Living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) can be incredibly challenging, with symptoms like chronic pain, fatigue, and limited mobility often impacting...
To some, Tai Chi is a martial art, to others a spiritual practice and to yet others, simply a way of keeping body and mind fit.
Zhang San Feng
Regardless of the definition, there’s a growing wealth of scientific evidence which recognises the benefits regular Tai Chi practice bestows on both body and mind.
The origins of Tai Chi are obscure and subject to much debate. Folklore attributes the creation of Tai Chi to the Taoist priest Zhang San Feng who, while living in the Wudang mountains, saw a snake and a crane fighting. Legend has it that he subsequently integrated the moves of both creatures into his own sequence of movements, thus creating Tai Chi.
Chen Jia Gou
The “official” Chinese account (and the earliest with any written historical evidence) names the birthplace of Tai Chi as Chen Village (Chen Jia Gou) in Northern China’s Henan province. It is from the Chen family’s Tai Chi that the four other styles of Tai Chi arose, namely Wu, Wu (Hao), Sun and the most well known and widely practiced style, Yang. The village is on the opposite side of the valley to the Shaolin Temple in Deng Feng county. It is perhaps no surprise then that Chen style Tai Chi, which echoes movements found in internal Shaolin Kung Fu styles, became known as a formidable martial art long before the world awoke to its broader health benefits.
Tai Chi is a journey, not a destination and classes are relaxed, friendly and allow students to explore this beautiful art martially, spiritually or simply as a path to improved fitness, as they prefer.
In addition to Tai Chi, we practice traditional Qigong including the ancient Ba Duan Jin, Mawangdui Daoyin Shu and Yang Shi Ba Shi sequences.
For more information regarding our class schedule or to join us, please leave a message for us on our Contact Us page, or via our Facebook group.
