1. Tai Chi has very slow and gentle forms of moving and so tai chi has virtually no side effects. 2. Tai Chi was said to be created by a Taoist monk who was inspired as he watched a crane and a snake do battle 3. Tai Chi is increasingly gaining popularity amongst 19-25 year old young adults 4. One hour of tai chi actually burns more calories than surfing and nearly as many as downhill skiing for the same timespan. 5. To understand the nature of Tai Chi Chuan you have to put it into context with the culture from where it has come #Taoism 6. One of the biggest difficulties for newcomers to tai chi is that there seems to be a lot of different tai chi styles and forms such as Yang, Li, Chen, Sun and Wu 7. Tai Chi movements reflect the tai chi principles of softness, centeredness, balance and naturalism. 8. Tai Chi provides alongside the physical benefits - improvements in breathing, focus, and concentration 9. The last Saturday of April every year is World Tai Chi day where hundreds of cities, spanning eighty nations come together to participate in tai chi. 10. Tai Chi allows you to use and improve your natural energies to prevent harm coming to your body. Practitioners have been known to break concrete blocks and bend steel bars on their body. Tai Chi Adventures: Part #3 - Li Style Picking up from where I left off in Part 2, after having reinjured my neck and having 'one blackout too many' at my voluntary C.A.B role (which... led to me losing that job), I came to the realization that both previous styles of Tai Chi could have prevented the incidents that I had from happening - ie: Chen style would boost my stamina and Sun style would have strengthend my neck, it was clear that I needed to get back into Tai Chi after a long absence from it. I looked all over for local Tai Chi places and that's when I discovered something interesting called Lishi Tai Chi (pronounced 'Lee-Sheer'). As you can see from the website here - http://www.lishi.org/ it doesn't just cover Tai Chi, but Yoga and Soft Kung-fu too. I wasn't to sure if it was suitable for me or not, but this came at a low-point of my life when I was starting to get depressed about losing my C.A.B job and the feeling that my health is back at square one with no solution in sight. So I went down to Salford University with a "what have I got to lose" attitude and gave Lishi a try. I'm glad that I did because it has turned my life around ever since. Right from the word go I explained my health issues and concerns to the instructor, Xi'an Shen Wan-Ley, who not only understood my situation, but said he was willing to work with me on it. This was something no previous instructors did and even now he still tells me to "lower your shoulders" and "keep your neck inline with your spine" during activities, which to be honest is advice that I should have been given years ago from the likes of Physio and Spinal consultants (seriously i'm learning more about my health from this guy than most of the experts that i've seen). This is clearly what I need because for years the advice given to me has always been along the lines of "if it hurts your neck, don't do it" (ie: Bottom filing cabinet hurt my neck, told not to use filing cabinets since), where as here when I hurt my neck or go dizzy, i'm finding out why and i'm getting advice to prevent that from happening. Lishi follows Li style (more info here http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-style_t'ai_chi_ch'uan ) which was created by Chan Kam Lee and later popularized by Chee Soo as a way of bringing the Taoist way of life to the west (see Taoism here http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daoism ). Lishi also combines the combat aspect of Jian Taiji (from part 1) with Soft Kung-fu, the health aspect of Eccles Tai Chi (from part 2) with Yoga and both in it's Tai Chi teachings. This 3-in-1 package was just the thing I was looking for. The Tai Chi aspect of Lishi uses the Li form known as 'the square yard' because of the limited space needed to do it. I am picking up this form quicker than others that I have done in the past and that's because the moves here are easier to remember as the stances are all based and named after animals (ie: Horse stance is like you are sat on a horse). It also features Qigong breathing exercises in a similar vein as the previous Tai Chi stuff that i've done. The Taoist Yoga aspect is called Kai Men based around moves and stances from Tai Chi. Whilst i'm not a big Yoga fan and I find these to be the hardest/most painful part of the classes (mainly due to maintaining and holding poses), it has proved useful at strengthening my neck, correcting my posture and improving my balance whilst in these unique Yoga positions. Lishi also features Soft Kung-fu called Feng-Shou (see here for more info http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Shou ) which also uses moves and stances from Tai Chi. Whilst this is the most energetic part of the class due to it's heavy focus on dodging and side stepping (think Matrix bullet dodging and you get the idea), it's the part that I enjoy the most. My health problems are clearly not suitable for other types of Kung-fu or martial arts, but this one is perfect for me because the focus is on using minimum effort and remaining calm. Everything here from the palm strikes to redirecting blocks are done in a similar, controlled manner with no actual sparring and everything being choreographed. Not only is this good stress relief for me, it toughens me up and deals with my biggest problem regarding my health and that is fear. You