For Beginners – Page 11

Ignorance Is Bliss

I know I shouldn’t have done it but I did. I couldn’t help myself.

I set the kitchen timer to 20 minutes, pressed the button, and then got into my embrace the tree posture. I checked my posture and then settled in for the duration.

As the minutes started ticking away I glanced at the digital read out on the kitchen timer and there was 11 minutes to go. What a dumb thing to do because those remaining 11 minutes felt like hours. And the reason why it felt that way was because I was now aware of how much time was left.

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Workplace Tai Chi

By Chris Leave a Comment

In the past few weeks I’ve been running my Chair Chi sessions for various aged care centres and now it’s time to promote my new workplace Tai Chi program.

It’s been a while since I’ve taught traditional Tai Chi for groups of people over a period of time as I’ve been concentrating on my facilitation and training work with Sue James in our shared business, BJ Seminars International. In between our major projects I’ll set aside some time to run these Tai Chi programs.

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Embrace The Tree Spots

By Chris Leave a Comment

When practicing standing postures such as ’embrace the tree’ there’s the temptation to slightly raise up out of the posture to ease the ‘discomfort’ you may feel in your legs.

The ‘discomfort’ here is usually located in the quadricep muscles, front of the thigh area, and the longer you stay in the stance the more they will feel like heavy logs. But that’s okay because that ‘discomfort’ is really a workout and it’s a normal feeling in stance work. Obviously if you are feeling pain in the joints, such as the knees and ankles then you should stop and come out of the stance.

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Tai Chi 20 Minute Wonder

By Chris Leave a Comment

I’ve finally achieved my target of holding the ’embrace the tree’ stance for 20 minutes and it feels great. It’s taken 20 weeks but I did it. Even my knees haven’t protested too much which is a blessing.

I was concerned at the start that my knees would react in a negative way as they have done in the past when I tried to practice mid to low stances. I stopped doing those stances a long time ago to avoid the pain and damage to my knees (left knee weakened due to a previous injury). Please note that low and medium stances are beneficial and a very good workout if your knees can handle them. My knees can’t.

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Chair Chi: Small Gesture Good Chi

By Chris Leave a Comment

I’d just finished another Chair Chi session at a aged care facility and said goodbye to the group. One resident walked past me, and placed a hand on my shoulder in appreciation for the session.

He was the person who had limited mobility and a disability which may have been caused by a stroke. During the session I watched him attempt the various Chi exercises and was not sure how much he was benefiting from the movements.

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