Tai Chi
You need to be a member of Bedford U3A to join this group
| Group Organiser: | Neil Price - Click the Bluebird icon to email Neil or see Bulletin for telephone number |
| Time: | Every Tuesday except the third Tuesday of the month. Beginners' group from 10-11am. More advanced group 11.10am-12noon |
| Venue/Location: | Oakley Village Hall |
| Vacancies: | New members welcome |
Although Tai Chi was first developed as a martial art some 4,000 years ago, nowadays it is largely practised as a system of exercise which aims to improve physical and mental health through posture training and exercising all parts of the body.
It is suitable for a very wide range of people irrespective of age and gender.
Like yoga, Tai Chi consists of a number of stances, each with its own clear definition and structure, rather like a freeze frame. Unlike yoga, however, these are connected by a sequence of relaxed but precise movements. The non-stop sequence of movements is called THE FORM.
Practitioners of Tai Chi and health professionals list some of the benefits as:
- helping to keep the body supple and active and thus slowing the aging process
- encouraging good posture and improving balance by promoting greater awareness and understanding of the body’s natural alignment
- stimulating the interaction of body and mind
- boosting blood circulation
- stimulating the vital organs
- increasing the mobility of the joints
- stretching and toning muscles, ligaments and tendons
- improving memory and concentration
There are several styles of Tai Chi, each with their own distinguishing characteristics and each called after the family or clan which originally developed it.
Group members are advised to wear loose fitting clothing and flat soled sports shoes or trainers as well as to bring a bottle of water.
Two groups are available. Both meet at Oakley Village Hall on Tuesday except the third Tuesday in the month. This is to avoid clashes with the open meetings in Kempston. The first group, from 10 to 11am is for beginners. Here, the basic principles of Tai Chi are introduced and a shortened form broadly based on Yang style is taught.
The second group, meeting from 11am to 12 noon, is more advanced and practises the Yang style 16 Forms. This is the form probably most familiar to westerners. It was devised in the late 1940s at the request of the Wushu Council of China which asked Tai Chi practitioners to devise a standard style which could be widely adopted to improve the health of Chinese people after the Second World War.