After 40 years of practice and 20 years of teaching, I am used to being asked this question in various forms – will it help my physical condition, will it help my emotional or spiritual condition, what does it do, what does it offer? Basically, just Why Tai Chi?
Well, my personal journey has included all of these – my entry was from 10 years of martial arts and a doctor’s recommendation to deal with severe stress, but since my teens I had been looking for a better approach to life than was offered by the post Victorian post war society as it was.
Tai Chi has provided a way of looking at the world and relationships and of dealing with them while learning to look after my mind and body, a way to maintain health and function into older age and a way to engage socially with like minded people.
So if you ask me Why Tai Chi? I will probably say – just do it and find out. Tai Chi is a personal reflection of the world we live in on a very personal physical and mental/spiritual level – but then that is just my experience.
I am presently receiving a lot of enquiries about Tai Chi, mainly from people in the middle to later age groups – generally they are exploring its benefits for daily life. I usually think that up to 50 years we are too preoccupied with work and family to have time to look after ourselves, and then after that it is difficult to find the motivation!
Worry not! Tai Chi for health is a very soft but surprisingly good exercise – remember the TV program that compared it to Zumba classes and found it equally good?
A case in point is my class at Marston Moretaine, where after just a few months the group is coming together within the class and socially and have come to share experiences and ideas. Classes for health usually have a good mix of people with varying abilities who can support each others learning – so a new student can just come along and quickly fit in.
These classes are generally run as drop in groups so the commitment is whatever you want it to be. My classes in Shefford take place in our newly refurbished Community Hall with heating and air conditioning. The classes at Marston are organised by the local Community Centre so please contact [email protected]
Just to let you know that there will be no classes on Easter Bank Holiday – Sunday 20th and Monday 21st. Have a good holiday and I look forward to seeing students after Easter.
I am delighted that I will be teaching a new weekly drop in class at Marston Moretaine from Monday November 25th. Classes are at 10.15 – 11.45 and cost £5 pay as you go. This is organised and run by Marston Moretaine Community Centre so please contact them direct to register or for more details at [email protected]
Classes are cancelled on Aug Bank Holiday – Sunday 25th and Monday 26th
I had a lovely time in Bedford Park last Sunday as part of the Yoga and Wellbeing in the Park event – lots of people joined me to try out Tai Chi exercises and explore Tai Chi movement. There were loads of people there for the free sessions which were running all day and ensured a relaxed feeling around the cafe which was offering drinks and snacks.
The 45 min class explored the history of Tai Chi covering some of the concepts with simple exercises and demonstrations.
There will be no class on Sunday 23 June
The Community Hall will not be available during July so the following classes will be held on Digswell field adjacent to the STMA – weather permitting. There is on-site car parking and the postcode is SG175JA
Monday 8 July
Sunday 14 July
Monday 15 July
A paradox of Tai Chi is that in describing the feeling we use certain words. Then we hear those same words from others and do not realise that their usage and meaning is very different to ours. Of course this is especially problematic when we do not share a common language – which is often the case in learning Tai Chi. When we use language the meaning is tied to our body, as it is for others. The problem is that a Tai Chi master has different feelings to us because their bodies are different. It is a common feature of human embodiedness that the words sound familiar and reassuring to us and we think we understand when we do not.
It is like travelling to a city you have only heard of from others only to find that it is different to what you imagined from what you had heard, and to realise that your experience is different to theirs. You cannot understand what they are describing until you get there.
On our journey we pick up new skills – sometimes we have a block which needs to be cleared so that we can bring all those skills together – that is when we make changes – often we know all we need to and just have to let ourselves put it all together so we can better understand what our predecessors described.
Issues arise, they are addressed, the body accepts the new situation, adapts and moves on.
