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Susan A. Matthews, M.S.
Shanti School of Internal Martial Arts
An Institute of Research and Education
Southwestern Colorado, USA
970-903-5723
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New DVD!

Brain Workshop™
Exercises for a New Brain-
Use Mind Power and Movement to Change Your Brain

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No part of this website may be reproduced without expressed permission.

Brain Workshop™ DVDs  |  Program Dates and Details  |  Articles  |  Private Consultation

Brain Workshop™ Programs are presented in Seminars offered nationally. If you would like to sponsor a Brain Workshop seminar with Susan Matthews please email Susan at mail@susanamatthews.com.

Brain Workshop™ ─ Movement Training for the Brain
Tai Chi Qigong Workshop with Susan Matthews, MS

August 20-21, 2010- Telluride, Colorado

September 4-5, 2010- Laguna Beach, California

Movement Training for Brain Health, Neural Rehabilitation, Mind-Body Balance, Advanced training for Therapists

Improve Brain Function and Memory, Use Mind-Body Integration for Higher Consciousness, to Heal Injury and Reverse Aging

Training for all Adults and Seniors; Advanced Training for Taijiquan and Yoga Practitioners, Movement Specialists and Therapists, Mental Health Practitioners, Patients and Caregivers. Includes 12 Key Exercises to Activate the Brain and Calm the Nervous System

Susan Matthews will present Brain Workshop Training with tools for stress reduction, to improve balance, slow brain aging, and improve memory, as well as how to use movement as a meditation and how to use movement to repair brain injury. Matthews is a tai chi master who is also a neuroscientist who has researched spinal cord plasticity, stroke, neuroendocrinology, and dopamine neurophysiology.

Times: Telluride: Friday Evening 6pm-9pm; Saturday Morning Session- 9:00am - 1 pm
Laguna Beach: Saturday noon - 4; Sunday 9-1

Location: Call 970-903-5723

For more information email or call:

Susan Matthews at 970-903-5723, mail@susanamatthews.com.

Registration: Register using credit card by emailing susan or call 970-903-5723 for instructions. Tuition/Suggested Donation: Single Registration $90- full workshop; Single Registration $45-$55 one session; student discounts available; also available is the 2-volume DVD set "Training Your Mind & Movement to Change your Brain." ($35)

Brain Workshop DVD 2-Volume Set, see clip below:

Important Tai Chi mind and movement, brain exercise, principles have been used for centuries by Chinese masters to enhance brain function, healing and conscious evolution. If you are interested in turning on this power in your brain, then this workshop will provide you with tools and inspiration for your professional and personal development. For patients suffering from brain insult including MS, Parkinson's, brain injury, fibromyalgia, balance disorders, memory and sleep problems, this workshop provides real tools for dramatic improvement. See full program details below.

"Susan came to an ongoing group in Leland, where we live, and led us in a one-hour class. We found her knowledge of anatomy and style of working with energy and body movement so appealing that we invited her to our home for a private session. We now regularly use two of her DVD's for practice. And we are so pleased and excited that she is returning for a full day!"B & V

Contents for the Workshop:
Tai Chi and Yoga Movement Principles
Applications for Daily Life.

Part 2- Mental Practice
Integrate Mind (Shen)-Physical-Energy (Qi/Prana)

Part 1- Dynamics of the Spine

Central Equilibrium Balance Training.
Hip and Spine Biomechanics to increase strength and to conserve energy.
Stress Reduction and Relaxation Practices.
Improve Sleep. Improve Memory.

Part 3- Whole Body Movement Synchronicity Activates the Whole Brain
Learn revolutionary biomechanics and internal movement principles involved in synchronicity, rhythmicity, and bilaterality for harmony in mind and body. Walking training included.

Twelve key exercises will be presented for home practice and for teaching your clients. Two-volume DVD set Brain Workshop™ Exercises for a New Brain is available with registration.

Brain Workshop™- Use Mind Power and Movement to Change Your Brain

Hello Susan,
Thanks again for the brilliant seminar last weekend. We've heard nothing but positive things all week from the participants. I especially gained some valuable things to work on from our one-on-one session. Thank you. George Petrush

You can easily incorporate Brain Workshop™ methodology and theory into your current mind/body practice. Whether it's Tai Chi or other martial arts training, or other therapeutic repertoire of exercises, rehabilitation, manual therapy, or counseling, you can achieve amazing results. Amplify physical strength, internal energy, and spiritual intent with advanced Tai Chi & Qigong principles with these special components found in the Brain Workshop™ curriculum: Spiral Anatomy™ Advanced Biomechanics; Mind & Movement Integration Training; Rejuvenation and Longevity Training; and, Neurorehabilitation and Balance Training.

