BEGINNERS TAI CHI

Harrogates beginners Tai Chi course, learn a Tai Chi practice in six weeks small group class with supporting video

BEGINNERS TAI CHI

Would you like to lead a happier and healthier lifestyle? The gentle art of Tai Chi is exactly what you need to calm your mind, strengthen your body and start your journey to a richer & healthier life experience.

"When practicing the form you must stay relaxed. In time you will find it becomes part of your physical and mental state!"
Cheng Man Ching

Discover the art of Tai Chi, a flowing practice that seamlessly integrates breath, movement, and meditation. Whether you're seeking a gateway to mindful movement or aspiring to delve into the realms of Chinese martial arts, our Beginner's Tai Chi Class is the perfect starting point. These beginners classes focus on balance, health and fitness. Lay the foundation for a healthier, more balanced life, and unlock the potential for personal growth and self-awareness.

Tai Chi Opening

Tai Chi Class

Lu, Roll Back

Exercise For Life

Instead of jarring, high-intensity exercises, Tai Chi uses low-impact, slow moving, naturally flowing movements that are done carefully and mindfully. Movements are usually circular in nature and muscles are relaxed during the exercises. Since it is such a gentle flowing exercise, it offers benefits for people at all fitness levels – from young practitioners to older adults.

BEGINNER Friendly

Our relaxed and friendly classes are based on the Cheng Man Ching style of Tai Chi. The classes follow a carefully structured syllabus that ensures you will be able to develop your skills at your own pace. From your first lesson you will be shown simple exercises and routines that will lead to better balance, posture, increased strength and flexibility and a calmer, more focussed mind.

The Tai Chi Form is a practice rooted in ancient Chinese philosophy and martial principles, Combining martial techniques with mindfulness, it emphasises structure, whole body power, soft rootedness and a keen awareness of the body and it's place in your surroundings. It is a fantastic method and core to most tai chi practitioner's art and daily practice. Does it teach you how to fight?

"Practice of the form does teach you most of the things that you need to know about Tai Chi Chuan fighting, but, and this is a big but, it does not teach you how to fight!" Nigel Sutton, Applied Tai Chi Chuan

To learn how to apply the skills we have been practicing we need to lean into the rest of the syllabus.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles" Sun Tzu, The Art Of War

Tai Chi Pushing Hands is a fundamental practice within the discipline of Tai Chi Chuan. It is a two-person exercise designed to develop sensitivity, balance, and martial awareness of both your partner, but more importantly to beginners, of yourself. Push hands is a excellent tool for identifying and testing any problems with your tai chi form! Participants engage in soft but structured, patterns of movement, maintaining contact with their partner while maintaining Tai Chi principles taught through the form such as relaxation, structure and rootedness. Through Pushing Hands, practitioners learn to perceive and redirect the force of their partner. Difficulties dealing with a partners force usually point to something wrong in the practitioners form practice, and provides an excellent learning opportunity!

There are a number of patterns that we practice in Cheng Man Ching's Tai Chi Chuan.

Si Zheng Tui, or the four fixed methods, trains the critical grasp sparrows tail sequence, from the form, of ward off, roll back, press and push and can be done with both fixed steps and movement. It emphasises the more horizontal movement of Cheng Man Ching's art and teaches much about the use of the core skills of Tai Chi. Can you maintain your relaxation and root, while trying to find your partners?

Da Lu, or great rollback adds in the next four forces from the form pluck, split, elbow, and shoulder and a very useful footwork pattern. This is more obviously related to fighting skills and contains techniques and footwork to extricate you from problem situations.

The final stage is free pushing hands which does not follow fixed patterns and where many different contexts can be explored. In most Malaysian Cheng Man Ching schools there are patterns of movement designed to help students prepare for the types of movement found in pushing hands. We also teach these and find them valuable for exploring many of the lessons of the form!

Zhang Zhong or standing post is a key training method in most Chinese martial arts and is critical in Tai Chi. The practice involves standing in set postures that are fundamental to developing rootedness and whole body connection, this trains the practitioners structure, providing isometric training for the key stances angles and mechanics and an awareness of the precision of the postures.

"The unmoved is the source of all movement" Lao Tzu, Dao De Jing

Standing post is also a very effective method of meditation. The ability to keep the mind quiet and focused on the body, the breath or some visualisation as the discomfort of the practice sets in trains the stillness of the mind!

Master Lee Bian Lei was a very prominent teacher in Malaysian Cheng Man Ching Tai Chi, famous for his formidable fighting skills. He developed a comprehensive set of exercises that train the whole body to generate relaxed power. The exercises range from strengthening and loosening exercises for individual joints, to loosening the fascia, strengthen the core and generating whole body power.

