To those unfamiliar with it, Tai Chi might resemble some bizarre synchronized dance or swimming through air, but for senior citizens at the Orion Senior Center, it’s an exercise that makes it easy to stay active.
“It’s gentle on your joints and you can do it from the beginner to the experienced level,” said instructor Kim Cary, who has been teaching the class at the Orion Senior Center since early spring. “I’m starting my 18th year (of doing Tai Chi), and my 10th year of teaching it. I saw someone do it and found a teacher through a friend.”
The ancient art of Tai Chi involves little or no verbal instruction, but instead combines a series of repetitious movements with music and breathing exercise. The slow, smooth movements involved in Tai Chi are gentle and non-strenuous, so anyone of any age can participate. The exercise is not physically demanding, and no special equipment or clothing is necessary for it.
Tai Chi originated as a self-defense technique, but is no longer just one of the martial arts. Dozens of dancelike postures are used in sequences called “forms” or “sets,” taken from animal postures.
Cary, a former Lake Orion resident now living in Rochester, had been teaching Tai Chi classes at the senior center in Rochester when she was invited to guide a class at the Orion center. She currently has about eight regular students attending once a week.
“There are a couple (of students) who have taken it before elsewhere, but they weren’t familiar with the style I’m teaching,” she said. “The eight folks here now have been on from the beginning, and that’s the nature of Tai Chi…you want to keep doing it.”
Some of the potential health benefits offered by Tai Chi are flexibility, physical therapy, balance, Self-confidence, pain relief, strengthening, posture, relaxation and blood pressure control.
Tai Chi is offered at the Orion Senior Center on Fridays through Oct. 10, and from Oct. 17-Dec. 19, from 1:30-2:30 p.m. The cost is $27. For more information, contact the senior center at 693-2066.