Thoughts on Tai Chi

 

I joined one of Karen’s Tai Chi classes in October 2022, not really knowing what to expect.  Exercise had never been high on my list of priorities, but I had decided that I ought to do something and thought that the slower pace of Tai Chi might suit me.  What I found was more than just exercise.

 

Karen is an excellent teacher.  As well as explaining and demonstrating the moves to be made, she provides individual support to students, moving a hand here, and a foot there, to optimise the positions.  She takes into account any health problems which may inhibit a student’s ability to move in a particular way, and above all, she makes the class fun.  The classes are educational, not just in how and what moves to make, but in why we do them.  As well as the benefits to health and wellbeing, Karen may also explain what some of the moves mean in Tai Chi as a martial art, which frequently provokes laughter as mind pictures are drawn of the outcomes.

 

After just one term of Tai Chi, in January 2023 I decided also to join Karen’s Qigong class, a practice of which I was even more ignorant but which I understood was the foundation stone of Tai Chi.  This has allowed me a greater insight into the benefits of Tai Chi for health and wellbeing.  I continue to attend and enjoy both classes on a weekly basis, and, in addition to noticing some physical changes in myself, I have also discovered an interest in the underlying philosophy.

DB, July 2023