Browsing Archive: May, 2013
Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Friday, May 24, 2013,
If you haven't done exercise for some time, maybe even years, you should start very gently with exercises designed to gradually increase your stamina. Going all out is counter-productive, placing too much stress on your unprepared body systems.
Gentle exercises that involve a mix of standing and sitting postures will help ease you towards greater body strength, without being too much. As you progress with these, then you can gradually change to doing a greater variety of standing exercises, d...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Thursday, May 16, 2013,
Through daily practise of tai chi and chi kung, as well as taking vitamin D and calcium supplements (if your diet is low in these), you can lessen your loss in bone density. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi quotes research in this, with facts and figures...
A good basic exercise is to stand with your feet apart, knees bent, and arms as if holding a giant dinosaur egg. Do this every day, starting with as little time as you like - gradually increasing the time, as your legs and arms b...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Thursday, May 16, 2013,
If you start with chi kung (qigong), then memory isn't an issue, as you will be copying your instructor doing the breathing exercises.
While much of tai chi training is also copying your instructor, part of the lesson will be learning the beautiful sequence called The Form, (or The Chuan), which takes a while to learn. The best way is to approach it one small chunk at a time - your instructor will demonstrate, you will follow several times, then practise for a while, then your instructor will ...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Tuesday, May 14, 2013,
Tai chi is the middle way - you should never push yourself to extremes. If it hurts, stop doing it. Tai chi shouldn't hurt, if you're doing it correctly. If you feel tired, have a rest. It's ok to have time out - you can always start again, when you feel up to it.
When I started tai chi, I had been a couch potato for many years and was extremely unfit. Everything was an effort, especially as I had put on weight through inactivity and unhealthy eating. So I had less muscles to move around more ...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Monday, May 13, 2013,
In learning chi kung, you will experience much deeper breathing than normal. Most people are shallow breathers, only breathing in/out from the top of their lungs. This leaves the air at the bottom of their lungs to become stale. By breathing longer and deeper, the air all through your lungs right down to the bottom gets changed, so that the stale air is exchanged for fresh air and you get healthier more oxygenated air into your bloodstream.
This has effects not only on your physical health, b...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Sunday, May 12, 2013,
First off, if you have comments on any of my posts, feel free to email me (address on the contact page), stating clearly if you want to be quoted publicly or not. If I do quote you later, your post may well be edited down. All mistakes and opinions here are my own, obviously...
Breathing - clients often ask about this.
In chi kung (qigong) lessons, it's all part of what is taught by our instructors - you will learn when to breathe in and out with specific movements. Chi Kung means "breath work...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Saturday, May 11, 2013,
Just got my mitts on a lovely new tai chi book - "The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi". While it is a scientific study of tai chi's health benefits, it's written in a style which presupposes a science background, along with a tai chi background. So I'm thinking I may take use some of the ideas to spark of my own ideas and maybe go off at tangents, to explain what I think in more readable terms.
My very first thought is that people need to relax, due to modern lifestyles causing stress ...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Sunday, May 5, 2013,
Welcome to our new blog page.
This past month has been an exciting one, with 2 major events : one for Teaching Leaders and one for Energise You. More details will appear on our Events page, when the photos for each arrive...
Next month promises to be even more exciting with the London Competition for Traditional Tai Chi Chuan taking place on June 2nd in the Queensbridge Sports Centre, Hackney, with competitors from Europe and the UK. Details of how to join can be found by going to our Links p...
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