Blog Archives

everydaytaichi lucy favorite video: Who's on your thanklist?

3/29/2015

Published on Mar 24, 2015
Two-time OSCAR® winning filmmaker, Barbara Kopple partnered with American Greetings to follow a soloist dancer from China expressing gratitude to the person who made sure she never felt alone. We all have at least one person we can thank, who’s on your ThankList?

everydaytaichi students: Dr. Joseph and Barbara Young featured in Star Advertiser, Young at Heart 50 +

3/29/2015

The secret to feeling spry and healthy, Young confides, is keeping the mindactive with matters such as community service. Noting that an active body helps as well. Young says he and his wife practice tai chi and take "Luk Tung Kuen" exercise classes.

everydaytaichi lucy participates at An Age-Friendly City for Kupuna to Keiki, Honolulu

3/28/2015

Click here for more on the Mayor Kirk Caldwell's convention at JCC on 2-7-2015

everydaytaichi lucy's students learn how to close their form

3/25/2015

Click here for Lesson #7: INTRO Monday night class on Apparent Closing for Yang 10 form.

Kahala Mall World Tai Chi Day, April 25 2015, Saturday 9-11 AM by everydaytaichi lucy's students

3/22/2015

April 26, 2014, everydaytaichi organized our First Annual World Tai Chi Day event for our community.

Join us for a FREE performance full of tai chi by our everydaytaichi students. The last Saturday in April, we help to celebrate World Tai Chi Day by informing the public of what tai chi is and its many health benefits.
When: Saturday, April 25, 2015
Time: 9-11AM
Where: Kahala Mall center stage
Who: everydaytaichi lucy's students
What: Tai Chi demonstration + information

Click here for World Tai Chi Day 2015 at Kahala Mall, Honolulu, Hawaii by everydaytaichi by lucy

Click here for our 1st Annual World Tai Chi Day 2014 Event.

Click here for more everydaytaichi public service events.

for more info, please email lucy at [email protected]

NEW Tai Chi Classes Summer 2015 Kilauea District Park, Honolulu, Hawaii

3/21/2015

Registration for Summer Session at Kilauea Park:
Saturday, May 16: 9-12 noon
Monday & Tuesday, May 18 & 19: 2-5PM
Summer classes begin June 15-Aug. 20
Click here for more info on levels of classes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day Tai Chi by everydaytaichi lucy's students at Kilauea District Park in Honolulu, Hawaii

