New Classes Starting Twice a Year
What are Tai Chi & Qi Gong?
Thoughts on Tai Chi.
Tai chi is not as easy as it looks, but then neither is playing a guitar, speaking a foreign language, or cooking a 5-star meal! Yet somehow when it comes to Tai chi, we expect that if we do a bit of a follow along then that’s pretty much enough. “I have seen everyone doing it in the parks in China and would love to join in”, surely there isn’t much more to it that? Well maybe, maybe not, it depends on what you are draw to.
The Tai Chi and Qi Gong practices we teach in our classes are to develop a body where your muscles release their habitual tension, where your joints move more easily, your body becomes more in alignment with gravity, your balance improves and where your mind is calmer. This is achievable by everyone with a little practice of the movements. This significantly reduces the amount of body stiffness and restriction that is a part of most people’s daily life, it builds a more vibrant open and comfortable body and a calmer mind. These benefits are especially important as you get older, as comfortable movement greatly increases the overall quality of your life.
Our weekly classes build Tai Chi and Qi Gong practices where your body begins to release its habitual tension and connect-up in new more natural ways. This allows your body’s inherent wisdom to come to the forefront and guide you in developing a more comfortable body. This of course takes time, and you will need the correct instruction and guidance, which we will provide and most importantly, guess what? – yes, a regular practice routine.
Establishing a regular practice routine is the most important step to improve your long-term health. Why? Because that is the most important first foundation step you need to take. The material we teach has such a good pedigree that it will do its magic as long as you turn up each week and do your best.
It’s often said to new students that in practicing Tai Chi or Qi Gong “you will have a noticeably different body in a year’s time” — in a good way of course!
Tai Chi and Qi Gong - No pain but big gains.
If you tried various ways to keep yourself fit and healthy and still failed to establish a regular routine, here are the most important tips.
- Practicing with a group of people greatly increases your likelihood of continuing with any new routine.
- Weekly classes establish a regular practice time and space, which is one of the key components to establishing any new routine.
- Creating a new social hub where you meet new friends with a common interest is one of the biggest “nudges” to maintaining any new routine.
- A quiet relaxed commitment to do your part in keeping yourself healthy and well balanced is the biggest positive to enjoying your days as you get older.
- You need to find what you do enjoyable. If you want to be calmer, move more comfortably and smile more, then a boot camp approach is never going to work for you.
- Enjoying the journey is more important than end-gaining, the Tortoise beats the Hare every time.
Drop the need for instant results or changes, you already know that anything worthwhile takes time, so cut yourself some slack and give it time