Healthy Bodies
Join some of our experienced tai chi teachers as they explore the importance of healthy bodies for our practice of tai chi and in everyday life.
These four programs include:
- Keeping Our Balance in Life with Tai Chi with Margaret Olmsted: As we experience life, we always encounter moments that affect our balance physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Join this tai chi class where we will reflect on how we are doing in the present moment and explore powerful ways to find greater balance in our lives.
- Learning to Align with Gravity with Declan Rothwell: Age, trauma and negative life experience affects our body and the way we carry ourselves. Our alignment to the heavens is one of the keys to health. Let’s explore ways to become aware of our current alignment, and through tai chi principles, align ourselves more naturally, letting go of tension, and restoring our natural order.
- Happy Hips with Kevin Lannon: We will have a close look at how we open our hips when making steps to arrive in any of the 70/30 Tai Chi positions. Create a safe space to observe ourselves internally when making steps, do we fall into positions or do we avoid opening the hips whilst trying to achieve perceived goals. With new awareness we can make small changes that benefits the body just by relaxing that little bit more. We will also look at simple home exercises to assist our daily routine.
- Function of Our Leg Joints with Bob Etherington: We will take a look at the structure of our bones, ligaments, and muscles of the lower body to build an awareness of how they function together for healthy living.
While knowing the tai chi form will help, you do not need to have learned the form to benefit from these programs.
Class Sections
Time In The Art
This is a series developed by TCF to allow experienced teachers to share their own personal tai chi learning journey. Oftentimes, this exploration ties back to the Five Excellences of Professor Cheng Man-Ch'ing - poetry, calligraphy, traditional chinese medicine, painting, and, of course, tai chi.
Classes are suitable for all levels of tai chi students and for anyone interested in starting their own journey.
Meet Your Teachers
Margaret Olmsted
Margaret (also known as MO) has been teaching with the Tai Chi Foundation (TCF) since 1976. Recognized as a Legacy Holder, which is the top tier of teaching, she works to ensure the quality of education. Margaret supports the TCF on various committees. She lives and teaches in Los Angeles.
Declan Rothwell
Declan is teaching tai chi in Dublin, Ireland as part of the Irish branch of the TCF, Suaimhneas School of Tai Chi Chuan. He is also a Five-Element Acupuncturist practising in Dublin and serves as the Principal of the College Of Five Element Acupuncture.
Kevin Lannon
Kevin has been teaching in the United Kingdom since 2002 and is located in Welwyn Garden city (20 miles north of London). He mentions that being part of the TCF community is how he continues to be inspired by working new material/concepts shared by fellow teachers.
Bob Etherington
Bob began the study of martial arts as a teenager. In 1981 Bob began working with a branch of the School of Tai Chi Chuan and immediately felt that he had found his way home. Three years later, after finishing graduate school, Bob moved to New York City both to study Tai Chi and to begin a career as a professional singer. The study of singing and of Tai Chi Chuan fed his fascination with anatomy and physiology. Subsequently Bob entered a four-year training program to become a Feldenkrais practitioner, helping people recover from injury and overcome physical challenges. Bob enjoys working in the three disciplines of music, Tai Chi Chuan, and Feldenkrais and often finds them intersecting.
About the Tai Chi Foundation
Our mission is to “To improve health, well-being, and awareness through the study, practice, and teaching of tai chi and qigong, by an increasing number of people worldwide.”
The Tai Chi Foundation (TCF) is a not-for-profit educational organization that develops and promotes programs that enable people to learn to practice, and ultimately teach, tai chi chuan and its internal principles.
Visit our website to learn more about our Foundation, find a local school, join an online tai chi class, and more!