Meeting Details
| Frequency | Weekly |
| Time | 9.15 am (beginners), 10.30 am (advanced) |
| Day | Friday |
| Duration | 1 hour (each session) |
| Location | Castle Street Centre |
| Coordinator | Jane Willis |
What we do
The Tai Chi group began in April 2005, with new intakes in September 2005, 2007 and 2010. We play the Cheng Man Ch’ing ‘Short Form’ Tai Chi sequence – a slow tranquil flow of moving postures in a set sequence that takes around ten minutes. We have around sixteen regular members in the ‘Improvers’ group and around eighteen in the new Beginners group which is now full. However, if you are keen and have already had some Tai Chi experience you are welcome to visit us to see if our present Improvers’ group would suit you.
Learning Tai Chi is a bit like learning the piano – you need to set aside time to practice daily, even if it’s only for ten minutes. Once you have got to the point where you can remember the sequence, then you can enjoy ‘playing’ the form in different ways. Regular practice of Tai Chi not only helps to keep you flexible and to improve balance and co-ordination, but also relieves stress, bringing calmness and tranquillity into our lives.
Each class begins with warm-up exercises which illustrate basic principles of Tai Chi. We then play what we know of the Form together, revise the new posture we learnt the previous week before going on to begin the next posture in the sequence. There is always plenty of time for individual practice and questions. In the Improvers Group we also try out new sequences. You might like to read the feedback from some members of our current Improvers group on their experiences of playing Tai Chi. Some brief feedback statements from the current Beginners Group can be read here.
There is a Handbook and other downloadable material available for purchase from my own teacher, Alec Jones (‘Dragon Spring Taiji’), which people find really useful for background information and revision – especially if you have missed a session or two.
Reports
October 2011
An interesting Autumn term, fine-tuning and learning new Tai Chi postures, and branching out into the Fan Form, (taught by visiting tutor Dee Swift) thanks to a grant from the U3A to buy a class set of Tai Chi fans. As tutor, I have been attending local Tai Chi workshops and am currently passing on some basic Silk Reeling movements to the Advanced group. Numbers have stayed steady - the Art Room is only just big enough for our second year beginners group, so sorry - no space for new beginners this year, but do ring if you are interested in joining us next September. Classes start again January 6th.
Jane Willis
July 2011
We've had a good year learning and deepening our knowledge of our Yang style Short form, with several Tai Chi events in addition to our regular weekly classes. Several of this year's Beginners participated in a local Tai Chi day in Arnside and enjoyed experiencing, amongst other things, a Pole form, a Fan form, and a Sword form, with several of the more Advanced members attending a Tai Chi week-end near Hereford with my original teacher, Alec Jones. Nearly all the regular participants have already signed up for next year, when there will be a Second year beginners class (which is full) 9.15 - 10.15 and a more advanced class 10.30 -11.30/11.45 at Castle Street Centre. The 15 minute gap between the two classes is to allow the first class to leave a little earlier, thus freeing up car parking spaces for those who attend the 10.30 class.
There will be no room for new beginners this year, but if you already have some experience of Tai Chi (and are willing to practise at home between sessions) you are very welcome to come and see what we do. Classes start again Friday 3rd September.
Jane Willis
