6pm-7.15pm).

The Monday course starts on 15th February and the Thursday course starts on 18th February.

Click on the links above to book a place and why not tell a friend about the class to help spread the Lishi Love! 🙂

The Uni Classes will start on the
w/c 25th January 2016 in Leeds University Union.
Every Tuesday 2pm
and Friday 2.30pm

Read my latest blog post to find out how to beat Exam Stress.

This time last year I announced I would be having a baby.

A year later and he is helping me run the Lishi Retreats in Tenerife.

Here is a picture of my big bump taking his first paddle in the sea.


I have some interesting articles lined up for you and will be posting regularly on Facebook so please friend Wai-Yii or Like Lishi Leeds Taichi‘s page for up to date info on what’s happening in the Lishi world.

Stretch Sunday

Stretch Sunday on 28th February 2016 will be the Next Headingley Workshop in your area.
If you are thinking of trying Lishi then this is the perfect opportunity to come along for 2 hours of mindful exercise that will set you up for the rest of the day.

In this session we will also practise Deep Breathing exercises that can help to eliminate toxins from your body.

This will be a gentle, energising and  uplifting start to your Sunday.

11am-1pm
Beginners Welcome and can book here
£15 / £10 (Student Rate)

11am-4pm
More experienced practitioners £25 / £20

Venue: St Martin Church Hall, St Martins View, Chapel Allerton, LS7 3LB
Taught by Nushi Wai-Yii Yeung

Reasons to Breathe Deep….

 

Did you know that the human body is designed to take in 75% of its energy requirement through breathing. Oxygen is the most crucial unit of fuel that we take into our body.
We also eliminate 70% of our toxins via the breath……

To discover more reasons why deep breathing exercises are good for you as well as healthy recipes and other aspects of the Lishi Lifestyle read my blog.

Click the image above to register your interest in the Lishi Lifestyle Festival happening in Leeds in June and be one of the first to hear when tickets go on sale.

P.S. If you fancy a trip to Lyon at the end of March, I will be teaching a weekend course on the 5th and 6th March 2016.

We will be travelling over on the Euro star.  If you would like more info please email waiyii@lishi.org

BEGINNERS COURSE

Starts 6pm Monday in Headingley

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Register Interest

BEGINNERS COURSE

Starts Thursday in Chapel Allerton

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Register Interest
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Why Warmup

Why Warmup

Why Warm Up?

WARM UP

Often people turn up 10-15 minutes late for the class.  However during this time they’ve missed an essential section of the Lishi class that we do at each and every session.  So if you ask me if it is important to attend the warm ups before each class, my answer would be YES!

Why should I warm up?

A warm up’s get the body into a ready state before exercising. This is much like oiling a squeaky wheel. You give the different aspects of your physical body a chance to prepare to work together.

Your heart rate increases gradually. Your muscles warm up to prevent injury and your ligaments and tendons become more flexible, reducing the chance of tears.

A warm up also help to slowly increase the body’s temperature and heart rate and ensure that the demand made on the circulatory and metabolic systems is gradual as well.  In a safe and gradual way they allow blood to be diverted away from other parts of the body such as the digestive system to the muscles being exercised. This initial part of your exercise session also helps to improve neural function and co-ordination, protect major joints as it takes time to increase the supply of lubricating synovial fluid and to thicken the articular cartilages – the body’s shock absorbers.

In addition a warm up helps you prepare mentally for exercise.  This allows you to leave the stresses of the day at the door before you start the class so you can focus on the exercises in the room.

How should I warm up?
The warm up’s intensity should cause perspiration but not cause fatigue. The type of warm up needs to be appropriate for the activity planned. It also needs to be appropriate to the age range and fitness level of the participants, usually lasting for 5-15 minutes in duration.

In Lishi we warm up both the external and internal.
We warm up and open the major joints and muscles in the body.