"Power that is rooted in the feet, released by the legs, directed by the waist and emitted through the hands!"

Diligently practiced these exercises can shorten the time it takes to develop many of the physical properties Tai Chi promises and provide a valuable toolkit to explore, refine and maintain the skills and properties throughout your Tai Chi journey. Find out more about Master Lee at the Zhong Ding association website.

Conditioning training training for Tai Chi that we practice includes both traditional and modern. Movement drills can be practiced for aerobic conditioning. Heavy push hands and wall training develops anaerobic stamina, strength and the ability to use the whole body power. Heavy staff training develops explosive relaxed power. The use of exercise bands or flexible tree branches can be used to develop pliable structure. We utilise these training methods and more to train both the yang and the yin of the tai chi symbol!

Zhang Zhong or standing post is a key training method in most Chinese martial arts and is critical in Tai Chi. The practice involves standing in set postures that are fundamental to developing rootedness and whole body connection, this trains the practitioners structure, providing isometric training for the key stances angles and mechanics and an awareness of the precision of the postures.

"The unmoved is the source of all movement" Lao Tzu, Dao De Jing

Standing post is also a very effective method of meditation. The ability to keep the mind quiet and focused on the body, the breath or some visualisation as the discomfort of the practice sets in trains the stillness of the mind!

Master Lee Bian Lei was a very prominent teacher in Malaysian Cheng Man Ching Tai Chi, famous for his formidable fighting skills. He developed a comprehensive set of exercises that train the whole body to generate relaxed power. The exercises range from strengthening and loosening exercises for individual joints, to loosening the fascia, strengthen the core and generating whole body power.

"Power that is rooted in the feet, released by the legs, directed by the waist and emitted through the hands!"

Diligently practiced these exercises can shorten the time it takes to develop many of the physical properties Tai Chi promises and provide a valuable toolkit to explore, refine and maintain the skills and properties throughout your Tai Chi journey. Find out more about Master Lee at the Zhong Ding association website.

Conditioning training training for Tai Chi that we practice includes both traditional and modern. Movement drills can be practiced for aerobic conditioning. Heavy push hands and wall training develops anaerobic stamina, strength and the ability to use the whole body power. Heavy staff training develops explosive relaxed power. The use of exercise bands or flexible tree branches can be used to develop pliable structure. We utilise these training methods and more to train both the yang and the yin of the tai chi symbol!

LOCATION, TIME, PRICE

O'Connor Chiropractic

101 Station Parade

Harrogate

North Yorkshire

HG1 1HB

Wednesday, 18:00 - 19:00

Price £55 for six weeks*

*Includes weekly supporting videos

Contact to book

BEGINNERS COURSE FAQ

Although Tai Chi originated as a martial art. It is now a very broad church and people practice it for many different reasons. This class is focused on learning how to structure the body and move in the tai chi way. The martial intent of certain moves will be discussed but only so far as it helps students understand the postures and principles they are learning. It is however a great entry point to learning Tai Chi as a Martial art.

One you complete the course you have a self contained practice that is yours for life. If however you choose to continue your practice, as we sincerely hope you will, you have a number of options...

We also run Tai Chi and Meditation classes, that you will now be very well placed to attend. This will allow you to complete the full Cheng Man Ching 37 posture form and if you wish study other practices and systems that we teach. These classes don't include two person work so are ideal if you don't want to pursue the martial arts route.

You will also be perfectly placed to start attending our Applied tai chi classes, where we work on push hands, conditioning and the martial arts aspects of the art!

What is Applied Tai Chi

Principle based approach is valuable to cross train along side any martial arts system and though great for any age is especially useful if you find the wear and tear of time or injury are complicating your existing practice.

Tai Chi Pushing Hands is a fundamental practice within the discipline of Tai Chi Chuan, a Chinese martial art renowned for its slow, flowing movements and emphasis on internal energy cultivation. Pushing Hands, or Tui Shou in Chinese, is a two-person exercise designed to develop sensitivity, balance, and martial awareness.

Participants engage in gentle, choreographed movements, maintaining contact with their partner's arms while adhering to Tai Chi principles such as relaxation, rootedness, and yielding. Through Pushing Hands, practitioners learn to perceive and redirect the force of their partner, fostering a deeper understanding of energy dynamics and martial application within Tai Chi.

This practice offers both physical and mental benefits, promoting relaxation, coordination, and improved martial skills. Additionally, Pushing Hands serves as a platform for practitioners to explore Tai Chi principles in a cooperative yet dynamic setting, facilitating personal growth and deeper insights into the art.

BEGINNERS TAI CHI