Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Tai Chi: Your Gateway to Health



Tai Chi for health? You betcha: balance, relaxation, lower blood pressure, coordination...the list goes on. Now here's what one article says: "Studies have long shown that tai chi improves balance. Now research demonstrates it may also protect the area of the brain responsible for the sense of touch. In a recent Harvard study, 50- to 60-year-olds who did tai chi had a more acute sense of feeling in their fingertips, equivalent to that of people nearly half their age."("The brain-power workout" India Today 9/16/09).

So here's your chance to try it out: Great River T'ai Chi will be offering a beginner's class starting this Sunday, September 20th, from 7-8 pm. Let this class be your gateway to health! Ten weeks for only $140. Register at door. New students will be admitted through mid-October; tuition will be pro-rated.

Great River has been offering tai chi classes for 30 years!
1940 Hennepin Av. S. 2F (at Franklin), Mpls.
For further information, call 612-822-5760.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Great River Director Article Published

Great River T'ai Chi Ch'uan's director Barbara Davis writes about the nature of t'ai chi in this month's issue of the Edge Magazine. She writes: "T’ai chi creates a space not just of one individual’s internal being, but rather, at the same moment, you are in a connection beyond your self, to the room you’re in, to the people around, to the world outside." You can read the complete article online, or pick up a copy at Present Moment, Tao Foods, The Wedge, or other locations throughout the Twin Cities and Minnesota. Davis was a participant in the International Taiji Symposium in Nashville this summer.
Link

Friday, May 8, 2009

Edith Davis Memorial Acupuncture Access Bill Passes Minnesota Legislature


The Equal Access To Acupuncture Act and as a Memorial to Edith R. Davis, Minnesota’s pioneer acupuncturist passes and has been signed by Governor Pawlenty! This act requires health insurers who cover acupuncture delivered by doctors and chiropractors to also reimburse for acupuncture by licensed acupuncturists. The importance of this bill was in allowing the consumer fair access to the practitioners who are most highly trained in the field, the professional licensed acupuncturists. This bill was supported by the acupuncture association, acupuncture schools and the Minnesota Chiropractic Association.

Edith Davis, mother of Great River T'ai Chi director Barbara Davis, was one of Minnesota's pioneer acupuncturists, a founder of the Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Association of Minnesota, founder and President of the Minnesota College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, on numerous national acupuncture commissions, founder of the Healing Point Traditional Acupuncture Clinic, and most recently served on the legislative committee of the acupuncture association.

The association wrote, "This bill is dedicated to honor the memory of Edith R. Davis, a pioneering acupuncturist in Minnesota who for the safety of the public, the benefit of the profession and her love of people deemed it necessary that education, certification and licensing of acupuncturists be a fundamental requirement for practice. Edith labored tirelessly until her death at the age of 87, in May 2008. We are forever grateful for her inspiration, her support and her life."

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Tai Chi for Balance

A recent New York Times article (4/7/09) reported that just six weeks of Tai Chi helped improve balance in people who'd had strokes. "While the exercise group showed little improvement in balance, the tai chi group made significant gains when they were tested on weight-shifting, reaching and how well they could maintain their stability on a platform that moved like a bus." Read more....

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Tai Chi for Golf!


Did you know that tai chi practice can help your golf game? A Wall Street Journal article recently covered the topic of practice and mastery—and lo, and behold, some golfers are using what they call the "tai chi swing" to help straighten out their golf technique. The slow pace of tai chi helps golfers analyze swings that would otherwise be done at high speeds that don't allow time for observation of accuracy. (Wall Street Journal 3/19/09)
Join us at Great River Tai Chi to polish up your golf game before the snow stops flying!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Professor Cheng Tai Chi Videos Available

Curious about who Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing was and what his t'ai chi looked like? A new authorized site shows clips of Professor Cheng's tai chi and information about ordering materials.