No aikido or tai class Monday; tai chi session +1 week; misc. announcements and videos
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Mike Dolan Fliss
Feb 1, 2026, 6:38:58 PMFeb 1
to Open Sky Martial Arts
Evening all,
As expected, roads are dangerous and expected to stay that way through at least Monday evening. While we don't exactly follow other closure schedules, both local universities and state government are remaining on critical condition through at least Monday at midnight. Ongoing reporting (including from https://drivenc.gov/ and local government social media) also suggests roads are still unsafe and likely to be icy much of tomorrow (Monday), even with plowing, given temperatures and quantity of snow.
Because of this, there will be no 5:45 tai chi class or 7pm aikido class Monday evening.
While we do not typically adjust the session schedule for weather closures, the Tai Chi program has missed two of its 10 class sessions due to winter weather, back to back. I will be extending this tai chi session by one week, so our last class will now be Monday March 2. I will update the website soon, but letting you all know now.
In the meantime, for those missing class, I'll share some video resources.
Tai chi videos: For a few dollars, high quality videos of my teacher, Grandmaster Wang Hai Jun, are available on Vimeo, including many angles on the movements we are working on (diagonal stance, three steps). Find those videos here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/18movementform/644755296?autoplay=1 . You can also google "chen 18 short form" and find many others completing the form you are learning. If you're looking for more terms / people to youtube search, I'd recommend Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei (my teacher's teacher), Grandmaster Chen Bing, Grandmaster Chen Ziquan, and Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang. Grandmaster Wang Haijun also has videos of the short form free on youtube.
Aikido videos: Aleksandra Michalska, who has released a number of high quality aikido videos on youtube in recent years, has released a number of video shorts from a recent seminar with Harvey Konigsburg Shihan in the last few weeks. Konigsburg Shihan visited Open Sky in the past, influenced our own school founder Steve Kaufmann Shihan (and myself) over many years, and completed one of the large paintings featured in our school as he is professionally a painter. You can find videos of his recent seminar here:
For those missing aikido weapons, I have recently appreciated some videos of Roo Heins sensei and Kate Savoca sensei, both of whom I have been lucky to train with while traveling and recommend. Consider these two videos a starting point - lots to see.
Lastly, three quick notes to be handled in separate emails:
1) Tuesday evening classes are TBD. Hopefully the roads will be in good shape, if not I will be in touch Tuesday.
2) I will separately email soon about the Wednesday evening tai chi / chi gung class Steve is hoping to teach. Because of the weather that class is now slated to start Wed Feb 11.
3) I will separately email potential teachers of the Tuesday evening "5tk kyu" basics class this week to begin discussion a teaching rotation that works with people's availability.
Thanks for patience with a long email. Stay safe and see you soon for training!
Mike
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Mike Dolan Fliss, PhD, MPS, MSW
UNC-CH Injury Prevention Research Center
NC DPH Injury & Violence Prevention Branch
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