TAI CHI EXPLAINED

by Keith Hampson

We asked Keith Hampson, our resident Tai Chi expert, to tell us why he is so passionate about what he does and to tell us why Tai Chi is growing in popularity.

Tai Chi has traditionally been viewed by many people as something elderly people do as gentle exercise - others may be interested in the meditation. The interest in Tai Chi has grown over recent years due to wider visibility of the art. Many of us lead stressful lives so the slow measured pace of Tai Chi appeals to both mature people wishing to improve health through exercise and younger people who are interested in energy balancing and stress relief.

Keith says "I have always had an interest in movement and dance. I've also practiced Karate in my youth so I find Tai Chi fascinating and have practiced it for over 15 years. In fact I took early retirement especially so I could teach it. The traditional quality of Tai Chi appeals to me, teachers train under the guidance of established masters and their chosen disciples."

Tai Chi classes have been running at the Spa since April 2010 and the Spa is able to offer two types of Tai Chi experience, Tai Chi for Health and Further Tai Chi:

Tai Chi for health

The Chinese art of Tai Chi is performed as a sequence of slow and graceful movements, exercising the mind and body together. Performing the movements slowly enables students to achieve a state of calmness while improving strength, balance and flexibility. Taken together, the movements, breathing and mental focus used in Tai Chi help to promote the smooth flow of Chi energy around the body and the internal organs. According to Chinese belief, blockages to these energy flows manifest themselves as health problems and treatment often includes re-balancing the energy flows.

Further Tai Chi

Further Tai Chi builds upon the Tai Chi for Health sessions and introduces students to further energy exercises and other sequences of movements. Tai Chi originally developed as a self defence art employing the concepts of yin and yang and controlled energy flow. The movements of the various forms are gently explored with this in mind in order to better understand and perform the moves. Movements from other similar Chinese arts are also explored.

For more information, class times and to book please call 01305 824117 or email bookings@theoceanspa.co.uk