Great River T'ai Chi Celebrates 40 Years!

Great River T’ai Chi Celebrates Forty Years

T’ai chi, the multifaceted Chinese exercise, has become quite mainstream in the forty years since Great River T’ai Chi began offering classes in Minneapolis. Great River T’ai Chi has offered classes at all levels in the Twin Cities since 1979, sharing it with thousands of students.

To celebrate their 40th anniversary, Great River T’ai Chi is holding a free Open House, Sunday, September 8, from 6:00–8:00 p.m. at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 4557 Colfax Ave South, in Minneapolis, near Lake Harriet. The evening will feature a performance of traditional Chinese guzheng music by Jarrelle Barton, a recipient of the Minnesota Emerging Composer Award and an Anderson Center residency. This will be followed by t’ai chi demonstrations, refreshments, and movies.

Study after study has shown T'ai Chi's health benefits for balance, walking, posture, and relaxation. “T’ai chi is the perfect antidote for modern life. It’s an intriguing practice that is part wellness exercise, part mindfulness, and part martial art,” explained founder and director Barbara Davis. “We like to focus on how to use its principles of relaxation and alignment in daily life.”

“T’ai chi has taken us around the world,” Davis explained. Both teachers studied with a master in Taiwan, as well as in Colorado and New York City with followers of the famous artist and t’ai chi master Cheng Man-ch’ing (1902–1975). Davis went on to study Chinese language and history, authoring two books on t’ai chi ch’uan (also known as taijiquan) and editing the quarterly Taijiquan Journal.

Davis and her associate Cheryl Powers have also taught at the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, Minnesota State University in Mankato, the Minnesota College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (now part of Northwestern Health Sciences University), Tasks Unlimited, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Honeywell, Target, Minnesota Nursing Association, and YWCAs of Duluth, Minneapolis, and Mankato.

For more information, visit http://www.greatrivertaichi.wordpress.com

"6 Benefits of Tai Chi for Your Health"

 


A great article on the benefits of tai chi:

"My senior year of college, a friend and I signed up for a tai chi class offered on campus. We thought it would be an entertaining hour or two every week, and it gave us a few extra course credits. But a week or two in, I realized that the classes were actually something I really loved and valued as a part of my week. I looked forward to the few hours each week where I got to calm my mind and move my body at the same time." Read the whole article at Mother Earth News.

Tai Chi for Fall Prevention

"Minnesota has the nation’s fourth-highest rate of fall-related deaths," the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported in a recent article about how Tai Chi can prevent falls. Many studies have shown that Tai Chi helps improves many aspects of health, mobility, and balance. State commissioners of health and human services are seen here, following along in a training workshop.

Tai Chi participants can note a dramatic and quick improvement in balance and mobility by practicing even just the basics. Tai Chi is very multi-faceted, and can serve as a mindfulness exercise, as well as a martial art. See Great River's current schedule below for information on beginners classes.

Explore the Many Benefits of Tai Chi

A recent article in the Marlborough, New Zealand newspaper gives a great look at why tai chi practice is good for you.
"Seventy-year-old Lynda Neame said she started modified tai chi classes in 2008 after suffering from concussion, which caused vertigo and dizziness. "I thought I would learn how to stand up straight, walk in a straight line and get control of myself." The benefits proved more extensive.
Mrs Neame also suffered from osteoarthritis and had resigned herself to gradual loss of mobility because of the pain in her shoulders, legs and hips.
"I spent an hour recovering after half an hour in the garden and thought `this will be my life'."
But with the tai chi, she can now also enjoy pilates, bike riding, swimming and her beloved gardening."

How can tai chi benefit you? Find out at classes this fall at Great River Tai Chi. Our beginners' classes will be held Sundays, starting September 18th, at 6 pm, 1940 Hennepin Av. S. 2F. Tuition is $150 for ten weeks of class.