Tai Chi has become well recognized across the world for its wide ranging health benefits. These include enhanced balance, coordination and flexibility. It has also proven capable of improving the breathing of asthmatics and of course its most famous atribute, the reduction of stress and its symptoms.

What most people are not aware of is that Tai Chi can also be practised as a martial art. If you are interested in learning the martial application of Tai Chi follow this link.

Learning Tai Chi for health involves learning a sequence of movements, usually known variously as "the form", "the hand form" or "Tai Chi Form".

The traditional form consists of anything up to 118 postures and can take over 35 minutes to perform. This traditional form is, when time and space allows the most effective method of practice. However it has to be recognised that many people don't have the time to learn or practise the long form.

To address this problem I teach individual postures that can be built into short a number of sequences of Tai Chi, these can be practised by themselves or used as a basis to learn the long form at a later date.

This approach is particularly popular in the Health Club / Spa environment.

For more in depth information on Tai Chi (also written as TaiJI) follow the links in the main menu.

But what is importany from a health point of view is the fact that Tai Chi is accessible to individuals with a wide range of physical abilities and any age.

It is a low impact activity that challenges balance and coordination, it has been shown to improve balance in older people reducing the risk of falls. Because the movements are slow and controlled they assist in rehabilitation from injury and the prolonged use of single weighted stances has ben shown to enhance bone density thus reducing the risk of osteoporosis. Done properly it should also exercise the mind, Tai Chi should be complex and challenging, sadly many people today simplify it to the point that the mental benefit is lost.