TAO BROTHERS HOMECOMING IN ASHEVILLE

Tao Brothers have come home to Asheville after their national tour. We continue our mission to promote health, wellness and fellowship to all people. Come to our WEEKLONG WELLNESS EXTRAVAGANZA (Check the full schedule of events below).

Also check out the article on Conscious Movement and an interview with Accem in the Aug. 27 issue of Mountain Express. We appeared on Evening Rounds on WCQS-FM and have an interview scheduled with WLOS-TV13.

For any questions, contact us at (828) 252-6851 or taobrothers@gmail.com.

A WEEKLONG WELLNESS EXTRAVAGANZA IN ASHEVILLE

Aug. 24-31
“Conscious Movement Week” on URTV (Charter cable channel 20), the mind-body fitness show will be broadcast every evening from 10-11 p.m.

Aug. 27
7 p.m. – FREE LECTURE: “Better Health Through Conscious Movement” at Malaprop's Bookstore, 55 Haywood Street downtown.

August 28
7-8 p.m. FREE Qigong Workshop. Shiloh Community Center, 121 Shiloh Rd., Asheville. (828)-274-7739.
9:30 – 11 p.m. Screening of the URTV show “Best of Conscious Movement” Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company, 675 Merrimon Avenue, (828) 254-1281. Love offering.

Aug. 29
7:30 - 9:30 p.m. WORKSHOP: Discover Qigong. Register: Namaste Yoga Sanctuary, 57 Broadway downtown (828) 253-6985 info@namasteyogasanctuary.com

Aug. 30
10 a.m. – 12 noon. FREE WELLNESS WALK. City-County Plaza downtown (College St. & Spruce St.) to Montford Park.
2 - 5 p.m. WORKSHOP: Essentials of Conscious Movement. Register: Namaste Yoga Sanctuary, 57 Broadway downtown (828) 253-6985 info@namasteyogasanctuary.com

Aug. 31
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., WORKSHOP: Maximum Health Through Conscious Movement: Prama Institute www.pramainstitute.org, 310 Panhandle Road, Marshall, NC 28753, Directions: (828) 649-9408. $135, includes vegetarian lunch. Register taobrothers@gmail.com, phone: (828) 280-7287.

Sept. 2
5-7 p.m. WORKSHOP: One-Minute Methods for Stress Relief: Mission Hospitals, Loretta Hall, Classroom #6 on St. Joseph Campus (Hospital employees only.) $39. Mission Fitness Center members $31. (Price includes meditation CD.)

Conscious Movement in Chicago

In Chicago, the Tao Brothers did an impromptu demonstration at Flavor Fest, an outdoor festival showcasing organic and natural foods – right in line with our mission promoting a healthy lifestyle! They invited us to do a class on the spot and people enjoyed it so much that the organizers asked us to book a full class for next year’s event. We continued to touch people’s lives with workshops at Karyn’s Raw Café (a raw foods restaurant and day spa) and Discovery Center.

Tai Chi & Qigong - Peaches & Ice cream

We stopped off in Columbus, Ohio to stay a few days with the Gill family (Michael's relatives). In the picture above you see Grandpa Bill Gill and Anna doing some rejuvenation Qigong out by the pond. At 94, Grandpa Gill decided to try Qigong for the first time. He said he felt real relaxed and peaceful. In the next photo we all gathered to enjoy peaches & ice cream, conversation and some Qigong with more of the Gill relatives.

Conscious Movement in Philadelphia - Valley Green

A great mix of people came to the Tao Brothers Wellness Walk in Philadelphia, black, white, young, old, Muslim, Christian, Taoist, plump, skinny, advanced qigong practitioners and beginners. Once again, Accem and Michael stirred up the melting pot, breaking stereotypes and getting people relaxing, breathing and moving! Each stop on our journey along the stream in Valley Green brought folks into deeper levels of awareness of their bodies and their surroundings in Nature.

One woman said, “I come here every day to run, but I never really pay attention to what’s around me because I’m so busy with myself. Today I actually saw the trees and the stream.” Others said they were more aware of the light and colors playing around them, or the sounds of the birds. Many said people often told them that they were breathing wrong, but nobody ever told them the right way to breathe. They were very enthusiastic to learn our simple deep breathing methods.

One highlight of the walk was doing movements from the Five Treasures form, produced by the National Qigong Association (www.nqa.org), on a stone bridge over running water. This gave us a concrete example of “being in the flow” with Nature. When it was over, a woman named Rahima said, “I feel like a river of liquids and energy is running through my body!”

Tao Brothers are an affiliate of the National Qigong Association and are advancing the goal of the NQA’s Healing Wave Project by spreading Qigong across America.

