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2015: Tai Chi Number Crunching

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Numbers2Well, it’s been a very hectic but enjoyable Tai Chi year and here are some stats to wrap up 2015.

Personal Training:
60 minute ’embrace the tree’ posture. Started 3 years ago with 30 seconds and added 30 seconds each week – previous to that I could never manage more than 3-5 minutes without minor knee problems. Now practice 60 minute embrace the tree posture 3 times a week and 30 minutes on alternative days.
9 minute low stance – 3 times a week
8 Tai Chi push ups – 3 times a week
11 hours training per week

Professionally:
256 Chair Chi workshops for 10 aged care centres –  average 5 workshops per week
15 Chair Chi staff training workshops – includes 5 interstate (3 capital cities in a 2 week period)
1 Tai Chi demonstration
1 Chair Chi Plus pilot study over 6 weeks – 3 sessions a week – report to be completed in January
4 Video recordings of  Chair Chi workshops (includes staff and resident interviews) at 3 aged care centres
6 Good Chi News e newsletters published – focus on aged care – launched this year

Next year will be another big one as we further expand our business into the aged care sector.

So until then have a great Christmas break and may the good chi be with you.

Tai Chi ‘Embrace The Tree’: Personal Time

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EmbraceTreeIf you look down this page you’ll see the following –  Embrace The Tree: Personal Time 33 minutes – Target 60 minutes.

So what’s all this about. Well, for those who are new to Tai Chi, Embrace the Tree is a posture that is held for a certain amount of time. It’s a very energising posture with many health benefits.

Until recently I could never do more than 5 minutes of Embrace the Tree posture due to knee pain (old injury). About two and half years ago I decided to try it again but this time using my brains instead of will power which caused me knee problems with the stance.

I started training 3 times a week, 30 seconds duration, adding 30 seconds to the posture each week. With correct application  I can now do 30 minutes of the Embrace the Tree posture, 6 days a week. On Sundays I rest.

Recently I started my journey towards achieving 60 minutes of Embrace the Tree posture. As before I’m adding 30 seconds to the posture every week.

I intend building the duration of the posture, three times a week and on alternative days  I’ll continue with 30 minutes. In other words; Monday, Wednesday, Friday build the stance – Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday continue with 30 minutes.

This slow rate of training is a safer approach and if my knees hold up and I achieve my 60 minutes then I’ll re-assess my stance duration and possibly aim for 60 minutes, 6 days a week. If I decide to do that it will probably take at least another year to achieve.

But for now – publicly recording my times each week gives me the incentive to not fall of the wagon or fall out of the tree 🙂

 

Footnote: The photo was taken early morning on a balcony of a hotel in Sydney. Sue and I were running Chair Chi Training workshop and A Taste of Appreciative Inquiry workshop and early morning was the only time I could fit my training in.

2013: Chi Reflections

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RedYinYangSmallWell, it’s been a very busy year and this blog post is larger than usual, as I wrap up the year to fill you in on what’s been happening in my personal training and professional job as a Tai Chi teacher.

Personal Chi
This year I’ve managed to keep consistently to my training schedule of 90 minutes (3×30 minute sessions) during weekdays and 60 minutes on Saturdays.

The 30 minute sessions throughout the day have kept my knees happy, as they no longer play up as they did when I was practicing much longer sessions in the past.

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Tai Chi: Standing Forever

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I really should use my mobile phone stop watch instead of my small, old, electronic kitchen clock when I’m training.

This morning I got up early as usual to practice my embrace the tree posture, set my kitchen clock to count down from 20 minutes to zero. I pressed the start button and checked to see if it was working and stepped back into the posture.

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