Mike Dolan Fliss's video: Mike at Chen Tai Chi summer camp - Quick tour of Abode of the Message

Day 1 of summer camp with Master Wang Hai Jun (www.wanghaijun.com). Been practicing with him for around 7 or 8 years now. I LOVE summer camp. It's just about a week, which can be a challenge to carve out... but it's so nice to only think about practice and things that surround it (food, clothes, sleep, etc.) This much practice is pretty "tight" - you eat and sleep and everything else just about as much as you can, and it's ALMOST enough to keep up with practice. The schedule's pretty relaxed it seems, this year - maybe 6 hours of practice a day? US Summer camp used to be at a little Catholic retreat center in Maggie Valley, NC. MUCH closer for Steve and I.... but I like it here a heck of a lot more. The food's incredibly good (practice makes it taste better, yeah, but still). And the scenery is impossible to beat. Last time I was here I had my first serious bout with Lyme disease (with a few flare-ups over the years). Seemed to cause some longer term joint pain I'm still working on. At the time, I had a week of migraines and 103+ fever. Bad news bears. But I'm so glad to be back to add some pleasant memories. And it's such a quiet and beautiful space. And the community really holds it together. Retreat centers, done well, have a particular flavor to me. Southern Dharma Retreat Center, Spirit Fire in MA, Abobe of the Messsage (where this was filmed)... just taste GOOD to the sense. Simple, quiet, but full, too. MMmmgood.