Tai Chi Chuan Beginners

Introduction Courses

You can join our classes at any time, but the easiest way to get started is taking one of our 4-weeks Introduction Courses, which we run 2-3 times a year. These give you the opportunity to join our classes together with other beginners.
After some warm-up exercises with the more advanced students, you will be taught in a smaller group to learn the basic moves. After the course you are welcome to keep coming to the class - we will still make sure that the beginners receive targeted teaching at their level. More info about ongoing classes.

Mondays: Tai Chi Chuan
4-weeks Introduction Course

When: Mondays 10.30-11.30
Where: West Ealing near Sainsbury's
Winter-Course 2023: 16, 23, 30 Jan; 6 Feb
Costs: £48 for 4 classes. Pay-in-advance (no refund for missed sessions)
Note: This course is specially geared to people later in life. Several of our students are in their seventies and eighties. Younger people are welcome as well!

Thursdays: Tai Chi Chuan
4-weeks Introduction Course

This class is cancelled
Please join our Monday day class (10.30am). If you can't and need advice on other local schools who run evening classes, please get in touch.

More info/sign-up

Tai Chi Chuan: Mondays on Zoom

Our Zoom class is Mondays from 4.30-5.30pm.
If you like to join, and have not trained with us before, you would need to take a series of Zoom private lessons first to familiarise yourself with some basic moves and forms. We recommend at least 5 private lessons of 30 minutes before you join our Zoom-class (£150)

Kung Fu - can add depth to your Tai Chi Chuan

We teach Kung Fu as a complimentary art to our Tai Chi Chuan. The focus is on technique and on the philosophical martial arts principles, which can be applied to mental challenges in your life. The mixed Tai Chi/Kung Fu class will give you a bit more of a workout than Tai Chi Chuan only class. However, if you are looking for a super-hard training or sparring, you won't find these in our school.

Elna's experience: "At almost 86 I am enjoying the benefits of the exercise, meditation and learning new techniques (Even self-defence!) It helps to keep me fit and improve my memory as well as making new friends".

More Testimonials; click here

We teach in a way that everybody can learn it!

Many people shy away from Tai Chi, as they feel they cannot learn the sequences that seem like one long flowing movement.
No worry: We take each sequence apart, and repeat the single moves many times. Once you can do single moves, we put them together and make them flow. If you feel under pressure about 'memorising' moves; relax! It is O.K. to just copy the teacher, even after many years of training - you still get the full benefits of Tai Chi.

More info/sign-up

What is Shaolin Tai Chi Chuan?

Tai Chi Chuan creates and balances inner energy (called Chi) through gentle, flowing movements. It has mental, emotional and physical benefits, as it fosters stress release, agility, balance, self-confidence, memory, mindfulness etc.
Kung Fu is related to Tai Chi, but it is the harder and faster version of this ancient Chinese Martial Art.

Every single move in our system has a health and a self defence application. For example, lifting your arms in a certain way may strengthen some muscles and massage the glands. At the same time, it also could serve as a blocking motion for an incoming strike. We will talk about these self-defence applications on occasion, but our focus is on the health benefits and life lessons. The core goal is always building and balancing your energy (and enjoy your training, of course). Read more

The benefits of Tai Chi/Kung Fu

Practicing Tai Chi Chuan and/or Kung Fu has physical and mental benefits. It is also great fun, as we are a friendly group who likes a good laugh. We work hard, but we do not take ourselves too seriously. Some examples of benefits:

Learning the Shaolin arts will make you stronger and helps you find your balance, both in a physical and an emotional way.
Through the training, you can increase your agility and coordination, linking your right and your left brain. This is also good for your memory, your mental alertness and intuition.
The training boosts your metabolism and can help you re-tune yourself regarding healthy eating habits. It also supports the circulatory, cardiovascular and immune system and detoxifies the organ system of the body.
On a more emotional level, learning Tai Chi or Kung Fu helps with your self-confidence, joy of life, and mental health. It calms you down when you feel stressed and it helps you let go of worries or tensions.

Read more on our dedicated benefits & testimonials page):

The energy teachings

When working with 'Chi' - inner energy - we select specific moves and sequences for you that enable you to:

raise your energy or calm it down
explore where you give your energy away and how you can take it back
guard and protect your space in a peaceful manner
balance and harmonise 'Chi' in all your body parts, your mind and your emotions
explore Yin and Yang aspects of energy, which allow you to shift from a hard and fast way of problem solving to a soft and flowing approach. This is useful for situations where you feel stuck or caught up in a conflict.
learn how to shift your emotions (using Shaolin animal styles). For example, you can shift from feeling like a focused, assertive Cobra to being a playful Butterfly (or the other way round).
energise the space around you; Tai Chi moves can revive stale rooms
learn more about yourself by visiting the place of your deepest essence - somewhere in between all energies...

Thelma attended the Beginners'course 2019. Here is her experience:

"The Beginner's Course is excellent. Andrea is a great teacher, very patient and always willing to explain things and repeat the movements more slowly if one needs this.
To have the connection with martial arts explained is a useful insight. It was novel to me to work with a partner as this was not done in another Tai Chi course, I did some years ago.
Having now moved from the beginners course to the regular class, I have experienced the more senior members as friendly, helpful and encouraging.
If a set of movements is challenging, I write down the process in my own words and then regularly visualise myself doing the moves, as well as doing them as often as possible. This helps me fix them in my mind and in time they become more fluid.
I would highly recommend this course to anyone wishing to take up Tai Chi Chuan. It allows you to forget about everything else for the duration of the class and I find I am more relaxed in mind and more energised in body afterwards."

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