3/17/2015

everydaytaichi lucy favorite bookmark: The Overview of Tai Chi

3/16/2015

The Overview of Tai ChiTai chi, pronounced "tie chee", is a mind-body practice that originated in China as a martial art. A person doing tai chi moves his body slowly and gently, while breathing deeply and meditating (tai chi is sometimes called "moving meditation"). Many practitioners believe that tai chi helps the flow throughout the body of a proposed vital energy called qi(pronounced "chee," it means "air" or "power").
Tai Chi is also known other other spellings, such as TaiChiChuan, T'ai Chi, Taiji, etc.
A Brief History of Tai Chi
Tai chi developed in China in about the 12th century A.D. It started as a martial art, or a practice for fighting or self-defense, usually without weapons. Over time, people began to use tai chi for health purposes as well. Many different styles of tai chi, and variations of each style, developed. The term "tai chi" has been translated in various ways, such as "internal martial art," "supreme ultimate boxing," "boundless fist," and "balance of the opposing forces of nature." While accounts of tai chi's history often differ, the most consistently important figure is a Taoist monk (and semilegendary figure) in 12th-century China named Chang San-Feng (or Zan Sanfeng). Chang is said to have observed five animals--tiger, dragon, leopard, snake, and crane--and to have concluded that the snake and the crane, through their movements, were the ones most able to overcome strong, unyielding opponents. Chang developed an initial set of exercises that imitated the movements of animals. He also brought flexibility and suppleness in place of strength to the martial arts, as well as some key philosophical concepts.
The Core Philosophy of Tai Chi - Yin Yang
One of the core concepts of tai chi is that the forces of Yin and Yang should be in balance. In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang are two principles or elements that make up the universe and everything in it and that also oppose each other. Yin is believed to have the qualities of water--such as coolness, darkness, stillness, and inward and downward directions--and to be feminine in character. Yang is believed to have the qualities of fire--such as heat, light, action, and upward and outward movement--and to be masculine. In this belief system, people's yin and yang need to be in balance in order for them to be healthy, and tai chi is a practice that supports this balance.
The Three Basic Components of Tai Chi
When Tai chi is performed, three major components are working together -
Movement: When doing Tai Chi, individuals feel the ground with their feet, sink their weight to the ground, and maintain good body alignment to promote stability and balance. Movements flow from one to another, with body weight shifting from the right leg to left leg to balance the empty and full feeling. The movements make up what are called b>forms (or routines). Some movements are named for animals or birds, such as "White Crane Spreads Its Wings." The simplest style of tai chi uses 13 movements; more complex styles can have dozens.
Meditation: While performing the gentle and slow Tai Chi movements, individuals keep their mind calm and alert, concentrating on the inner self.
Deep breathing: With the flow of the movements, individuals exhale stale air and toxins from the lungs, inhale a plentitude of fresh air , stretches the muscles involved in breathing, and releases tension. This way, the entire body is supplied with fresh oxygen and nutrients.
Specific Health Purposes
Important note: if you practice Tai Chi for health purposes, it is important that you seek advice froml your main health care providers, such as your family doctors. Give them a full picture of what you do to manage your health. This will help ensure coordinated and safe care.
The three Tai Chi components can -
Massage the internal organs.
Aid the exchange of gases in the lungs.
Help the digestive system work better.
Increase calmness and awareness.
Improve balance.
People practice tai chi for various health purposes, such as:
For benefits from exercise:
Tai chi is a low-impact form of exercise.
It is a weight-bearing exercise that can have certain health benefits--for example, to the bones.
It is an aerobic exercise.
To improve physical condition, muscle strength, coordination, and flexibility.
To have better balance and a lower risk for falls, especially in elderly people.
To ease pain and stiffness--for example, from arthritis.
For health benefits that may be experienced from meditation.
To improve sleep.
For overall wellness.
Many people practice tai chi for health purposes. In the United States, a 2002 national survey on Americans' use of CAM found that 1.3 percent of the 31,000 survey participants had used tai chi for health reasons in the year before the survey. Tai chi is widely practiced in China (including in its hospitals and clinics) and in other countries with a substantial native-Chinese population. In Asia, many people consider tai chi to be the most beneficial exercise for older people, because it is gentle and can be modified easily if a person has health limitations.
Tai chi is a relatively safe practice. However, there are some cautions.
Tell your health care provider if you are considering learning tai chi for health purposes (especially if you have a health condition for which you are being treated, if you have not exercised in a while, or if you are an older person).
If you do not position your body properly in tai chi or if you overdo practice, you may get sore muscles or sprains.
Tai chi instructors often recommend that people not practice tai chi right after they eat, or when they are very tired, or when they have an active infection.
Use caution if you have any of the conditions listed below, as your health care provider should advise you whether to modify or avoid certain postures in tai chi:
Pregnancy
Hernia
Joint problems, back pain, sprains, a fracture, or severe osteoporosis

everydaytaichi lucy favorite bookmark: What are the Benefits of Practicing Tai Chi?

3/16/2015

Tai chi chuan, a gentle form of martial arts combining deep, diaphragmatic breathing and flowing, dancelike poses, can be a remarkably potent workout for people of many ages. In various recent studies and reviews, tai chi has been found to improve practitioners’ balance, leg strength, cardiovascular endurance, pulse rate, muscular flexibility, immune system response, sleep habits, happiness, sense of self-worth, and ability to concentrate and multitask during cognitive tests.

In one especially impressive study from last year, the brains of older people who had been practicing tai chi for several years were compared with the brains of age-matched sedentary adults. The tai chi participants showed greater connectivity and other measures of health in portions of the brain known to be involved in decision-making and attention than the volunteers who had never done tai chi.

Overall, tai chi “can improve both physical and psychosocial health,” said Dr. Chenchen Wang, the director of the Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

Scientists haven’t yet determined, though, whether tai chi is substantially better for you than other types of light-to-moderate exercise, such as walking, yoga or weight training, said Fuzhong Li, a principal investigator at the Oregon Research Institute, who has studied tai chi. Comparative effectiveness studies pitting the activities against one another have not been done.

But tai chi is definitely better than no or very light activity. “Our work does suggest that tai ji chuan”— another form of the activity’s name — “produces far better outcomes compared to low-impact activities such as stretching,” Dr. Li said.

everydaytaichi students learn how to do Cloud Hands, a sideways tai chi movement

3/10/2015

Click here for more everydaytaichi online lessons.

Lucy, Kaimuki Olelo Rookie of the Year Award

3/10/2015

Click here to learn how everydaytaichi lucy became a producer for Olelo.

everydaytaichi lucy, ken, & victor were certified by Olelo one year ago to officially be television producers

3/8/2015

Click here to learn more about how we became clients of Olelo.

EveryDay TaiChi Lucy's Students Perform for the Seniors at Kilauea Park in Honolulu

3/4/2015

Click here to see more tai chi presentations in our community.