Schedule and Info
Click here for New Schedule Starting Feb 14 2012!
Sifu
John A. Fey
Click here for this weeks schedule!
We are playing the original T'ai Chi this week. Come play the Nei Chia!
Sifu John-A. Fey Has been teaching for over 40 years.
Our School
At The Center
At the New Forest® Center, we engage in a variety of activities taken from the worlds’ greatest contemplative traditions. This includes seated, standing and moving meditation, as well as the study of contemplative music and Chinese calligraphy. Each discipline is taught the New Forest® Way which allows for greater access, understanding and enjoyment.
“ New Forest players, as we like to call ourselves, use these methods to transport ourselves from a limiting consensual reality into the realm of limitless authenticity, wisdom and strength.”
~ Master John Bright-Fey
INFO
Our Class Schedule:
Tuesday: (In the Vestavian Room; Sometimes in Room 4 in the same building as the Vestavian Room)
6:00pm- 7:50 pm Tai Chi
Wednesday: (At the Senior Lodge in Wald Park)
6:30 AM- 7:20 Tai Chi
Thursday: (In the Vestavian Room; Sometimes in Room 4 in the same building as the Vestavian Room )
6:00 PM - 7:50 Tai Chi
Class Cost
$125/month : Attend any/all scheduled classes within the calendar month.
Or pay by the class: Morning classes are $10; Evening classes are $20.
DVDs and CDs of the New Year's Workshops
If you'd like something to help you remember all the information Sifu Fey presented in any/all of the three sessions, a DVD (audio/video of the Qigong for the year) and CDs (audio only for the other workshops) will be available for purchase soon.
(These discs are available to you, whether you attended or not.)
Qigong DVD - $15 for Attendees; $30 for Non-Attendees
Tung Shu Calendar CD - $10 for Attendees; $20 for Non-Attendees
Astrology/Feng Shui CD - $10 for Attendees; $20 for Non-Attendees
... or, buy all three together - $30 for Attendees / $50 for Non-Attendees.
* Copies of the Tung Shu (Cultivator's Calendar) are also available for $25 to everyone.
Please stay tuned to our Constant Contact e-mails for more details.
Address:
The Vestavia Civic Center
At the Lodge above Wald Park
1973 Merryvale Road
Vestavia Al, 35216.
and The Vestavian Room at In the main center.
Sometimes Room 4.
Please arrive 5-10 minutes early so that we can do all of the pre-class paperwork.
The New Forest ® Way is our signature approach to the contemplative practices, health exercise and martial arts of ancient China, India and Tibet. But, New Forest is decidedly not an Asian method. Rather, it is distinctively American. Said another way, the seeds of this forest came from the Far East, but they were planted and nurtured in American soil. As such, New Forest is uniquely suited to meet the needs of those living in a contemporary Western culture.
The modern New Forest style of Tai Chi and New Forest Qigong are among the most important arts regularly taught at the Center. In addition, the Center will offer classes in seated and walking meditation as well as other ancient styles of contemplative movement.
But, no matter what the subject, each art is fully aligned with the fundamental premise that true human liberty can only exist if we are physically, spiritually and creatively free. It is to these ends that the New Forest Way is steadfastly dedicated.
Ready for well-being, clarity and relaxation? Well here it comes. New Forest tai Chi is a uniquely American Version of Chinese Tai Chi movement. It's all here! Deep relaxed breathing and enjoyable mental concentration with slow and graceful movements.
In addition to improving strength and agility, studies suggest that our New Forest Tai Chi impoves balance, posture and cardiovascular health, reduces chronic pain and helps lower blood presure. It doesn't get any better than this!
Tai Chi Short Course Six Week Spring Session:
Stay tuned!
Why Contemplation?
Living a contemplative lifestyle is an invitation to the sacred aspects of life. Much of our day-to-day lives become so over scheduled, most often that nourishing time spent with ourselves vanishes amid our occupations and preoccupations. We often find that were filled up with worry and fear, that stress and impulsiveness rule our days, and the often frenetic motion of living leaves our minds fogged, our bodies fatigued and our spirits bound. This is a thoroughly unacceptable situation.
At the Center, we employ contemplative techniques to make a much-needed space in our lives for wonder, beauty, peace and God. In so doing, we reclaim our lives as our own and learn how to reserve the best of ourselves for that which we care about the most.
Our Philosophy, Our Mission
The New Forest® Way is a body-mind philosophy. As such, it is grounded in mindful physical movement. It is, at once, both technique and method designed to foster clarity of thought, directness of action and freedom of expression. This kind of movement is liberating as well as transformative. Authentic movement is designed to take us to the very core center of our beings. Once centered, this same authentic movement frees us to express our deepest feelings and our highest ideals:
~ To discover our true and authentic self
~ To freely and creatively express that truth
~ To acquire a complete experience of life
~ To become one with the miracle of nature
~ To live our lives as art
The entire art and philosophy taught via classes and workshops at the Center are built upon these foundational stones. Taken together, they form the bedrock of the New Forest® Way and constitute our mission statement to the community.