We increase the body’s temperature by gently loading the body’s muscles and gently stretch the muscles tendons and ligaments to reduce muscle stiffness and warm up specific muscles that will be used during exercises.

We also include important deep breathing exercises (which I will blog about next week) to help to oxygenate the system and warm up the internal organs.

So in warming up thoroughly, we are preparing the body and the mind for the more energetic demands of a Lishi class to come.

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Ten Lishi Wisdoms on how to be happy and healthy for 2016

Ten Lishi Wisdoms on how to be happy and healthy for 2016

Ten Lishi Wisdoms on how to be happy and healthy for 2016

1. Take your time, when going about your daily life; don’t hurry. Remember “Wait, wait, wait and let the energy move you”

2. Don’t think too much. Thinking takes energy. Thinking can make you age quickly. Learn to follow your energy work in the flow.

3. When working, work for 40 minutes then stop for 10 minutes. When you look at something all the time, it can damage your eyes. Concentrating on something too long is not nourishing for your mind or body.

4. When you are happy, control your happiness, too much happiness damages the heart energy.  When you lose control of your happiness then you damage your lung energy.

5. Don’t worry too much or get angry.  Anxiousness and anger damages your liver and your intestines. It’s ALL GOOD!

6. Don’t talk too much. Lishi is a doing Art – most people either talk about doing, or do. The benefit is in the doing.

7. When you eat food don’t eat too much.  Chang Ming advises always make sure you leave a little space in your stomach and do not eat until you are totally full as this can damage your spleen.

8. If you only do physical exercise all the time and you never do Qigong this makes you lose your balance and you will become impatient. You lose the Yin of your body. Lishi Exercises balance the Yin and the Yang.

9. If you never exercise your body, and instead only meditate with soft training/qigong, then this doesn’t nourish your Yang energy so you will use up your Yang and become weakened.

10. Lishi training is holistic. The purpose of our training is to balance our Yin and Yang.  How many hours is not important. It’s quality not quantity – come along to one of our classes lishi.org/classes/leeds

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Recipe: Steamed Greens and Carrots with a Tahini and Miso Sauce

Recipe: Steamed Greens and Carrots with a Tahini and Miso Sauce

Steamed Greens and Carrots with a Tahini and Miso Sauce

This currently has my number one spot for favourite meals.

At the moment I am 30 weeks pregnant and I my body craves Cabbage and Broccoli! (nope, not a pickled onion or piece of coal in sight!)

This recipe is super quick and easy. Plus once you’ve tried the Tahini and Miso sauce you won’t be able to get enough of it.

 

Serves: 2 adults / 2 Kids

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 15 mins

 

Ingredients:

Half a head of Brocccoli

2/3 Carrots ( organic if possible, just because they taste so much better)

Half a Green Cabbage

But substitute with any seasonal vegetables that are hanging around in your fridge.

 

Sauce:

2 tablespoons of Tahini ( Light)

1 generous tablespoon of Brown Rice Miso

1 generous dollop of date syrup

1 dash of tamari

1 dash of toasted sesame oil

2 ladels of vegetable stock / water from the steamed veg

 

Instructions:

  1. Wash and cut the carrots into large chunks
  2. Place the carrots into the steamer and start steaming
  3. Wash and cut the broccoli into chucky heads
  4. Wash and dice the cabbage
  5. Place the broccoli and cabbage into the steamer and add as another layer over the carrots. Steam for 5 mins.

 

While the veg are steaming, make the sauce.

 

Tahini and Miso Sauce

  1. Place 2 heaped tablespoons of Tahini in a pan with a very low heat.
  2. Add 1 dollop of date syrup, toasted sesame oil and tamari soya sauce
  3. Add 2 ladles of the steamed vegetable water and stir
  4. Once the sauce has mixed well, turn off the heat and add 1 tablespoon of brown rice miso and continue to stir in well.

 

Place the steamed veggies in a bowl and generously dress with the hot sauce and serve.

