Tai Chi Group - comments from members.

• I have been learning Tai Chi for a year now - a difficult year for me health wise - and it has helped me cope with adversity and given me an inner calm. It has been valuable in stressful situations e.g. airports. It has improved my balance and my table tennis. I have found it a hard challenge but certainly worthwhile.
• The first instance when I realised Tai Chi was becoming part of my life was in bed when my mind was too active to sleep; I started going through the form (as best as I could) imagining myself gracefully doing the postures in a beautiful place. This was calming and sleep came naturally. I love watching the video too, even when not actively trying to learn something, and the movements all seem to harmonise beautifully with nature. Tai Chi certainly has a calming effect on me. Just a few exercises with breathing are enough to relieve the day's stress or a stressful situation - the Five Elements, followed by Close Down are my favourites in that situation. Tai Chi isn't just an exercise routine, which was my initial idea of it, although the exercise is excellent too. Tai Chi also concentrates the mind into thinking beautiful thoughts in conjunction with the gentle movements.
• I feel that the exercises that we do are very helpful to both mind and body and are often repeated as part of the short form and therefore helpful as a reminder of the moves to come.
  Playing Tai Chi requires all my concentration and so as I practise I can escape from the rest of the world and at the end of the session feel relaxed and comfortable with myself - which is what 'me - time' is all about! The short form has a sequence of something like 70 moves which I find I can achieve better when I am playing with others rather than practising alone.
  Through Tai Chi I have met so many other interesting folk and our weekly sessions are also a time to look forward to meeting up with friends again. The ethos of a group is not just down to the personalities of those involved. The tone is set by the leader and you have very successfully engendered a very friendly learning atmosphere and I'm very glad to be part of it. Roll on September!
• I really enjoy the hypnotic and calming effect of doing the form, and of some of the warm ups. Lovely group - working together.
• When I first joined the U3A Tai Chi class I had no idea what I had let myself in for. I did have a vague picture in my mind of a sea of Chinese people all moving gracefully as one.
  I must admit to being somewhat daunted to discover there were 75 postures to learn in the ‘Short Form’ but soon relaxed after realising that after learning just a few of them Tai Chi could be enjoyed alone or in a group. Practising it at home is essential but it has been working in the group that has given most enjoyment.