I had a lovely time teaching Tai Chi in the Swiss Garden at Shuttleworth this morning – the sun came out and so did many people who were eager to learn about Tai Chi.
Since we were in pretty much ideal surroundings we took advantage of being able to start with a brief sensory walk, grounding ourselves by connecting with the trees and bushes of the garden, calming our minds and bodies. I and my student Steve Milsom then took these enthusiastic beginners through 40 mins of exercises focusing on balance, posture, relaxation and moving about the centre, including waving hands like clouds, standing Chi Kung and Tai Chi walking. This was followed by our demonstration of the Laojia form and the Chen Broadsword form, with a brief history lesson to place Chen Tai Chi in a very wide context of both health and martial arts also covering briefly some of the Buddhist and Taoist philosophical backgrounds and other precursors to it’s synthesis.
We then we went into learning the first move of Laojia with discussion of what a beginners lesson might look like and further questions.
After the class feedback was very positive and many people stayed to ask questions including “where can I learn Tai Chi locally?” – at my classes in Shefford or Letchworth! So I am delighted to have been invited back later in the year and I would love to do more at this delightful venue.
Many of us then retired to the restaurant from where we could observe a Spitfire and a helicopter visit.
