Hi All
We all hope you had a lovely Easter and that you are ready to focus on the remainder of 2024. It is time to address any excesses left over from Christmas and Easter, and even re-assess what our physical activity might look like during the next 9 months before we go through another Christmas and Easter! Scary thought isn’t it? This year is fast-tracking already.
One of the activities that will help us slow down enough to appreciate each and every day is Tai Chi. I have decided that this will be included in the “free” classes for all people on a full Club Membership. From April 30, when the Winter Group Class schedule commences, Tai Chi will be introduced as a non-fee class for full members (and the fee for Casuals will be $20).
These classes will be rostered for Tuesday 10.30am and Wednesday 5.45pm. Your Tai Chi classes will be conducted by Michèle Dix and she assures me we can provide for beginners as well as continue to foster progression in anyone who already has been learning how to do Tai Chi.
One of the biggest challenges in modern life is the pace we now live in, and the constant information overload to our brains. Tai Chi has the ability to bring us back to Nature’s slower pace, enabling us to recharge our minds and bodies.
Surprisingly some beginners will find Tai Chi challenging because it makes them work on being “mindful”, and this can be tiring to our modern mind because it is constantly responding to multiple rapid stimuli in our daily lives. A good book to read on the subject, Why You Can’t Pay Attention, is Johann Harii’s STOLEN FOCUS.
Tai Chi increases flexibility and strength and the emphasis on correct posture has positive benefits on our blood pressure and our cardiovascular function. It is slow, smooth and movements are controlled. The breathing becomes part of the movement.
One of the reasons that Tai Chi is an excellent choice for seniors is that it helps prevent falls, and when you consider that falls which end up in hospital with broken bones, especially hip fractures, need to be avoided at all costs. Tai Chi has to be something we should investigate, and possibly add to our physical activity schedule.
There are so many reasons why I would like to see members benefitting from this exercise modality and that is why I am including it in the “no extra fee” category in our upcoming Winter schedule.
Michele writes, “The Tuesday Tai Chi class time is ideal for any club members who attend Steady Steps class at 12 noon, because the Tai Chi exercises will really compliment their Steady Steps by helping the body conditioning, and balance. The classes would need to stay at 60 mins as 45 mins is definitely not long enough. It is not necessary to do any splitting into beginner/ more experienced as all blend together and it is comforting for beginners to have others around who they may be able to follow. It is usual and normal to have different levels of experience in one class. As I tell everyone that I do not expect them to remember anything but the more repetition they do, the sudden delight they find that, ‘ oh I know what comes next’ and they gain even more confident in themselves. These classes are for slow, easy, pure enjoyment of beginning the craft of learning how to help balance, strength, stability, body flexibility , and mind improvement for an older body, man or woman. Learning how to be softer in upper body movements, relaxing those stiff neck, shoulder muscles and arms that can cause stress pain & headaches, while developing solid strength ( balance/stability ) and ease of hip movement from abdomen/hips down to feet and toes, to the best of their own body’s ability.”
So check this class out. It just might be the one group activity you feel works for you!
Cheers,
P.S We are no longer collecting bottle lids, and there will be no honey for 6 weeks from the end of April.