I try and follow lifestyle guidelines called Chang Ming (Long Life therapy).

This means plenty of seasonal veggies and I’ve also been cutting down on the amount of grains and carbs I’ve been eating lately.

However you can also serve this with a portion of short grain brown rice.  The nutty flavour of the brown rice is also delicious with this sauce.

Bon Appetite! 🙂

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How To Make Organic Moisturiser Cream

How To Make Organic Moisturiser Cream

How to Make Your Own Organic Body Moisturiser Cream

I was looking in boots and local pharmacies for a natural and gentle moisturiser.  Much of what I found was petro-chemical based or made from Lanolin which is a wax made from sheep’s skin.

Lanolin has been used from hundreds of years as a natural emollient.  However nowadays, due to the industrialisation of agriculture, sheep are routinely dipped in chemical baths which can transfer onto you, and therefore has become a modern day allergen.

Therefore I decided to make my own….

It is surprisingly quick and easy.

Here’s how:

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon of jojoba oil (organic) – to help retain moisture
  • 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (organic) – as well as being a great moisturiser, it has antibacterial properties that help against thrush and infections.
  • 1 teaspoon of cold press sesame oil (organic) – chock full of vitamins, A, D, E

 

Place a saucepan with hot water on the stove.

Place a ceramic bowl in the water (so the water comes half way up the sides of the bowl) and add the ingredients to the bowl.

Using a ceramic spoon stir, mix and melt the ingredients in the bowl.

Clean out and re-use an old glass jar or pot.

Pour the liquid mixture into the pot.

Place in the fridge to firm up.

 

This is super easy and cheap to make and most importantly natural! It’s super rich so I like to use it on my hands and feet.  And So natural that you could eat it! 🙂

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5 Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium

5 Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium

Here are 5 non dairy sources of calcium

Calcium is an essential mineral for the good health of the body, teeth and bones.  I am sick of being told that the only source of calcium is from milk and dairy.

In actual fact calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body and also abundant in a number of foods in equal or higher quantities than dairy.  It is estimated that 6 out of 10 people are not able to digest lactose.  Chee Soo describes it as “ cows milk is designed for baby calves not people” (sic)

For example only 33% of calcium from dairy products can be absorbed by the body.  We need around 300-400 mg of calcium a day. Other food sources such as leafy greens, vegetables and seeds are a much better source of absorbable calcium.

Over zelous PR from the dairy industry market calcium as an wonder mineral, however over comsumption of calcium has its problems.  Therefore to be safe it is better to consume calcium through natural food sources rather than supplements and fortified foods.  Natural food sources are the best way to consume calcium as to absorb this mineral, Vitamin D, K and Magnesium is also needed in the body, which are also naturally occurring in food sources.

Here is a quick list of 5 great non dairy alternatives to calcium

  • Dark Leafy Greens: e.g. Pak Choi, Broccoli, Cabbage and Kale. In addition they are also a fanastic source of vitamins A, C, E and K and B vitamins.  If you make no other changes to your diet, if you have an extra helping of dark leafy greens, you will see positive results in your body.
  • Sesame seeds: there are 90mg of calcium in a teaspoon. But foods such as tahini and halva are rich in sesame and therefore calcium as well as zinc, magnesium, selenium and iron.
  • Beans:such as haricot or navy beans are high in calcium, fiber and iron.
  • Black Strap Molasses: This is an excellent sweetener for teas and baked goods. High in multiple vitamins and minerals, one tablespoon of this thick, dark molasses will give you 172 mg of your daily calcium needs. Try it in your morning cup of organic tea or coffee.
  • Quinoa: this is widely thought to be a grain, but is actually a seed. The delicious light nutty texture contains around 175mg of your daily RDA for calcium, as well as high levels of potassium, magnesium and zinc.

For more information on the Chang Ming Diet buy our Kindle book which includes sixty delicious Chang Ming Recipes

 

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