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Tai Chi Retreat – October 2018

For a weekend we practiced chi gong and tai chi under the pecan nut trees, listening to the arrow marked babblers and African grey hornbills chatter away to each other. A mix of beginners, intermediate and advanced tai chi students from Johannesburg and as far as Cape Town, enjoyed the tranquil property of Melody Hills for the October 2018 tai chi retreat, led by Sifu Leo Ming. “Retreats give us ‘time’ ” reflects Leo, when asked why he holds retreats… Read More »Tai Chi Retreat – October 2018

Tai Chi and Dogs

Tai Chi has many benefits, and one that we might not realise is that it helps us with our relationships to man’s best friend – the dog. Interacting with animals as pets, and dogs are a common pet, can be a physical activity as well as an emotionally rewarding one. To help care for our pets, we should be walking them often, and engaging them in exercise to keep them healthy. “Falls, ankle sprains, back injuries and even broken bones… Read More »Tai Chi and Dogs

The Wealth of Taijiquan

Tai chi may have very early roots in China, yet it has and still is spreading in popularity all over the world.  This is due to the many benefits it provides. Here is a short clip that explains taijiquan and it’s wealth that we can enjoy.  It also has some interesting footage of Chen village– where we recently visited on our tour to China. The video covers: What is the link between Wújí  and taijí?  And tai chi and ying… Read More »The Wealth of Taijiquan

Children with ADHD benefit from Karate Classes

Has your child been labelled with ADHD? Martial Arts, and specifically karate, is a useful activity to supplement any other strategy you are considering to help your child. Karate has many benefits for children.  Specifically for children with ADHD or Asperger Syndrome or any similar challenges, martial arts activities can help them develop skills that can be translated positively into many areas of their lives. Karate is not a team sport and yet it is social.  So the dojo becomes… Read More »Children with ADHD benefit from Karate Classes

Push Hands in Tai Chi

What is Push Hands? There are various methods and techniques of push hands.  The main purpose of push hands is as a sensitivity taiji drill whereby two people connect by ‘push’ and by ‘yield’, using their hands.  The exercise is aimed to be done in a harmonious way. Benefits of Push Hands Initially one does this drill for developing physical balance and strength. It also improves the subtler internal aspects of co-ordination, timing, sensitivity, reflexes, groundedness and leverage. As you… Read More »Push Hands in Tai Chi

The Science behind why Martial Arts Meditation leads to Stress Free Living

“In most if not all martial arts, there is some form of integrative meditation component that forms the building blocks of a balanced yet formidable martial artist… half the battle is won and lost in the mind,” says Nicholas Bruce in his in depth article in the Business Day, May 2018. The article explains how martial arts like karate and tai chi can help us develop the ability to prevent ourselves going into the fight/flight response.  When we don’t have… Read More »The Science behind why Martial Arts Meditation leads to Stress Free Living

Leo’s Top Tips to keep Safe

With a background of over 40 years in Martial Arts and teaching self-defence, Sensei Leo Ming shares some of his tips and strategies for keeping safe and avoiding situations where we are an easy target to criminals and might be threatened. These points to remember are especially relevant for those living in big cities like Johannesburg, where there is a high risk of being mugged, or car hi-jacked. When in Car Parks Place your valuables in your boot, out of… Read More »Leo’s Top Tips to keep Safe

Employee Engagement Sessions

Everything we do is with and through people, and even more so in the corporate world. It’s the people of organisations that make up the business, and the businesses success is based on how well those individuals are, and also how well they work together towards achieving the common goals of the organisation. Thus for a productive workforce, we need productive healthy and happy people. And a trend in companies is to bring their staff together in small team buildings,… Read More »Employee Engagement Sessions

Tai Chi helps patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Impaired balance is one of the symptoms of those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease. They also tend to fall often, and are less able to function on a day to day basis as the disease progresses. Exercise is encouraged – yet until this research, few forms of exercise had been shown to be effective. This study, published in the  New England Journal of Medicine , was conducted in 2012.  It found that tai chi was the form of exercise that… Read More »Tai Chi helps patients with Parkinson’s Disease