Tai chi in the park

It’s that tai chi in the park time of year. Normal classes are over for the summer and we are heading outside. There will be outdoor sessions in Parr Fold Park, Walkden; Bramhall Park, Bramhall; Pennington Hall Park, Leigh; and Leyland Park, Hindley.

Outdoor classes are less formal than the indoor classes — there will be no teaching as such, we are just going to warm up and run through a few forms together.

Although the weather has been iffy lately the forecast is good for this week.

Tai chi in the parks

 We have been so lucky with the weather this week. It was wonderful being able to do tai chi in the park again and it was so nice to be able to see people in person.

Tai chi in the park

 

From next Monday, organised outdoor sports can start up again. And you know what  that means. Tai chi in the park! Times and places are listed here. 

Autumn class timetable

There are a number of changes to classes starting from September. The new class timetable is listed here. Although we are moving towards a new normal, there is still a mixture of indoor, outdoor and online classes.

Now that I can plan classes with a bit more certainty, though, monthly discounts are back!😀 This is for all face-to-face classes except for the Guild Hall class which will continue in the park for now. As classes can be cancelled at short notice because of the weather a monthly discount wouldn't work. I hope to hear soon about when we can move back into the Guild Hall and will then be able to plan accordingly.

The all-classes monthly pass is also back at £30/month. This is well worth it if you plan to attend more than one class a week and includes online classes as well as face-to-face ones.

The price of single online classes is going up from £3 to £4 but there will now be a discount rate for these as well. There will be two online courses.

On Monday evenings at 7pm, there will be an 8 week introduction to Yang style 8 step form, running from 7 September to 26 October.

And on Thursday mornings at 10am, there will be a 10 week course on Yi Jin Jing Health Qigong, running from 3 September to 5 November.

You can book the whole courses at the discounted rates of £24 for the Monday evening tai chi and £30 for the Thursday morning qigong. You can also continue to book classes one at a time as you attend, but the price is now £4/session.

Merry Christmas and things to look forward to in the new year :)

Happy holidays! There will be no more classes until Monday 6 January (except for one at Park Royal Spa and you need to be a member of the health club).

Enjoy the season and keep doing tai chi and qigong.

There will be lots of new and exciting things happening in the New Year. We will be starting the 8 step form on Wednesday afternoons at Hurst Dance Studios in Hindley and on Monday evenings we will be starting the Tai Chi Kung Fu Fan form at the Captains Lane Community Centre in Ashton-in-Makerfield.

Although the Monday extra half hour has been free up until now I will be starting to charge £3/session from the new year, making it £9 if you stay for both classes. There is still a 25% discount for paying monthly and it is included in the £30 for all classes in a month offer.

I am still looking into starting a daytime sword class sometime early next year. This will probably be on Mondays after the Guild Hall class in Walkden - I just need to get the paperwork sorted out first.

It is worth booking early for the Deyin Taijiquan Institute Chinese New Year Spring Festival on Saturday 25 January as it is always popular and is free to Deyin members (membership is only £20/year). There are tai chi and qigong workshops throughout the day given by Deyin instructors.

This is followed by an evening of celebration with food, demonstrations, raffle and lion dancing. Then on Sunday there is an opportunity to get a taste of the Mandarin language and calligraphy, with qigong in the afternoon. There is a charge for the evening celebration and Sunday workshops.

If you are interested in health qigong and would like to take it further there are one-day workshops on different forms at the Chinese Culture Centre in Telford on 11/12 January and 8/9 February. These workshops are aimed at instructors and would-be instructors but are open to all serious practitioners.

And if you are interested in the martial applications of tai chi, Angela Howarth will be running a series of weekend morning workshops in Liverpool.

Outdoor tai chi

Well done to the dedicated group who braved ice, frost and friendly dogs to do tai chi in Walkden Park today.

Fingers crossed we will be back inside in the warm next week!

FREE tai chi classes

North West and North Wales Tai Chi have got funding to put on a free 8 week tai chi course for beginners at the Guild Hall Community Centre in Walkden, Salford starting Monday 19 September. It will be on Monday mornings from 10am to 11am.

Places are limited, so if you would like to take part then contact me, Jane, to book.