13 Aug 11 – International Taoist Tai Chi Awareness Day Edinburgh, Scottish Region – a Festival of Tai Chi

The world famous Edinburgh Festival met the world famous International Taoist Tai Chi Awareness Day, as two hundred members from across Scotland gathered at the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens, under the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, to practise together and raise awareness of Taoist Tai Chi ™.

They had come from Tain in the north, Peebles in the south, Aberdeen in in the east and Glasgow and Skye in the west – plus one recently moved to Perth from Winnipeg.

The sun shone, the rain fell, sometimes together (this is Scotland after all), and the two hundred members kept smiling.

The public display in Edinburgh is but a part of the bigger picture. International Taoist Tai Chi Awareness Day is marked around the world, with similar events taking place almost simultaneously in Cardiff and Southend-on-Sea in Great Britain, in major cities around Europe and Australasia, and across North America – most notably near the Society’s international headquarters in Toronto. This year’s activities included the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism, sister organisation to the International Taoist Tai Chi Society and a cornerstone of the teachings of our founder, the late Master Moy Lin-Shin.

In Edinburgh, while most people joined in with the many Sets in the display area, a large number of volunteers helped out – at the VIP tent, and the T-shirt stall, and in the prime leafleting areas. Talking to people is a large part of Awareness Day, and the leafleters were in the Gardens, and up on Princes Street itself, answering questions and explaining the Society's work, for the interested people of Edinburgh and for the great number of visitors packing the city centre in the first weekend of the Festival. Interested visitors from Slovakia and Spain were pleased to hear that they could find local classes when they returned home.

By the time the buses returned to take people home, there was a clear sense of achievement, of being part of something larger than self – a foundation for further development.

Please visit our Photo Gallery to see more of this event.