Welcome to the website of Tai Chi Ireland. Learn more about Wu Style Tai Chi. Classes in Dublin are Module based. Each module builds on the previous ones.
Sections: What is Tai Chi, The Benefits of Tai Chi, About the Teacher, Daoism 101, Frequently Asked Questions, Classes, Tai Chi Gallery, News.
Owner: Jan Golden, Tai Chi Ireland; Designer: Karina Steffens; Webmaster: Martin Steffens; Neo-Archaic Multimedia and Web Design; Made in: Macromedia Flash 4, Flash 6 Tai Chi (also pronounced taiji) is a powerful series of interconnected flowing martial techniques which originated in China that have significant and long-lasting benefits for the body and mind. The essence of Tai Chi is relaxation through gentle bending,twisting, contracting and extending movements combined with deep diaphragmatic breathing to pump oxygen more efficiently around the body, leaving the practitioner feeling light, vibrant, and free from fatigue. With practice, the adept will have excellent coordination, a dramatically improved posture, greater sense of balance, and a heightened sense of itality without exhaustion. Tai Chi was originally designed by Daoist monks to aid them in meditation. It is not purely Daoist, as there are elements of Southern Shaolin monastery in it, but it's essence remains one of relaxing into your body and mind, something which is of pressing importance in these technologically stressed times. Relaxing the mind is something which seems to be overlooked these days. A relaxed mind housed in a relaxed body is not just just the stuff of Latin quotes (Mens sana in corpere sano), but is a real possibility. Stress is killing people; whether through cigarettes or heart attacks or cancer, it's on the rise. Tai Chi, and its attendant Daoist technologies, offer a real chance for peolple to plug into themselves and find a level of calm where the whining, feverish noise of everyday trauma can be stilled. There's no religion involved here, no proselytizing, just a rearrangement of your body into postures and alignments that aid the body in healing itself, for the body's self-healing abilities are profound, and often dismissed as placebo. Tai Chi allows you to go inside to your interior landscape, to learn about your internal topgraphy so that you can FEEL something happening long before it goes badly wrong and turns into a tumour. We have become so dependent on doctors that we have abdicated responsibility for our own health, resigning ourselves to pills or palliative medicine. You can take control of your health and not get sick. Tai Chi can help you on that path. There is no rush, no sense of hurry. You must listen to your body, get to know it, and make friends with it. It is all you really have.

Public classes

Classes will now be run on a Module Basis. Beginners will take Module I. What are the Modules? Module I : Basic Body Mechanics What is Chi / Commencement / Four Energies of Tai Chi-Peng, Lu, Ji, An / Dropping the Shoulders and Elbows / Dropping the Chest and Rounding the Back / Relaxing into your body / The 70% Rule / Form up to An / Basic Applications / Tucking the Tailbone / The Four Points / Kwa Squat / Leg alignments / Introducing circles into your form / Wu Style versus Yang Style / Health benefits of the Wu Style. All the important information on Body Mechanics is contained in Module I. Modules II through IV continue through the Form with these principles in greater depth. You cannot do a higher Module without having done the one before. I will not allow anyone to do a higher module unitl they have satisfied me that they are capable of doing it. Practice is essential.

The Benefits of Tai Chi

What can Tai Chi do for me? No matter what age you are, it's never too late to do something about your health. As is said in China, Only sick people get sick. Tai Chi is a very gentle way to begin getting in tune with your body again, like you were when you were a child, full of boundless energy. This state can be achieved again through continuous daily practice of Tai Chi. It is considered the most subtle form of acupuncture, and it is practised by over 100 million people in China every day, and millions more around the globe. Why spend years on a health plan if you end up attached to machines, alone in a sterile environment, surrounded by strangers? Put a downpayment on your old age now, for as one of my teachers (80) has said to be independent at 60, 70 or 80; to be able to climb a mountain without any help; this is true freedom and makes life worth living. The Body Alignments are opened: Many people are tense in one or more parts of their bodies. The initial posture of Tai Chi helps re-educate people about their natural alignments; the ones they had as a child. In fact, the purpose of most Daoist Chi Gung is to make your body as relaxed, loose and full of energy as a child again. No-one can keep up with a child, especially when screaming for hours without any problem! Tai Chi strengthens the nerves and eases stress: As you get stronger through continued practice, your nerves are strengthened and your body awareness is enhanced. Most importantly, as your ability to relax improves, and your health is enhanced, work capacity is increased enormously, and you find yourself less tired than you used to be. Moreover, the deep breathing induces bodily and mental calm. Breathing rapidly and shallow can create tension, and vice versa. The blood is circulated without stress on the heart: Concerning the circulation of blood, the object of Tai Chi is not to make the heart pump more strongly, but to increase the elasticity of the vascular system so the heart doesn't need to pump as strongly, which provides it with more rest. The muscle tissue gains elasticity: Tai Chi also causes muscle tissue to elongate. With the stretches of Tai Chi the muscles eventually attain a state akin to that of a springy rubber band. The tendons are strengthened: Tai Chi also adds greater strength and elasticity to the tendons which contributes to the tremendous flexibility many Tai Chi practitioners have. Tai Chi loosens the muscles and builds power: Tai Chi works with the muscles quite differently than typical exercises do. Tai Chi and other internal exercises build effortless power and looseness; the goal is a feeling of relaxed power. Relaxed power comes when the muscles just loosen up and allow the energy to flow through. Balance in your life: Perhaps, just perhaps, a daily dose of Tai Chi might help you to inject some balance into other parts of your world, whether in work or at home, that need some balance.