Here’s a word or two from Claire Barker about her Tai Chi experience. I took up Tai Chi in January 2018 as one of my New Year resolutions. Two years on I am still learning and improving and most important all enjoying myself. I suffered a slipped disc in my…
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With benefits for physical and mental health, tai chi has the potential to change your life for the better. Various studies have shown that tai chi can extend your life, improve your mood and reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Tai chi has been shown to improve sleep quality…
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I'll start with a quote: “You become what you practice. Practice becoming healthy and you will become healthy. Practice becoming relaxed and you will become relaxed. Practice letting go of negative habits and they will increasingly dissolve and…
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Those who read it may remember that Part One of my tale was originally published in the Jan/Feb 2016 issue of Central Tai Chi's newsletter. At that time I didn't envisage a Part Two but such a lot has happened to me since I started Tai Chi classes with Steve…
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I started Tai Chi classes with Steve and Fleur at their Thursday afternoon session in Sutton Coldfield, in October 2014. But that isn’t really where my story begins. It really began back in 1981 when I came across an advert for a local Tai Chi demonstration, in Sutton. I…
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“Every day think, as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it'.Fourteenth Dalai Lama Someone somewhere has calculated that 70% of people around the world who practise Tai Chi are doing so for health reasons,…
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"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving” OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES PART THREE – IS IT HARMFUL? So. Instead of starting this article off by, once again, extolling the virtues of Tai Chi let's consider why…
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When asked by a student "What is the most important reason to study Tai Chi Chuan?" Master Cheng Man Ching replied "The most important reason is that when you finally reach the place where you understand what life is about, you'll have the health to enjoy it". PART TWO –…
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The following monologue has been inspired by “The Lion and Albert”, written by Marriott Edgar in the 1930’s and made famous by Stanley Holloway with his acquired Northern accent. There are more than 30 references to the Tai Chi form in here. Can you find them? Try reading it with…
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The first of: YANG'S TEN ESSENTIALS OF TAI CHI by Yang Cheng-fu (1883 – 1936) Head upright to let the shen [spirit of vitality] rise to the top of the head. Don't use li [external strength], or the neck will be stiff and the ch'i [vital life energy] and blood…
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