Practitioners of internal martial arts such as Taijiquan and Qigong have cultivated the dynamic qualities of energy in movement to enhance physical and mental abilities well-beyond normal, and to further their spiritual paths. Discover within yourself the "supreme ultimate" exercise to activate your brain and nervous system to change through movement.

Hello Susan,
I want to thank you and the staff of the White Oak Institute for the seminar on Saturday. The wealth of information was a blessing. The DVDs are useful in helping my wife and I put new life into our long time practice of Tai Chi Chih and also to enjoy the new form you presented at the end of the workshop. Again, I thank you for coming to Asheville. All the best! Roger Wheelock

Goals:

For the Individual Practitioner: Techniques learned can be used as a stand-alone Tai Chi/Qigong practice for the individual or be incorporated into an existing practice. Stress reduction, improved health, vitality, strength, coordination and flexibility are common physical benefits along with those same qualities cultivated in the mind and spirit energetically.

For the Therapist, Teacher and Trainier: Methodology and theory are presented so that it can be incorporated into a practitioner’s current therapeutic repertoire of exercise, rehabilitation, manual therapy, counseling or mind/body practice. Advanced biomechanical and energetic technique makes your work easier and transforms it into a physical, energetic and spiritual practice for yourself.

For the Client: Techniques (both sitting and standing) can be taught to clients of all abilities. Reports include improved balance, reduction in chronic pain, reductions in the symptoms of arthritis, improvement in the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, recovery after stroke, improvement in the symptoms of depression and migraine, increased bone strength, reduced incontinence, improved cardiovascular and respiratory function.

Brain Workshop™ is produced by Susan Matthews and Shanti School. We wish to:

Promote the integration of scientific exploration and eastern energy medicine in the practice of internal martial arts.

Provide affordable, high-quality programs to promote the health and well-being of women and the people in their lives.

Take a leadership role in the development and administration of community-based affordable, effective and safe exercise programs for elderly populations. Programs are to include the care-giver, as well as the person with chronic stroke, parkinsonism and other conditions requiring more-sophisticated neurorehabilitative techniques.

Disseminate on a local, as well as a nationwide basis, the scholarly products available to positively influence professionals who provide services for senior populations.

Please contact us to be notified of upcoming Brain Workshops or to schedule a workshop for your group.

Brain Workshop™ Program Details

1 Blood Circulation and Relaxation for Nervous System and Cardiovascular Health
2 Balance and Posture
3 Biomechanics
4 Bone and Joint
5 Senior Health and Longevity
6 Advanced Meditation and Mind Training Techniques
7 Advanced Taiji Principles
8 Brain Workshop™ Clinic for Neurological Rehabilitation, Caregivers Included, Advanced Training for Therapists

"I had blown a disc at L-1 which left me in chronic pain. When I started taijiquan and qigong 7 years ago I was on heavy doses of pain killers, my blood pressure was sky high, and severe allergies caused massive outbreaks of hives. None of those conditions exist anymore." —C. Hughes, R.N. Cardiac Care

Workshop and Lesson Contents:

QiCircles™

“If I could teach only one exercise, it would be QiCircles™. I believe they are the most powerful longevity exercise available.”

Benefits:
Abdominal rotations and trunk loosening increase blood circulation to the spinal cord and internal organs: kidneys, liver, intestines, pelvic organs, bladder, lungs, and heart.
Increased blood circulation, relaxation and focus increases Qi. Builds qi in the dantien (abdomen).
Techniques train mental focus and your ability to move Qi with the mind.
QiCircles™ transform the spine into a supple willow.
Improve digestion
Improve sexual function, bladder control, prostate health
Basic gross anatomy of the abdomen, thorax, spinal dynamics, and hip anatomy are taught to improve visualization and movement skills.
Qigong Practice DVD available to supplement home practice.

Qi Breathing™ - Qi Filling Breath Meditation

Enhanced Abdominal Breathing
Increases blood and qi circulation of the brain, head and neck, internal organs of entire body.
Builds qi in the dantien (abdomen).
Fill with the bright white light of spirit
Ground the body with high frequency spiritual energy and lower frequency earth energy
Reduce Fear/Anxiety, Stress

Sinking/Rooting practice.

Create balance, physical stability, and relaxation by learning how to first gather energy inward in order to project yourself outward.
Take conscious control of minute aspects of your body and every aspect of the self by practicing exercises of looking inward and grounding to the earth both physically and energetically.
Stabilize and open the low back (relieves chronic low back pain).

Mindful Massage™

Head and Neck Massage relaxes tension and increases blood circulation to the brain.
Learn Techniques to alleviate chronic headache and migraines.
Learn to focus mind intention and qi into internal anatomical structures for self healing.