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Student Release NFC 2011.pdf
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Info
Telephone
(205)527-1198
Email
Sifu_newforestway.com
Links
Student Release NFC 2010.pdf
AstrologyChart.pdf
Videos
Testimonials
I have had 4 previous teachers in Tai Chi. All of them treated the art as a simple dance made up of a series of moves. When I started with Sifu John Fey 24 years ago I begin learning principles that underlie the art. In my mid 40's I usually got sick 2 or 3 times a year and I was a pretty stressed out guy. I'm 71 now and have been to the doctor once in 3 years and like water I roll with both life's rewards and challenges. I love the easy going style of the class. I've found that in life if I want to learn something I need to make it fun, Fun is the first principle of New Forest Movement. Sifu is a treasure which I value highly.
- Stan Schiff
I have been a New Forest practitioner for 8 years. It is a unique tool in my process of awakening to the many gifts of being human. Instead of living in a more or less constant state of resistance, I am learning how to allow the ebb and flow of the energy within and without to flow through my body mind without fear and without judgment. It has profoundly changed the quality of my life as my experience of it is deeper, richer.
The students and teachers I have met and practiced with have also facilitated my becoming more relaxed, alert and aware. There is a sense of community where I feel safe to explore and experiment with Sifus teachings. A web of connection is there as we reach toward some unspoken yet mutual goal of becoming. I appreciate the support, encouragement and affirmation I always receive in class.
Sifu's meditation and Qigong classes are my favorite. They leave me feeling refreshed, clearer and healthier. It is like getting out of your head and back into your body. The postures, visualizations, breathing techniques and toning have taken me places I thought I would never go! Sifu's ability to read our energy and prescribe individualized practices is amazing and powerful. I truly believe he is a master in his craft. I trust in his wisdom as my guide, my teacher and as my healer mentally physically and spiritually.
- Diane Reid
I shudder to think of what my life would be like had I not gotten that phone call from a friend back in February, 1987 to tell me about this guy who worked out every Sunday in the park behind St. Joe's Hospital in Burbank, California.
As a teacher I have been amazed how everything became so much more accessible - not just the forms, but the "information" that the art form was designed to articulate: that wonderful "getting to learn about yourself from yourself". As an educator, I began to examine instruction in this new light. As an English composition instructor, I utilized this new perspective to re-examine how composition is taught. New Forest opened up my creativity. I created new approaches to writing (and literary analysis) that have worked very successfully: ways that are far more accessible for students. And in the classroom, I have also brought in New Forest approaches to pedagogy - also with new levels of success than I had previously known.
Personally: I have become a nicer person (there is still a lot of work to done here - hope springs eternal). Utilizing the New Forest technology in my exchanges as a college advisor dealing with the general public daily - as well as my interactions with colleagues - has made living life a much more pleasant experience for me and for those confused and often struggling students wrestling with the machinery of the academic bureaucracy. Before New Forest - I wanted to get through "unpleasant" moments with people as quickly as I could often seeing the other person as a form of virus to be avoided. Now I can sit with each person in the only moment of time that exists for each of us and on a human level of interaction.
I've been lovingly and patiently gifted a philosophical perspective that offers me insight into a better way to live my life; a bio-technological methodology that helps me to apply that philosophy; ten simple steps to realize that philosophy and apply physiological analysis which then allows me to use that analysis to self-correct for better health and peace of mind. It's fun and never ceases to amaze. What more could anyone want...!?!
- Phil Smith
I have been training since May 2004 when Shannon and Jamie gave me a 6 pack of lessons to see if I might find it useful. I like that I can come to class and really learn new and interesting things to try on my own. I do not feel pressured to be just like everyone else. I treat my classes like a really good buffet. I take the parts that work for me and leave the others behind for another time.
I was hesitant to get started with the classes because I thought that my beliefs would be very different from what I would hear in the classes. "Contrary to that I hear things that totally reenforce my beliefs and I find that I am often in a very deep spiritual state doing the simplest of movements in Tai Chi". The movements force me to be still and quiet.
I retired last year after a very demanding job in educational technology. The stress level was huge and it caused me to have some issues with restlessness, fatigue and even mild depression. I learned within the first set of Iron Dragon that I could "go to another place" if I need a few minutes of solitude in a busy environment. Not only that but I use things that I learn to get through dental appointments and other uncomfortable circumstances by playing sequences of movements in my head to distract my busy brain. It is calming.
Bob, my husband, always mades sure that my uniform is clean and in the car before I leave for work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He wants to make sure that I get a workout because we will both be happier! He sees a visible difference in me when I have been to my classes.
-Jan Rogers
I have been training/playing with the arts I have learned from Sifu Bright-Fey for around 16 years. It has significantly affected my life for the better. Because of my involvement, I feel that I have a deeper appreciation for the ancient Chinese culture and philosophy, for the importance of physical activity and maintaining overall health, and for the ebb and flow of artistic expression. The classes are fun and the teachers and students are great.
-Ashlee Chatham
