introduction

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

 

I joined the group a little while ago but, as the

moderator just reminded me, I failed to introduce

myself, so I'm doing so now. My name Jim Donnelly and

I'm a director of an organization called the American

Society of Internal Arts, or A.S.I.A. My wife is

Loretta Donnelly (maiden name Wollering), and

throughout the 1990's she apprenticed to the late

taijiquan Grandmaster Jou Tsung Hwa. During the same

period she also served as Operations Manager of his

legendary 103-acre school in Warwick, NY, the Tai Chi

Farm, and Operations Director of the event he founded,

the Zhang San Feng Festival, one the largest and

oldest internal arts events in the country. More

information on the history of Grandmaster Jou, the

Farm and the Festival can be found at

www.taichifarm.org. Tragically, Grandmaster Jou was

killed in an auto accident in 1998, the last Festival

to be held at the Farm was in 1999, and the property

was then sold in 2000. In the years that followed, my

wife and I worked to rebuild and continue Jou's

legacy. In 2001, we donated to the town of Warwick, NY

the first public town monument to be erected in memory

of a taijiquan grandmaster anywhere in the US. It can

be found at Warwick Town Park, in Warwick NY. We next

founded a new membership organization (A.S.I.A.)

dedicated to the promotion of the internal arts and

related fields (qigong, Chinese medicine, etc.). More

info can be found at

www.americansocietyofinternalarts.org. We're in the

process of upgrading the site so please forgive some

of the dated material there. Changes are coming in a

couple days. Our membership is divided into two

divisions - basic and trade. Basic membership offers a

complimentary subscription to the A.S.I.A. Journal,

our bi-annual membership publication, and discounts to

all our events including the Zhang San Feng Festival.

Trade members receive a complimentary page in our web

directory (coming soon) and enrollment in our

affiliate program, allowing professionals in the field

to bring additional income into their businesses by

signing folks up to our events. Internal arts teachers

will be granted additional benefits by being eligible

for entry into our board of advisors, having their

school indexed in our website school directory (also

coming soon), as well as being eligible for our

internal arts hall of fame. With a hosting

organization in place, the annual Zhang San Feng

Festival was revived this past year at East

Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg PA, June

6th, 7th and 8th, 2003. The university offered

affordably priced room and board packages for

attendees so folks could park at check-in, and stay on

campus for the entire weekend. At its height, the

Festival drew over 700 people a year. This year we

attracted a little over 350 people which, considering

the passing of its host and the 4 years it spent in

limbo, wasn't too shabby a comeback. Next year, we'll

be kicking things off with a free pot luck picnic in

Warwick Town Park in Warwick NY on World Tai Chi and

Qigong Day. In June we'll be starting the Festival

with a weekend of teacher's workshops, followed by

mid-week workshop intensives where folks can study

under one master for a few days, leading into an

expanded three day Zhang San Feng Festival. This will

be followed a summer weekend workshop series offering

weekend workshops in internal arts, Chinese medicine

and body work, as well as different aspects of Asian

culture (calligraphy, etc.). Like this past year, for

nearly all of next years workshops and events, ESU

will be offering room and board packages for

attendees. Full schedules, workshop descriptions and

on-line registration will be available at the A.S.I.A.

website sometime in January. My reason for joining

this group (aside from the opportunity to broadcast an

occasional infomercial:) was to educate myself a bit

on the subject of TCM and to get a feel of how we may

better be able to help promote the art. Also, it's my

hope that by being a member of groups like this, it

will provide us with new ideas for workshops - things

that folks interested in TCM might enjoy.

 

Regards,

 

- Jim Donnelly