London Tai Chi Instructors.

Winter is coming!

November 14, 2015
With Autumn here and Winter imminent, it's time to talk about avoiding falls. Last year, a lot of the groups seen had someone with a broken wrist or ankle, caused by slipping on leaves or (later) on snow. Ask your instructor to show you one an exercise we do that helps people avoid slipping and falling!

The main problem with falling is that people fall forward or backward and attempt to save themselves with putting out their hands, which is how they get broken wrists. The exercise your instructor will show you helps you avoid this mistake and lessens your risk of serious injury.

Stay safe out there!

Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

Spicy Lates nearly over

June 24, 2015
It's hard to believe that the Spicy Lates festival is nearly over - it's gone so fast! It was wonderful to be invited back to Kew again, to do tai chi, as part of the whole range of activities on offer. Wonderful too, to reconnect with some of the people who tried out tai chi at last year's Kew Plantasia festival, as well as fantastic to introduce new people to trying out tai chi this year too.

I always like visiting Kew, with its beautiful plants, glasshouses, trees and so forth. With its won...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

A day in the life...

April 22, 2015
Sometimes I think how lucky I am - I get to do what I love and introduce other people to it too:

Today I had a nice lazy lie-in (after 30 years of getting up at 6 am, I really enjoy a later start!), followed by meandering my way to my first group of the day - a lunchtime session with people who like to do the single form exercises, over and over, one after another.  This class helps people get a feel for each form and relax by just following and copying. Relaxation is the number one thing to ...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

Tudor painting and tai chi.

February 24, 2015
One of my interests outside of tai chi is Tudor painting. I just love all the detail and all the bling, as well as the symbolism used. Today I visited the National Portrait Gallery, which has an excellent collection of Tudor portraits. It's really great to get so close to these paintings, which are hundreds of years old and to be able to see all the details, down to the actual brush strokes.

Tudor painting is like tai chi in that the stunning effects of realism and sparkling jewels are built u...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

kids and grading

February 1, 2015
On Sundays, together with a second instructor, I do a family class for parents and/or children. So one instructor does the adults, while the other (me) does the kids....

One of the adults asked recently (seeing the kids with their various colour belts) if they did exactly the same gradings as the adults? Short answer is "no". A longer answer is needed to explain the difference:

The adults' programme is very set in stone, to gently lead people to develop their practise in certain directions, so...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

peacefulness through mindfulness

January 15, 2015
Last night I was practising one side of a san shou on my own (for those who haven't tried san shou, it's a two person set), and was happily just thinking about where my feet were and what they were doing. This is the essence of mindfulness - feeling one part of your body, rather than being subject to the storm of thoughts.

My own teacher complimented me afterwards on how peacefully I'd been doing it and I realised that my form had improved generally through just one thing.

I've been having som...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

Happy New Year

January 5, 2015
As the title says, Happy New Year to everyone!

After a holiday spent indulging in concentrated eating, drinking, fun and presents, time to get back into the normal routine, This is a great opportunity to take stock of things at home (recycling, cleaning, tossing out, starting new projects), but also to take stock of things in life too.

It's easy to get into habits, without thinking, yet we all have only one life, so thinking about what makes our life a positive experience and what doesn't is es...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

More on diets ... and less of diets!

November 15, 2014
Thinking about diets, I remembered that I'd read an article by a doctor (can't recall his name though) who had been running a weight loss programme at his clinic, but then noticed that some of the participants had left when they *lost* weight.  His follow-up interviews with some of them apparently led him to conclude that for these particular people their weight had been working for them, as camouflage to escape trauma or post-traumatic situations. I believe he went on to do a full study and ...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

Fiona's diet

November 14, 2014
When I first started tai chi, I had been a couch potato and had reached size 20 (85kg). With the regular practise of tai chi and a little practise at home every day, I also changed how I was eating. The combination of gentle exercise and change in food habits meant that I lost weight slowly, until I reached my present size 14 (65kg).

I'm not a doctor or a diet specialist, but since my diet worked for me, I thought I'd share it here:

The diet I made up for myself was based on what I had read we...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 

improving stamina

October 31, 2014
By regular *slow* practise of tai chi and chi kung, your stamina will improve. This was demonstrated this week by students in two different classes that I teach: One was sweating after doing slow tai chi form, and the other was surprised how much work he was doing in the chi kung sequence, since it just seemed like a bunch of slow easy movements...

When you look at the stereotypical people doing tai chi or chi kung in the park, it looks like nothing, because it's all slow motion. But it's the ...
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Posted by Fiona Anderson..

 
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