Eight Pieces of Brocade Qigong- Ba Duan Jin

Learn one of the oldest known forms of qigong ("CHEE gong") that originated in China some 800 years ago. Qigong means to "cultivate energy" and has been shown to improve overall health and feelings of well-being. It is ideal for beginner tai chi and qigong practitioners. The postures are simple to learn; doing them regularly and correctly is key to feeling their profound effects.
Each of the Ba Duan Jin exercises intensifies the flow of energy along the full length of specific meridians and thus the complete set of exercises benefits the whole network, including the internal organs through which that energy passes.
The Eight Pieces of Brocade DVD is available to supplement home practice.

Cultivate Dantien Energy Power

For the advanced taiji practitioner, Dantien (abdominal) rotation creates fluidity in movement, and movement in which the body or torso moving at the center generates all movement of the extremities.

"I had chronic back pain and terrible sciatica on both sides. I had been wearing a heel lift for a year. After only four months of taijiquan, my leg had changed so much the doctor said get rid of the heel lift. I started experiencing relief since the very first time I learned to open the pelvis in the back, and now I’m pain free." —K. Stange, D.V.M.

Workshop and Lesson Contents:

Zhong Ding or Central Equilibrium Training

This training explores the concept of developing a straight spine with an energetic central “plumb line.”
Develop Energy in the Spine: Zhong Ding Jin suspends the spine between Heaven and Earth. Gather and release from this energetic core.
Energy transmission from heaven and earth through the heart is an expression of the creative spirit of the individual, beautiful, wise and full of love.

Learn to practice and incorporate workshop principles in a short Wu Style Set,our beautiful Tibetan Form, or in your favorite taiji form.

"Better body mechanics, along with postural corrections which improved my hip joint mobility, have had a phenomenal impact on my skiing and other sports. The most direct application, however, has been in skiing. I have skied since I was a kid. My dad was a ski instructor. I skied most every weekend in high school then took a good many years off while living in Austin, TX. I got back on skis and started tai chi with Susan Matthews last year. After one season I have reached a whole new level by incorporating the ‘backwards bicycle’ and ‘spiraling’ throughout the entire body. Instead of using a great deal of energy and strength, I can easily relax into my skiing groove with solid carving turns." —Tracy Henderson, 2002. Tracy is 36 years old, has 25 years experience as a skier, ten years as a martial artist, and is a mountain bike enthusiast.

"My skiing had plateaued for about three years, and after only 7 weeks of taijiquan, I rip. The change is awesome, like night and day. Now I move with more relaxation and efficiency—it’s effortless, like water." —Todd Swanson, 1999

Workshop Contents:

Spiral Anatomy™ Theory and Training

Advanced Biomechanics and Mind-Movement Integration Training: Postural Correction, Strength Training, Skiing and other Sports Performance

Learn Waist/Hip Mechanics: Stable, rotational hip mechanics; sacrum, tailbone function in transmitting movement through the spine.

Learn revolutionary biomechanical and internal movement principles involved in synchronicity, rhythmicity, and bilaterality. Participants are encouraged to explore application of the mind-movement principles in their own form of exercise, sport, dance, manual therapy, walking, balance therapy, energy practice, or martial-art form. Exercises are perfectly adaptable to sitting and slow movement, yet still provide high-quality content and results for neurorehabilitation after stroke, movement disorders (parkinsonism), and movement and mental dysfunction that result from aging.

Chan Ssu Chin Basic Training Set

Learn the Biomechanics of Spiraling Bones. Chan Ssu Chin, Silk Reeling, practice strengthens and connects all the joints and tendons into one continuous, energized, flexible "snake." Physical strength with plasticity, fluidity, and relaxation can be increased through the use of integrated "bone" power rather than through reliance on muscular strength. Later, spiraling contains and generates a "jin/chin/jing" or force.

Whole Body One Unit Synchronicity

Use Whole Back and Waist Power: The waist includes the dantien in front and ming men and kidneys in the back. Sinking the shoulders into the dantien and the low back transfers shoulder power to the more powerful hips and legs.

Training the mind to direct energy, or training energy to move to accomplish any action, added to the mechanical, enhances strength even more. Intent, energy and physical integration produces maximum power.

Power Stretch

Power Stretch is a technique to connect the back to the waist as well as energize bone/tendon/ligament throughout the body.

First, movement with synchronicity, rhythmicity, and symmetry has been linked to brain activation during memory acquisition, states of consciousness, locomotion, neural repair, and rehabilitation.

