Tai Chi Exercise

Tai chi in a beach suburb attracts two groups that do not overlap much, and both get something different out of it.

The first is people over sixty who want to stay steady on their feet. That is the group with the strongest case: tai chi has reasonable evidence for reducing falls, and on the Northern Beaches, where getting anywhere involves steps, slopes and sand, staying steady is not abstract. Around here the walk down to the beach and back is itself a balance and strength test, and people notice when it gets harder.

The second is surfers and swimmers in their thirties and forties who are stiff through the hips and mid-back and cannot make themselves stretch. The slow weight-shifting work does more for a stiff hip than the stretching they were not doing anyway, and the breath work transfers directly to time under water.

What a class is: standing work, weight shifting, and a short sequence learned a few movements at a time. Flat shoes or barefoot. No soreness afterwards. Nothing held long enough to strain.

Check with a GP or physiotherapist first if you have had a fall, get dizzy, are recovering from a fracture or a joint replacement, or have unstable heart disease. Classes adapt, including seated. We are in Freshwater, ten streets from Balgowlah and about twenty from Manly.