🌿 A Gentle Pause in Our Sunday Online Practice

Dear Beloved Community,

As we continue to cultivate peace, steadiness, and joy together, I’d like to share a small change in our online practice schedule.

There will be no Sunday online Qì Gōng practice on August 2 or August 9. I invite you to use these Sunday mornings as an opportunity to enjoy your own mindful practice—perhaps a few gentle movements, a walking meditation, or simply a few conscious breaths wherever you are.

We will gather online this week on:
🍃 Tuesday, August 4
🍃 Thursday, August 6

We will gather in person this week at Lacy Park in San Marino on:
🍃 Tuesday, August 4

May each breath remind us that we have already arrived. May each gentle movement help us come home to our bodies, nourish our ancestors, and offer our calm presence to ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities.

I look forward to practicing with you soon.

With gratitude and warm wishes,
Kathy

In-Person Community Qìgōng Practice at Lacy Park

I’m delighted to share that our community will continue with in-person drop-in Qìgōng practice sessions at beautiful Lacy Park in San Marino. These sessions are open to everyone—whether you’ve attended previous classes or are joining us for the first time.

Dates: Tuesdays — July 28, August 4, and August 11

Time: 10:15–11:00 a.m. (PT)

Location:
Lacy Park
1485 Virginia Road
San Marino, CA 91108

Please park in the small parking lot or along Virginia Road. Enter from the Virginia Road entrance (east side) and our practice will be on the first left. (diagonal to the memorial and before the playground)

Please note that there is a short walk into and through the park.

No entrance fee for the park during the week. Public bathrooms are available on site.

No prior experience is necessary. Movements may be adapted for standing, seated, or lying-down practice.

Please bring water and wear comfortable shoes. If you wish, you are welcome to bring a chair and/or something to place your bags on.

These sessions are offered for educational purposes and are not intended as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Classes may be canceled in the event of excessive heat or rain.

Choose the Rate That Supports You

I trust you to choose the rate that best reflects your current circumstances. If none of the suggested tiers feels like the right fit, you’re welcome to contribute an amount that feels both sustainable and meaningful. Every offering—large or small—helps nurture this practice and supports our shared community.

Your class fees help support my longtime non profit community partners. Their work supports basic needs being met such as housing, food, clothes for our shared humanity. We have supported over $14000 over 6 plus years.

Accessible Rate — $20 per class
For those who would benefit from additional financial flexibility. My hope is that cost is as little a barrier as possible.

Sustaining Rate — $30 per class
Helps cover the ongoing costs of offering the class and keeps the program thriving.

Community Supporter Rate — $50 per class
For those who are able to contribute a little extra. Your generosity helps make the class accessible to others and strengthens our community of practice.

No amount is too small or too large. Everyone is welcome regardless of financial circumstances.If a monetary contribution is not possible at this time, you are still warmly invited to participate. Over the years, people have expressed their gratitude in many beautiful ways—including poems, songs, handmade cards, artwork, and seeds for the garden. Your presence is a valued contribution to our community.

Venmo: @professoryep

Zelle: kathyyep@yahoo.com

Or by mail:Dr. Kathy Yep
P.O. Box 1313
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Thank you for practicing with such openness, generosity, and care. I look forward to practicing with you.

With gratitude,

Dr. Kathy Yep

Wisdoms from today’s online qìgōng practice….

Gratitude to Debbie, Liz, Bonnie, Katherine and Jasmine for today’s co-teaching and co-learning during online qìgōng. Profound movements and reflection. I added some sources like a percussionist pulsing with the rhythm and the horn sections. Deep bow to our community of practice, our ancestors, and our teachers. Deep bow to recent and longtime ancestors/teachers.

  • “Subdued and curious” AND “Spaces to be deeper in with connected existence during these times of cruelty”

Lucille Clifton: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lucille-clifton

America’s Racial Kharma: The fires of grief are burning by Dr. Larry Ward (2020) 13m

PROMPT cited: “I am preparing for…. “ (e.g. joy, connection, transformation, all beings to be free and genuinely secure)

“Crummy” AND “I got lost in the movement and realized I was going a different direction. And that was okay and I could return if I wanted. I am accepted as I arrive and as I move.”

Love after loveDerek Walkcott

“Hurt my leg and can’t move in the way I want.” AND “I felt soothed. The body as a poem”

Living in the Body” Joyce Sutphen

” For Warmth Thích Nhất Hạnh

Did you know? Practicing qìgōng has been associated with changes in brain networks involved in attention, emotional regulation, and body awareness.

My understanding is that taking a pause, an interstitial, a few deep breaths after relaxation helps feed back calming experiences in neural networks by activating specific neurons in the brain that link breathing to relaxation and calmer emotional states. Or Qì flow through movement might connect to our pacemaker neurons in our brain and locking into a slower rhythm and adapting firing patterns over time when we repeatedly practice the slow, rhythmic activites like the circular movements we practiced today.

https://www.brainfacts.org/brain-anatomy-and-function/anatomy/2023/the-vital-crosstalk-between-breath-and-brain-013123

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/03/study-discovers-how-slow-breathing-induces-tranquility.html

Gratitude to our community of practice.

We practice for ourselves and all beings. With no being and place left out.

Be well. I intend to have practice on Sunday, July 5.