Check out a short video of the walk and the powerful testimonials of first-time practitioners at

http://vimeo.com/1555533

PHILLY MEDIA COVERS THE BROTHERS

Our events in the City of Brotherly Love gained momentum today with coverage of Tao Brothers in the Philadelphia Citypaper and the Chestnut Hill Local. Local host Sarah Lomax Reese invited us to appear on her show Health Quest Live on African-American radio station WURD 900 AM. Many thanks to the members of the media for spreading the message of healing our communities!

Tai Chi en Espanol!

Michael is used to talking about Tai Chi and Qigong, but today he did it on Spanish-language radio! He reached out over the airwaves to the Latino population of Philadelphia on the “Tapon-Tapon” (Bumper-to-Bumper) evening drive time show on WTTW 1680 AM. The hosts’ jaws dropped when they heard this red-bearded Irish-looking guy speak to them in fluent Spanish. He told them he was used to breaking stereotypes, especially in his role in the bi-racial teaching team, the Tao Brothers.

“Nobody enjoys life more than Latinos and nobody enjoys spreading health, wellness and brotherhood to all people more than the Tao Brothers,” said Michael, “Latinos are always focused on family, and Tai Chi is a great tool to take care of yourself, your family and your community. We want to share it with everyone.”

Michael now lives and teaches in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. He has used Spanish in his careers since 1989.

Tao Sister's Qigong Birthday

Eleanor Hancock, Accem’s wife, wears the Queen’s crown and shares Qigong with her neighbors on her birthday, August 11. Eleanor teaches classes in martial arts and Qigong in Asheville, NC. Eleanor and Michael’s mom, Sandy Clark, are beautiful Tao Sisters, sharing healing arts with their communities and supporting the Tao Brothers tour through their tireless efforts to get the word out and draw more people to a healthy lifestyle.

National Qigong Association speech

Following up the Baltimore Wellness Walk, Tao Brothers spoke on Aug. 8 at the annual conference of the National Qigong Association, a gathering of some of the most experienced teachers and practitioners in the country.

“Where we differ from most teachers of Qigong is that we really stress racial harmony,” said Michael Clark.

“Tai Chi and Qigong transformed me,” said Accem Scott, “I was raised as a black Muslim. But now my very best friend, Michael, is white. My wife is Caucasian and I have a bi-racial daughter. This work has changed my life and now what we want to do is take that same kind of awareness to people of all colors.”

“We break all kinds of stereotypes,” said Michael, “The white guy is a rapper and the black guy is a doctor. We want to keep challenging people’s idea of race and to promote ways to heal our bodies and our communities.”

Michael performed his Tai Chi Rap at the conference. Scroll down the page to see the video.

Conscious Movement in Baltimore

You’ve heard of the Blues Brothers, well we are the Tao Brothers. With all the energy and twice the soul! Accem Scott and Michael Clark, a black man and a white man dedicated to bringing health, wellness and fellowship to all people. Join us on the Conscious Movement Across America Tour Aug. 7-31 in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago and Asheville North Carolina. (see below for dates and times)




The Tao Brothers kicked off their Conscious Movement Across America tour today with the first of four Qigong Wellness Walks at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, MD. Powerful forces of Nature were brewing as we gave many Baltimore residents their first taste of Qigong. We began Qigong walking around Druid Lake and soon the sizzling summer sun was obscured by rumbling thunderclouds. As we did the movement “Draw Down Heaven Qi” from the Five Treasures form, the Heavens opened up and poured their cooling rain upon us. Despite being drenched, a die-hard crowd continued with the walk and exercises along the 1.5-mile journey.

“Rain or no rain, I feel really satisfied that today we launched a dream that Accem and I have had for five years. We are taking the practice to a national audience.” said Michael Clark.

“It was like a Native American rain dance,” said Accem Scott. “We called on the Heavens and they replied. The challenge for me was to choose my attitude. Do I see the rain as problem that forces us to quit, or as a sign to keep going and flow with the situation just like it is? We chose to go on."

One man said, “I’m glad I stuck it out. I feel more energized than when I got here.”

Local practitioner Pete Theodoropoulos summarized the joy of the art when he said, “We are made to be perfectly at peace, radiant, happy, joyful and powerful. And when the energy is coursing through, that’s what we feel. That’s why Qigong works, you know. You say, okay, I’m going to use these exercises to make it flow like it’s supposed to.”

The event had an impact beyond those who attended, because an article quoting Accem, myself and Janet Sullivan, the president of the National Qigong Association, appeared in
the Baltimore Examiner, a newspaper with a circulation over 400,000. The article let folks know that they could study more about Qigong at the NQA’s annual conference taking place just outside Baltimore this weekend.