Tai Chi/Qigong – $3

Tai Chi/Qigong, as it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. There are a number of so- called forms (sometimes also called ‘sets’) which consist of a sequence of movements. Many of these movements are originally derived from the martial arts (and perhaps even more ancestrally than that, from the natural movements of animals and birds) although the way they are performed in Tai Chi/Qigong is slowly, softly and gracefully with smooth and even transitions between them.

For many practitioners the focus in doing them is not, first and foremost, martial, but as a meditative exercise for the body. For others the combat aspects of Tai Chi/Qigong are of considerable interest. In Chinese philosophy and medicine there exists the concept of ‘chi’, a vital force that animates the body. One of the avowed aims of Tai Chi/Qigong is to foster the circulation of this ‘chi’ within the body, the belief being that by doing so the health and vitality of the person are enhanced. This ‘chi’ circulates in patterns that are close related to the nervous and vascular system and thus the notion is closely connected with that of the practice of acupuncture and other oriental healing arts.

Here at the Parkinson Senior Society we are thrilled to have Mr. Harold Naka as our Tai Chi/Qigong instructor. Classes are offered as follows:

Monday at 12:45pm – 1:45pm
Friday at 10:00am – 11:00pm