Second, mental practice, including visualization and movement imagery, are receiving greater significance for treatment potential. New imaging techniques show that when you visualize going over movement in your mind (imagery), neuronal (nerve cell) activity in the brain actually mirrors that movement. This capacity of the nervous system is just beginning to be explored in brain injury research and treatment. Tai Chi and other ‘internal’ martial arts training tools greatly enhance mental agility by tapping into the mind connection between visualization of internal energy (qi) and movement.

Third, balanced, integrated, left- and right-sided movement is accompanied by balanced brain activity. Such movement activates the motor and sensory neural circuitry of the whole brain. Balance is accomplished by using two major components of training: 1) “central equilibrium training,” and; 2) mechanical spiraling in the joints.

Fourth, engaging and integrating multiple sensory systems both physically and with mind intention, wakes up the entire body and brain, and can speed up the healing process. These systems include visual, kinesthetic, the sense of gravity and position, muscle load, stretching and contracting, sensors in the skin, and the sensation of qi (vital energy).

Fifth, using these techniques and others to train the mind achieves three levels of adaptation. First, increased awareness of the sensation of internal qi energy flowing in the body. Second, the ability to direct internal energy and physical movement to flow in harmony. Finally, the training cultivates awareness of, and harmony with, the energetic movement in the space surrounding the body.

Part 1- Dynamics of the Spine

Central Equilibrium Training. This training explores the concept of developing a straight spine with an energetic central “plumb line.”

Anatomical Structure of the Spine, Shoulder and Hip. Redefine the relationship of neck and shoulder to hip through the spine and down to the feet. Learn how to use relaxation and hip stretch to realign structure. Learn what is meant by the "art of the body."

Hip and Spine Biomechanics. Apply Chinese Yin-Yang Theory to the movements of Daily Life to increase energy and efficiency and decrease pain and fatigue. Energetically and physically: left/right, up/down, in/out, forward/backward, solid/empty, lifting/sinking.

Part 2- Mental Practice

Sinking/Rooting: A strong root and balance is obtained with understanding postural alignment in gravity, lowering the center of balance, and the mechanics of transferring weight and awareness to the feet.

Mind-Energy Walking (Chi Walking, Qi Walking). Learn effortless walking using yi or mind intent, visualization of Qi or energy movement, central equilibrium, and gravity.

Part 3- Whole Body One Unit Synchronicity

Learn revolutionary biomechanical and internal movement principles involved in synchronicity, rhythmicity, and bilaterality. Participants are encouraged to explore application of the mind-movement principles in their own form of exercise, sport, dance, manual therapy, walking, balance therapy, energy practice, or martial-art form. Exercises are perfectly adaptable to sitting and slow movement, yet still provide high-quality content and results for neurorehabilitation after stroke, movement disorders (parkinsonism), and movement and mental dysfunction that result from aging.

Learn Waist/Hip Mechanics: Stable, rotational hip mechanics; sacrum, tailbone function in transmitting movement through the spine.

Using Back and Waist Power: Unifying the back and waist stabilizes the low back and transfers shoulder power to the more powerful hips and legs.

Throughout the workshop references to the relevant scientific literature supporting the theories presented will be discussed.

Specialty Programs

Qi Skiing™, Qi Swimming™, Qi Biking™

Regardless of the level of internal energy skills (neigong and neijing) one develops, certain movement patterns, use of force, and principles of whole, integrated body mechanics can be quickly understood and applied. This is especially true with Tai Chi practitioners or with athletes who are already proficient in their sport.

Southwest Colorado and the Four Corners Area is beautiful for its distinct seasons and outdoor recreational opportunities. Each workshop includes applications to specific sports depending on the season or regional events.

In Durango, Colorado, where we love outdoor recreation, I have taught and tested the above elements of Tai Chi training with skiers, mountain bikers, equestrians, hikers, rock climbers, golfers, kayakers, runners, tennis players, a ski jumper/aerialist and skate boarders. These students report getting better, having more fun, and having fewer injuries. Training for superior strength and power in Tai Chi does not include training for the biggest muscles but does include mind, energy, and sophisticated biomechanics.

Hi Susan. I just went skiing for the first time today since taking your class. I mean I figured it would help my skiing, but I can’t even believe how much this has helped my skiing. It’s another world. The whole time I was skiing I was just imagining the line of qi all the way from the central sun (all the way down) into the earth, through the middle of the earth, and it’s all I had to think about. I didn’t have to think about anything else. It was just perfect, it was just perfect. I can’t believe it. My friend that I ski with is blown away. He can’t even believe it either. It was just amazing. I was going faster than him for the first time ever. He didn’t know where I was because I was always in front. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And I’ll see you soon. And I think I’ve talked him to taking your class too. Sue Tilley