And Chill...

FINALLY we really feel like we are back on track and raring to go!

Since restrictions have been lifted we’ve had two brilliant, well attended face to face meetings, our last being an Introduction to Tai Chi with local instructor Paul Elliot. It turned out to be the perfect antidote to the stress levels we have all experienced in the last 18 months of Covid.

This month we gathered at the newly refurbished BBH Village Centre where there was an abundance of space for all of our members (plus half a dozen visitors taking advantage of their first free meeting) to get to grips with the intriguing art of Tai Chi.

So a bit of background... Tai Chi is an ancient and graceful martial art which blends relaxed and subtle motions with deep breathing and relaxation routines. Formulated in China during the 1200's the art is now taught and practiced across the world for its health benefits. Tai Chi has been shown to boost range of motion and balance, reduce tension and improve muscle strength in the lower limbs, in particular in the over sixties.

Paul and his assistant Louisa were great teachers, and we all had a lot of fun learning some of the more simple moves. We soon found we were really benefitting from the calming feelings they created and we all experienced the same realisation: that when you are concentrating on perfecting the slow purposeful and elegant sequential movements of this exercise, you have no room in your brain to think about anything else. This results in a feeling of peacefulness and serenity which I'm sure you will agree we could all really do with in these chaotic times.

Not only did we come away with a wonderful chilled out vibe, but we were also given an illustrated instruction sheet to practise with at home and a list of Paul's local classes.