see every solution for my health so far has focused on the physical effects of my neck injury such as the pain and stiff movement of it, but the psychological side of things hasn't been touched upon. This is one area that Lishi has improved for me the most because when that fear of passing out takes over I used to either become more hesitate in everything I do or I just lock myself in my bedroom for weeks, but thanks to Lishi though I have become more confident and less fearful of that. When I go dizzy I used to fall over alot, but now my balance has improved I don't fall as much. When I pass out I used to struggle recovering afterwards, but thanks to the controlled breathing that i've learned from Tai Chi, i'm recovering alot quicker now. I still have a long way to go on my road to recovery, which is why as of writing, I still do Lishi to this day and whilst it hasn't always been easy and they have been times where I struggled badly, it is making a huge difference on both my physical and mental wellbeing. Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it. #tai chi exercises #tai chi master #tai chi online ... #tai chi youtube #taoist tai chi #tai chi classes #tai chi centre #tai chi form #tai chi chen #yang tai chi #Li tai chi #Lee tai chi Tai Chi Adventures: Part #2 - Sun Style
Welcome to part 2. I was on the look out for local Tai Chi classes because the Chen style class moved to Didsbury. Unfortunately I couldn't find any l...ocal classes, that was until my Auntie told me about the one she used to go to at Eccles Fit City. So I went and checked it out. I joked alot in part 1 about the old stereotype of 'old ladies in a bingo hall' and this Tai Chi at Eccles was pretty much that in a sports hall. Here they follow Sun style (see here for more info - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-style_t'ai_chi_ch'uan ) and follows a program called 'Tai Chi for Arthritis' created by Dr Paul Lam. As you can see from the 'Tai Chi for arthritis form' here - https://youtu.be/BuXRX68S8us it was worlds apart from the Chen stuff I did prior to this which was more technical and combat based. Here everything was simplified, with movements named 'leisurely tying the coat' and 'crashing waves', the kicks being replaced with toe taps and every movement being soley small steps. Clearly this was what my GP had in mind when suggesting Tai Chi to me and it was perfect for my health issues (especially the Tai Chi for Oesteoprosis form they did later on), but from a fitness stand point, I wasn't getting sweaty or exhausted and I felt like I was getting lazy because I was finding this far too easy, probably due to the fact that it was designed more for an elderly old man with a zimmer frame rather than a young lad with a neck/spine injury. I did mention my health issues to the instructors at the time and one of them turned round and said "can I show you something that'll be great for that?" and I said "go ahead", so she started doing Tai Chi movements by herself which ended with her palms resting on the back of my neck and I kid you not, her hands felt like a heat pad. I had no idea what just happened because we didn't cover much about Chi energy at the previous place (see here for info about Chi http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi ), but this was an eye opener for me and my first real introduction to the health benefits of Chi energy. Whilst at times this style felt too slow and boring, it had it's fun moments and they did some unique stuff at times such as Tai Chi movements using a soft tennis ball and a variation Qigong exercise called 'Chi walks'. My health was starting to improve doing this thanks to the breathing exercises, plus the slow movements which was stopping my neck from locking up and going stiff (a common problem I had back then). Eventually alot of the instructors left, the remaining ones focused on the same routines every week and my schedule suddenly started getting far too busy, so after 3 years doing this, I gave it up to focus on my course and voluntary work... this was a big mistake on my part though. You see whilst this style was great as a form of physiotherapy, it was more suited for the elderly and unfortunately doing 3 years of this didn't improve my stamina and I felt like an old man at times, so ofcourse outside of Tai Chi I was getting exhausted too easily because the reality is that College courses, Voluntary work and life in general doesn't always run at a slow pace - ie: The reception desk at C.A.B involved alot of running back and forth, but without the stamina to back it up, I was always going to reinjure my neck/spine the moment I found myself in a situation where the pace quickend and I had to 'rush around'. At this point it was clear that Tai Chi was doing me some good, but I needed something fast paced like Chen style, but also slow paced like Sun style. My original solution was to go back to Eccles Fit City and do the Tai Chi there whilst also using their gym too (The Chen classes were too far you see), but after discovering that the Eccles classes where on a hiatus (they are back on now), I went back to google to look for 'Tai Chi in Salford' and I spotted something that is a combination of the two styles... ...find out what that is in the final part tomorrow, even though you've probably guessed already. Until then, thanks for reading. #tai chi exercises #tai chi master #tai chi online ... #tai chi youtube #taoist tai chi #tai chi classes #tai chi centre #tai chi form #tai chi chen #yang tai chi #Li tai chi #Lee tai chi Tai Chi Adventures: Part #1 - Chen Style Since my previous Facebook mini blogs all them months back i've had alot of requests to do more of them, so here it is, back by popular demand - the Worthy Mini blog series #2, enjoy, lol! This time I will be focusing on one of my better ideas to fix my health problems and that is the Chinese art of 'Tai chi chuan'. I'm going to split these into 3-parts because i've done 3 different styles of Tai-Chi and I want to emphasize the difference between them. For those who don't know, Tai Chi combines deep breathing and relaxation with slow and gentle movements, which is why my old GP suggested it to me after my frustration regarding the length of time my recovery is taking... However what you're about to read here is obviously not what she had in mind. As you may have gathered by now, i'm not exactly brains of Britain and me knowing nothing about Tai Chi or where they do it, the first thing I did was search 'Tai Chi in Manchester' on Google and went to the first one I could find which was Jian Taiji back when it was at Van-Dangs in Manchester Picadilly. At this point I did no research on the subject and I was going in with this image of "old ladies in a bingo hall", so you can imagine my suprise when I discovered Van-Dangs is a huge Martial Arts building and I walked into a room with a Thai boxing ring, punch bags and jig-saw puzzle mats. The first question I asked was "have I come to the right place? Jian Tai Chi is Chen style and my instructor (or Sifu as he is referred to) started the introductions by telling us the story of how Chen style was invented and how it was used to defend Chen Village (see here for more info https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_style ). He then spoke about how he is a gold medalist in Wushu Tai Chi competition. At this point the whole "old ladies in a Bingo hall" image was long gone and I was beginning to question if this is suitable for my health, but luckily the instructor reassured me that "it'll be good for ya". All 3 styles of Tai Chi that I've done starts with a warm-up and ends with some sort of cool down. All styles include Qi-gong (see here http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong ) and the Tai Chi 'dance like routines' known as forms, which in this case was the Chen style 24 form as demonstrated in this video here -https://youtu.be/pncVNFql0mk. The dress code for Jian Tai Chi was 'loose fitting clothes and flat sole shoes' and the movements we did had names like 'cloud hands' and 'pounding mortar' to name a few. This style of Tai Chi had alot of exercises and forms which included jumping and kicks with a heavily combat focused theme, so ofcourse I struggled alot to begin with because I was not prepared or expecting anything like this. Also for the first few weeks I was the only student, until an elderly lady joined us a several weeks later and she had the same problem I had because she too was expecting something like 'old ladies at a bingo hall'. The instructor (aka Sifu) told us about what he planned to teach us in the future such as 'pushing competitions' and forms using weapons, but due to the low numbers, his Van-Dang classes closed 2 months later before any of that 'more extreme' stuff took place. Whilst I was gutted, this was kinda a relief for me because on the one hand it was good stress relief at such a stressful time in my life and I needed to improve my stamina alot, but unfortunately my health was at it's worse back then and I struggled with the more physical aspects to the point where the lesson plan was watered down to suit us (also I kept missing alot sessions due to my health at the time). I enjoyed my first glimpse into the Tai Chi world and I did feel the benefits of it, plus people pointed out at the time how i've become more confident, so having decided not to follow Jian Tai Chi to Didsbury (or where ever they are these days), I looked for a Tai Chi closer to home... ...To see what that was, wait for part 2 on Monday. Until then, thanks for reading. tai chi exercises tai chi master tai chi online ... tai chi youtube taoist tai chi tai chi classes tai chi centre tai chi form tai chi chen yang tai chi
_A custom version of 2048, the addictive tile-matching game. HOW TO PLAY: Use your arrow keys to move the tiles. When two identical tiles touch, they merge and become the next level... In a discussion with Xianshen Ian an Academic Doctor and expert in weather systems and practitioner of the arts, we spoke at great length about the art of eating correct nutrition and fibre. We spoke about different food groups and how they might affect certain organs of the body. We discussed how eating without thought can damage the vessel/organism which is being developed to harness, store and hold energy. He then said something that fell onto my ears like an epiphany for our current modern everyday lives: 'The art of eating is not the difficult part - the art of shopping is the key' - We in general know what we should and shouldn't be eating, and there is a wealth of knowledge available at our fingertips to guide us in our pursuits. If you ever go shopping, however, when you are hungry or tired you are subjecting yourself to become victims of marketing, instant gratification from food etc. Not only this though, once foods deemed as 'treats' are in the house. It takes an immensely strong will not to eat them. So go shopping having eaten well, and choose wisely what goes into your trolley... |
AuthorLishi tai chi coach and NHS Dr for 15 years Archives
August 2018
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