Benefits of Tai Chi Chuan and Kung Fu

Health, Mindfulness, Joy

Learning the Shaolin Arts is much fun - and we teach it in a way that everybody can learn it. It helps you get into the flow, while increasing your strength and focus. 

After training for a while, you will notice benefits for your physical and mental wellbeing: Stress release, resilience, increased strength, balance, agility, better memory,  more vitality.

Many students use the mental principles of  Tai Chi and Kung Fu in their every-day life, as they learn how to work with their energy. For example, they learn when to focus  and when to relax. They can sense better which projects or relationships drain or revive their energies. And they gain generally more self-confidence and self-awareness. ​

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Benefits will be individual as our training time is limited.
Practicing at home will  increase the positive impact that the training can have on your life.

Physical Benefits

• More strength, flexibility, agility and sense of balance
• Better posture and decreased body-tension, often leading to relief of muscle pain or tension-related illness
• Increased internal energy - this usually leads to strengthening of the circulatory, cardiovascular and immune system and detoxifies the organ system of the body
• Boost for your metabolism - often leading to re-tuning of the body regarding eating habits, weight management, etc.

Mental benefits

• Increased mental agility
  
• More balance and focus
  
• Increased memory-power (by memorising moves and forms)
• Using your right brain (where creativity and intuition comes from) through meditation and imagination exercises
  

Everyday life

• More self-confidence - experience more enjoyment about who you are
  
• Ability to manage stress in new and more successful ways
  
• New approaches on how to handle the tensions and conflicts of everyday life - by integrating yin and yang (the hard and the soft approaches)
• New friendships and inspiration by spending time with a wonderful set of people

Testimonials

Paul's experience
Andrea’s encouragement and pragmatic approach brings out the best in all of us. We can feel ourselves getting better each session, and since starting as a novice early last year, I now feel much more relaxed and flexible in both body and mind. Her in depth knowledge of the history and practice of Tai Chi is also neatly balanced with the individual sense of humour she brings each week – learning is fun.

Jean: Lots of fun to train outdoors - you can really experience the seasons in our Advanced class under the trees!

Thelma's insights:
​The Beginner's Course is excellent.  Andrea is a great teacher, patient and always willing to explain things and repeat the movements more slowly.
To have the connection with martial arts explained is a useful insight. Partner work was novel to me, as this was not done in a Tai Chi course, I did before.
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 practising 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.  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

Mike's experience with Private Lessons
My Zoom lessons are a real 'pick-me-up', as I often attend after a hard day at work. After each lesson, I feel relaxed, stronger in my body, more peaceful and more optimistic about my problem-solving ability.
My team sometimes teases me, telling me "Go do your Tai Chi now", when they feel that I rush around or over-react. I really need this now...

Althea's take aways
I joined the Tai Chi class three years ago. The group is friendly and welcoming, and Andrea is an inspirational teacher. Some of the many positive things I have benefitted from are that I have become more relaxed and focussed, my muscles have strengthened and my balance has improved. 

​Elna's view:
Many years ago, I went to Tai Chi classes but gave up when the teacher left. Now returning at almost 86 I am enjoying the benefits of the exercise, meditation and learning new technique. (Even self-defence!) It helps to keep me fit and improve my memory as well as making new friends. Andrea is very encouraging, inspiring and patient.

Jane's voice:
​Since retiring, I wanted to find something I could do to help improve my mobility and balance, but it had to be low impact. As I had practised Tai Chi over 15 years ago, I looked for a class that would suit me and found the Shaolin Tai Chi beginners class, specifically aimed at those over a certain age. 
Each session starts with Chi Gong, a form of meditation, movement and breathing, which Andrea leads you through and then each week, you start to learn various parts of the Tai Chi form. Andrea is very encouraging and knowledgeable and explains the meaning of the moves in relation to their martial art purpose.
Four months on, I have found Tai Chi to be a great stress-buster, as a relaxing form of meditation through movement and I am also gradually improving my posture and balance. I just wish I had started it earlier.

Susan's feedback
I’ve long been intrigued about Tai Chi from seeing how beautiful and calming it looks when watching films of those doing it. It looks so different from the Pilates, weights and cardio work I normally do. So, I finally decided to enrol. I thoroughly enjoyed the Beginners class with Andrea. She is a great teacher and I appreciated her insights into the history and philosophy behind Shaolin Tai Chi, as well as her expertise and encouragement. It is indeed very different from ‘normal’ Western approaches to exercise! It is also deceptive. It looks so gentle and easy but is neither. It is challenging to achieve, and you really feel you have worked hard after a class, but it is very enjoyable. Because of changed family commitments I can’t continue beyond Beginners at the moment, but I hope I can do so in the near future.

Student Interview

Ken attends our 50+ class and the Advance class outdoors.

Ken, you have attended the Shaolin school for almost two years now. Why did you start Tai Chi Chuan?
I started Tai Chi Chuan because I had practiced various styles of martial arts (and I still do): Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do and Wu Shu Kwan. 
I have always been interested in Tai Chi Chuan as a more 'internal' style; It is soft and flowing, but a very strong system. When I saw the Silver Wing flyer, I thought I would "give it a go".
 
Can you remember how you felt at the beginning? How was it to start?
Of course when you start anything new there is always a sense of uncertainty, of not knowing what to expect. However, that disappeared as soon as I got started. It is a very friendly group and you can work at your own pace. It is intense and focused, but there is no pressure whatsoever. I have made new friends... not only in the classes but also on the social side.

"Tai Chi is not to fight, but to discipline your mind and body, it is the story of the spirit."

What do you get out of it?
I like learning a new style martial art and get a lot out of learning the "forms" and practicing foundation techniques. There is also the spiritual side which I find very calming. And I also appreciate the chance for me to pass on my (limited) knowledge to new students. Tai Chi is not to fight but to discipline your mind and body, it is the story of the spirit.
 
What do you like about the class?
I like the chance to practice Tai Chi with distinguished instructors. Everything is clear with a lot of explanations and practical instruction. You can work at your own pace and aptitude, as they say: you only get out what you put in. The social side to the group is a bonus: good conversations and regular social gatherings.

How about Self Defence?

Tai Chi Chuan and Kung Fu are very effective and powerful martial arts system. However, to use it for self-defence in modern times, we would have to train in very intense ways; several hours per day. Still - some training is better than nothing - and training certainly increases your alertness and awareness of dangerous situations.
More importantly - the training will help you avoid or neutralise tense and aggressive situations.

Sun Tzu, in his famous book The Art of War said: "To win without fighting is the best victory". We would like to take this a step further and say; What you learn in our school is not fighting or winning at any price, but increasing your ability to create win-win situations and non-aggressive problem-solving in your life; which is based on a grounded, healthy self-confidence.
 

In our school, we have a broad approach to "self-defence". Nowadays, the 'attacks' on our bodies and minds often are more complex than physical assaults.
Environmental pollution, bad food, poisonous substances in our everyday products, stress, toxic relationships etc. - all these can threaten our health. We can support our bodies and minds in their struggle to fend off these negative influences. Making ourselves stronger (not just in our bodies, but also developing inner strength) and being more relaxed, balanced and joyful are excellent defence strategies against these kind of dangers.

Benefits of Tai Chi training for other Martial Artists

Even if you are an experienced Martial Artist of a so-called external style (Karate, Tae Kwando, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, etc.): Practicing some Tai Chi Chuan can considerably improve your ability and can help you overcome performance barriers.
Tai Chi Chuan's slow and fluid approach to training is - paradoxically - a core ingredient of developing speed and power. There is some great truth in the Shaolin saying: "You have to slow down to speed up".