Tai Chi Village Newsletter Issue 3 - 4th April 2020

Discover Tai Chi

Tai Chi Village Newsletter

4th April 2020 Welcome to our 3rd Tai Chi Newsletter. Thank you for keeping in touch and letting us know how you are getting on. It really means a lot to know you're well and enjoying our newsletters. Lots of people have got back to us to say how helpful they found the list of businesses who are delivering food. We had some lovely feedback from people saying they had received their groceries from one of the providers on the list. That's great news!

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Tai Chi Principles

沉 - chén immense mountain grounded in the present you cannot miss me rooted to the earth. Image by D. Leone on Unsplash

Copy by Philip Sheridan

Each week we have picked a different Tai Chi principle; so far we have covered 松 Sōng and 静 Jìng. We already know that without these principles Tai Chi does not look very much like Tai Chi. Without 松 Sōng and 静 Jìng it can look very wooden and uptight; it loses it's characteristic soft flowing gracefulness. But Tai Chi should also look strong and without principles to balance 松 Sōng and 静 Jìng, it can start to look a bit wishy washy or at its worst a bit like a wet tissue. This week's principle is 沉 - chén which means to sink, heaviness and downward. It describes a stability, rooted into the earth even in the face of a great force like a hurricane. In tai chi it means to feel rooted to the earth, to have a good solid connection to the earth through the feet and legs all the way up the body. During our practise we need to be aware of our feet making good contact with the floor. Practise with a feeling of pushing into the floor or pressing or spreading the feet. If you do this you can often feel the muscles being much more active and so you may only be able to do this for a couple of minutes at first. Try it first with a movement such as ‘painting the fence’ to get started. Then to incorporate it into more difficult balancing movements. Remember to always use support if you feel wobbly. The aim is to be stable!

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The Science of Tai Chi Keeping within the theme of stability, we are going to delve into the importance of strength. Without strong muscles we are much more likely to be wobbly and unstable. We have attached an exercise sheet to our email with some extra strengthening exercises to help keep your muscles strong. Strength is not only good for stability but strong muscles can help us live longer. This journal article describes Muscle Mass Index As a Predictor of Longevity in Older Adults We have two blog articles linked below, which explore the importance of strength and balance in our daily lives and in Tai Chi. DISCOVER TAI CHI: Why Tai Chi Improves Your Balance? Tai Chi for Health - Stay Strong, Improve Your Balance

Tai Chi Buddies Penny from our Bingley class sent us a photo of her view while she was practicing her Tai Chi with us one day. We loved that idea and it got us thinking! Participants in our classes often mention when they go on holiday how they enjoy practising their tai chi movements. We often ask them to send us a photo or to post onto our Facebook Group page an image or short video of them enjoying their practise. We've received some cracking short videos from beautiful locations over the years. So, you may have a photo of you somewhere exotic or a view of you practicing in your garden or even in your kitchen. If the cat or dog joins in with your Tai Chi all the better. Send us your image so we can share in it in our next edition of Tai Chi Village. Image Credit Penny C.

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Poems from the Tea House Two Poems by Lynn Macgill Ch'i-Yen-Shen Ode to Tai Chi Relax knees, hld body with no effort Balance stance ready to move with grace, Arms wave at clouds, mountains move Waves flow gentle round body, calm face. Haiku to Tai Chi Calm, free breath Soothing, rolling, sweeping waves Strong body balanced

Poem nominated by Elizabeth R A friend is someone that you choose And pick from all the rest A friend is someone that you know Will always do their best To pick you up, and walk with you Though times when you feel sad, To celebrate when times are good And truly show they’re glad, A friend is someone you can trust, Someone whose kind and true, A friend can turn the day around, © Copyright Discover Tai Chi 2020.

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When your feeling blue. So if you have a friend like that, Just stop and take the time To say ‘You’re such as special friend, And I’m so glad that your mine’ Linda Brown

Tai Chi Foundations - Online Tai Chi Class Many thanks to all those people who have already joined us at our online learning centre: Tai Chi Foundations. To date we have 75 members who have access to a growing library of video and downloads to support their learning and enjoyment of the tai chi and qigong movements we teach in class. Helen and I have wanted to set up an online learning space for sometime now at the request of many participants who asked for a dedicated space for them to enjoy their tai chi at home, or wherever they find themselves. As the dust settles from our initial set-up we will organise our online resources into modules that follow the spiral learning journey we have talked about in our classes and workshops. This will make it easier for members to find their way in their learning and enjoyment of the movements and programmes we teach. We hope to see you there.

Live Stream Classes We have tried various formats of live streaming a class over the past week. So far Facebook Live seems the best option with the least faff both for participants and for us. We have found a way to optimise your experience on a laptop or desktop computer with a little hack in the settings you'll find on your Facebook Home page. Check out the step by step guide attached with the email for this newsletter.

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Thanks for reading our newsletter, we hope you enjoyed this edition. Please send us your thoughts, ideas, stories, long or short we will try to include as much as possible in our next newsletter. Please let us know if you have enjoyed the newsletter and what we can do to make it better. We look forward to hearing from you, in the meantime, Keep safe and well, Helen and Phil

KEEP IN TOUCH T: 07528 959091 (Text or WhatsApp also) E: huntunwellbeing@gmail.com Facebook: @discovertaichi Twitter: @discovertaichi Instagram: @discovertaichi

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