{"id":822,"date":"2014-08-26T10:06:32","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T09:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthylivinglondon.com\/?p=822"},"modified":"2014-09-09T13:12:04","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T12:12:04","slug":"tai-chi-in-london-a-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthylivinglondon.com\/healthy-living-2\/tai-chi-in-london-a-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Tried &#038; Tested: Tai chi"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>Kate Bermingham, yoga teacher and health journalist, searches for rest and relaxation, not through yoga or meditation, but through an ancient art form; Kate tries out Tai Chi in London.<\/h5>\n<div style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 507px; min-width: 300px;\">\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/184653064?et=AHIjGMBPS31Ddn2_RlIImQ&amp;sig=Yi7mvpRTTW1ZV_DQMjJoGonDgWU6zuMaSBCXpeYBhL0=\" width=\"507\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0 0 0 10px; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/184653064\" target=\"_blank\">#184653064<\/a> \/ <a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\" target=\"_blank\">gettyimages.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Tai chi\u2026 such a beautiful practice. I came away from <a title=\"Tai Chi in Bethnal Green\" href=\"http:\/\/wordsonsteps.wordpress.com\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mania Oikonomou\u2019s\u00a0<\/a>class in Bethnal Green wondering why it isn\u2019t more popular. The benefits of yoga and meditation are now widely understood in the UK: people from all walks of life can be found in yoga studios across London and further afield, stretching and strengthening their bodies to ease their minds. Calm, clarity and balance can be difficult to hold onto in our 24\/7 modern society. Google \u2018London yoga\u2019 and you\u2019ll find 186 million results. 32 million for \u2018London meditation\u2019. Just one million for \u2018London tai chi\u2019, but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we see this number increase in the coming years.<\/p>\n<p>Tai chi originated in China thousands of years ago as a martial art. In the west it has primarily been adopted as a form of low-impact exercise that is not only a beautiful art form in its own right, but also a fantastic way to develop strength, balance and co-ordination for people who are unable to practice more vigourous forms of exercise.<\/p>\n<p>Mania and I began the class with some simple breathing and forward folds. I loved the simplicity of this warm up \u2013 ideal for letting go of mental chatter and dropping into the practice. As we moved onto \u2018short forms\u2019 (sets of movement) Mania encouraged me to keep my knees bent and my body weight in my heels. This is quite a different type of movement from many styles of yoga, Pilates and dance, so it took some getting used to!<\/p>\n<p>Tai chi movements are deliberately slow and controlled, to allow the practitioner to establish a deep connection to their body and focus on their practice, to the exclusion of any external conflicts or stress. The practice requires patience, and Mania told me that tai chi aims to conserve energy rather than expel it: in ancient times it was important to conserve energy in case it was needed to fend off an attacker. In modern society our bodies react in this same way (release of adrenaline, etc.) whether the threat is a physical attack or a job interview, so tai chi is as relevant today as it was in ancient times \u2013 it is only the shape of our external \u2018threats\u2019 that have changed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/eastlondoncommunitywellbeing.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-824\" src=\"https:\/\/healthylivinglondon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-25-at-22.46.58.png\" alt=\"Tai Chi in London\" width=\"380\" height=\"272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/healthylivinglondon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-25-at-22.46.58.png 431w, https:\/\/healthylivinglondon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Screen-Shot-2014-08-25-at-22.46.58-300x215.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px\" \/><\/a>Mania closed the class with a short meditation practice using a Tibetan singing bowl, which was wonderfully calming. I would highly recommend attending Mania\u2019s class on Thursday afternoons at the <a title=\"Tai Chi at East London Community Centre\" href=\"http:\/\/eastlondoncommunitywellbeing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">East London Community Wellbeing centre<\/a>\u00a0in Bethnal Green. This is a new social enterprise, linked to St. Margaret\u2019s House, providing low cost yoga, Pilates and tai chi classes to Londoners. A team of <a title=\"Instructors at East London Community Centre\" href=\"http:\/\/eastlondoncommunitywellbeing.com\/instructors\/\" target=\"_blank\">instructors<\/a> \u00a0(disclaimer: including myself!) will be offering classes throughout the week.<\/p>\n<h5>Do pop by: it\u2019s good for your health, great fun and you\u2019ll be supporting an amazing social enterprise and some lovely teachers too!<\/h5>\n<p><em>Review by <a title=\"Review by Kate Bermingham\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kateevelynber\" target=\"_blank\">Kate Bermingham<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kate Bermingham, yoga teacher and health journalist, searches for rest and relaxation, not through yoga or meditation, but through an ancient art form; Kate tries out Tai Chi in London. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[194,211,14,209,212],"tags":[188,198,10,79,199],"class_list":["post-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wellbeing","category-fitness-review-london-health-fitness-reviews","category-healthy-living-2","category-london-health-fitness-reviews","category-wellbeing-reviews","tag-busy-londoner","tag-destress","tag-healthy-living-in-london","tag-relaxation","tag-tai-chi","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tai Chi at the East London Community Wellbeing Centre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Most people, when stressed, turn to meditation or yoga. 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