Tai Chi for Spine Health An Unhealthy Spine The spine is key to health. One of my teachers once said that Tai Chi and Qigong all focus on spinal health. We use the phrase ‘structural integrity’ when talking about the Tai Chi and Qigong posture. This means the posture is aligned correctly, to hold your…
Ways to Relieve Stress I would go as far as saying that stress is one of the most silent health disorders of our modern times. Managing stress is often overlooked and seen as trivial. There is growing pressure on everyone, to go faster, be more productive, achieve more, do more and so on. Before we look…
Chronic Pain Qigong Livestream Come along to our monthly online livestream for those living with chronic pain, who would like to explore gentle and powerful movements for both mind and body. Join instructor Nicola from the warmth and comfort of your own home for an hour of self discovery, discussion and practice in a private…
How Do You Do What You Do? This questions was posed to me by one of my students who lives with chronic health. She was aware of my health baseline, and asked how I do what I do as a Tai Chi and Qigong instructor. This is a great question. Delving deeper into her question,…
Chronic Pain Course IOW ReMap Course Summary – March to June 2019 Wednesday 12 June 2019 saw the completion of the 12 week ReMap course in Newport on the Isle of Wight, a movement and stillness class for those living with chronic pain. Over the duration I introduced the students to ‘Hibernating Bear Tai Chi’, covering…
Health Baselines Learning to Take Care of Yourself In my classes I often talk about exercising and training gracefully to your own physical baseline. This phrase comes from my teacher Casey Kochmer, from Personal Tao. Read his article on baselines here. We all have a unique health baseline, that changes with the ebb and flow…
Tai Chi Qigong for Ehlers Danlos Exploring the potential of Tai Chi and qigong exercises to aid the genetic connective tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Instructor Nicola lives with hypermobility EDS, you can read her journey in health here. Living with a different health base-line from the norm comes with plenty of challenges, from…
Hibernating Bear Tai Chi “Build a Strong Foundation for Mind and Body Health” The phrase “Hibernating Bear” comes from instructor Nicola’s ethos to make authentic Tai Chi and Qigong available to all abilities of students, no matter age, physical ability or location. The online hibernating bear lessons follow the Taoist principles of kindness, modesty and…
Tai Chi Qigong for Injury Recovery In this article I would like to explore the benefits of using Tai Chi and Qigong as restorative exercises to help during injury recovery. Over the years I have worked with many students to aid physical rehabilitation after accidents and injury, from frozen shoulders, twisted knees and falls, to…
Prolonged Sitting is Killing You Tai Chi and Qigong to improve your posture in daily life If you have attended my Tai Chi and Qigong classes, you’ll know how emphatic I can be regarding frequent healthy movements and postural health in your daily life. By practicing the Classical Chinese arts regularly, the corrections to your…
Live with EDS / Ehlers Danlos Syndrome My Story by Tai Chi Instructor Nicola During May 2014 it is Ehlers Danlos awareness month. I have written my account of living with EDS and wanted to share this with you all. Here is my story, it is a little raw and gives honest insight into what…
Travel with Hope A Parkinsons Disease Interview Introduction This interview on April 11, 2014 is an update to a previous interview on March 15, 2013. Meet ‘John Doe’ and read his story of learning to live with Parkinsons Disease (PD). He studied Qigong with me, instructor Nicola for a three year duration as private tuition…
Taiji Qigong Chronic Fatigue How the Classical Chinese Arts can aid the symptoms of CFS One of my students has written a personal account of her Qigong practice relating to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: “I had been diagnosed with CFS in 2009, following a bout of swine flu and a chest infection, which left me with…
Qigong for Parkinsons Disease ‘Travel with Hope’ This excerpt is from ‘Travel with Hope’, a Parkinson’s Disease interview with one of my Qigong students. “What would be the message that you would like to give to others with Parkinsons? It would be one of hope. I remember when I was diagnosed I met a very…
Tai Chi for SAD What is SAD SAD stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder Commonly talked about as the winter blues, SAD is a serious condition that affects many people over the winter months. Linked with the lack in our bodies of Vitamin D from natural sunlight, this condition can be hard to diagnose as the…
